Chapter 287: Do You Know Christian, Mr. Woods?
It was likely that they would sell out once they hit the market.
Timothy had absolute confidence in Wendy’s capability.
As for Wendy, she could tell that Timothy was happy with her work seeing that he nodded while skimming through her designs.
She pouted and suddenly recalled the conversation she had with Michael the night before.
She hesitated for a moment and asked, "Do you know Christian, Mr. Woods?"
"Christian from DR Group?" Timothy asked while putting the drafts back onto the desk.
Wendy nodded.
"I do. What’s going on?" Timothy frowned as he was surprised by Wendy’s question.
He wasn’t surprised by the question itself, but he just didn’t expect her to ask this question out of nowhere at this moment.
"You’ve been in Rheinsville City, and Christian used to live here for a long time. I’m just wondering if you came into any contact with him in the past, and if you know anything about what he did here before," Wendy asked. Because the headquarters of Timothy’s HG Enterprise was in Rheinsville City, and there was a chance that Timothy might know if Christian had accomplished something in Rheinsville City.
It was also likely that Timothy didn’t know anything about Christian. After all,
Rheinsville City was enormous, and Timothy and Christian didn’t work in the same field.
"Well... " Timothy frowned while staring at Wendy, wondering what she wanted to know. "Are you sure that he used to be in Rheinsville City?"
Timothy hesitated for a moment after seeing Wendy nodded again, and said, "I don’t know much about him. I reckon you know more about him than I do. After all, DR Group invests in a lot of different businesses while my company mainly focuses on fashion design, and I haven’t partnered with DR."
"Okay," Wendy wasn’t surprised by Timothy’s answer. After all, there were millions of people in Rheinsville City, and it was normal that they had never come across each other.
"Do you want to know more about that? I can ask one of my guys to do some research on him," Timothy said. "I still know quite a few people here, but I can’t guarantee that they can find anything. My specialty is fashion design, and most of the people I’m close to are also in the fashion industry. If Christian was in another circle or didn’t accomplish much, then... "
Wendy nodded as she could tell what Timothy meant. "I understand. It was just a random question."
Wendy didn’t expect Timothy to provide her with any valuable information anyway.
She had only asked that because the conversation she had with Michael was in her mind.
"Sure. Let me know if you really need the information," Timothy said.
Before Wendy said anything, Timothy’s phone rang, and it was a number from Lake City.
Timothy said to Wendy, "Excuse me, I need to take this call first."
Wendy nodded as she noted that it was almost time for her meeting. She started to pack the documents she needed to bring to the meeting.
Suddenly, Wendy heard Timothy yelling, "What did you just say? Are you serious about what you just said?"
Wendy rarely saw Timothy so infuriated, and the only times he got furious was when Jill screwed up.
His daughter was the only person who could make him lose his temper like that.
"Incredible, what an incredible daughter I’ve raised. She won’t rest until I die from anger," Timothy said while pacing back and forth. His voice got louder and louder.
"Bring her back no matter what! Bring her back!"
But then, he said, "You know what? I’ll do it myself."
Timothy didn’t waste any time calling his assistant after hanging up and said, "Book me a ticket to Lake City now."
"Why? Can’t you guess why? That amazing daughter of yours!" Timothy yelled.
He then hung up abruptly.
Timothy’s assistant was Jill’s mother, as in his own wife.
Soon after Timothy set foot in Rheinsville City for the first time, he became an apprentice of his wife’s father.
His wife was Rosa Perrie, and her father used to be a famous fashion designer in Rheinsville City.
If it weren’t for Rosa’s father’s help, Timothy wouldn’t have had the achievements he had today.
Unfortunately, Rosa’s father passed away twenty years ago. Her father had been cultivating Timothy as his heir and son-in-law, and to honor his will, he married Rosa,
who had been in love with Timothy for a long time.
After they got married, Rosa had been serving as an assistant and a housewife to Timothy, taking care of his family life and the administrative tasks of his company.
Rosa, like her daughter Jill, had no interest in fashion design even though both of them had highly successful fashion designers as their fathers.
Jill was Timothy’s only child, so naturally, he wished that his daughter could take over his mantle, yet Jill didn’t like fashion design at all.
The person who called him from Lake City just told him that Jill quit her job for a talent show, which also gave Timothy a stroke.
Wendy basically figured out what happened after hearing Timothy’s conversation, so she put down the documents, walked towards him, and said, "Calm down, Mr. Woods. It’s not worth getting so annoyed."
She then poured him a glass of water and said, "Here, have some water."
In the meantime, her assistant knocked on the door and walked in. He said, "Ms. Swift, the designers are ready."
Wendy took a look at Timothy and reckoned that it’d be better not to leave him alone, so she waved at her assistant and said, "Tell them that I’ll be late."
