บท 31: Rumour

Mia was riding on the bus while listening to some music. It was the usual thing, she felt that today will be normal as well. As she reached the building, the people around were whispering with each other. She did not notice this incident as she was still listening to some music while going up the elevator. Mia was not fond of idle gossip, and she does not take the initiative to start one either.

"Hey, have you heard about Miss Ford?" Lady A said.

"Yes, I heard Mr. CEO and her had a fight and they broke up so she's leaving the company." Lady B said.

"I heard there was a third party involved!" said lady C excitedly.

The three were quick to chatter away with their own hypothesis. They giggled, acted surprised and try to link up more people in their fantasies. They even spice up the conversation saying, "Mr. CEO got Miss Ford pregnant and he did not want to marry her so they had a fight."

"Oh my God!" the girls squealed while adding more ideas.

"I heard it was the new girl who is the third party." Another lady said. As a coincidence, Mia had just walked away from them after greeting them. They had their hypocritical faces on and greeted her back, but as Mia walked away, they stared at her back and started discussing again.

"I knew there was something going on when she was hired and given that position!" one lady said while staring daggers at Mia's back.

"I mean, look at her face. She must have used her body to satisfy the CEO." Another lady said.

"I bet she used her body while getting around the company heads. You know, to make things easier for her work." Another woman added.

"That slut, using her body to get a higher position." All the other women agreed. They made gestures and animatedly continued their discussion without caring about the reputation of the person behind the story.

Some even used the company messenger to send these vile rumors around the company. As it was passed by one person to another, the story got worse and worse. When Mia arrived at the 30th floor, people were giving her odd looks, the women eyed her from head to toe, and the men looked at her lustfully.

This gossip spread like wildfire in their company. Just like how forests fires continue to savagely destroy the environment, this time it was Mia's reputation being destroyed.

Melissa arrived early in the company and was inside Williams's office as they talked. They could not hear any sound from the outside as the room was soundproofed. However, they made their judgment based on the silhouette that can be seen outside.

Melissa sent William a message that she wanted to have a serious conversation with him. William knew that this request will be coming sooner or later so he prepared himself and agreed to it. William preferred to talk in the office as it was a matter of business for him. However, Melissa thinks otherwise and wanted to do it outside the company but William did not give in so they agreed upon talking in his office.

Inside William's office

Melissa was sitting across William. William sat there with his cold, calculative face like he always had.

Melissa, on the other hand, looked pale and uncomfortable to start the conversation.

"I heard from father. Is it true?" It took all the courage Melissa had to ask this question.

"What exactly did you hear from your father?" William said still with his cold demeanor.

Melissa bit her lip and gripped her hands tightly, she wanted to find out the truth from William's own mouth. She did not want to accept her father's words but there was something deep inside her heart that bothered her.

"You did not accept marriage proposals because you already have someone you like," Melissa said with tears welling up her eyes.

"Yes, that's true," William said without changing his facial expression.

Melissa's strength was running out of her body. She felt helpless when she found out the truth from William. For a long time she was not expecting anything from William, but the last couple of months there were some changes in his demeanor. She thought they were becoming closer to one another and this gave her hope. However, that hope had turned to utter despair as she heard the cold hard truth. She then suddenly thought of something, the beginning of the change. She did not want to accept this as it was only bothering her from the start, but now her suspicions are starting to form her own conclusions in her head. She was finally able to open her mouth as she said.

"Is it Mia?" Melissa said while confronting William's cold eyes.

William had a hint of surprise in his eyes, it was only for a moment but Melissa was able to catch this change in William. This was enough confirmation for her. It was when she started working in the company that William started to change. He became softer, kinder and gentler. Melissa was starting to get angry, she was used as a tool from the beginning. William wanted to get closer to Mia and used her as a reason. It was better if he put Mia in another department but he was the one who made the decision for Mia to be her subordinate.

The fire of hatred was starting to burn in her heart. She who has devoted herself to William for years was stepped on by a girl who arrived for a couple of months. Her hard work and effort turned into dust when she appeared as William only had eyes for her.

She could not accept this fact.

No, she did not want to accept this

She stood up from her chair, tears no longer in her eyes. She was glaring at William and said, "This is not over."

Melissa walked out of the office, she was walking tall as her beautiful face did not display a single hint of emotion. She did not look at anybody, aside from one person. Her focused eagle-like eyes was looking at Mia's location. She gave Mia one last look and left without getting anything or saying anything.