Chapter 123: She Should Be Elated
Feeling complicated, Wendy watched as they went back into the ward. She asked herself if this was the ending she wanted.
She pursed her lips, and then forced them into a smile. She had successfully hurt Michael physically and mentally. She should be elated. Yes, elated!
She raised her head high as she turned around and left the hospital pridefully.
...
She headed straight into her bedroom when she reached home. Without changing out of her clothes or washing up, she slumped onto her bed.
She couldn’t fall asleep and just stared blankly at the ceiling for the whole night.
A few days passed and she had not visited Michael in the hospital ever since that day. Mrs. Lucas had not called Wendy to persuade her to visit either. Wendy’s life became uneventful like a normal working adult with regular working hours.
Michael was discharged after five days. The following day, Michael’s office was moved back to the eighty-eighth floor. That left the office beside Wendy’s empty.
Jill questioned Wendy curiously after she was done with her work updates, "Wendy, did something happen between you and Michael? I didn’t see Michael coming over to look for you."
Previously, Michael would come looking for Wendy with every excuse possible or whenever he had the chance to. Be it a trip to the pantry for a glass of water or to deliver some snacks over, he always had a reason to look for Wendy. But for the past week, Jill had not seen Michael at all. So, she got curious about the relationship between the two of them.
"What is wrong with Mr. Lucas and I?" Wendy questioned without looking up from her work. "There is nothing between us anyway."
"Come on, Wendy. Be honest about it and tell me the truth. I want to know!" Jill walked over and gently tugged on Wendy’s sleeve, waiting for her reply in anticipation.
Wendy’s face was solemn as she leaned back in her chair and looked up at Jill. She said in a serious tone, "It is still within working hours now."
Jill immediately dropped her cheeky look and resumed her professional stance. Wendy was usually open about anything, but when she meant business, she would not tolerate jokes.
Of course, Jill would not dare to mess around when Wendy was not in the mood.
Jill quickly covered her mouth and in between her fingers, she mumbled, "I’ll be off then." After Jill left her office, Wendy finally had some peace.
At noon, Wendy decided to go to the cafeteria for lunch. She went to the washroom before making her way to the cafeteria. Not surprisingly, there were people gossiping in the washroom.
"Have you all heard? The CEO has moved his office back to the eighty-eighth floor."
"Really? I haven’t heard. The CEO was trying to woo Corrine, right? Why did he move back to his previous office?"
"I heard that a few days ago at Mrs. Lucas’s birthday party, the Lucas family introduced the daughter of the Collins to him. And Corrine got so mad. Didn’t you notice that the CEO wasn’t in office for the past few days?"
"No way! Are you joking? But Corrine has been denying that she was the CEO’s wife, hasn’t she? If that’s the case, if the Lucas family was trying to match make him with the daughter of the Collins family, what reason does she have to be angry at all?"
"No one can understand the issues between wealthy families. Anyway, this is all hearsay. Don’t go around spreading it."
"Don’t worry about that. I’m good at keeping my mouth shut. But considering all of that, does it mean that Corrine rejected the CEO on purpose? Is it a case of playing hard to get? I sure couldn’t tell that she is someone who would do that."
Wendy came out from the bathroom stall and reprimanded the group of ladies loudly, "Did MC hire you all to gossip all day? Does gossiping improve your job quality and make you more efficient?"
The ladies were shocked as they did not expect Wendy to be in one of the stalls. Within seconds, all of them scrambled out of the washroom at top speed. They were hoping that Wendy did not recognize their faces. If she did, trouble would be coming their way.
Wendy was not concerned about the gossip among the employees. Ever since she was back in Lake City, she had expected people to be talking behind her back. But to hear it first hand, it affected her more than she had imagined it would.
At the cafeteria, Wendy ordered her food and settled down to have her meal. Even without raising her head to look around, she could feel the eyes from people in the cafeteria focused on her. The relationship between Michael and her had already become the hottest gossip in MC.
She kept her head low and focused on finishing her meal quickly so that she could go back to her office.
When she was done, she stood up and was about to clear her tray when she saw Michael walking towards her. She stopped in her tracks.
The first thought that came to her mind was that Michael was here to look for her. Since the day she came back to Lake City, Michael had been pestering her and following her around nonstop. There was not a day when he did not appear in front of Wendy.
This time, he moved back to his office without saying anything, so he was probably here to explain the situation to her.
She watched as Michael walked closer to her. Unexpectedly, he walked past Wendy as if he did not see her.
Wendy scoffed as she realized that she read too much into his actions. She returned her tray and strode out of the cafeteria.
Michael turned around to watch her leave. In the days spent in the hospital, Michael had been hoping Wendy would come again for a visit. But she did not come again after that day. Her hatred for him became even more vivid to him as each day passed.
