Those people left the room shortly afterward.

Nancy took her phone out to send a message on WhatsApp She looked at Tom. “All of you should eat too, Mr. Chapman. Jayson ordered a lot of food.”

Tom grinned and replied, “We’ll go ahead and dig in, then it’s all thanks to you that I get to be treated by Mr. Larkin to a hearty meal, Ms. Stanton.”

Nancy beamed and lowered her gaze to type on her phone.

Tom brought Ariel and Janice each a boked meal. “You must be hungry already. Here, eat these. This is Mr. Larkin’s way of being considerate toward us.”

Janice had a frigid look on her face. “Those are the hearty meals Mr. Larkin has ordered specially for Ms. Stanton. Is it really okay for us to eat them?”

Tom smiled and explained, “Mr. Larkin may be more concerned about Ms. Stanton, but he’s thoughtful enough to consider the rest of us as well. He’s ordered enough food for us.”

Then, he beckoned the other staff members to come and get their lunch.

ramusing

Janice smirked. “You’re getting treated by your husband to some nice food because of his mistress. How a is this…”

Ariel scooped up a piece of sliced beef and fed it to Janice. She had a clear look in her eyes, and her voice was gentle. “Didn’t you say you were hungry? You should eat then.”

Janice could feel her mouth watering. She chewed the meat briefly. After seeing how calm and unruffled Ariel was, Janice grinned broadly. “I must say though… Free food tastes really good, especially when it’s from high–end restaurants.”

Ariel curled her lips. She kept her head lowered as she continued looking at some of her code.

It was almost 2:00 pm by the time they had ended the meeting with Nexura Solutions‘ staff members.

Nancy left fairly quickly. She hurried off to take the elevator and headed upstairs.

Tom glanced in the direction of the elevator and said, “Mr. Larkin is probably here. Well, we’ve pretty much concluded things here anyway.

He pulled out his phone. “We’ve created a group chat for this project. You can send any requests or questions that you have to the group. Ms. Swanson and Ms. Walker, I’ll add both of you to the group chat.”

Ariel nodded. Then, Tom showed the two of them out by the entrance of their building.

After they exited the building, Janice opened the group chat and took a look at it.

She let out a low hiss. “Why’s Jayson in the group chat too?”

Ariel paused briefly. “Perhaps he’s taking the project quite seriously. They’ll also need him to review and approve things later on.”

Janice pursed her lips. “He may have joined the group chat to handle work–related matters. At the same time, if he’s not around, who’s going to back up or clean up after Nancy?”

Ariel didn’t refute the assumptions Janice made. She didn’t bother to check the group chat either.

Just as they got into the car, Janice said hesitantly, “Are Jayson and Nancy using matching profile pictures?” She pointed the screen of her phone toward Ariel.

Ariel took a glance at Janice’s phone. Janice had clicked on the section showing the list of members in the group chat. The person at the top of the list was Tom, who had created the group chat. Jayson’s and Nancy’s names were found below him.

Jayson’s profile picture was a bright moon against a blue background. Meanwhile, Nancy’s profile picture showed a cluster of stars against a similar blue background.

The two profile pictures complemented each other perfectly, though one was above the other. It was as if the moon and the stars had been bound together by fate.

For a moment, Ariel was quite astonished. She did not expect a stern, cold–hearted man like Jayson to use matching profile pictures with Nancy.

“I gue

guess so,” Ariel responded without making any further comments.

She got off work in the evening that day.

Ariel lay sprawled on the couch and rested for a bit. She felt slightly better some time later.

After taking her medicine as she always did, Ariel turned on her laptop. She finally came across the feedback from

Tom.

Nancy felt that the time limit given to them and some of the technical requirements Faye Tech had asked of them were not feasible. She wished to discuss those matters again in detail.

Bluum Corp seemed to support Nancy’s stance.

Ariel furrowed her brows. She asked, “What does Mr. Larkin have to say about this?”

Tom sent her a reply. “We need Mr. Larkin’s approval before making any major decisions regarding Nexura Solutions‘ affairs, and he hasn’t given us any definite answers yet.

“How about this, Ms. Walker? If you wish to save time, you can add Mr. Larkin’s WhatsApp number and ask him about it yourself.”