True Love Waits

Sighing, Debbie put the first-aid kit away and said, "Let's go. Let Evelyn be. She had a busy day at work, and I'm sure she's tired."

Carlos nodded and stood up from the sofa. "You wanna know what I think?" he asked Evelyn. "I think you need to play harder to get. String him on for a couple years if you want. If you get with him too quickly i might make you look desperate."

He turned to Debbie. "Honey, why are you staring at me? I mean it. We need to let Sheffield know that Evelyn's not that easy. Otherwise, he won't think she's worth keeping."

Debbie tried her hardest to drag the man out of the room as he prattled.

Carlos didn't want to leave the room yet. "I haven't hugged Gwyn yet!"

"Let the baby sleep now. You can see her tomorrow! Out!" Debbie insisted.

"Okay, okay." Carlos dropped the idea of hugging his granddaughter, but he was still angry with Sheffield. He continued, "Look, Evelyn. See this bruise? That was Sheffield. Tell him if he tries anything like that again, I'll beat the shit out of him every time I see him."

Carlos' voice trailed off when the door finally shut.

Silence reigned in the bedroom once more. Evelyn felt her head ache. She missed the calm, cold, decisive Carlos Huo. What happened to him? How did he manage to lose his cool?

Sighing helplessly, she tucked her sleeping daughter in and kissed her forehead before heading to the bathroom for a shower.

The next morning, at ZL Group

Evelyn called Nadia in and said, "Contact Theo Group and set up a meeting. I want to talk to Mr. Tang about his research projects." Actually, Evelyn didn't want to talk to him directly, so she asked Nadia to do it Nadia nodded, "Yes, Miss Huo."

Right then and there, Nadia dialed the phone number of the assistant to the CEO of Theo Group. "Hello, this is Nadia from ZL Group. My boss wants to meet with yours. When would be a good time to do that? Two minutes later, Nadia hung up the phone. "Miss Huo, they said...Mr. Tang is not in the office now. They'll call when he's back in."

Inexplicably, Evelyn heaved a sigh of relief. "Okay, thanks."

Nadia nodded with a smile.

"By the way, the managers are supposed to be conducting a tour of the company. Sort of a check-up on how things are running, right? Have they started that yet?" Evelyn shifted her attention back to work. "They will start in three minutes, Miss Huo."

in the day-to-day business of the company in a long

department. Evelyn wasn't on the list, despite her regional CEO title. But Carlos hadn't assigned her much

leaders and followed them around the company. It was good to have a chance to see who she was working

inspection tour. She just took extensive notes. When she found a problem, she put it on the list so she could address it later. Or put someone

financial department, Evelyn felt a stomach ache coming on. Handing Nadia the file in her hand, she said, "Don't mind me. I need to

"Yes, Miss Huo."

on

her hands and was about to leave when she heard

faucet and walked toward

while complaining over the phone, "Boo...hoo...it sucks! I'm under too much pressure! I can't stand it here anymore. My supervisor is a hellish bitch! She always chews me out. I felt pretty good walking into work this morning, but then she yelled at me out of the blue. She's just a department supervisor! Did she have to treat

silently listened to the girl's complaints. She more or less figured out what

supervisor yelled at her every day. It made working here a living

I don't mean to put this on you." She paused, waiting for the person on the other end of the line to say something. "I have to put up with her. I have

girl hung up the phone and wiped her tears with a tissue. When she turned around and was about to throw the tissue into

attire, the woman was clad in a long, brown dress with an asymmetrical hemline, silk scarf about her neck. On top

stood with arms over her chest, staring

used to getting what she wanted. The other girl couldn't look her in

wear a work uniform or any work badge, she

the trash and was

CEO stopped her

and turned around.

happy at

death and thought she was canned for sure. 'Oh crap! If she goes to the department

If the supervisor decided

work instead of hiding in here?"

paler. "I'm really done this time." She immediately greeted her supervisor respectfully,

Lily Xu, do you want to lose your job?" The indignant supervisor turned on Evelyn next. "And who

hadn't seen each other for two years, but they