The Cherished Wife (Noelle and Charles)

By the time they got home, it was late. Noelle, having already snoozed at the cinema, was wide awake and decided to use Charles's study to get some work done.

She was new to the company, and Brian had not given her much to do yet, but Noelle knew she had to be on the ball now. Brian wanted her to get involved with the West City project, which was a golden opportunity. She was determined to get up to speed fast and make a smooth transition into her new role.

Charles strolled back into the house and decided to let Noelle have the study to herself. He plopped down in the living room to catch up on the latest stock market drama, while Arnold snuggled close to his feet. Every so often, Arnold would shoot him the most heart- wrenching puppy dog eyes. With a quick side-eye, Charles reminded him. "Mom's busy working, buddy. No going upstairs to bug her, okay?"

Arnold let out a soft "Woof!" and gave Charles a nod that seemed to say he got the message.

Technically, Arnold was Charles's dog, but life got hectic, and Sean ended up being Arnold's primary owner. It got to the point where everyone thought Arnold was Sean's pet. Charles never really planned on reversing the arrangement.

For some reason, Sean had brought Arnold back home not once but twice now. Oddly enough, Arnold seemed to really like Noelle.

Charles could not help but grin and told Arnold, "Stay put, champ!" Arnold plopped his furry behind on the floor, staying still as a statue, but his eyes kept sneaking peeks at Charles.

The phone rang way past bedtime, and Ronald's voice came through, "Mr. Hoffman, we've got the scoop. One of the ladies at your wife's office got jealous of your wife for being Mr. Parker's new favorite. She's been stirring up trouble by telling everyone your wife got in because she knows certain people."

Ronald was deep in thought. To anyone else, it would have seemed like no big deal, but when Noelle was involved, it was a whole different story for Charles. Ronald could not shake off the memory of Mr. Hoffman losing his cool over Noelle and taking it out on everyone else. It was the kind of thing he would never forget.

"Got it!" Charles gave the report a quick nod. He noticed Arnold crawling back over and playfully tapped him on the head, though his thoughts were on Noelle's influential connections. After all, wasn't he one of those connections himself?

"Mr. Hoffman?" Ronald was trying to gauge Charles's mood and hesitated before asking, "Should we handle that guy?"

"Handle him?" Charles's lips twisted into a half-smile. "No need. It's a small issue. Nelly's got this," he assured Ronald. "She'll take care of it herself."

Ronald let out a relieved breath. He

had figured it wasn't anything major,

and Noelle was not the type to sweat the small stuff. But he could never guess what his boss was thinking. "Alright. Got it, boss."

"Hold on a second," Charles said after a moment's thought. "Have someone keep tabs on the situation." "Right away!"

As Charles pocketed his phone and the news wrapped up, he headed upstairs.

Noelle had been working in the study so long that she felt like a statue She looked up to see Charles in the doorway, his bathrobe hanging loose with a white belt tied at the waist and a towel in hand.

Noelle's mouth dropped open in surprise. "You're here with your hair still dripping wet?"

Charles walked in with a quizzical lift of his eyebrow. "Still buried in work? You've barely set foot in the office, and Brian's already piling it on?"