It was not that he did not want to continue pursuing Wendy nor he did not hope for Wendy to come back to him. He knew it was impossible to get back together. Hence, he did not wish to continue to be a nuisance to Wendy. Thinking back, every time he appeared in front of Wendy, she would always frown and seem annoyed. He thought that if he steered clear of Wendy, she would be happier. Even until now, Michael had hoped that Wendy had lost her memory for real.
That way, she would not have to remember the pain he had inflicted on her five years ago. The more vivid her memories were, the more the hatred in her would intensify.
He tightly clenched his fingers into a fist. He looked around the cafeteria. Everyone whose eyes met with his looked down at their food and continued eating like nothing had happened.
Previously, Michael beamed every time he had his meals together with Wendy. Now, they walked past each other without any exchange of words or even greetings. People around could not help but suspect that the recent rumors were true.
"MC is a place for professionals. I do not wish to hear about any gossip that is unrelated to work. Regardless of positions or ranks, anyone should be prepared to pack and leave the company if they were caught gossiping." Before Michael said this, the cafeteria was already quiet from when Wendy and Michael came in.
With Michael’s exclamation, the atmosphere in the cafeteria seemed cold and tense, especially for those whom Michael met eyes with.
Mr. York, who stood behind Michael all along, knew who Michael was speaking for. Seeing how Michael had protected Wendy even at times like this made Mr. York give a resigned sigh. He had hoped that Wendy could reconcile with Michael one day.
On the day when Michael came back to work after his discharge, Mr. York could sense the obvious difference in his emotions from before to after the accident. He seemed more aloof than before.
Before Wendy coming back to Lake City, he was indifferent as well. But during the time when Wendy came back and when he moved his office to the vacant space beside hers, he had started smiling every day.
Now that he had moved back to his old office, Michael had not smiled once since then. Mr. York feared that Michael would never smile again.
Michael would not pursue the fact that Wendy had run him over. But that did not mean that others would let her off the hook.
...
Wendy received a call from the police station, saying someone reported her as the culprit of a hit-and-run accident.
She knew at once what hit-and-run accident the caller was referring to. It was obviously the one when she had hit Michael with her car at the Lucas mansion. The police officer mentioned, if she did not come to the police station voluntarily, they would send someone to arrest her at her company. Wendy had no choice but to make the trip to the police station.
At the police station, there was no sign of Michael. Only Winnie was there. Wendy was not surprised to see her. She had never seen eye to eye with this mother-in-law of hers. Back when they were in the hospital, Winnie had even declared to have Wendy repay with her life if Michael had any complications. She was definitely someone who meant what she said.
Even though Michael had fully recovered and had been discharged, Winnie would not let Wendy off without a proper punishment.
Winnie glared at Wendy with a look of vengeance. She used to dislike Wendy, but after Wendy hit Michael with her car, it had then escalated into detestation. Who would not loathe the woman who caused harm to their precious son?
Winnie pointed at Wendy, "It was her! One week ago, she hit someone with her car at the Lucas mansion. I have already passed you the footage from our surveillance camera. I am begging you. Please punish her according to the law."
At the hospital, Michael had asked Winnie to let her off. Winnie had no choice then but to respect Michael’s wishes. But the more she thought about it, the angrier she became and so she filed a police report. Of course, she had done so without Mrs. Lucas or Michael knowing. They would have tried to stop her if they had known about it.
Winnie still could not comprehend the reason why Mrs. Lucas and Michael were both covering for her. What was so good about this Wendy Steward that they would protect her like they did? From Winnie’s point of view, she did not think that Wendy was anywhere near as good as Yonina.
"Ms. Corrine, do you have anything to say about this?" The police officer passed the tablet to Wendy and said, "Please have a look at this footage. Were you the driver of this vehicle at the time?"
Wendy watched the footage and without any hesitation, she said, "Yes, that was me."
"What was the reason behind you hitting someone intentionally?" The police officer questioned.
Wendy told them the truth, "He had been pestering me. I had asked him many times to go away but he wouldn’t. From this footage, you can also tell that he had been persistently hindering me from leaving for a while before I started driving. I admit I was the one who hit him with my car. But before that, I would also like to file a report of harassment."
Wendy turned to Winnie and said coldly, "I’m not too sure what the sentence for harassment is in our country."
"You are sprouting nonsense!" Winnie pointed at Wendy and refuted, "My son is Michael Lucas. Why would he be harassing you? He can get any woman he wants."
"Oh, then we will have to ask Michael then." Wendy looked at Winnie solemnly. She was not afraid of Winnie at all.
This case was indeed a tricky one. They all knew who Winnie Quinn was. Although Michael was the victim in this car accident, his injury was not severe from what they verified with the hospital.
His main injury was not from the accident, but it was caused by an alcohol overdose which had resulted in a fever and an infection. Michael had been discharged as well.
Despite that, with Winnie coming to file a report personally, they could not ignore or dismiss the case easily.
Having said that, Corrine was not a pushover as well. They had done background checks on Corrine and found that she was not someone to be messed with.
The officers looked at each other and said, "Okay then. Let us call Mr. Lucas in as well to verify the facts."
