From You to Another

On the day of the project kickoff meeting, I sat across from Gabriel for the first time as the contracting party. Gabriel was dressed in a sharp suit, looking completely businesslike, while Whitney sat beside him in a neat professional outfit.

I opened my laptop and began presenting the proposal. I had barely spoken for five minutes when Whitney raised her hand and interrupted me.

“Miss Stone, isn’t there a problem with this positioning?”

I paused and looked at her. “The positioning report was determined during the early research phase. Your side has reviewed and signed off on it.”

Whitney smiled slightly. “That was before. The project is my responsibility now. If I think it’s unsuitable, then it needs to be changed.”

Beside her, Gabriel nodded. “Whitney’s right. Go back and revise it.”

I paused for a second before saying, “Alright.”

Then, I continued with the presentation.

Ten minutes later, Whitney interrupted again. “This circulation design doesn’t work either. It’s too complicated. When your team made this proposal, did you visit the site?”

“We’ve been to the site three times,” I replied. “The circulation plan is based on–”

Whitney cut me off, “I’ve read your analysis report. The data sources are wrong. Redo it.”

Gabriel nodded again. “Make the changes she mentioned.”

His gaze briefly landed on my face, but he quickly looked away and lowered his head to check his phone.

I took a deep breath and agreed. “Okay.”

After that, Whitney interrupted every five minutes. The issues she pointed out became increasingly unreasonable. People in the conference room exchanged uneasy glances, but no one dared to say anything.

When the presentation finally ended, I shut my laptop.

Whitney smiled brightly, saying, “Miss Stone, thank you. Revise the proposal, and we’ll meet again next time.”

After the meeting, she stopped me in the hallway. Her smile looked gentle.

“Miss Stone, I’ll be the one handling the project coordination from now on. We’ll be communicating often.”

She lowered her voice and leaned slightly closer. “Gabriel said the success of this project will affect whether the Stone family will continue to work with Black Group in the future. Don’t worry, I’ll be more than happy to ‘cooperate’ with you.”

Looking at her smiling face, I suddenly had the urge to ask if she knew that her man had gone through seven girlfriends in a single year. However, I didn’t.

All I said was, “Then let’s play by the rules.”

Her smile grew even sweeter. “Of course, I’ll follow the rules. I’m just worried you, Miss Stone, might not be used to them.”

She turned to leave, then suddenly looked back and added, “Oh, right, Miss Stone. Gabriel said that once this project is done, we’ll officially announce our marriage.”

I stood there, watching her disappear down the end of the corridor.

For the next week, I worked overtime every night. The proposal went through eight revisions. Every time I submitted it, Whitney sent it back. My coworkers complained in private, saying Whitney was clearly doing it on purpose. However, I told them to do the revision because I knew she was doing it on purpose, so saying anything else would be pointless.

At eleven o’clock one night, I was alone in the office revising the proposal when someone knocked on the door. I looked up and saw the security guard standing at the door, saying someone was looking for me.

When I went downstairs, I saw Felix standing in the lobby, holding a paper bag in his hand.