"I'll live with you?!" Eliza exclaimed after carefully reading the contract halfway. "Seriously?!"
Jalil calmly nodded. "What do you think of a married couple? Live in a separate house?"
"Ah, right." Eliza read the contract again, then looked at Jalil in disbelief after a few seconds. "4 years?!"
Jalil just sighed out of frustration while massaging his temple with his index finger. "Will you stop exclaiming? It's annoying. 4 years is quite enough for us to be convincing."
Eliza nodded, and then he signed the end part of the paper with her full name and signature. "When is the wedding?"
"The next day."
Eliza halted and stared at Jalil for a short moment before she started talking. "Hey. At least give me some time to tell my family."
"We can talk to them tomorrow." Jalil slid his swivel chair backwards, just enough for his drawer to be opened. He then pulled out a small red velvet box. "Wear it from now on. It will be our engagement ring."
Jalil took the bigger ring and put it on his ring finger; Eliza wore the smaller one as well.
Eliza stretched her hand to look at the ring. It was a silver ring that had a spiral figure engraved on it. There were also three small diamonds at the center of the spiral.
"It's beautiful," she whispered to herself. "You picked this yourself?"
"Yes," Jalil responded, then he stood up. "We will meet your parents tomorrow. Atty. Vasquez will send you home for now so you can pack your things. I'll pick you up by 10 a.m. tomorrow."
Eliza just nodded, and then Jalil left the office. Eliza immediately glared at Vasquez and crossed her arms after she saw Jalil close the door. "You lied to me!"
"I did not." Vasquez showed an innocent look.
"Yes, you did!" Eliza stood up and pointed at Vasquez's forehead. "You told me I'd be paid a million every month."
"Well, that's what I thought too," Vasquez replied.
"Stop lying; you just said it to persuade me!"
"Well, it worked," Vasquez's grinned, which made Eliza sigh out of frustration.
"I should remove you from my friend lists."
"As if you have any other friend besides me," Vasquez's joked, and then he stood up. "Let's go."
"You still lured me," Eliza said before following Vasquez.
"If I hadn't, would you be here?" Vasquez looked in her direction. "Honestly, I really thought it would be every month. I guess he will be observing you first; that's why he decided to pay you every year."
Eliza fell silent for a moment as they continued to walk, leaving the CEO's office. "Anyway, he wasn't as scary as I thought. He was serious but gentle."
Vasquez shrugged his shoulders. "He was different when he was still with his ex-fiancée. Though his gentleness was still there, his smile disappeared. I rarely see him laugh."
Eliza didn't talk anymore and just quietly followed Vasquez until they arrived at the ground floor. Whispers and gossip were heard once again.
Eliza tried to ignore the murmurs around her, but she halted as she heard something she didn't like. She turned around and saw a girl at one of the tables; she was sitting at the corner, right, having coffee and chitchatting with her two other colleagues.
"See, I was right! That's why their marriage was cancelled because he had another woman. I bet his ex-fiancée knew about it and ran away. Poor woman."
Eliza closed her eyes first, as she got annoyed by what she heard. She let out a deep sigh and walked towards the girls, which made Vasquez confused, and he followed her with his gaze.
They all stopped talking; nervousness was written on the faces of those three as they saw her walking towards them.
"Hi!" Eliza greeted them, but they were just silent. "What? Cat got your tongue? You were too loud earlier; why can't you greet back?"
"Eliza, what are you doing?" Vasquez whispered when he got close to Eliza, but she just ignored him.
Eliza saw the papers on their table; there was a word 'Reports' written in bold at the center of the front page paper. She took the paper and read it. "Whose work is this?"
The three of them looked at each other, then the other two pointed at the girl on the right. Eliza smirked. "Did you graduate from college?"
The girl slowly nodded with her gaze on the floor.
Eliza nodded. "Didn't your college teach you the correct spelling of receipt? Oh, and also accommodate and acknowledge."
The girl fell silent, as did the other two. They were all shut up in embarrassment.
