Trapped with a Lawyer

"Help yourself." Samuel gave the chopsticks to Ella and walked towards the door.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" Ella asked him curiously. Four dishes and one soup were on the table and they seemed untouched. He probably hadn't eaten anything yet! Samuel put both hands in his suit pockets and smiled at her, "You eat first. I still have some work to finish. Once I'm done, I will come back."

"I will wait for you then."

"No need. You eat now." He said no more and walked out of the lounge.

Ella put a little bit of each dish onto her plate and started to eat slowly.

Halfway through her meal, her cellphone started ringing. She put down her chopsticks and looked around for her phone.

Her phone was on the bedside table not faraway. She took it over, only to see a strange number.

"Hello." She sat back onto the sofa.

Then she heard Catherine's cold voice: "It's the office hour now. Where are you?" Catherine looked at the empty seat in the corner and was really upset.

Ella looked at her meal and then checked the time. The lunch break had been over for more than half an hour.

"I will be right back." She didn't want to talk too much to Catherine. She hung up the phone and began devouring her food.

When Samuel walked in, Ella was pacing restlessly up and down. "What's the matter?" He looked at her with confusion and wondered what she was looking for.

Ella's face was reddish and she patted on her own chest and said: "I ate too fast, I need water..." It was all Catherine's fault. She urged her to go back to work and she ate so fast that she got choked up.

Samuel walked towards a cabinet and opened it. Inside, there was a wide selection of bottles of mineral water, neatly organized.

He took out a bottle, screwed it open and handed it to her. Ella took a sip. Samuel patted her lightly on the back and asked: "How can you be so careless?"

A big girl like her shouldn't choke on food anymore.

Ella took several sips of water and finally felt better. "Oh, I am just running later for work." Otherwise she would not worry at all.

Samuel shook his head and explained to her: "You are 'Mrs. Boss' of this firm. You can come and leave at will." In other words, there is no such thing as running late for work.

Mrs. Boss? This title made Ella extremely delighted.

Samuel looked at her and was amused at the goofy way she held onto the water bottle. He laughed: "So, are you not in a hurry anymore?"

Ella realized what she was doing upon his reminder. She shoved the water bottle into Samuel's arms and stormed out the door: "Bye Samuel!" "Samuel..." The words were never this delightful.

However, he should still correct the way she addressed him. After all, "Samuel" was too formal and maybe "darling" sounded sweeter.

Ella went back to floor 23 and walked quickly towards her desk.

After learning basic knowledge about the law this morning, she had a vague idea how to start the business plan.

However, on her way to her seat, she overheard some whispered gossip.

"She dares to come and go at her whim just because she claims to have the title of Mrs. Boss. Hasn't she forgotten that she used to be a mere mistress?"

"Exactly. Mistresses will be mistresses. Even if she is now married to him, her reputation is still ruined."

Ella was walking very fast as she was running late. However, she stopped when she heard these words.

She turned around and gazed at Jenifer who was a close friend of Catherine and said: "Alright. Why don't you just go straight to Samuel and say those words to him? Tell him that I was a mistress and he should get rid of me?" It was true that I used some tricks to sleep with Samuel.

But it was a matter between them. It was none of others' business! When it came to Emma, it was still irrelevant. Grandmother had made it very clear that she would never agree to Samuel marrying Emma. Anyway, these were all private matters. It was not up for discussion with anybody else.'

Jenifer scornfully looked at calm Ella and challenged her: "Why would you be so proud anyway? If Mr. Shao really loves you, why doesn't he give you a proper wedding? How come the two of you just had a simple registration ceremony?" These words hit Ella right in her heart.

People standing by all whispered in agreement: "Jen was right. Look at Ella, she does not even have a wedding ring."

"Exactly. It was not a matter of money. Mr. Shao was so rich that he would not even blink while buying hundreds of diamond rings, let alone just one."

"Therefore, we can tell that he does not love her. Maybe he married her because of the child she was carrying."

"The child she was carrying?" "Such a shameless woman. Who knows what kind of tricks she used to get into his bed."

Ella stood there and listened to the evil remarks. One was worse than the last. They were commenting about everything: mistress, diamond ring, child and shame.

At that moment, she felt as if she was really shameless.

She took a deep breath to fight back the hard feelings and simply said with a cool voice: "If you have any questions, just go talk to Samuel. There is no need to gossip behind his back."

Then she turned around and sat back onto her seat.

Actually, she wanted to cry, as these comments really hurt her. But she controlled herself as she knew very well that tears were for losers. If she cried, they would not show sympathy for her, moreover, they would treat her as a joke.

Samuel's top assistant Anna walked in and witnessed everything here. She was here to deliver Ella's cellphone.

It had been several minutes since Ella returned to her seat, yet these women were still gossiping about her.

"Crooked woman with crooked morals..."

"Ahem!" Anna gave a cough, which drew everyone's attention instantly. They all shut up as soon as they noticed her.

This was Samuel's top assistant. She had been working in her position for six years straight. She was a tough woman with strict disciplines. She held such a high reputation in the company that most of the staf did not dare to cross her.

Anna walked elegantly in her high heels towards Ella and said: "Madam, your cellphone was left in the Boss' lounge. Boss wanted to return the phone to you himself, but some important client just showed up so he sent me instead. Madam, I hope you don't mind."

These words shocked everyone, as they all heard loud and clear that Anna just said Boss wanted to deliver the phone himself. Besides, returning the phone was such a small errand. Even if Samuel was occupied, he should not bother his top assistant. Instead, he could just send any junior to do the job.

What's more, Ella was in Mr. Shao's lounge during the lunch break! Anyone who had worked in the firm for over three days was aware that Mr. Shao did not like anyone going near his lounge. Even the cleaning lady needed to wear full set of hazmat suit including gloves and mouth-mask to get into his private lounge.

Everyone present felt like they had been slapped hard on the face as it turned out Mr. Shao was quite nice to Ella.

Ella gazed fondly at elegant Anna and she was really moved. Ella was bullied in the firm since she started her job. She was truly touched when someone finally stood out and defended her. "Thank you." She took the phone from Anna's hands and smiled at her. ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