Whispers Turn to Whimpers: Could He Ever Change?

"Huh?" The worry was evident in her dance troupe colleague's eyes as they glanced at Sherilyn. "You okay, Sherilyn? You're looking pale."

"Pale?" Sherilyn touched her face, puzzled.

"Yeah," her colleague teased with a nudge, "pale as a ghost, almost like you've seen one."

A ghost? Sherilyn forced a smile. Indeed, hearing those words from Gilbert was pretty much like an encounter of the spectral kind.

...

Meanwhile, Gilbert, phone in hand, chuckled, muttering, "She hung up on me..."

But he couldn't be mad and couldn't afford to be. He put the phone down and carried on with his work. He had plans to visit Francis in the evening and wanted to take Sherilyn along. He needed to wrap things up before that.

Passing the secretary's office, he noticed them enjoying their tea break.

Gilbert walked past, then doubled back, stopping at one young secretary's desk.

"Mr. Johnson," the secretary stuttered, hastily wiping her mouth and standing up.

"Hmm." Gilbert smiled at her.

Instantly, all eyes in the secretary's office were on her. Gilbert had smiled at her! What was going on? Could it be Gilbert had taken a liking to the young secretary?

The thought even crossed the secretary's mind, her cheeks flushing excitedly. Young and wealthy, Gilbert was the secret crush of many in the company. Could she be that lucky? "What is..."

But Gilbert's following words shattered her daydream. He pointed to a brown paper package on her desk. "What's this?"

"This?" The secretary pulled a small round object from the package, "This, Mr. Johnson, is a candy apple coated in sugar."

Gilbert asked again, "Nice, isn't it?"

"Uh? Yes!" she nodded vigorously, "Would you like to try some?" This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

"I'll pass." Gilbert waved it off, then smiled, "Where did you buy it? Get me a pack, no, make it two."

A pack seemed to contain just a few.

"Ah?" The secretary was stunned. Mr. Johnson came over to ask her to buy candy apples.

"What's wrong?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow. "Is that a problem?"

"No, no!" The secretary hurriedly responded, "I'll buy them for you now!"

Though her dream was dashed, the idea of the CEO craving candy apples was unimaginably adorable.

"Then, Mr. Johnson." The secretary was still a bit excited, grabbing her phone. "How should I get the money from you?"

Was Gilbert going to add her on social media?

"Right, the money." Gilbert realized, pointing at Charles behind him, "Get it from Mr. Charles."

With that, Gilbert was off.

Charles left a message. "After the meeting, come to me."

"Sure, Mr. Charles." The secretary deflated a bit. After all that, she ended up with nothing.

Her colleagues began to tease her.

"Dreaming, huh? Mr. Johnson isn't the flirty type!"

"Let it go! I still need to buy Mr. Johnson his candy apples."

"Ha... remember, two packs!"

"Ha, ha..."

...

After the meeting, Gilbert returned to the CEO's office, surprised to find Caroline there.

"Caroline, what brings you here? Anything wrong?"

Caroline had just arrived and had been sitting for barely two minutes.

Gilbert's question was casual, but the thought of his conversation with Sylvia that night made Caroline feel unwelcome. "Why? Am I not welcome?"