The meal was satisfying. Pheonix Lou avoided unwanted situation by standing idly there, so she went to the washroom.
Washing her hands, three young women came in. They were typical arrogant women from rich family.
They were aware Pheonix Lou was the one with Desmond Claude. Hatred and jealousy were written all over their faces.
One of them step forward to confront Pheonix Lou.
'Never seen you before. What's your relationship with Chairman Claude?'
Pheonix Lou calmly walked passed them without answering her, as if they weren't even there.
The one who stood at the back immediately grabbed Pheonix's arm and yelled.
'Are you deaf?!'
Pheonix's face darkened. Her soft pink lips slighty curled up, let a cold toned words of her be heard out.
'I suggest you to ask him about our relationship if you want to know.'
Pheonix released her arm from the woman's grab, walked out quickly before they could react. She didn't want to cause a ruckus, she headed back to the hall where the event still went on.
A dashing figure in his light grey suit walked towards her, gently reached out her hand, bowing his back as he asked her to dance.
Judging by what he just did, he made every eyes believed he was a perfect gentleman, who treat his partner very well.
Regardless what the other saw, Pheonix Lou knew it was only an act which she had to play along.
Desmond Claude led her to the dance floor, grabbed her slim waist with one hand, their body got real close.
'CEO Claude, I don't have a clue how to dance.'
She spoke quietly that only both of them could hear what she said.
'Just follow my lead!'
From afar, they portrayed a pair of loving lovebirds, dancing gracefully.
Everyone reacted in astonishment.
The Cold CEO had never been seen dancing with a woman before!! What charm she might have to enchant the CEO?
The Charity dinner ended when the sky got really dark.
On the backseat of a luxurious black limousine, the handsome man and the beautiful girl sat quietly.
Affected by the movement of the vehicles, the tired Pheonix Lou slowly fell asleep.
Tha handsome man in his suit looked at her sleeping figure.
'Wouldn't it be wonderful, if the one beside me was the girl from 10 years ago? If she were to be mine, I surely will dote on her and protect her dearly.'
Desmond Claude himself couldn't explain how he grew that kind of feelings for a brief encounter that time.
The car had arrived in Jade Lake Villa. Desmond Claude got off the car, entered his house, leaving behind the girl who was still asleep inside the car.
The Chauffeur carefully waking Pheonix Lou up.
She opened her eyes, thank the chauffeur, and she got into the house.
After a warm shower, she checked outside her bedroom. It was quiet, Desmond Claude must have been asleep. She closed the door tightly, sitting on the bed with a laptop on her lap, doing her unfinished work.
——
Lunch Break, Claude Corporation.
Last night, Pheonix worked until she fell asleep with her laptop on her lap. Since morning, her body felt so sluggish and a mild fever occured. Unaffectedly, she forced herself to work like usual.
'Secretary Lou, are you alright?' Luke Tyson put a cup of hot tea on her desk.
Pheonix Lou looked worn off. It was already bad that she wasn't able to get a proper rest, the tasks she was working on, kept increasing.
She smiled, 'I'm alright, Assistant Tyson. Thank you.'
Pheonix had her meal while still busy doing her tasks on her desk.
Luke Tyson and Pheonix Lou were colleagues after all. Even before Luke Tyson knew she was a girl, they were quite close like brothers. He sympathized her even more now that he knew she was a girl and she was having a tough time.
'Don't forget, we still have to accompany the CEO tonight. Take care of yourself.'
'I will.'
Inside the CEO office, Desmond Claude opened his new message.
Mom: 'I'm so glad, my son is finally into a girl! I read the news earlier, who was the girl with you yesterday? What family is she from? You must bring her for dinner at home!'
Does she really think her son is a gay?!
How quick the media nowadays to spread the news about yesterday event. That was good, though!
Desmond Claude lazily typed a reply. 'I'm not a gay! She is my subordinate. It's not necessary to bring her home.'
Mom: 'I was just so happy and you just ruined my happiness by knowing that you used her only for public image. When will I see you get married??'
Desmond Claude: 'Don't worry about me, mom! I'm busy, talk to you later.'
The chat ended.
The bright sky turned to dark. The night life in the city brought another exciting colour.
In a famous night club, Desmond Claude, Pheonix Lou, Luke Tyson, along with some bodyguards in black, was led into a VIP room where people of HL had been waiting.
After some acts of courtesy, they did the business talk. Desmond Claude was sitting on the arm chair, his bodyguards stood behind him. Luke Tyson and Pheonix Lou was standing next to the arm chair.
Those people from HL were in the opposite side. The president was a bald fat old man, wearing a gold necklace and some rings in his fingers. His subordinates were standing behind him.
Today was supposed to be the the first and the last meeting with the HL. They had been very pushy and nosy regarding the harbour project which handled by Claude Corporation. As they persisted to be one of Claude Corporation partner, they made another proposal.
The CEO of Claude Corporation, Desmond Claude sensed something was not right, any proposals HL made was terribly unimpressive, yet they started to play some hidden tricks to force Claude Corporation in order to give them a chance. In Desmond Claude's eyes, HL was an unsignificant company, but they had to understand when to stop otherwise worse consequences were inevitable.
