The Cherished Wife (Noelle and Charles)

Arya happened to come over just then. "Mr. Parker, are you heading out now? Are you going to West City?"

"Yes." Brian took the documents from Arya, glanced at them, and said, "Redo these. Also, you don't need to come with me today. Noelle will accompany me. I need the revised data on my desk by the time I return."

He handed the documents back to Arya. "Understood?"

Arya quickly came to her senses but shot a meaningful glance at Noelle. Noelle returned the look with a kind smile.

Brian did not pay much attention to the exchange. When he noticed Noelle was not following him, he turned back with a hint of displeasure. "Ms. Shaw, you've just joined the company. Do you want to leave a bad impression on your boss right away?"

"I'm coming right now!" Noelle hurried to catch up.

"Mr. Parker, I'm new here and still a rookie. Aren't you worried about what others might say if you take me along on an outing so soon?" Noelle had not thought much of it at first, but Arya's glance just now clearly felt different from the way she had looked at her before.

Brian paused. He pressed the elevator button and then glanced sideways at Noelle. "Don't forget that you came to Collosus Group to work-for yourself and for the company. You shouldn't concern yourself with what your colleagues think."

Brian had always been meticulous in his work. For him, work was work, and personal matters were to be handled during personal time. He was not interested in managing the emotions of employees or subordinates upset by uneven work distribution-he simply did not have the time for that.

Noelle pursed her lips. "I understand." She realized that Brian was right, leaving her with nothing to argue against.

However, she could not help but think that starting her new job by potentially making enemies was not the best way to begin.

Satisfied that Noelle had gotten the point, Brian said no more.

Brian's car was parked in the basement parking lot. Once they both got into the car, he said, "We're heading to West City. It's a bit out of the way. If you're not up for it, now's your chance to back out." "The West City Development Project?" Noelle's eyes lit up. "Why would I back out of it?"

She had seen some information about this project in Charles' study the night before and assumed it was still in the planning stages. She had not expected it to be starting so soon.

Brian noticed the excitement in her eyes and nodded. "Yes, it's the West City Development Project, but we're still in the assessment phase."

"So, we're going for an assessment?"

Noelle asked, pulling out her phone to search for information on West City, its geography, and the surrounding area. "It seems there's a

psychiatric hospital nearby?

a

drug rehabilitation center?"

Brian's eyes flickered with surprise. He had not expected Noelle to identify the key issues so quickly after only a brief glance.

Noelle frowned slightly. "The

hospital was moved out of the city

because of numerous incidents

related to it when it was located downtown. They decided to relocate it to a more remote, sparsely

populated area.

"If this project is going to start, we'll need to address that issue first. And the rehabilitation center nearby could also be a concern."

She continued to search for more information about the area. "There's a river nearby and an abandoned factory. The river was polluted years ago, which led to the factory being shut down by authorities."

Noelle felt a bit overwhelmed as she

looked into it further. "This project seems like it's going to be quite challenging. We need to resolve these issues first and also consider whether our construction might exacerbate the environmental problems in the area."