Chapter 40: Chapter 40

Chapter 40: You can't get away from me

Mrs. Elliot's words were a dagger that cruelly stabbed her through her heart, she was speechless. She admits she was afraid that she can never repay John for what she owes him.

"I know John sacrificed his career for me three years ago. If I've been able to travel back in time, I would..."

Mrs. Elliot mocked her "Travel back in time? Are you daydreaming? If there were such a thing, I would have never let my son met you. Don't cling on him if you're aware of the fact that he sacrificed his career for you."

Elly bites her lips and slowly says "I will find a job soon and will never ask for a dime from John again."

Elly was completely honest but she's just a joke to Mrs. Elliot. She despises her "We'll see. It's already good enough if you don't hinder John!"

Mrs. Elliot goes upstairs, leaving behind a gloom and doom atmosphere. She wiped her tears and cleans the table. She needs to find a new job.

On her way to the interview, she encounters Leon when she arrives at the gate of the sub-area.

"Secretary Leon? What are you doing here?" She asked

Leon puts the resignation letter in her hand. "Elly, Mr. Hargreaves did not approve your resignation. You're still his secretary. You're late for work, let me take you to him."

"You've got to be kidding." Elly withdraws her arm and accidentally dropped the letter, she's a little awkward but still quite determined.

"I resigned. I won't come back whether director Hargreaves approves or not."

Elly walks past Leon to get on the bus. She knew Leon was an excellent negotiator, so she'd better avoid him but Leon quickly blocked her way.

"Secretary Leon, please let me go! You should be at the company if you don't want to be punished." Elly shouted.

"Still better than losing my job." Leon stands still "Director Hargreaves gives me orders that I must get you back to the company or I'm sacked."

Leon's words astound her, she tries to detect if he was lying and finally said. "How about you quit your job and join me?"

"There is no company better than Hargreaves Corporation?" Leon says as he takes a glance at the name of the company Elly's applying for.

His wicked eyes send chills down her spine, she pushed him aside and rushed to the bus. Leon was not quick enough this time, he takes his phone out and calls Alex.

"Director, I can't get Elly. She ran away." He hesitated to report.

"Ran away?" Alex angrily said.

"Yes, I could not convince her, she was very determined. It seems like she's heading to RUB Export Joint Venture for an interview."

"Huh! You're useless." Alex hangs upon him.

Elly arrives at a 30-story building. RUB was on the ninth floor. She goes to the fifth floor and stopped at the receptionist.

"Good morning, I'm Elly. I sent my CV to this company yesterday and was appointed to have an interview this morning."

The receptionist takes a look at the schedule and asks. "You're applying for an assistant general director position, right? The general director will participate in the interview as well. Please, join others in the waiting room, we will start in ten minutes."

There are around seven people in that room, Elly felt quite nervous as if she had not worked in Hargreaves Corporation. It's her turn. There are five female interviewers and one bald middle-aged man. She supposed this was the general director.

"University in country S?" Interviewee asked her.

"Yes, I enrolled at that university."

"An assistant usually has a lot of business trips. Are you sure that you can you do this?"

Elly handled the interview quite well, she felt confident about her answers. The man who has been silent the whole time speaks up.

"According to your CV, she worked at The Hargreaves company. Can you elaborate why you quit?" He asked.

As she gathered her answer, the door is suddenly opened and smashes the wall. Everyone was astonished when a tall man in a tailor-made suit and a sharp attitude walked in. Elly's heart is about to jump out of her chest as she watched Alex's eyes.

The bald man greets him "Director Hargreaves, why didn't you tell us you would come today?"

Alex ignores his handshake and approached Elly to her seat.

"You're recruiting employees who work for another company?"

The man gets confused by his question. He shakes his head. "No, my company never accepts that kind of person."

"Then why is my secretary having an interview at your company?" Alex stared at Elly while he asked the general director.

She needed to defend herself. She goes to the two men and calmly explains. "Director Hargreaves, there must be a misunderstanding here. I resigned and I'm no longer working for Hargreaves Corporation. Please stop interfering with me."

"Interfering with you?" Alex immediately grabbed her arm and when she gets close enough, he shrieks "I haven't approved your resignation yet, have I? You will be my secretary and Hargreaves Corporation's employee as long as I say it."

"Please stop, Mr. Hargreaves, it hurts." She resists.

The bald man tried to settle things amicably, Hargreaves Corporation was a big name and he needs to cooperate with them to survive in this city.

"Ms. Elly, even though my company is quite small, we still have rules here. We don't hire people who have not resigned from their companies, let alone the assistant general director is a very critical position. We can't hire such greedy people like you."

"I have resigned from Hargreaves Corporation, mister."

"Who do you call greedy?"

Elly and Alex speak at the same time, she was quite surprised but still felt the urge to explain herself.

Alex hates her impression. He turned to the bald man "You think I would go all the way for a mediocre secretary? Your company doesn't deserve her."

Then he dragged her out. She doesn't resist any more even though it still hurts. The elevator doors close and she finally uttered, "Can you please let my arm go?"

Alex let go of her arms but he still stared at her all the way down. Nevertheless, she tried to be tough against that look. He grabbed her arm again when they got off of the elevator. It hurts a lot, but she pretended to tough, she stared back at him "What do you want?"

"This is how you talk to your superior?"

"I resigned and you're no longer my superior. We're both equal." She was about to cry as she has been suppressing her emotions for a long time. She took out another CV for another company "Mr. Hargreaves, I have to go. Please."

The words "Mr. Hargreaves" seem to remind him of what happened three years ago. Alex becomes hysterical, though his words got more and more emotionless "I didn't accept your resignation, you're still working for Hargreaves Corporation. I can block your CV if you consistently apply for any company within this city."

"You!" She was so irritated and frustrated.

"You can't find any job outside of Hargreaves Corporation." Alex smiled at her with his arms crossed on his chest as he taunts her "You can't get away from me!"

"What do you want to threaten me this way? You don't have the right to decide whether I can stay or leave!" Elly yelled at him.

Alex felt her question a bit weird but still answers anyway "Because you're my secretary"

She can no longer hold her tears and anger anymore, she sat down and bursts into tears. "I just want to live a normal life. Is it that hard? Why do you all look down on me? I'm not a parasite. I will repay him whatever I owe him, why don't you believe me? I can find a new job! I don't want to slow anyone down, anymore! Where is my home after all?!" All the emotions that she holds back burst out with her tears, Alex assumed that she was talking about Mrs. Elliot, who was always against her relationship with John Elliot. It felt like salt on a wound as he watched her being miserable over another man.

He lowered his voice "Elly"

"Don't call my name!" Elly looked up and yelled. "Why do you keep following me? You're bullying me, everyone is bullying me" Elly sobbed and cried.