- 8.
After dinner, Susan gave me a tour of the
house. She told me to pick out my favorite
room and move in when I felt ready.
This mansion was huge. I told her to relax and
I’ll explore on my own.
I walked up to the second floor and heard
Mark and Lily talking in one of the rooms.
“Lily, Jeff Jiang is a player. He’s not good
enough for you. I don’t want you to marry
him.”
“Mark, I have to marry someone, right? You
have a girlfriend. I don’t like her either, but
you’re not dumping her.”
“She’s pregnant. I can’t dump her right now.”
Mark paused. “Lily, you don’t have to marry
anyone. I’ll take care of you.”
“Oh, she’s pregnant? You dog!” Lily giggled.
“I guess I should try harder with Jeff. Maybe
we’ll fall in love.”
“Don’t even think about it.”
“I dare you.”
Wow, that’s messed up.
After that day, I threw myself into work.
Lily worked at the company too. She was in
charge of quality control.
We had to work together, and she always
made my life difficult, but I handled it.
I found out that the Richards and the Jiangs
had a long history.
The Jiangs used to be the Richards‘ suppliers.
They helped the Richards start their business.
They even bought stock in Richard
Enterprises when the company was
struggling.
Then, the Richards pushed the Jiangs out of
く
the boardroom and found new suppliers.
They screwed them over.
Now, the Richards were running into
problems, and the Jiangs had patented some
technology. All the big brands wanted to work
with them.
The Richards wanted to get back in good with
the Jiangs, so they came up with the
marriage plan.
It was crazy. Either the Jiangs were forgiving
and only cared about business, or they had
something up their sleeve.
One weekend, Lily posted a picture on
Instagram: “At a concert with my love.”
It was a picture of some singer’s concert and
a picture of two hands holding each other.
Looks like she went to the concert with Jeff
Jiang.
The next morning, I ran into Lily in the
elevator.
She brushed her hair over her shoulder,
showing off a hickey on her neck. She glared
at me and said, “Jeff Jiang is mine. Don’t try
to steal him from me.”
Looks like she didn’t just go to the concert
with Jeff. She stayed over.
I said, “Congrats, future Mrs. Jiang.”
“Don’t act like you’re happy for me. You’re
jealous,” she said.
“Just because you’re working at the company
doesn’t mean you can take my place with my
parents and Mark. An ugly duckling will
always be an ugly duckling. Don’t try to be a
swan.”
Lily was wearing a white dress and diamond
earrings, she looked like a swan.
I wore a black business suit.
In the mirror, we looked like yin and yang. I
didn’t think I looked worse than her.
The elevator doors opened on the first floor,
and Jeff Jiang was standing there, wearing a
black suit.
Our R&D department had invited Jeff Jiang to
discuss new products.
He came to talk about new materials, so we
could work together later.
Jeff Jiang walked into the elevator and looked
at me.
Lily was jealous. She tugged on his arm. “Jeff,
let’s have lunch together.”
“Not at work,” Jeff said. He looked away from
Lily. “Maybe.”
Lily looked embarrassed.
She could see Jeff staring at me in the
elevator mirror.
I said hi. “Hi, Mr. Jiang.”
Jeff shook my hand. “Hi, I know you’re
Maggie.”
Lily was pissed.
Lily was pissea.
She had called me an ugly duckling. Now, she
was the one being ignored.
She thought I was trying to steal Jeff from
her.
But she was wrong. I was thinking about
work.
Jeff Jiang was a supplier I had to work with,
that’s it.
