Free Web NovelChapter 342: What Exactly Do You Want To Know
After Timothy Woods left, Wendy Stewart sat alone in her office for a long time.
She was feeling a myriad of conflicting emotions, but she dared not let them show. She has to recollect herself in a short while.
In the afternoon, she rang her assistant’s internal line, "Please let the design department know that we will have a team meeting in ten minutes."
After sending the notice, Wendy adjusted herself. Ten minutes passed by quickly.
Wendy felt deeply moved as she set foot in the familiar conference room.
"Welcome back, Ms. Swift!" A warm welcome sounded in Wendy’s ears as she walked in. The sudden commotion made her let out a startled scream subconsciously.
After realising what had happened, she couldn’t help but smile, although her smile quickly became bitter.
"Ms. Swift, you are finally back! The first series of the Moonlight project was a complete success," a designer said excitedly. "We have all been looking forward to your return!"
"That’s right! Ms. Swift, our company felt like an empty shell when you were not around."
"Now that Ms. Swift is back, the second series of Moonlight project will definitely do even better than the first!"
...
The design department sincerely welcomed Wendy’s return. They genuinely believed that Wendy could bring them to greater heights.
Wendy smiled and nodded, "It was the result of everyone working hard together."
The meeting lasted two hours and counting.
Todd Lewis sent a text message to Wendy, asking her what time she would be leaving work. However, there was no reply from her end.
Looking at the time, Todd decided to head to HG straight.
He went straight to the conference room when he learned that Wendy was still in a meeting.
Like before, Todd found a spot and settled down quietly. He listened to Wendy speak on the stage and watched her as she presented confidently.
The only difference was that in the past, he had to hide his love for Wendy, and could only look at her with admiration. Now, he could blatantly look at her with love in his eyes.
As everyone was listening attentively to Wendy’s presentation, Todd’s arrival did not attract much attention.
However, as Wendy was standing on the stage, she quickly noticed when someone entered the meeting room. When she saw that it was Todd, she subconsciously raised her brows.
Wendy is slightly cautious with Todd now. She does not know if Todd was involved with Christian Lucas and Timothy Woods, or if he even knew about it.
"Alright, we will end the meeting here for today. Starting tomorrow, everyone should get ready to work overtime and stay up late," Wendy said with her arms folded, "I hope you can submit the design drafts for the second series in ten days."
As the meeting ended, the design department started teasing Todd and Wendy.
"Mr. Lewis, did you come to pick Ms. Swift off from work?"
"I heard that Mr. Lewis sent Ms. Swift to work this morning."
"Really? Why didn’t I know!"
"Mr. Lewis looks like he’d make a gentle and considerate boyfriend. It must be normal for him to drive his girlfriend to and from work."
...
Listening to their conversations, Wendy pretended to threaten them, "If you guys have too much time, I can come up with more tasks for you to complete."
"No, no, please don’t. We are going to get going, Ms. Swift. Goodbye!"
"See you tomorrow, Ms. Swift!" The designers left the meeting room in no time.
Seeing that Todd was the only person left in the conference room, Wendy walked over with a light smile and said, "Did you really come to pick me from work?"
"I promised that I would pick you to and fro work in the future," Todd Lewis reached out his hand to Wendy Stewart. His intention was obvious.
Wendy moved her hands unconsciously. It was just this morning that she had told Todd that she would try to accept him, giving him hope in this relationship.
It came to Wendy that things might have been better if she didn’t know about HG Enterprise and Christian Lucas.
That way, she could return to HG as planned, and also give herself and Todd a chance at their relationship.
Maybe she would really fall in love with Todd over time. They could live in Rheinsville city with Leah and Jake as a happy family of four.
Why did she have to find out?
With her head slightly lowered, Wendy slowly reached out her hand. However, she still felt a little reluctant when she reached Todd’s fingertips.
She curled her fingers up slightly. Smiling, she stretched her hand to tug her loose hair behind her ear, acting as if nothing happened.
Wendy took the lead to walk towards the exit.
"You are so busy with work. There is no need to pick me up every day. I’ll probably be very busy starting tomorrow after my official return to HG as well," she said with a smile.
