SWNOVELS Chapter 34 Rumors
The following week, Janet took precautions to avoid running into Ike, but Ike kept on hinting at her from time to time.
One morning, she went to the convenience store downstairs to buy some coffee.
As she waited in line, two women glanced at her and started whispering to each other. "Isn't that the woman from the design department who hooks up with Ike?" "Yeah, I think so!"
Janet overheard their loud whispering and frowned deeply. "What are you two talking about?"
The two women were shocked by her sudden confrontation. They quickly shook their heads and smiled embarrassedly. "Nothing, nothing. We mistook you for someone else, that's all."
But that wasn't the last Janet heard of this. She soon realized that someone from the design department must have spread unpleasant rumors about her and Ike.
And those rumors spread like wildfire. Some colleagues who used to be nice to Janet even started to keep their distance from her.
Previously, Janet was viewed as a well-mannered, kind young woman in the design department.
But now that someone had spoken ill of Janet behind her back, people began to view her in a different light.
It was Pamela who had first shown hostility towards her.
Ever since Ike announced that he would select Janet's design, Pamela had been hostile to Janet to her face.
So Janet suspected that Pamela was the one started the rumors.
And sure enough, upon careful but quiet observation, she found that it was indeed Pamela who was gossiping around.
Pamela had even made a group chat with many colleagues from the company. That was where she shared her made-up rumors about Janet.
One day, during lunch break, Janet went to the tea room and took a bottle of soda. On her way out, she saw Pamela nearby. Janet paused for a second and just left.
Pamela glanced at her mischievously then whispered to the colleague next to her, "I heard Lind went to a hotel with Mr. Lyman last night." "What? No way! Didn't he have a meeting in the office until very late last night? I don't know why she likes him though. He's such a jerk." The colleague shook her head and sighed. She had thought that Janet was a beautiful girl and that she was way out of Ike's league. "Of course she doesn't like him. She's just using him because he's her immediate supervisor. Some women would do anything to get promoted, am I right? I wouldn't be surprised if she used to be a married man's mistress when she was in college. I've heard a lot about her 'frivolous' life in college. She just doesn't care about her reputation. That's her style."
As Pamela spoke, she sipped from her water calmly, as though she knew all about what she was talking about.
"What? What happened to her when she was in college? Tell me everything!" The colleague leaned in closer towards Pamela.
"What're you two whispering about over here? Let me join you!" Apparently, Janet had come back and was leaning against the door, smiling sweetly at the two women.
"Wh-what? Nothing. We were just talking about some gossip we heard on the news." Pamela was taken aback when Janet suddenly spoke. She was so surprised that she stammered and her face turned red. With a gentle smile, Janet straightened her back and strode over to Pamela. She picked up the phone that was lying on the desk and held it up. "Really? I just came back to get my phone, you see."
She unlocked the phone and glanced at it, then feigned a surprised expression. "Oh, my God! I'm so sorry. The recorder was turned on this whole time. Oh, I know! Let's listen to what you said just now!"
A look of horror flashed on Pamela's face.
She had no idea that the phone was recording their conversation just now.
Janet turned up the volume of her phone so that everyone in the tea room could hear it clearly.
In the recording, Pamela's voice could be heard loud and clear. It also sounded harsh and mean. All eyes were on her now.
"What? I never did anything you claimed here.
But you described it so vividly. How about we confront Mr. Lyman face to face?" After the recording stopped, Janet sneered. Pamela had made everything up.