Chapter 11

Yvonne hobbled out of the hospital and saw a beggar begging for money nearby. She tossed the gold card that Jackson had given her to the beggar. The beggar held the gold card in his hands and stared at her in disbelief. Yvonne took a few steps forward before she turned back and told the beggar, “There’s no password or limit to this card. Take as much money as you like!” As Yvonne watched the beggar walk over to the nearest ATM, she let out a sigh, relieving some of the anger from her chest. You wanted to act like a gentleman, right, Miller? I’ll let you act to your heart’s content! She was in a great mood as she hailed a cab and went home. Because of her injuries from the accident, Yvonne decided to skip work the next day. She phoned Zachary to tell him she would be on medical leave, and he said in a harsh and sarcastic voice when he answered, “Yvonne Yates, just because I let you off early yesterday, do you think you can get away from slacking off?” “It’s not like that, President Quimby. I have truly injured my hands and legs.” “You sound fine to me. If you can get out of bed, you surely can come to work. I don’t care if you have to crawl to bring yourself to work!” Zachary hung up after that. Yvonne scoffed angrily. Zachary was such a moody person. It was very hard to satisfy him. She had no choice but to obey his instructions. Swallowing her anger, she went to the office. When she pushed open the door to the president’s office, Zachary was lounging in his chair while talking on the phone. He was stunned momentarily to see her limping in with the bandages on her hands and feet. “Are you truly hurt, or you wrapped yourself up just to fool me?” “I told you I’m truly injured!” “Come over and let me check!” Zachary ordered bossily. Yvonne lowered her head and shuffled over to him. Without waiting for her to extend her arm, Zachary grabbed Yvonne’s arm and undid the bandages on her arm. He finally believed her when he saw the scratches on her arm. “What happened to you? You seemed to be a loose cannon since you returned home? First, you got into a fight with people at the cocktail party, and now you got yourself injured?” “I didn’t want this to happen either,” Yvonne answered with her head still lowered. She was standing so close to Zachary that he would be able to sniff the pleasant smell of her body just by tilting his head down. Zachary was suddenly intrigued. He had never liked the nerdy assistant Yosef had insisted that he take on, and thus had never spared a glance at her. Now that she was standing in front of him, he suddenly realized she was a little different. She had long, white fingers, and he could see her elegant neck now that she was standing with her head lowered in front of him. Was he losing his mind? Why was he interested in a nerdy, bookish woman like her? He suddenly remembered that Yvonne had never once looked at him in any way from the first day she began working for him. Her head and gaze were always lowered in respect. He had always hated people who played by the rules, but he suddenly felt that something was amiss today. He, Zachary Quimby, was a good-looking man. Women had hurled themselves at him in the sight of him, but somehow this young woman had never shown any signs of having a crush on him. The thought annoyed him immensely. He ordered Yvonne in a mean tone, “Lift your head!” Yvonne lowered her head as she said in a meek voice, “President Quimby, please tell me what you would like me to do!” Zachary was furious when she did not do as he ordered. He grabbed Yvonne by the chin and forced her to look up. Yvonne had to deal with the pain from his hands lifting her chi forcefully. Zachary saw a pair of gorgeous, shining eyes. He took back every horrible thing that he had to say about her. He was caught by surprise that she had such beautiful eyes! Zachary removed Yvonne’s glasses from her face without thinking through or caring about the consequences of his actions. Now, he could see her more clearly. Her features were elegant and well-defined, while her skin was dainty and delicate. Her most captivating feature was her eyes. They had left no room for anyone else to shine. Zachary cursed under his breath, “Screw you, Yosef Turner! You’re going to get an earful from me about this the next time we meet!” Yvonne did not understand what was going on and why Zachary started cursing Yosef under his breath suddenly. Her jaw started hurting from his grip. As she swallowed her anger, she asked, “President Quimby, can you please let go of me?” “You want me to let go? Sure, no problem. But you have to promise me something first!” “What is it?” “Let me kiss you first!” As Zachary said those words, he leaned in to kiss her.