Chapter 6

Nelson returned home past midnight. The luggage he brought home remained untouched in a corner of the living room. He thought of Sabrina. In the past three years, she had always greeted him with an ingratiating smile when he came home from abroad. She was petite and would always huff and puff as she lugged his heavy suitcases to the second floor. She always looked at him with a mix of joy and bashfulness, which was a stark contrast to her treatment of him on this trip. He scanned the list of missed calls on his phone—most of them from Ronaldo. Sabrina hadn't called him once. He called Ronaldo back. It took Ronaldo a while to pick up. "Nel, I'm working overtime." "Are you working overtime with Sabrina?" Nelson found it hard to believe they'd work late for the pressing issues at the factory, as those problems were easily solvable. "Yes. I'm still at the industrial park." Frowning, Nelson grumbled, "Why does it take you forever to get the problem solved? Is Sabrina that incompetent?" Even Ronaldo felt that Nelson's criticism of Sabrina was unfair. "Well, the manufacturer made a mistake, so we made them reprint the packaging. Worse comes to worse, we'd just switch to another manufacturer. "This was a premeditated, sabotaging act to prevent us from exporting our first order. We would have been driven mad if it weren't for Sabrina's leadership." Every year, Slitton would export two billion dollars worth of traditional preserved fruits to Javerston and Koranthia. This year, one of the Tucker Group's trade companies won a one billion dollar order. Today, the company needed to export its first batch of orders. Yet, a hundred thousand packets of the preserved fruits had packaging that failed to meet the standards. The designer went missing, and the manufacturer shrugged off the responsibility. As other companies didn't have enough materials to produce the packaging in a short timeframe, the exporting company had no way of replacing the wrong packaging. When Nelson arrived at the industrial park, Ronaldo immediately lamented and complained to him, "Nel, can you imagine this? All the workers in the industrial park are working overtime to put the labels on a hundred thousand pieces of packaging. I've never endured such torture in my life!" Nelson searched high and low, his lips pursed. Finally, he saw Sabrina, who had just changed out of her protective gear. She stood at the door of the brightly-lit clean room, her face illuminated by the lights. He could spot her from afar. She had a nice jawline, and her bare face was smooth and silky. As it was chilly at night, she wrapped herself in a grey wool blanket, yet she managed to look dazzling. She was speaking to the general manager. The man in his forties towered over her, yet he had full respect for the young lady. "Nel, Sabrina has only reached such heights because of Jackson and Shannon's help. Isn't that so?" teased Ronaldo, subtly reminding Nelson of his ignorance and prejudice toward Sabrina. … Sabrina walked past Nelson, pretending not to see him. She wasn't acting out, though. After staying up all night, she was completely exhausted. "I made a wrong judgment today. I'm sorry," he said. Taken aback by his unexpected apology, she tilted her head and stared at him. "I heard from Ronaldo about your efforts today. You saved the company from a disaster." Printing out the labels and manually sticking them onto the packaging might be a manual and tedious method, but it was the only feasible solution. She demonstrated her wisdom and problem-solving abilities by remaining calm and making swift decisions. For the first time, she saw acknowledgment and praise in his eyes, replacing the usual disdain. Choking up, she realized that she had finally encountered his gentle side on the eve of their divorce. Looking away, she mumbled, "It's my job. I'm not getting paid to do nothing." They sank into a silence. He watched as the night breeze lifted her strands of hair. Feeling cold, she huddled under the blanket. He added, "I don't know you well, but I can tell you're a great person because my parents love you. "But I have another woman I love. I promised her I'd marry her, and I will not go back on my words. I'll protect you as a brother figure if you ever run into trouble." He stood in the wind. She picked up Pamela's signature scent from the night breeze, which sent a stabbing pain across her body. Tearing up, she said between sobs, "I wish… you and Pamela nothing but the best."