"I see. It wasn't your college's fault. It's solely your brain." Eliza clicked her tongue, put down the papers, and crossed her arms as she directly looked at the girl on the right. "You should be grateful the company accepted you, but instead you were spreading bad rumors. Where are your manners?"
"Eliza!" Vasquez looked around him and saw everyone's eyes now looking at her. He gently held her left arm to stop her. He was worried that Jalil would see her.
But, knowing his best friend, she was unstoppable when it came to this.
"Eliza, let's—"
"What's going on here?" All eyes landed on Jalil as he spoke. He was walking in Eliza's direction, emanating a strong aura.
Atty. Vasquez could do nothing but bow his head in worry. He didn't know what to do.
Eliza fell silent as well. She knew she had no right to fight with Jalil's employee, as she was just an outsider. But she couldn't let it pass.
"I asked you what's going on." Jalil was now facing Eliza. Although his voice was gentle, Eliza's heart wouldn't stop pounding in fear. She was just looking down, unwilling to answer his question.
Jalil looked in the girl's direction and immediately understood the situation. He took a faint sigh and faced the girls. "You will tell me what's happening here, or all of you will be fired?"
Eliza looked at Jalil in disbelief, as did the three girls, who were now frozen in fear.
"Nothing, sir," the girl on the right answered.
"Is it true?" Jalil looked in Eliza's direction. "Tell me the truth. If you lie, I will fire Atty. Vasquez instead."
Vasquez's eyes dilated. "Wait. I didn't do anything wrong!"
Jalil just coldly stared at Vasquez. "I told you to send her home, but you're still here."
"Jalil. It's not his fault. I was just—" Eliza's sentence was cut off as the girl in the middle stood up.
She was trembling as she slowly looked into Jalil's eyes. "We said something bad about you; that's why she approached us."
Jalil faced the girl and stepped closer to her. "Tell me."
"We said that she was your other woman, which ruined your marriage," the middle girl replied.
Jalil looked at Eliza, then back to the girls. "Apologize to her."
Eliza was surprised. She looked at Jalil with those questioning eyes. She didn't want an apology; she was just calling out the girls for their misbehavior.
Eliza gently tapped Jalil's arm, signaling him to stop. But Jalil just looked at her with a serious expression on his face.
"I said, apologize to her," Jalil repeated. The three of them stood up and bowed while shouting 'I'm sorry' to Eliza.
Eliza couldn't do anything but shut her mouth and just watch the girls. She started to regret what she had just done. She should've ignored them.
Jalil nodded and asked the three's names. She took their IDs and gave them all to Atty. Vasquez.
"I appreciate your bravery for telling the truth and apologizing. This will be your last warning." Jalil calmly said to the girl in the middle, then his gaze changed as he looked at the other two. "While you two can pack your things, you're fired."
The two girls were left dumbfounded as Jalil left shortly after firing them. Eliza, who was also surprised, followed Jalil's pace and stopped him by holding his hand. "Can we talk?"
Jalil didn't say anything and just went along with Eliza. They stopped at the corner, just enough distance to prevent someone from hearing their conversation. Eliza looked left and right before she faced Jalil.
"Why did you fire them? You should've given them a chance."
Jalil crossed his arm with that calm expression shown in his face. "I gave them a chance. I asked them what happened; the other one lied for saying nothing, and the other remained silent even though I repeated my question."
Eliza pouted. "I should've ignored them."
Jalil let out a faint sigh. "Stop worrying about them. You will be my wife, and you will be dealing more like them in the future. You must prepare yourself rather than feeling guilty."
Jalil looked at his watch, and then he looked at Eliza and said, "I need to go. You should go home. Ignore anything you'll hear, or else I'll have to fire everyone."
Eliza just glared at Jalil and turned around to leave. She walked as fast as she could, passing by in front of Vasquez without looking at him.
"Firing them is a bit harsh. He could've warned them or something," she murmured as she entered Vasquez's car.
Vasquez glanced at Eliza through the front mirror after he sat in the driver seat and said, "Don't worry, Jalil might be already observing those girls and just finding the right timing to dismiss them. It's not your fault."