Chapter 32: Chapter 32

Edwin left Jessica as he went to see other business colleagues. She didn't mind as she sat on one free chair in the wine section. Her eyes were darting around the hall and she was praying that her boss would get the project.

Just then, she picked up a scent of male cologne, a kind of familiar one. She could tell who was coming towards her. Although she was grateful, she didn't want to end up on Edwin's bad side. So, she pretended not to notice.

Meanwhile, Gary had noticed Jessica was alone and he decided to check on her. She was looking extremely beautiful compared to last night. He wished he had been the one to hire Jessica.

"Hi Jessica, Good morning," Gary greeted with a smile on his face.

" Good morning, sir," Jessica responded, calmly.

" Hmm, just call me by my name. How are you feeling?" Gary asked, smiling faintly.

Jessica furrowed her brow. What does he mean by that? Did he see her last night too?

"I saw you last night." Gary answered her hidden question, with a raised brow.

" You saw me? Did I mess up real bad?" Jessica asked, darting her eyes. She was fully embarrassed now. Did she mess up big time around Edwin?

" No, you didn't. You just_"

"Haven't I made myself clear that you should stop chatting with my secretary?" Edwin said, cutting Gary off.

He had to come over when he saw Gary was chatting with Jessica. Why can't he just stop talking to her? He glared at Gary who seemed unbothered by his question.

Rather Gary turned to Jessica and smiled even more charmingly. It was as though Edwin was not standing with them.

" See you after the meeting, Jessica," Gary said, with a deadly smile on his lip. Then he turned to give Edwin a dangerous smirk of warning.

" I need to teach you some lessons, Edwin Turner," He murmured to himself while making eye contact with Edwin. He left, looking smug.

As the tension between the two men dissipated, there was an announcement for people who were there for the project presentation. They were to move to the large office.

Edwin walked toward the room, along with Jessica who was walking stealthily. He looked for a seat far away from Gary and made Jessica sit on it while he moved towards the place reserved for him.

Everyone settled down and the presentation started. A total of ten people were there to present their prototype of the game.

Gary made his presentation and all the people in the office were surprised by his tactics, and it was the best presentation so far. They all believed that he was going to get the project. Although it has always been a tough competition between him and Edwin, everyone knew that Edwin's company wasn't too good in terms of games.

There was a short break, and after twenty minutes of the break, the people returned to their respective seats. They listened to another set but it wasn't as outstanding as Gary's presentation.

Finally, it was Edwin Turner's turn. He stood up from his seat and gave Gary a deadly glance as he walked to the front with his laptop to present the project.

Edwin was on his laptop, while waiting for the laptop to connect, he started explaining the project and people were listening attentively, they were eager to see the prototype. It was unique and a lot simpler. It was more ideal in terms of satisfactory customer service.

Edwin noticed their satisfied expression and he grinned to himself. Seeing his laptop on, Edwin started clicking on the mouse to navigate to the project, but to his surprise, he couldn't open the project. After clicking many times, the project finally opened and there was nothing to display.

Edwin looked directly at Gary, and Gary gave him a smile with a wink. Edwin started sweating profusely, Jessica noticed her boss's situation and quickly ran there to see what was happening.

She dragged the mouse from Edwin and saw the laptop misbehaving.

" Sir, this laptop has been hacked, and the project can't be accessed anymore," Jessica responded.

" Are you with your laptop? " Edwin asked her, looking devastated.

" No, I am not. But I am with a soft copy on my flash. Get my flash in my bag while I work on the laptop," Jessica voiced.

" Okay," Edwin said, walking toward Jessica's bag.

Being a hacker herself, Jessica already knew what happened to the laptop. She continued clicking on it, and people in the office started sounding impatient.

" Sir, tell them to give us five minutes, " Jessica explained.

Edwin addresses the people while Jessica continues working on the laptop. After four minutes, she was finally done. There was no sign of panic in her expression but it rather looked like something she was used to.

Was she a hacker? That was Edwin's thought when he saw her working on the already hacked project.

" Sir, you can continue," Jessica said, looking directly into Gary's eyes as she walked to her seat.

Edwin was still filled with surprise by what Jessica just did. He never expected her to be good with computers. He finally presented the prototype and everybody in the office stood up to clap for him, except Gary.

The winner was announced and the project was given to Edwin, and people started congratulating him. He walked up to the seated Gary and with a smirk, he spoke to him.

"Is that all you could do? Cheating?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Gary asked, clenching his fist.

"You know what I am talking about, jerk. You should have told me you have me in such high esteem? Are you so afraid of me that you resorted to hacking my project?" Edwin said, scoffing.

" Hacking? I wouldn't dare. Why should I when your works are obviously trash? I bet you stole the project hence you didn't know how to access it. You just wanted to gain sympathy. But watch out for me," Gary said, standing up to leave.

When he got to where Jessica was, he gave her a deep smile before walking away. After a few seconds, Edwin and Jessica left the hall to their suite.