Chapter 34: Legal Wife
Even though Michael had taken Wendy’s side the other day, it was unprecedented behavior on his part. If something else happened, Michael might not necessarily help her again. Furthermore, it was okay if Wendy herself got into trouble, but she could not afford to implicate Zen. Zen treasured her current job very much. Otherwise, she would not put in so many extra hours every night.
"There’s nothing we can do about the times she did this behind our back, but it’s different now."
Zen’s blood was boiling with righteous indignation. She could not bear to see Wendy suffer like this.
Quinnly frowned slightly. "I know you, I think your name is Zen, and you’re from the design department."
Quinnly was from the HR department, so she had interacted with most of the people in the company.
"Yes, my name is Zen," said Zen with her head cocked to the side. She knew that the person standing before her was the manager of the HR department. Even though deep down, she was a bit afraid, she still kept her chin up as though she had no fear.
With a benevolent expression, Quinnly tried persuading Zen, saying, "Young people like you are bold and aggressive, they’re not afraid of anything in the world. I know that you’re good friends with Wendy, but you should be smarter. In this company, everyone knows who they should pick between Wendy and Yvonne. Even if you don’t want to take a side, you would be wise to protect yourself by not getting involved. You’re speaking on behalf of Wendy right now, aren’t you afraid that you just might lose your job over this?"
Wendy hadn’t wanted to blow up this matter because she was afraid that Zen would get implicated. But now, Quinnly’s words made it obvious that she was threatening Zen.
Wendy stepped forward, shielding Zen. She said, "We have never done anything to you. It’s your choice if you wish to pick a side, but if you dare do anything to Zen, don’t blame me for being nasty."
"You’re just a s*it," Quinnly sneered. "Since you failed to seduce the president, you went straight to the vice-president. Do you think that the vice-president will really fall for you just because you managed to trick him into hiring you? The vice-president has just returned from abroad, and he is still unfamiliar with the people and affairs within the company. When he finds out what kind of a person you are, do you think you can still stay at MC Enterprise? Over your dead body!"
"Look at you calling her a slkt every time you open your mouth; didn’t your parents teach you some manners?" Zen snorted coldly. "Let me tell you, the real s*kt is the woman standing beside you. Wendy is the president’s legal wife."
When Wendy heard the last sentence, she grimaced. Zen had exposed her secret after all. However, Wendy deduced that Quinnly would not believe Zen’s words due to Wendy’s position within the company and the way that Michael treated her.
When Quinnly heard Zen’s words, she was stunned. She turned her head to look at Yvonne.
Yvonne shook her head, denying it. "Don’t listen to her. When have you ever heard about Michael being married? I’m his only girlfriend."
Yvonne’s affirmation left Quinnly with no doubt at all. Quinnly said, "If you want to lie, you should make it more believable. Why don’t you think about how much the president hates Wendy Stewart?"
"Forget it, don’t talk to them anymore," said Wendy. She did not care what these two women were saying about her, she just did not want Zen to get involved in this matter.
Wendy took Zen’s hand. When she walked past them, she paused briefly. In a stern voice, Wendy warned them, "I don’t care what the two of you want to say about me, but if you dare do anything to Zen behind her back, don’t blame me for being nasty. I’m not kidding about this. Since I’ve been able to hang around both the president and the vice-president, I believe that this is a testament to my ability, regardless of what kind of tactics I had to resort to."
Quinnly felt threatened. Even though she was the manager of the HR department, she knew that Wendy was not one to be trifled with. After all, she was right in saying that her ability to hang around both the president and vice president meant something.
Yvonne tugged at Quinnly’s hand, saying, "Don’t be afraid, she’s just trying to intimidate you. She can barely protect her own place in the company. Don’t worry, I’ll say good things about you to Michael."
Yvonne’s words made Quinnly feel more at ease.
She could not believe how easily Wendy had frightened her.
...
Wendy dragged Zen back to their table in the cafeteria. Christian was still taking his time with his meal. Even though they were merely sitting in the cafeteria, Christian somehow looked extremely elegant. His disposition seemed a little out of tune with the busy employees surrounding them.
Spotting Wendy’s return, Christian asked, "Are you feeling better?"
Wendy nodded.
Zen’s face was an open book. It was filled with rage, and she had a death grip on her chopsticks as she poked the food in her bowl.
When Christian saw that, he raised his eyebrows and asked, "Did something happen?"
"It’s Yvonne, she..."
Before a furious Zen could reveal anything else, Wendy interrupted her with a smile on her face.
"It’s nothing."
"Wendy, why do you let everyone bully you like that?" Zen could not help but chide Wendy. "It’s been so many years, how much longer are you going to put up with this? Other people are bullying you so blatantly, can’t you just fight back?"
Christian could guess what had happened. He quickly deduced that they had bumped into Yvonne in the bathroom and that Yvonne had tried to pick on Wendy again.
"Is there anything that I can help with?" asked Christian. He seemed like a perfect gentleman.
Wendy was unmoved, but Zen felt that Christian was a good person. Hence, in a moment of anger, she told Christian about everything that had happened in the washroom earlier.
After listening to Zen, Christian shifted his gaze to Wendy. She kept her head lowered while eating as though nothing had happened. He remained quiet for some time. The atmosphere quickly grew calm.
Zen stared at Wendy, and then at Christian, feeling dumbfounded. What exactly was going on? She thought, is Christian just going to ignore this?
