Midnight Bride The CEO’s Temptation

"However, since the theme of our competition is to increase sales by 10 percent in three months, your method of enlarging spoons may not be very effective."

Being afraid she might misunderstand him, he hastened to explain, "I'm not saying your method is bad, but it has to take time to show its value. If you just have an idea, your sight is a little narrow, and it'll be very difficult for you to beat me."

Hazel chuckled. Chris was so proud that when he reminded her, he couldn't help saying something bad to her.

"Thanks for the reminder," she said quietly. "But rest assured, I have other methods to solve these problems."

Chris's gaze changed at once. Did it turn out she still had other means? His worries were unnecessary. The meeting ended much quicker than expected, and Hazel was very pleased with the result.

There was still plenty of people with evil intentions, but at least they looked at her with new eyes, and they did not seem to be as disgusted as at the beginning of the meeting.

Plus, Hazel felt most of them had integrity, although they were jealous. Hence, she didn't have to worry that they would take Chris's side, and even if they did, very likely Chris would be the first to disagree.

"Manager Crowe, I'm really sorry..." Mandy followed Hazel into her office and apologetically said, "I just wanted to help, but I didn't expect it to cause you so much trouble."

"Don't say that," Hazel said with a smile. "Even without your plan, they wouldn't be kind to me, either. Besides, your plan is really good."

"Is it?" Mandy lowered her head a little shyly and pushed her glasses up on the nose. "But I think you have a better idea. You are really very talented."

"Joshua also said so," Hazel stuck her tongue out with a smug smile. "When I came up with this idea yesterday, I felt like he was looking at me differently, and he kept praising me I'm a genius!"

Mandy raised her head in surprise.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Hazel wore a wry smile. "You thought Joshua helped me, didn't you?"

"No, no, no," Mandy shook her head hastily. "I'm just surprised. Was Master Denmark unwilling to help you?"

"He promised not to help me this time," Hazel said with a chuckle. "I'm not going to give him a chance to make a mistake."

Mandy looked at her admiringly. "I wish I could have your extraordinary thoughts."

"You don't have to belittle yourself," Hazel smiled. "You also have your merits. I can't write such a detailed and organized plan as you can, so this time I'll offer ideas, and I'll leave the processing and polishing to you."

"It's really great that I can help!" Mandy said happily.

When Hazel told her what she was thinking, Mandy was taken aback.

"Manager Crowe… you are a genius!" Mandy sighed with emotions.

"Stop complimenting me," Hazel said a bit sheepishly. "How soon will the plan be ready?"

"Give me three days," Mandy said. "But I still need some data support,"

"You list the data you need, and I'll provide it to you." Hazel took a deep breath. "Mandy, you're the only person I can rely on here. Let's try our best together!"

"I will!" Mandy's eyes twinkled under her lenses.

***

Hazel had been busy all day. Neither she nor Mandy left as they stayed busy with the plan.

All of a sudden, Hazel moved her nose and asked blankly, "Mandy, am I hallucinating, or do you smell something delicious?"

"I smell it, too," Mandy said.

"Oh no, we forgot something very important," Hazel said as she touched her stomach and swallowed. "We forgot to have dinner! Ahhh, I'm going to faint from hunger. Quickly order some takeout…"

Before she finished the sentence, there was a knock on the door.

Hazel was a little startled and intuitively asked, "Who is it?"

"A deliveryman," The person outside replied quietly.

"The delivery man is that quick?" Mandy asked in surprise.

But Hazel was suddenly happy and rushed to the door and opened it. Joshua, who was in a suit, was standing outside the door and holding food containers, radiating a delicious smell.

"Why are you here?" Hazel delightedly took the food in his hand.

Joshua was a bit frustrated because he thought Hazel would at least give him a hug or something. However, she was only staring at the food, which really hurt his feelings.

He said quietly, "You didn't come back. I guessed you were working overtime, so I came to pick you up."

He walked inside, following her. When his eyes fell on Mandy, he slightly frowned.

"Master Denmark." Mandy stood up awkwardly. She lowered her head and looked very nervous. He gave her a slight nod and went to the sofa to sit down with Hazel.

"Mandy, come over and eat," Hazel beckoned her to come. "Let's work after dinner. Joshua brought a lot of food."

Mandy walked over, a little upset, and Hazel handed her a plate. Mandy quickly glanced at Joshua, he did not seem to care if she had dinner with them, so she took it from Hazel's hands.

"How's it going?" He calmly gave Hazel a bowl of porridge.

"Almost done," said Hazel, laughing.

Then she told him exactly what had happened today. He listened silently and occasionally replied with "Mmm."

"Did I handle it all right?" Hazel blinked.

"Great," he said, gently caressing her head. "My Hazel's getting more and more capable."

Hazel blushed from his praise.

He looked at the time and whispered, "It's too late. The plan can't be finished in a day. Let's go home today and continue tomorrow."

"Okay." She agreed obediently. It was true that she was so busy and absorbed that she forgot the time.

"Let's take Mandy with us," She suggested. "It's so late, and it's far from the city. It's not safe for her to go home alone."

He cocked his brows with a bit of displeasure.

Mandy was suddenly more embarrassed. She hurriedly said, "It doesn't matter. I can take a taxi by myself…"

"I'll arrange for a bodyguard to take her home," he said quietly.

Hazel agreed with Joshua's offer. The three of them walked downstairs, and after watching the bodyguard and Mandy walk away, Hazel got into the car.

"Why is she around you?" Joshua asked quietly.