Departed With A Belly {1}

Meaningless to Try and Fight

Claudia froze. It wasn't as if she didn't think of that. She tried dropping hints, but she didn't know whether Alaric didn't pick up on them or whether he was
merely pretending to not notice them.
Either way, he didn't agree.

Claudia couldn't be too forward either.
What if he thinks I'm an easy woman?
Therefore, she had to just swallow this bitter pill.Victoria raised her eyebrows when Claudia didn't respond. In fact, she
looked ashen-faced.

"Or are you picking on me because you can't get him to go out and meet Claudia raised her head and glared at Victoria.
Victoria simply looked back at her in amusement.

"Am I wrong? You don't need to do all these unnecessary things. You
obviously despise me, and yet, you brought me lunch. Are you trying to prove to him how generous and magnanimous you are? My advice would be to save it. If the person you like doesn't like you simply because you don't seem magnanimous enough, then you should hurry up and switch to a different person."

Victoria's words hit Claudia's sore spot.
Claudia clenched her fists. It was as if she wanted to smash Victoria into a pulp.
Victoria's lips curved into a sweet smile.

"I still have work to do. If there's nothing else, then you can leave now."

Claudia was infuriated. She was beginning to regret her attempt at
pretending to be a generous, open-minded person.

She wanted to mock Victoria, but at the same time, she was afraid that Victoria would be pissed enough to run her mouth in front of Alaric, so she forced herself to
smile again.

"You don't need to be so hostile toward me, Victoria. You agreed to my request, so we're even now. I just want to be friends with you and take care of you. After all, going by our ages, you could consider me an older sister-"

Before she could finish, Victoria cut her off coldly. "I'm the only daughter in
my family, Miss Johnson." Claudia remained silent for a moment before saying, "Alright. I guess today's menu isn't to your taste. I'll get going then."

She took her lunchbox and left. As soon as she was gone, Yasmin rushed in and asked angrily, "Why did she come here, Miss Victoria? Did she bully you?"
Victoria was startled. "You don't like her?Yasmin nodded heavily.

"Of course! If it wasn't for her, those people at the cafeteria wouldn't have said those things about you, Miss Victoria. I hate her!"

Victoria briefly stared at Yasmin in silence before asking, "Do you plan to
stay at this job for long?"

"Yes!" Yasmin declared with a smile. "I like it here. As long as Cadogan Group doesn't fire me, then I'll keep working here." Victoria's expression turned grim.

"Since you like it here, you should keep your emotions in check." Yasmin was startled by the way Victoria's expression and tone became cold so abruptly. "W-What?"

"Do you know what relationship she and Alaric will have in the future? Do you know whether you can afford to offend her or not? If you want to keep your job here, rein in your emotions.

Don't put them on full display all the time." Victoria's tone was so harsh and merciless that Yasmin was in shock. Her eyes slowly turned red as she stood frozen in place. She couldn't understand why Victoria was berating her when she was just taking Victoria's side.

"M-Miss Victoria, I'm not trying to let my emotions show, I just... I just don't like hearing other people saying bad things about you, and that woman-" Victoria's frown'deepened and her tone became even harsher.

"It seems to me that you still don't understand what l'm saying, so listen carefully now. At the end of the day, you're just an employee at Cadogan Group. How are we related? Why would I need you to stand up for me?"

Yasmin's eyes were filled to the brim with tears, but she bit down hard on her lip to stop them from falling out. The office fell into pin-drop silence. After a while, there was the sound of someone clearing his throat.

"Ahem!"

Victoria looked up and realized that Noel was standing outside the door. She didn't know when he came over.

Thus, Victoria turned back to Yasmin and commanded curtly, "Go back to work."

Yasmin nodded. She didn't dare to disobey Victoria. As she brushed past Noel, he could see her pitiful drops of tears finally rolling down her cheeks.
Once she left, Victoria asked, "Did you need something, Noel?" Noel came in and closed the door behind him.

He looked at Victoria a little helplessly.
"Did you have to speak so harshly? Even though you meant well, you run the risk of getting your intentions misinterpreted."

Victoria lowered her eyes. Her expression remained indifferent. "It doesn't matter whether or not she misunderstands it. Either way, I'll be leaving soon enough."
If I didn't take a harsher tone with her, then she'd still be stuck inside her naive world.

How will she survive if she doesn't become more mature? Victoria spoke with a matter-of-fact tone, but it was enough for Noel to pause ever so slightly.

After placing the document that he brought with him on her desk, he pretended to ask offhandedly, "Are you getting ready to leave? When?"

She didn't keep anything from Noel, apart from her fake marriage to Alaric and the baby. She pressed her lips and said, "I haven't decided exactly when yet, but it'll
happen soon."

Noel cocked an eyebrow and said nothing.
Even though she hadn't fixed a time, she said it was happening soon, and the attitude she took when she scolded Yasmin today was a solid clue as well.

She's probably leaving the company within a month. Seems to me that it's
time for me to make my plans too. Upon noticing that Noel was silent in thought, Victoria couldn't help but frown. "What are you thinking about, Noel?"

Noel quickly snapped out of his thoughts. He looked at her without saying anything.
Victoria was apprehensive. "Don't tell me you're thinking about resigning."

The very possibility of this startled her.
However, Noel simply gave her an unreadable smile. "Don't worry. I wasn't
thinking about that."

Victoria didn't want to press him on the subject. Some things were beyond the realm of their relationship, and she didn't want to dive deep into Noel's thoughts.

Seeing that she fell silent, Noel said reassuringly, "It's alright. Don't worry.
Just focus on your matters first. Do you really plan on leaving just like that?"

Noel's gaze flashed enigmatically.

"I'm not trying to criticize you, but you spent two years with him. Are you
leaving the moment she comes back?
Isn't that a bit too weak of you? It makes it seem as if you're a pushover."

Noel paused before he frowned and slowly continued, "Victoria, you've
never been the type of person to allow anyone to bulldoze over you like that. Why is it that whenever he's involved, you become..." Victoria lowered her eyes.

It was true. Whenever the situation involved him, she would shrink back and become entirely helpless.

It wasn't that she couldn't come up with a way to stand up for herself, but she knew that she wasn't the one he held in his heart, so she thought it was meaningless to try and fight for his affection.

She knew that Alaric wasn't going to give up on his feelings for Claudia simply because of her own attempts to win his heart, and she had more self-respect than to love someone who didn't love her.
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Edited on: January 31st 2024
Time: 10:40 pm
Word count: 1298 words