The Day I Kissed An Older Man by Cher the Cherished

"Umm... About earlier, I—"

"I'm sorry, Miss Rita," Sherman interrupted with an apology. "I hope you'll pay no mind to my earlier comments. As you can see, she wasn't in the right frame of mind. I was angry, and her frustration rubbed off on me too. I hope you don't take it to heart, and I sincerely apologize if it offended you."

At that moment, Rita felt as if she had been thrown into an ice-cold bath. "Oh... Don't worry, I didn't take it to heart. With that said, I'd like to ask if you could explain why I became the subject of conversation between you and Miss Claire. If you don't want me to misunderstand anything, it would be better for you not to mention my name at all. That way, I wouldn't be placed in a tight spot either."

Sherman could sense Rita's anger, despite her smile. "I'm sorry," was all he could offer, as he found himself unable to admit that the entire blow-up happened because Claire thought he had fallen in love with Rita.

"Miss Rita, why did you come to see me today?" Sherman changed the topic.

Rita took a deep breath and decided not to argue with Sherman. After all, there were more important things at play there. "I was hoping you'd agree to let me investigate the developer with you."

proposal sternly. "I've reminded you many times not to get involved. Or perhaps you're under the impression that this will work the same way as your last interview

you because you're planning to remove the clues?" asked Rita,

incompetent that I'm not even qualified

of safety. There's more to the developer than you think, and I trust I've already told you that. You have

did not want to get involved in the matter. She was a newcomer who had little knowledge of how things worked in

to evade the

Bu

them, then the scope of their influence ran clearly far wider than at first glance. Sherman himself went the extra mile to be cautious when investigating the matter, so there was every reason not to

Rita get involved.

working alone would allow him to focus on the task without worrying about