Edward Clark let out a sigh, turned his head, and looked at the elegantly standing Julia Cooper. “What is it, are you here to comfort me?”

“Pah!” Julia Cooper spat lightly, her delicate face blushing. “Why didn’t you gather with your colleagues before leaving?”

“You’re treating?” Edward Clark curled his lips. “You’d better get back, or according to the company’s thirty-first rule, it’ll be considered absenteeism.”

“Can’t you treat me?” Julia Cooper mustered her courage, boldly hinting—anyone, even a deaf person, could hear the meaning behind her words.

Edward Clark gave a bitter smile and shook his head. “Let’s talk about it another time. Right now, I need to think about finding a place to stay.” He pulled out the cash from his pocket—he didn’t even have a wallet—and counted it. “One thousand one hundred and fifty-eight yuan, that’s all I have. My salary will be settled in fifteen days, and even the cheapest room costs over five hundred. Sigh.”

He sighed, but out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Julia Cooper, pulled off his worn tie, and unbuttoned his collar, revealing a shirt collar yellowed from washing.

“You can’t find a place to stay?” Julia Cooper’s beautiful eyes flashed, ignoring his little gestures. “The apartment I rent has three bedrooms and two living rooms. I have one roommate, it’s fifteen hundred a month, and one room is empty. I’ll let you have it for three hundred.”

“No.” Edward Clark shook his head hurriedly. “I’m not used to that.”

A look of disappointment flashed across Julia Cooper’s face. “Then what are you planning to do?”

“What else? I’ll just look for another sales job.” Edward Clark sighed, looking quite depressed. “I don’t have much education—what else can I do besides sales?”

He turned away and said in a low voice, “Take care of yourself. Just pretend you never met me.”

“Edward Clark!” Julia Cooper called out loudly.

Edward Clark stopped in his tracks, but didn’t turn around.

“You’re so smart. As long as you don’t give up, you’ll definitely make something of yourself.” Julia Cooper said directly, “But why are you so lazy? Why don’t you know how to fight for opportunities? Do you know, that sales plan I gave you, that’s two years of my hard work. If you just read it carefully, those two provincial regions may not be the fattest, but closing a few deals wouldn’t be hard at all. But look at you.”

Julia Cooper walked around to stand in front of Edward Clark, raised the plan in her hand, and flipped through it. “I deliberately glued a few pages together here, but there’s not a single tear. You didn’t even bother to look through it.”

Edward Clark was stunned, unable to say a word. He had never realized that Julia Cooper was so attentive, and cared about him so much. Maybe, caring for someone is because of love? A certain person’s words flashed through Edward Clark’s mind, and he hurriedly shook his head, banishing that frightening thought!

“I don’t have the talent for this.” Edward Clark could only give a bitter smile. “Julia Cooper, thank you for your kindness, but I just don’t like being tied down. Could you please let me go?”

“Let you go?” Julia Cooper bit her red lips lightly, the encouragement in her eyes replaced by a trace of anger. “You mean I’m pestering you, right? Fine, call me cheap if you want, Edward Clark, you’re something else. Remember what you said!”

Julia Cooper was so angry she was almost incoherent. She stomped her foot hard and stormed toward the office building. When she got back to the office, her anger hadn’t subsided. She slammed her notebook onto the desk with a loud “bang!”

Diana Harris cautiously came over. “Zhu Jun, did you see Edward Clark?”

“No, just pretend he’s dead.” Julia Cooper was still fuming.

“But I need to pay him back.” Diana Harris was clearly very honest. “And I need to thank him.”

“Thank him for what? That guy’s like a dog, always biting the hand that feeds him!” Julia Cooper retorted. “Be careful if he sees you, he might just bite you for no reason.”

Diana Harris didn’t know why she was so angry, but still said gratefully, “Just now Mr. Brooks said, the company originally hired two interns this time, but only one would be officially employed. The spot was supposed to go to Edward Clark, but he insisted on giving it to me. Mr. Brooks also said I should find Edward Clark and thank him properly.”

The young woman knew how hard it was to find a job, and had already forgotten about Mr. Brooks’s ulterior motives. She didn’t realize that Mr. Brooks’s real intention wasn’t for her to thank Edward Clark, but to hint to Edward Clark that he had followed instructions, and from now on, they’d go their separate ways, owing each other nothing.

Julia Cooper was taken aback. “Are you serious? Then call him right away.”

“But I can’t get through—his phone’s out of credit.” Diana Harris said, her voice almost in tears. “I just went out to look for him, but didn’t see him.”

The young woman remembered that day when Edward Clark handed over five hundred yuan without even blinking to cover the deposit, while she herself didn’t even have money to top up her phone. She felt even more guilty!

“What?” Julia Cooper hurriedly pulled out her phone, pressed two buttons, and had already dialed his number. Anyone paying attention would know this was a speed-dial, usually reserved for family or close friends!

“Your call cannot be completed due to insufficient balance.” The operator’s gentle yet cold voice came from the other end. Julia Cooper listened, her phone slipping onto the desk, left in a daze.

If Edward Clark didn’t contact her, did that mean she’d never see him again? Her heart suddenly ached, and she remembered something she’d heard before.

Buddha said, “It takes a hundred years of cultivation to share a boat, and a thousand years to share a pillow.”

Could it be that her fate with him was so shallow, just a fleeting acquaintance of two months?!

……