Chapter 189
A myriad of thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her phone. Candice checked and saw it
was Yana calling.
She wanted to step outside to answer, but the lights in the room went off. Her poor eyesight made
her hesitant to move, so she had to answer Yana’s call right there.
“Come clean! Where are you now?” Yana’s spirited voice suddenly came through.
Candice hesitated, “I’m outside.”
“Oh,” Yana replied then continued asking. “Are you with Hanley? We’ve been calling him nonstop,
both me and Ryan, but he hasn’t picked up any of our calls! We need to talk to him urgently.”
“I’m not with him,” Candice replied.
“That’s odd,” Yana said, “Then why isn’t he answering? We’ve called him several times. Hey, do
you know where he went?”
Candice furrowed her brows; Hanley wasn’t the type to intentionally ignore calls. “Maybe he’s
busy now.”
Although she said so, she couldn’t help but recall Hanley’s solemn tone when he mentioned that
Chad wouldn’t help earlier that morning. She rarely heard him speak in such a manner. However,
absorbed in her own emotions at that moment, she hadn’t paid much attention to him.
After ending the call with Yana, as Candice was about to call Hanley, she heard Alex’s dispassionate
voice, “You care a lot about him?”
Her phone screen remained on the contact list. Alex then casually asked, “What’s the progress?*
He was referring to Hanley.
Candice lowered her eyebrows and remained silent. She had exined many times to Alex about
Hanley, but he never listened. What she wanted to know now was what she should do to satisfy
Alex and get his help for her grandfather.
Seeing her silence, Alex sneered quietly, then suddenly pushed a ss of wine toward her with a
lifted chin, looking proud, “Do I need to teach you what to do?”
His tone was cold as he said, “Do you know what happens when you act foolishly in the end?”
Candice was taken aback, and then realized that Alex was warning her about her grandfather’s
situation.
+15 BONOS
She looked at the ss Alex had pushed forward, remained silent for a moment, and then picked up a
bottle of wine nearby. She poured a ss for him.
In fact, understanding bar etiquette was essential in business settings. Candice remembered how she
knew nothing about these rules when she followed Alex to socialize back then. He had taught her bit by
bit.
She carried the ss and ced it in front of Alex but identally brushed against the nearby
bottle, causing the liquid in the ss to sway.
She held the ss out to Alex and was about to speak when she saw him, expressionless, pour
the contents directly into the trash bin.
In a casual tone with a touch of mockery, he said. “You can’t even pour a ss of wine properly?”
His voice wasn’t loud, but due to the brief silence in the room, others heard his words. All eyes
tumed to look, curious about the situation.
A few pairs of eyes fixed on Candice, making her face pale despite her resilience. But thinking of her
grandfather, she lowered her eyshes, masking her emotions, and picked up the wine bottle again.
Then, putting in her effort, she poured another ss for Alex
Alex nced at the ss but didn’t take it.
Suddenly, Sieg’s yful voice echoed, teasing Alex. “Alex, seems like you’re here to unt to the
boys? Bringing someone to pour drinks especially for you?”
Afterward, Sieg looked at Candice, his tone more mocking, “Ms. Renault, since you’ve picked up the
bottle, why not pour a drink for us? It’s a handy task.”
He seemed to be asking for her opinion, but in reality, he was just informing Candice.
Many knew about the conflict between Sieg and Candice, so inevitably, they joined in watching the
scene as if waiting for a show. “Candice is the Chief Secretary of Aether Corporation. I’ve never had a
drink poured by a Chief Secretary before.”
“Didn’t she resign? Her own mother came to reprimand her.”
“So what? She was the former Chief Secretary of Aether Corporation. This is quite entertaining!”
The whispers from the surrounding people fell into Candice’s ears, making her feel like a clown.
Ridiculed and made fun of by everyone. And the ringleader was sitting calmly on the sofa. observing
her.
Sieg raised an eyebrow. “Alex, are you really this petty? You won’t even let your former secretary pour
drinks for us?”
Alex remained expressionless, his voice cold, “She hasn’tpletely resigned yet.”
He was telling them that Candice wasn’t his former secretary.
+15 BONOS
Sieg didn’t mind that and instead, turned to look at Candice, his words dripping with malice, “Ms.
Renault must have poured drinks for many people before, can’t believe she’s unable to do it now.”
Candice couldn’t help trembling. The room was dimly lit, making it hard for her to see Alex’s
expression, yet she could sense he intended to humiliate her.
He clearly knew that when Candice had just joined Aether Corporation, due to a boss’s ill Intentions,
she had been asked to pour drinks for a difficult client and had almost been treated as an aplice
to indecency. Although it hadn’t seeded, that boss had spread rumors, leading to Candice being
She had been quite young at the time, how could she not feel hurt and distressed by those words?
Almost every night, she would hide in her room, shedding tears in solitude. Moreover, when Joe
learned about this incidentter, it had greatly affected his health.
Someone once said the easiest way to ruin a girl is through baseless rumors. Candice bore the weight
of that reputation and isted herself from everyone.
So, even to this day, she was unwilling to bring up that incident. It was a period of time she didn’t want
to revisit.
Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.
Yet here was Alex, so tantly using her deepest scar to humiliate her once again.
The surrounding crowd kept cheering. Candice looked at Alex, suppressing the bitterness in her heart,
and asked him, “Is this what you wanted to see?”
Did he want to see her ridiculed, degraded, and treated as an aplice to indecency? Would that
make him happy? Would he be satisfied?
Alex seemed about to say something, but before he could, Candice nodded to herself and muttered,
“Fine. Since Mr. Elysian has requested it, I have no right to refuse.”
With that said, she picked up the bottle and walked up to Sieg, pouring his ss first, pretending to be
Sieg raised an eyebrow, feeling no qualms. Instead, he observed Candice’s expression, adding a bit
more contempt to his, scanning the liquid in the ss, and pulling his lips into a smirk as he drawled,
“Apologies, I don’t drink this.”
Clearly, he intended to embarrass her.
+15 BONOS
Candice closed her eyes for a moment, about to speak, when she heard Alex’s toneless voice.”
Candice.”