"Our offices are so close to each other. Just let me know when you get off work, and I’ll be able to pick you up right away," Todd retracted his hand awkwardly while walking behind Wendy.
"So is my place and HG, it only takes me ten minutes to walk home from here," Wendy turned him down again, "So, there is really no need for that."
Her constant rejection caused Todd to frown slightly.
He knew that Wendy didn’t love him, but he didn’t expect that her feelings would begin to waver just a few hours after what she had said to him in the morning.
Todd clenched his fist slightly as he felt a little dejected. However, he dared not force Wendy. He was afraid that taking a step towards her would only push her further away.
"In that case, I will only drop by to pick you when I have the time," Todd relented.
Wendy bit her lip. She had wanted to say that he did not have to come at all, but she was afraid that Todd would get suspicious if her reaction was too extreme.
After packing up, they headed to the carpark from her office. It was a short car ride to Wendy’s place.
After pulling into the lot, Todd showed no intentions of leaving. Wendy knew that he was waiting for her to invite him to dinner at her place.
Considering their current relationship status as a couple, it is only natural for her to invite him for dinner. However, Wendy had not completely calmed down after today’s events and she did not know how to face Todd yet.
Todd could not hold it in any longer after seeing that Wendy had no intentions to extend an invite. "Is it convenient for me to get dinner at your place? I don’t feel like going through the hassle of cooking just for myself," he smiled and said.
Wendy could only nod her head after taking a deep breath.
Todd still felt a little happy even though her invite was not exactly willing. At least she had agreed to his request, didn’t she?
The atmosphere was a tad awkward as the two of them walked side by side.
Wendy searched her mind for a conversation starter and said, "Todd, have you made a request to Mr. Woods regarding HG shares before?"
"Yes, I have" Todd was a little surprised when Wendy raised this topic. "Why the sudden question?"
"I also mentioned it to Mr. Woods today, but he seems to be unable to decide on this," Wendy contemplated before deciding to sound Todd out. "Why didn’t he give you any shares? Your contribution to HG was quite significant during your time here."
"About this..." Todd Lewis seemed to be in a tricky situation.
"Is this a sensitive topic?" Wendy Stewart pretended to look puzzled as she observed Todd’s facial expressions.
"It’s kind of hard to explain," Todd would have simply ignored it if someone else had posed this question.
However, this is Wendy asking.
Their current relationship was a little complicated to begin with. Additionally, she rarely initiated any questions.
If he does not say anything, Wendy may feel that he is deliberately keeping the truth from her as he treats her as an outsider.
"If this is confidential information, you don’t have to say it," Wendy smiled and said intentionally.
"It’s nothing actually..." Todd had relented after all. "Mr. Woods is indeed not in charge of HG Enterprise. Above him, there is still the board of directors.
"They are very shrewd and would not hand over shares easily. The directors regard us as mere employees and never acknowledged the profit that we generated for HG.
"Their points of view are that HG gave us a platform and a chance to prove ourselves. Not only should we not ask for shares, but we should rather be more than grateful to HG."
This is the first time Todd had spoken badly of HG. However, Wendy felt that his explanation sounded superficial.
"So this was the reason you left HG and started your own business?" Wendy asked. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Todd’s eyes shifted slightly at her question. He smiled weakly and said, "Something along those lines. Well, they only took me as a money-making tool.
"Plus, the profit that I had generated for HG was more than enough to repay them for the opportunity they gave me. Naturally, there was no reason for me to stay. "
Wendy nodded. She could not find fault with Todd’s explanation, but she still felt that this was not the real reason behind his departure.
Considering Todd’s personality, he would not have left HG so abruptly if it was simply a conflict over the awarding of shares.
Although HG did not regard Todd as a valued employee, Timothy Woods had been very kind to him. Even if he wanted to leave, he would take Mr. Woods, who was both a benefactor and mentor to him, into account.
As far as Wendy could recall, Todd left HG to establish his start-up three years ago. Back then, they had been colleagues at HG for more than two years.
When he quit, he specially came to her and asked if she wanted to leave HG with him. He also said that HG was not a company worth staying at. His tone was solemn and firm back then.
Wendy recalled Todd’s expression at that time and felt that things were not as simple as Todd had just explained.