Her assistant said ’okay’ and walked out.
"Don’t worry about me. Go have the meeting first. I need to go pack and take the flight back to Lake City." Timothy put the glass down and stood up.
"Mr. Woods." Wendy strode towards him, held his hands while smiling, and said,
"Come here, Mr. Woods, have some water first."
Timothy was tempted to throw the glass Wendy gave him against the wall, and he
would have done that if he were in his own office.
However, he was in Wendy’s office, so he tried to control his behavior because he
didn’t want to spoil her mood.
"How do you expect me to calm down?" Timothy said. "Jill is the only kid I have. I’m
not expecting her to be as skilled a designer as I am, but all I want is for her to have
a career in fashion. I wouldn’t even mind if she can’t do a good job. Is that really too
much to ask for?"
"No. Of course not," Wendy agreed as she wanted to placate Timothy.
"Right? Yet she doesn’t want to do fashion design at all, and this time, she quit her
job without consulting me and joined a talent show," Timothy said as he got angrier
and angrier. "What’s so good about being a singer or an actress? Doesn’t she know
how unstable those jobs are? If we were in ancient times, they would be a lower
class than prostitutes. The only reason society is hailing them is that we’re much
richer than before. What’s wrong with being a designer?"
"Well, that sounds a bit demeaning to the entertainment industry." Wendy felt
embarrassed as she scratched her head to comfort Timothy.
...
Wendy looked conflicted because she had promised Jill that she would try to
persuade Timothy to allow her a career change, so she didn’t want to let Jill down.
"Wait. Do you know about this?" Timothy suddenly looked up at her, confused. "I feel
like you know something about this."
Wendy felt more and more embarrassed. She cleared her throat and lowered her
head.
"Then why didn’t you tell me earlier?" Wendy’s reaction only made Timothy angrier.
"Mr. Woods, I know that Jill is the only child you have, but she is still very young and
loves singing. She doesn’t have the concept of following in your footsteps yet. And
besides, didn’t we all come a long way from being amateur designers? I think it’s
better for her to explore the world by herself. And if she fails, which she probably will
given how slim a chance of becoming a successful singer is, she’ll realize that
fashion design is what she’s supposed to do," Wendy said.
She continued, "Jill is still a young adult, isn’t she? And many young people like her
want to explore different career paths. It’ll only be counterproductive if you keep forcing her to do something she has no interest in. Not before she’s had the taste of her true passion. In a few years when she becomes more mature, I promise you that I’ll be her mentor and cultivate her the same way your late father-in-law cultivated you."
"Here’s what you got wrong, Wendy. You don’t know my daughter very well. If I let her go her own way, there’s no chance that she will change her mind."
Timothy stood up and started walking towards the door, shunning Wendy’s advice.
He said, "I have to go back to Lake City and stop her self-destruction."
"Mr. Woods," Wendy yelled as he walked away.
Meanwhile, a woman arrived on Wendy’s floor and walked towards her office. It was
Rosa.
"I knew you’re here," Rosa said while blocking his way. "What is going on?"
"What’s going on? Your daughter secretly quit her job for a talent show," Timothy
said indignantly. "Have you booked the ticket I asked for yet?"
Rosa shook her head as she hadn’t done it.
"Go book it now. Book the earliest flight to Lake City," Timothy said.
Rosa glimpsed at Wendy who just caught up with Timothy. Wendy shrugged her
shoulders and whispered to Rosa, "Talk some sense into him, Ms. Perrie."
"Don’t try to change my mind!" Timothy yelled after hearing what Wendy said. "I
must go to Lake City today!"
Timothy asked Rosa, "Are you going to book the ticket now? If not, I’ll do it myself!"
"Calm yourself down, Timothy," Rosa said while patting him on his back. "Why can’t you be a bit open-minded and allow Jill to pursue her dream? I know that you wish you can pass down your designer skills to someone, but don’t you have Corrine for that already? Or you can do what my dad did by finding a designer husband for Jill and teaching him your skills. Either way, your skills will be inherited by someone."
"I don’t want to argue with you anymore," Timothy said. He had always been stubborn on this issue, and so was his daughter Jill.
He had been in a fight against Jill about her future for more than a decade.
Since Jill entered middle school, Timothy had been trying to cultivate Jill’s interest
and skills in fashion design. Unfortunately for him, Jill hated it.
After Jill graduated from high school, he forced her to choose fashion design as her
college major, only to find out that Jill quit college several days after the enrolment.
Jill once told him that she would give up college for good if she wasn’t allowed to
learn singing. Timothy then acquiesced under Jill’s stubbornness.
He knew well that Jill would never touch fashion design again if he didn’t hold the
line this time.
Without saying goodbye to Wendy and Rosa, he pushed Rosa to the side for blocking
his way and strode towards the elevator.
