The Contracted Ever After (Cordelia and Ronan)

Chapter 16

Cordelia was deep in thought, scribbling away at her desk.

"What are you doing?" Ronan asked from the bed behind her. With Cordelia's back towards him, the

room felt somewhat empty to Ronan.

"I'm writing the report for outstanding graduates," Cordelia replied offhandedly, typing away.

"Is that so?"

At his words, Cordelia began to feel a sense of unease. Did Ronan look down on her that much?

Turning around, Cordelia met Ronan’s gaze. "Oh, Mr. Evans, don't you know that Lumos Enterprises

only hires top graduates? If I wasn't good enough, how could I have been officially hired? Or are you

suggesting that I was not good enough and you had to pull some strings just to have me working under

you, for easier control?"

Ronan was taken aback by Cordelia's direct rebuttal. Each word hit him where it hurt. He had always

known that this woman would not be easy to handle.

Ronan chose to ignore Cordelia, closing his book and heading to the bathroom.

Feeling a bit guilty for her outburst, Cordelia decided to call it a night. After all, Ronan was the CEO,

and her response had been disrespectful. Her gaze followed Ronan to the bathroom.

By the time Ronan returned to the room, Cordelia was already sitting on the bed.

Ronan picked up his book again.

"Mr. Evans, why did you keep me in the Finance Department?" Cordelia tried to strike up a

conversation. She had always wondered about that.

"Do I need to explain to my employees why I kept an intern?" Ronan retorted.

In her mind, Cordelia thought, "So it was Ronan who gave the instructions to keep me."

"But without an explanation, people will start to speculate."

Ronan glanced at her dismissively. "Speculate? Isn't it a fact that you are sharing a bed with me? Is our

marriage legally fake?"

Cordelia was left speechless. She lay down, listening to the sound of Ronan turning pages, turning off

the lights, and lying down. Eventually, she fell asleep.

Their trip back from Barney's was smooth, and Ronan transferred another $10,000 to Cordelia.

The amount was less than before, probably due to the fact that they had a part-time worker this time.

However, not a word was spoken between them. Every time Ronan transferred money to Cordelia, she

felt uneasy. She didn't quite understand why.

Ronan dropped Cordelia off at the same spot as yesterday and drove off.

Just as she was about to reach her dorm, Cordelia received a message from the HR Director, Emily.

[Cordelia, the previous dorm arrangement was temporary. Room 1507 is vacant now since a female

employee from the Operations Department got married and bought a new house. You can move in with

Brooklyn. It's a double room. What do you think?]

Cordelia was slightly taken aback. All because Ronan couldn't stand the smell of damp on her, he had

her moved to a double room. Being rich and powerful sure had its perks.

Brooklyn had already checked out room 1507. It was about the same size as their previous four-bed

room but only housed two people. Brooklyn spent the whole afternoon excitedly packing, ready to

move into the new dorm.

After moving into the new dorm, Cordelia spent her time washing clothes, planning to wash all the

musty clothes from before.

"Cordelia, Cordelia, you have to see this. I'm about to lose it..." Brooklyn stormed into the bathroom

where Cordelia was washing clothes, laptop in hand.

"You went to see your mother in the hospital yesterday. Look at what these people are saying."

Cordelia turned off the tap and leaned over to look at the laptop screen. The laptop was opened to the

company's Chatterbox, a forum where tens of thousands of employees often posted. It was very active.

The title of the post was. [Who is her sugar daddy?]

There were over a dozen pictures of Cordelia from when she went to The Artful Brew at Magnolia

Terrace yesterday. She was dressed in a very formal dress and had makeup on. It was clear that she

had taken great care in dressing up. She got into a luxurious Mercedes and was looking around as she

got in.

The tint on the Mercedes was so thick that one couldn't see who was inside. Because of this, everyone

was discussing, "Who is her sugar daddy?"

Everyone seemed interested in this kind of gossip. More and more people started posting, and it

quickly became a hot topic.

Brooklyn's reply was, "This is my roommate, I swear she went to the hospital yesterday."

But Brooklyn's reply was not convincing at all. Someone quickly replied, "Does one need to dress up so

much to go to the hospital? And why didn't the car stop at our dorm, but in such a faraway place? Also, novelbin

I heard she and another intern were competing for a position at Lumos Enterprises. The other person

worked hard all the time, so why was she, who takes leave all the time, the one who stayed? What's

going on behind the scenes?"

"Be careful with your words. She has connections."

"I saw her toast to the Deputy Head of the HR Department when we went for team building. Maybe..."

Various comments were made, all of them biting.

At the team building event, Cordelia did toast the Deputy Head of HR, but she was with Jordan the

whole time. You couldn’t deny she got played by some sneaky folks. There were always a lot of power

struggles in big companies, man.