Chapter 17: Distraction

Back in MH Groups, Neil Mo was listening to his employee's explanation. The board of directors has agreed to bid for the tender and acquire the land in the neighboring city. Because the city was famous for a few of its attractions, they were planning to develop the area into a shopping mall and a serviced hotel and apartment.

Neil glanced at his wristwatch and back at Manager Feng, who was swaying her long hair now and then while presenting numbers and figures on the white screen. The corner of his lips twitched at the sight of the manager's hair swiping back and forth as she moved her head.

It wasn't as if she was in a hair product commercial. Why does she have to move her hair around like that?

It was too distracting.

He tapped his fingers on the table impatiently and fought the urge to say something about it. A couple of seconds later, he raised a hand.

Autumn Feng paused and smiled. "Yes, President Mo?"

"Manager Feng, can you please stop that?"

Autumn stared back at the President with a dazed look on her face. "Stop what?"

"Swaying your hair around like that," Neil said. "Do you know what you reminded me of?"

Autumn looked at President cautiously. "What?"

"A cow, swinging its tail back and forth to drive away flies from its butt," Neil said with a disinterested look on his face.

Hearing the President's words, chuckling sounds could be heard, echoing in the room.

"Stop moving around too much and just get over with your report," Neil said.

"Yes, President Mo." Autumn glanced around the room in embarrassment before she continued her presentation. She was trying to attract the man's attention, but he had called her a cow. What an embarrassment!

After Manager Feng continued her presentation for a while, Neil lifted his hand again.

"Yes, President Mo?" Autumn could feel her sweat wetting her back as she watched the President raised his hand again. She was sure that she had stopped moving around as per the President's instruction.

"How much longer do you need?"

Manager Feng's smile froze as she looked at the president with a stupefied expression. She gathered up herself and turned to look at the image on the white screen. Then, she turned to the president, "Not much longer, President Mo. Around ten more minutes?"

Neil Mo waved his hand. "Continue. You have five minutes to conclude everything."

Autumn opened her mouth to say something but managed to stop herself when she saw the warning glance from Assistant Shawn. "Yes, President Mo." She adjusted her blouse before she continued talking about figures and numbers again.

Neil Mo leaned on his chair towards his assistant. "Tell Driver Tang to prepare the car within ten minutes to pick up Hazel."

Assistant Shawn nodded and left the room quietly.

When the presentation ended, Neil Mo quickly went downstairs after giving pointers on areas that can be fixed before they submit the tender. After giving his instruction to Assistant Shawn, he went into the car and left with his driver to pick up his niece.

"Assistant Shawn…"

Assistant Shawn turned around and saw Autumn approached him with a smile. "Manager Feng. What can I do for you?"

Autumn Feng looked at the direction where the President's car disappeared to and then, back at the Assistant. "Where is President Mo going? Why do I feel like he always went back early this few weeks?"

Assistant Shawn frowned at her questions. "Didn't you hear that President Mo is looking after his niece? Of course, he was going back early to look after the young miss."

Autumn stared at Assistant Shawn with her eyes wide. "Isn't that only a rumor?"

Assistant Shawn ignored the manager's question and walked inside. He still has a lot of work.

What he didn't tell Manager Feng was that President Mo would send his niece home to her nanny and then he would return to the office to deal with some unfinished work almost every day.

...

Neil Mo glanced around the kindergarten when the car comes to a halt. When he saw that there were no other parents around to pick up their child, he stopped Driver Tang from going out and instead, went out himself.

He walked to the front door and waited until the teacher came out with Hazel trailing behind her.

"Uncle," Hazel greeted. Her eyes sparkled when she saw that it was her uncle who came to pick her up instead of his driver, Grandpa Tang.

Neil smiled at the little girl and patted her soft hair. "I'm sorry I came later than I'm supposed to. I got stuck at work. Will you forgive me?"

Hazel nodded. Her lips curved into a small smile. "Alright."

"Come on. Let's go home." Neil took Hazel's backpack in one hand and held her hand with the other hand. Then he turned to Hazel's teacher and gave her a nod.

Edith Qian hesitated as she watched them walked to the exit. Seconds later, she called. "President Mo,"

Neil Mo turned around. "Is there anything else?"

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Neil glanced at Hazel. Then he nodded at the teacher.

Edith heaved with relief. She didn't know why, but looking at the man's expression made her a bit scared of him. It was no wonder why people would say that Neil Mo was like a block of ice.

"I'll walk you to your car." Edith Qian said quickly. She changed her shoes and followed them to the car.

Neil Mo ushered Hazel into the backseat and helped her with her seat belt. He closed the door and looked at the teacher. "What is it?"

"I found Hazel crying during nap time today," Edith Qian said.

Neil turned to the teacher with a frown. His eyes narrowed a little bit, making him look a bit more unapproachable than he usually did. The air around them became suffocating. He won't tolerate it if anything happened to Hazel.

"Did something happen to her? She didn't hurt herself, did she? Was she bullied?" Neil asked. A lot of other things went through his mind. Neil decided that he would do anything to punish the person who bullied his niece.

"Don't worry. It's nothing like that," She gave him an assuring smile and hoped that this guy would stop making another assumption. "It's just that… Hazel cried because she was missing her parents."

"Oh," Neil blinked. The suppressing air around him quickly vanished.

He knew that Hazel has been missing her parents every day, but he never saw her cried again after the news of her parents passing. Most of the time, Hazel has been suppressing her grief. She won't cry as she did not want to be a burden for him.

But to hear that she had cried today, Neil was heavyhearted.

His eyes flickered as he looked at the teacher before him before he glanced at the car. "I understand. Thank you for telling me this, Teacher Qian."

Edith smiled. "If there is anything I can do to help, please, do tell."