What Separates Me and You -
Chapter 72
Chapter 72 Backed by Lewis
Josephine entered the meeting room with her copies of documents. Most of the higher-ups were already there. She knocked and entered, attracting the gaze of everyone.
They were surprised. Why was there a change of staff that day? It used to be Sierra.
Josephine ignored their gaze by lowering her head and distributing the copies to everyone.
When she was by Lewis' side, he looked up at her with his deep gaze as if he could swallow her whole.
Josephine maintained her lowered gaze, not looking at him. She placed the documents in front of him before heading to the next person.
"I haven't seen you around before. Are you new?" A middle-aged man sized Josephine up. She was indeed pretty enough that she would attract the attention of men.
The middle-aged man was closest to her, so he noticed she had no makeup on, yet her skin was still dewy and naturally flushed.
Josephine didn't reply to him. She continued distributing copies to the next person. The man was a little aggravated, but he didn't show too much of it. He merely took a mental note of her to ask around about her later.
At that moment, he suddenly felt a gaze locked on him. He unknowingly looked toward where it was coming from when he met with Lewis' eyes. Although there was no expression on Lewis, the man felt as if Lewis could read what was on his mind. He immediately lowered his head and pretended to look through the documents.
Josephine left once she distributed her copies. She barely took a seat when Hilary dumped another pile of documents in front of her.
"Sort out these documents and send me a document with a table of it."
There was not much to do in their department. They might be the President's secretaries, but to put it bluntly, they were more like interns. Only the manager of the secretary department and Conrad had the chance to work with the core of the company's affairs.
Hilary had made Josephine do most of the tasks in the department. After all, Josephine couldn't speak, so she didn't bother to communicate with Josephine. After instructing Josephine to do all the work, Hilary headed to the pantry to kill time.
Ever since Sierra left, her days had been much easier. Sierra used to pretend that she was the President's wife. Whenever she saw anyone slacking, she would reprimand them and report them to get their wages deducted.
Everyone in the department hated her, but they couldn't do anything because Lewis backed her up.
What support did Josephine have? Lewis treated her like a stranger. He had never once said anything about her relationship with him, so Josephine surely did not have the support and treatment that Sierra had.
Josephine was alone in the office. She patiently sorted the documents while paying attention to the time because she still had to go to the hospital to be put on drips after work.
When Hilary was loitering around the pantry, Mr. Hall, the middle-aged man who sized Josephine up in the meeting room, entered with his mug.
He greeted her. "Miss Crawford, you seem free today," he said with a chuckle.
"Uh oh, you've caught me, "Hilary replied with a smile. "If Miss Woods hears about this, my wages will be deducted."
Hilary might be smiling, but her gaze was filled with disgust. Mr. Hall was a pervert. He would head over to Human Resources whenever he was free just to stare at the ladies' asses and therefore had a bad reputation among the female staff.
He suddenly said, "Speaking of Miss Woods, I haven't seen her for the past two days. I noticed that there's a newcomer?"
Hilary raised an eyebrow. She knew exactly what he was thinking about. Everyone knew.
"You didn't hear? Miss Woods resigned. The newcomer is mute. I'm sure you're curious; we sure are. We don't even know how she got the job."
Mr. Hall was a little surprised. "Mute? Miss Crawford, you must be joking?"
How could a mute be a secretary? What sort of joke was that?
"You don't have to believe me. Just see for yourself." Hilary placed her mug down, turned, and left.
Mr. Hall stared at her long slender legs with narrowed eyes. Was the newcomer truly mute? He could not believe it.
When Hilary returned, she could not help but look at Josephine. She knew what Mr. Hall was thinking. Naturally, she had to help him. After all, Daphne had already instructed her to take care of Josephine.
At that thought, Hilary walked over to Josephine's desk. She knocked on her desk and said, " Take these receipts to Mr. Hall at the finance department."
Josephine hesitated for a while. She looked at the receipts before scribbling a note. "I haven't finished organizing."
"It won't take long. It's just downstairs. Go. These receipts are the hotel booking and expenses from President Alvarez's business trip last week."
Josephine pursed her lips and accepted the receipts before getting up and leaving. She came to the finance department. Not knowing who Mr. Hall was, she headed directly for the manager's office. The door wasn't shut, and she immediately realized that Mr. Hall was the one who had spoken to her in the meeting room.
She knocked on the door. Mr. Hall looked up at her and immediately smiled. "Miss Vance, why are you here? Come, come in."
Josephine entered and handed the receipts to Mr. Hall.
He noticed that she said nothing, so he wanted to test her out of curiosity. He looked at the receipts and furrowed his brow, saying, "I can't reimburse these receipts." Josephine blinked and looked at him in confusion.
Seeing her reactions, Mr. Hall had somewhat of an answer. He stood up and went in closer toward her, pointing at the receipts. "Look here. These receipts are in the wrong format. You have to get the vendor to change them."
He was so close to her that Josephine could smell the inexplicable odor from his mouth. She stopped breathing and nodded, wanting to take the receipts back from him.
However, Mr. Hall clutched them tightly. He said, "You're new. I'm sure you don't know the official version of the company's receipt. I'll show you."
He held her hand and led her to the computer. He opened up a file. "Do you see, the line is on the wrong box? The content has to be separated too."
Mr. Hall was almost pressing himself against her back. He blew air into her ear when he spoke, which smelled terrible.
Josephine froze and nodded stiffly, signaling that she understood. Her reaction simply emboldened him.
The newcomers were all the same. They didn't dare to voice out against the harassment from the higher-ups. He also knew how to take advantage of them just at the right amount. If anyone were to accuse him of harassing them, there was no substantial proof. He merely made them uncomfortable, so most of the staff would choose to endure it.
"Mr. Hall-"
However, he forgot to close the door, and just then, an employee came in looking for him and saw how intimate they were together. The employee suddenly felt conflicted..
Mr. Hall quickly backed off, putting distance between him and Josephine. "Alright, take these receipts back and send them over once you have the corrected version." Josephine was relieved. She took the receipts and ran off. However, gossip spread like wildfire in the office.
The new secretary was only on her second day, and she was already intimate with Mr. Hall. The fact that she was mute was long known.
Instantly, everyone guessed that she must be Mr. Hall's lover.
Lewis naturally heard of it too. "Where is she?" Lewis asked with a darkened expression, tugging on his tie.
Conrad stuttered, "S-she left at five.
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