Chapter 190 - Resignation

Jade followed Mrs Lin into her office, she could feel her heart racing again as fear and anxiety slowly enveloped her. The woman's silence and the way she was staring at her made her really uncomfortable. She stood in front of the huge mahogany desk with her head lowered, anxiously waiting to hear why she has been called.

"I know you must be wondering why I've called you to my office, and I'm also wondering why I've done the same when I could have said what I wanted to say in that board room earlier, but I chose not to. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt that the information that have reached me isn't entirely true" Mrs Lin said in a cold and expressionless tone.

Jade slowly raised her gaze to her. Now she was more scared.

"What information ma?" Jade asked in low tone, one that was obviously filled with worry.

Mrs Tracy drew out a drawer from her desk and pulled out a medium size brown envelope.

"This one" She said sliding the envelope across the table, towards Jade.

Seeing the envelope on the desk, Jade didn't have a good feeling about it. But she reached for it and carefully opened it.

Her eyes grew big and her hands shook slightly when she saw the pictures in the envelope. There were pictures of herself and Jake hugging at the drive-in theatre. And also of Jake giving her a good night kiss right in front of her house. The ones taken in front of her house were quite dark, but definitely not the ones at the drive-in theatre. She had no way of denying she wasn't the person in the pictures. But how could someone have taken these pictures, it was just yesterday, barely up to twenty four(24) hours. 

She slowly lifted her head to gaze at Mrs Lin. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. How was she to explain this? This was what she had feared the most when she and Jake were still friends, and it just came to past. She could guess the kind of thoughts that were going through the woman's mind at the moment. 

"I guess it's true afterall" Mrs Tracy said in an angry and irritated tone.

"I — I" Jade couldn't bring words out of her mouth.

"You can what Ms Peterson? I had high hopes for you, just once I thought you were different, not like the other girls who didn't know the true value of work and self respect. When you came into my office that day I thought I saw a bold, strong and promising young lady who was ready to go to the top without compromising herself, but I guess I was wrong. I was wrong about Jade. I'm highly disappointed"

Mrs Lin didn't even know why she was feeling so angry and disappointed. Jade was an adult and she could whatever she liked but she felt hurt and broken after finding out something like this, because she was beginning to see Jade as a daughter. She admired her intelligence and boldness. 

She felt like Jade had disappointed her and also the company, like she had humiliated the company name.

"Ma, this isn't what it looks like, i assure you" Jade tried to explain, and for some unknown reason she was already tearing up. She didn't like the disappointed and judgemental look Mrs Lin was shooting at her at the moment. It was tearing her heart apart. It felt like she was been reprimanded by her mother her for something she didn't do, and wasn't even given the benefit of the doubt.

"Isn't if clear that you lowered yourself so cheap to get that contract, tanishing the company's impeccable reputation along the line?" Mrs Lin snapped.

"Xenox has always been a high reverenced gaming company but do you know what will happen to the company if news of this got out?" She roared. "The headlines would be, Xenox whoring their female staffs to bag in contracts, or no, it would be 'a whore house in disguise of a gaming company'. Do you know what that would do to the company's image?" She slammed her hand hard against the desk, startling Jade, who nearly jumped out of her skin.

"It wouldn't be seen that it was a one time thing, but people would say that's how we've got every other contract we've bagged over the years, and how we've remained on the pinnacle of the gaming industry. How could you do this?" She demanded lividly.

"I swear this is not what it seems. I can explain" Jade said as she tried not to break down in sobs. She was also hurt that someone she saw as a role model could see her this way.

"Then tell me Jade, tell me what I should think" She said in a condescending manner. She didn't think Jade had a good explanation to save herself.

"Tell me you didn't sleep with the CEO Acrosoft to get this contract" 

"I didn't!" Jade declared strongly. "I didn't sleep with Jake to get that contract" She said as she tried to hold in the tear that was about to roll down her cheek. She couldn't let anyone look down on her like that, not even Mrs Lin who she had come to love and respect.

Yes, had slept with Jake at a time because of money, but that was because she was desperate to save Cale, but that was something she didn't regret. Despite his betrayal she didn't regret the fact that she had done something stupid and shameful to save his life. But she was not a whore! So no one should see as such.

They could take away her job, but she shouldn't be insulted this way.

....

Hey lovelies, I'm so sorry I wasn't able to post the last chapters. I had them written, but I wasn't able to edit them because I had to go to the hospital. Got serious stomach issues, author has been consuming too much Cola...yeah I knoe it's bad, I'm already suffering from the consequences. 

I'm super sorry.