Chapter 276: Swag Bag Surprises

Ellis confirmed the documents were in order and signaled to her colleague that they could return to their desks.

No sooner had one colleague left than another approached, arms laden with bags, which they dumped onto her desk, announcing, “Ms. Harper, the Nexus Group has sent over New Year’s gifts for our president’s office; this one’s yours.”

It wasn’t the first time the Nexus Group had been generous.

“Thank you!”

After thanking her colleague, Ellis opened the bags to see what was inside. True to her expectations, the Nexus Group had sent items that would be considered expensive for the average person. She discreetly took photos of the items and used an image search to find out how much they were worth before listing them for sale on a secondhand website.

By noon, Ellis had saved her work and took a moment before lunch to reply to the WhatsApp messages she had received that morning. She wanted to reply to Sophia first, but one name stood out in her message list—Morty. A few days ago, on her first day back in the country, he had sent her two messages, then retracted them. Today, he had messaged her again, with screenshots and text. The screenshot was from a financial news report, and the text read, “You don’t need to worry about Victoria striking back at you; she and her family are done.”

Ellis had known about the Brooks family’s troubles early on, but Morty making the effort to inform her seemed like he still cared whether Victoria was out to get her. She couldn’t help but remember the time Morty had accompanied her to the police station and slapped Victoria in front of her. Perhaps it was due to the recent tension, but she found his concern slightly acceptable. At least Morty wasn’t out to harm her. After thinking it over and catching sight of the gifts on her desk, she responded with an emoji to acknowledge his message.

After lunch and a nap, she resumed her afternoon work, but Morty sent no further messages. She had suspected Morty of playing hard to get before, but now she felt he had managed a level of distance that was not off-putting.

Several days later, the Tate Group’s annual meeting was held at the famously luxurious six-star Stonebridge Hotel. As a member of the Tate Group, Ellis was naturally in attendance. The annual meeting was typical—a meal, a raffle, some performances. Unlike her colleagues, Ellis wasn’t concerned about her luck in the raffle; she just sat quietly, waiting for it to end so she could go home and sleep.

However, during the raffle, she spotted a familiar figure. The figure slowly approached her, with people around greeting him as “Mr. Morty.” Finally, he stopped in front of her.

“Ms. Harper.”

Hearing Morty call her name, Ellis offered a slight acknowledgment. Maintaining decorum was important. Morty hadn’t directly pursued her, and they had barely been in contact for almost two months. Clearly invited as a guest of honor by the company, and with many eyes on them, Ellis, despite her strong dislike for him, felt compelled to show a polite façade.

“Is this seat taken?” Morty glanced at the empty spot next to her.

Before she could respond, a colleague answered for her. Expecting Morty to take the seat regardless, she was surprised when he asked again, looking to her for confirmation.

Caught off guard by his polite and courteous demeanor, and with multiple pairs of eyes watching, Ellis shook her head. With her approval, Morty slowly took the seat.

As Morty settled in, Ellis sensed the atmosphere subtly shift, as the crowd’s curious glances subtly moved between her and Morty. Facing this potentially awkward situation, she pretended not to notice anything unusual. When Morty’s gaze seemed to casually sweep over her, she met his eyes as if nothing were amiss. She thought their eye contact would last a few seconds, but Morty quickly looked away. His demeanor was natural, yet somewhat forced. Not wanting to become the subject of gossip, Ellis was prepared to leave soon after Morty sat down.

Unexpectedly, Lois called out to her with some work instructions. Unable to leave, Ellis decided to quickly finish her tasks. But as she was working, a gossip-prone colleague approached her and whispered, “Ms. Harper, Mr. Morty from Nexus Group was sitting at your table, and you left so quickly. Could it be…” The colleague suddenly paused, then switched gears, “Someone’s been sending flowers to the office for you; could that person be Mr. Morty?”

Ellis was surprised that someone else had noticed her receiving flowers. She didn’t respond, simply raising an eyebrow at her colleague. Failing to grasp her actual meaning, her colleague exclaimed with the excitement of a juicy revelation, “I guessed right, Mr. Morty is your suitor? Ms. Harper, the quality of your suitors is too good!”

Ellis was speechless. She herself wouldn’t dare claim Morty as her suitor, yet others dared to ask her such pointless questions.