Assistant Tyson had done an investigation about HL. They were short on cashflow, the owed money but failed to return it. As a result, they became a puppet for a mafia. It was likely that now, HL wanted to find a strong backing to free himself. This HL wasn't simple.
Not for long, the conversation became more tense. The bald man was very stubborn. On the contrary, Desmond Claude stayed calm in his cold demeanor. He had said what he need to say, ignoring the bald man words.
Unwell Pheonix Lou couldn't bother to pay attention to their conversation any longer, she felt dizzy. Nevertheless, she shouldn't cause any more troubles in this heated situation.
To keep her composure, she diverted her attention. Her eyes moving around her surroundings.
Suddenly, a glimpse of a shiny thing caught her sight, continued with a man from HL unpredictably leapt towards Desmond Claude.
'CEO Claude, watch out!'
In the speed of light, she spontaneously blocked the man surprised attack. She skillfully dodged the swaying knife in front of her.
It was absolutely handy to have a martial art skill.
Desmond Claude soon alerted when he saw Pheonix jumped in front of him. He quickly signaled his bodyguards to take action while he tried to get Pheonix away from the mad man.
Somehow the VIP room turned into chaos. Changing the VIP room to a fight arena, people of HL was insane! They didn't have good intention from the start as they must have been plotting this.
Before Desmond Claude managed to pull her, Pheonix Lou struggled to keep her focus in avoiding the knife due to her fever and resulted in a cut on her right arm when she covered her face. A fresh red blood flowed out.
It was a little too late, but Desmond Claude successfully grabbed the mad man wrist fiercely, that the knife dropped on the floor. He proceed by breaking the man's arm and throw a hard kick on him.
Desmond Claude was a well trained martial artist with a good endurance than most men. His few attacks undoubtedly caused a great blow that the man screamed in pain and lied hopelessly on the floor.
Luke Tyson hurriedly made a way for Desmond Claude and Pheonix Lou to get out of the room. Desmond Claude held Pheonix's shoulder as he dragged her to follow him.
Pheonix Lou was a girl in reality. Somehow to be defended by a girl, Desmond felt ashamed. She even got hurt.
After getting out from the club, Pheonix who had been quiet, felt her sight became blurry and darker. She fell unconscious.
'Pheonix Lou!'
Desmond and Luke called her name in unison.
Without a second thought, Desmond Claude lifted her up like a princess.
Her blood had been dripping and stained her clothes. Her lips was pale, her cheeks were blushing, she was scorching hot.
Rushed into the car, Desmond asked the chauffeur to go to the hospital. Unfortunately, after checking, the route to the hospital was in heavy traffic that he decided to go home and had her treated at the villa.
'I have called the doctor and he will be arriving soon with all the equipments needed, CEO Claude.'
——
For about half an hour, the doctor came out with the nurse.
'Chairman Claude, the wound on Miss Lou has been treated. Luckily, It's not serious, but it may leave a little scar without proper care. However, Miss Lou needs a lot of rest and proper nutrition. Her fever occured due to exhaustion and probably stress. She's sleeping now. Here's the prescription.'
The doctor and the nurse left the villa. Luke Tyson took the inisiative to get the medicines and called for the maids to come early tomorrow.
The bodyguards who were left in the club called Desmond Claude to report back. Apart from getting scolding for their incompetence, which resulted on Pheonix's injured arm, they had put the situation under control and would leave the matter to the police.
Desmond Claude made a call to the police station. As expected, they couldn't afford to offend the CEO of Claude Corporation, they would take HL matter seriously. The police was also informed that the lawsuit representatives of Claude Corporation would deal with the issue.
Desmond Claude then went for another call, instructed his men to do some investigations, to blacklist HL and its alliances, and to destruct HL as well.
Finishing his business, Desmond Claude went to see Pheonix Lou in her bedroom.
At times, he was confused by his own self, why he couldn't just ignored her? She was a mere secretary, she was not more than his prisoner too. With her schemes, she had lied to him. Why bothered to show some care? He wasn't short of maids or men to look after her or send her to the hospital.
She was sleeping in a clean white sleeping gown. Her wig was taken off when they arrived at the villa. Her long hair covered most part of the pillow, her beautiful face started to show some colours, a bandage covered her delicate right arm, while her left arm was connected to the IV drip.
It was the second time the mighty CEO of Claude Corporation, personally changed her clothes to a clean one without her knowledge.
The thing was, the clothes needed to be changed. It didn't mean he didn't feel anything when seeing a woman's body, but he was a man with a good self control.
It was good she never realized it, otherwise, she would think bad about him.
Desmond Claude sat on the arm chair, in the corner of the bedroom. He casually checked on the company through his phone. He was amazed on how Pheonix Lou had done all the tasks, he gave her, pretty well. He deliberately made it hard for her, but she did it without complaints.
He stared at her side profile. Reminded by what the doctor told him, he was also one of the main cause of her exhaustion.
'You could've let that HL scum wound me. But why you blocked him, Pheonix Lou?'
The girl had the ability to drive him speechless, she dared to make him so pissed off, yet she also amazed him by how she bounced when she got pressed down.