Christian could read Zen’s thoughts. He explained himself by saying, "It’s not that I want to ignore this, but it seems that even Wendy herself does not want to do anything about this."
After all, Wendy had long grown used to such rumors. She had tried fighting for herself in the past, but no one ever believed her. Michael did not help her either. Even though the security camera footage had helped her this once, Wendy did not believe that Michael would continue taking her side in the long run. And even if Yvonne had failed this time, Wendy was sure that Yvonne would continue to slander her throughout the company. Wendy had predicted that this would happen a long time ago. Rather than waste her time and energy fighting with Yvonne, Wendy would much rather read a few more books on design and work on improving her skills. Most importantly, she knew she could leave MC Enterprise in slightly over a month.
That was the most important thing to her.
"I’m so angry," said Zen, instantly losing her appetite. She stood up and huffed, "I’m not eating anymore. Take your time."
As Wendy watched Zen walking away, she sighed softly.
"Wendy, look at yourself. You’ve even angered your good friend. This is such a disappointment," Christian deliberately taunted her.
"Christian, I have a request for you," said Wendy as she stirred the soup around her bowl. Her eyes were fixated on her food, but her thoughts were elsewhere.
"Go ahead," replied Christian. "I’ll try my best to do it."
"After I leave, can you please promise me to look out for Zen in this company? I’m afraid that Yvonne won’t spare her. I know you have enough power to protect her, and I believe that this isn’t a difficult request," said Wendy. "This is the first time that I’m asking anything of you, and probably the last time too."
"I dare not promise that she will always be able to keep her job in this company."
When Wendy heard this, she looked up at Christian and waited for him to continue.
"As you know, I’m stuck under my brother’s thumb in this company too. If Yvonne is the only person that I have to deal with, I can promise to help Zen keep her job. But if Michael gets involved, I won’t be able to do anything," said Christian. "But, don’t worry about it. If that really happens, I’ll get her a better job somewhere else. After all, she’s your friend."
"Thank you."
...
Less than three days after Wendy’s encounter with Yvonne in the bathroom, rumors about her started circulating within the company once again. When Yvonne first attacked Wendy and destroyed her reputation, the rumors that went around were not in her favor. But after Yvonne’s relentless effort to rebuild her image, the employees within the company started believing in her again.
In the beginning, the rumors were simply about Wendy having questionable morals. Things changed after that. People started talking about how Wendy blatantly seduced the president and Yvonne only hit her because she caught Wendy in the act. In the end, it was even said that Wendy had brought another colleague with her to confront Yvonne in the bathroom, and that they had wanted to retaliate against Yvonne by hitting her. Since Yvonne was kindhearted, she decided to drop the matter instead of calling the cops. These rumors were widely circulated within the company, to the point where every single employee had at least heard something about it.
Wendy had always been sort of a celebrity figure within the company. After all, she first worked as an assistant to the president before she got fired, and then started working for the vice-president.
Moreover, it was also rumored that she had changed her target to the vice-president after her failure to seduce the president. All of these points combined made Wendy the most famous person within the company.
Wendy herself paid no attention to the gossiping, though. After all, this was not her first rodeo.
After shutting down her laptop, Wendy took out the new equipment she had bought to shoot her videos. She calmed herself down and started to draw new designs. A fan had left a comment on her page last night, requesting for her to design a wedding dress for his wife. The commenter said that his financial situation was limited, but he still really wanted to give his wife a unique wedding gift. If he hired a designer to do it, he would have to spend a lot of money on it. He saw Wendy’s TikTok account by chance and decided to try leaving a message. He didn’t really have high hopes about Wendy helping him. After all, she was not acquainted with him.
Why should she design a dress for free?
But to his surprise, Wendy replied to him, saying that she would send him the drawing of the design within three days and that all he had to do was find a tailor to make it. Wendy did not have much to do in the company. She knocked off work punctually almost every day.
Three days should be sufficient time for her. Wendy read through the commenter’s various requests and started pondering about how she should design the dress. After doodling on paper for slightly over an hour, she finally found some inspiration.
Wendy was enthusiastically at work on the dress design until Zen opened the door and interrupted her train of thought. She looked up and glanced at Zen. Noticing the distinctly unhappy expression on her face, Wendy stopped drawing and asked, "You seem pale. Are you feeling sick?"
Zen shook her head and said furiously, "I’m just angry."
"What happened?" Wendy dropped her pencil. She approached Zen and put her arm around her friend. In a concerned voice, Wendy asked, "Who made you angry? Did something happen at Work?"
Zen hesitated slightly as though she did not want to tell Wendy about the truth.
"Is there something that you can’t tell me?" Wendy patted her shoulder and continued, "Now that I know that something has happened, do you think I can sleep tonight if you don’t tell me what is it?"
"Let me just be frank with you then. I suspect that the manager of the HR department is sabotaging me," said Zen furiously and through gritted teeth. "Quinnly seems to be romantically involved with my supervisor, and I’ve had to redo the design draft for my project countless times. Still, my supervisor is not satisfied with my work, and he keeps making me redo it. When I asked him what exactly he didn’t like, he just gave me a perfunctory response. Today is the final deadline for this project and my supervisor got off work early. He is completely refusing to accept my draft, and his phone is turned off as well. I’ve been working on this project for half a month and the design has to be finalized by tomorrow. Looking at the way that things are now, it’s clear that my draft will not be accepted. They’re going to replace me with someone else on this project."