"I see. Then..." Looking at Todd’s face, Wendy asked the most important question after all, "Do you know who Christian Lucas is?"
"Christian Lucas?" Todd’s expression clearly changed upon hearing this name. However, he was quick to hide it.
"Yes, I know him. Isn’t he Michael’s younger brother?" Todd replied, "but I don’t have many interactions with him, and I don’t know much about him."
"Really?" Wendy felt disappointed at his answer.
Todd didn’t seem to be telling her the truth either. Could it be that he was also involved with Christian Lucas?
However, it seemed far-fetched to assume his relationship with Christian just because of the subtle changes in his facial expression. It is just that Wendy couldn’t be as unguarded against Todd as before.
"Corrine, what exactly do you want to know?" Todd realised that things were not that simple.
Feeling a little worried, he reached for Wendy’s wrist and asked in a serious tone, "Tell me the truth, Corrine, why did you suddenly put up a request for equity awards with Mr. Woods?"
Todd Lewis’s grip was a little too strong, causing Wendy Stewart to feel pain on her wrist. She frowned slightly and tried to wriggle out of his grip.
He realised that he was hurting her and let go of her wrist immediately. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it," he said apologetically.
Wendy knew that he didn’t mean it, but his reaction was obviously out of the norm.
"How was I the one who suddenly asked Mr. Woods for awarding of HG shares," Wendy chuckled while looking nonchalant. "It was Mr. Woods who insisted on rewarding me today, saying that the Moonlight project which I oversaw had been a great success.
"I told him that I didn’t need any reward and that he should just give my share to the design team. But he insisted that I should be rewarded too. So I was thinking that other companies would usually reward their staff with equity for cases like these and I mentioned it casually.
"He looked like he was in a spot, so I told him to forget that I mentioned it if it was a difficult request. I don’t really care about these anyway. But he maintained that he would try and fight for it for me.
"Then, he also mentioned that you had requested for HG shares before, but to no avail. It suddenly came to my mind so I just thought of asking you about it."
Wendy’s explanation was concordant with facts and had no loopholes. Todd calmed down a little and looked at her inquisitively.
When the elevator reached the basement story, Wendy entered first and pressed on her unit level.
As the elevator door closed, she looked at Todd’s expression and asked deliberately, "Todd, why were you so worked up all of a sudden?"
Todd’s discomposure was not exactly sudden. It had escalated since he heard of her request for equity from Timothy Woods.
But, he thought that since Mr. Woods did not award it to him when he had asked for it, it was basically impossible that he would give it to Wendy this time round too. Hence, he did not have to worry. freewebnovёl.ƈom
However, what Wendy said sounded unusual, and he felt concerned.
"Nothing much..." Todd took a deep breath and said, "Just don’t pin your hopes up for the awarding of equity. None of the directors on HG Enterprise’s board is kind."
"I just mentioned it casually anyway, I don’t carry much hope at all," Wendy replied.
At this moment, Todd and Wendy glanced at each other, seemingly scrutinising each others’ expressions and emotions. When they met each other’s eyes, they both averted their gaze.
Upon reaching Wendy’s unit level, she made a gesture for Todd to step out first. Todd had no mood to insist on chivalry at the moment and took the lead to head out.
Actually, he would like to persuade Wendy to give up on the equity allocation. However, it would appear odd if he was too persistent on this matter.
After all, equity is the most important aspect of a company. Employees who have made significant contributions to the company can all be allocated a certain amount of equity.
Based on Wendy’s massive contribution to HG Enterprise, it was long due that they reward her with equity. If he insists that she let go of this, it would appear that he was just bitter he did not get the equity when he asked for it back then.
<It is unlikely that HG would award equity to her. After all, HG is not an ordinary company. Over the years, HG has never issued equity to anyone before.> Todd thought to himself.
It was apparent that neither of them was in the mood to eat. However, since he was already here, Todd still forced himself to eat a little.
Wendy actually has more questions regarding HG for Todd. But his reaction just now was enough to show that he was on to something.
If Todd is really on Christian Lucas’s and Timothy Woods’s side, then further queries will only expose herself. Wendy does not dare to act rashly until she finds a fair enough reason.
