Chapter 86 - Second Choice

When Lina reached her office room, she quickly entered it and shut the door behind her.

Going behind her table, she unlocked one of the compartments and hid the big box of cookies inside it.

'It will be safe here!' She heaved a sigh of relief.

Just as she settled in the chair, the door was pushed open and she saw Leon walking in followed by Anthony who sheepishly waved at her.

"Well well well, look who came by?" She chuckled looking at them.

She saw Leon looking around the room as if he was searching for something.

"Stop sniffing me!" She shoved Leon away from her hair when he started creeping around her.

"Leon, unless you want to get a sexual harassment at the workplace lawsuit, step away from her." Anthony facepalmed as he sat on the couch.

Listening to what Anthony had said, Leon walked back to him while sulking.

Lina got up and went to the side table, she then picked up one of the boxes that Derek had left behind.

"This one is mine." She opened the box and showed them the freshly baked cookies in it.

The two men looked at her with anticipation, waiting for what she might say next.

Lina silently walked back to the couch and plopped opposite to them.

"But I'm willing to share." She smiled and placed the box on the table.

Anthony and Leon instantly pounced on the box and grabbed a couple of them before settling back in their seats.

"Like them?" She asked and they eagerly nodded and Leon even came back for more.

"Good. So now tell me what is the deal with that new woman, Maxene." Lina asked in a serious tone.

'I like total loyalty from my employees, I just met her and I could already feel that her loyalty does not lie in Obsidia.' Lina contemplated.

"As I said earlier, She is Maxene Kang, our research analyst," Anthony spoke after wiping the cookie crumbs from his mouth.

"Stuart hired her because she's great at her job and our previous research analyst had gone on her maternity leave." He continued with the information that he had.

"She's great at her job? Seriously?" Lina was having a hard time digesting his words because she had seen with her own eyes how Maxene had handled the situation in the meeting.

"I know what you might be thinking, but she really has some great ideas." Anthony tried to convince her but Lina just raised her brows at him.

"Unless Talia's was mentioned." Leon completed that sentence for him after gobbling up his fifth cookie.

"She's a little crazy for Talia Zheng and that shows in everything she does." Leon spoke in a fast way and even swirled his fingers at his temple indicating that Maxene was a little cuckoo.

"Ok. That's enough sugar for you." Lina snatched the cookie box away from Leon because he seemed to be on a sugar rush.

"It's true though." He pouted at her and wiped his fingers with a tissue that Anthony had so kindly handed to him.

Detective Leon had done a little snooping around when he first noticed her strange behavior whenever Talia's was mentioned or made fun of at the office and his findings were worth all the effort he made.

"I even heard that she first applied for a job at Talia's but they rejected her because she's not up to their standard. So she applied here at Obsidia and Director Bai hired her." Leon leaned forward and whispered in a low voice because this was not known to anyone in the office.

'This gossipmonger!' Anthony just shook his head at his assistant's antics but Lina was frowning deeply.

'So my company was a backup plan for her?' Lina's eyes flickered at this thought.

"My Obsidia is no one's second choice!" In her anger, Lina declared it in a loud voice.

But when she realized her slip up, she quickly tried to cover it up.

"I mean the company that I'm working for must not be anyone's second choice." She smiled to cover up her awkwardness.

Anthony nodded at what she said because he too felt the same way but that wasn't the case with Leon.

'My Obsidia huh? So much love for a company you just joined? Something doesn't add up.' He scrutinized her to see if he could find any clues.

Thankfully her phone rang with a message notification and she hastily picked it up to check who had messaged her.

It was a text from Wade.

*They are here.*

Those three words made Lina's mood to soar and she forgot all about her anger.

"Guys, Mr. Hitoshi is here!" She excitedly informed them and saw them smile as well.

Because of the dinner party, everyone was well acquainted with each other and they had fun in each other's company.

"I wonder what Nao wore today?" Anthony wondered out loud.

Anthony had met two sneaker lovers yesterday, Lina and Nao so he had a great time with them and was excited to meet him again.

"Wade's getting them here, let's go." She got up and they followed her.

"Wait! I forgot something!" She ran back to her desk and after unlocking the compartment, she carefully carried the big box and they rushed back to the conference room.

----

When they reached the conference room, everyone was right in the same place as they were before Lina and the other two had left them.

'My butt would hurt if I sat in the same place for so long!' She shook her head and sat next to Stuart.

"What's in the box that you keep carrying around?" Stuart curiously asked her.

She smiled at him wickedly and gave him a sneak peek of what was inside the box.

Seeing the twinkle in his eyes when he saw the cookies inside made her giggle adorably.

But Lina the little devil immediately shut the box once again which made his twinkle fade into sad puppy eyes.

'Oh, I'm going to hell for that!' She laughed like a maniac in her mind and playfully winked at him but he just glowered at her.

As Lina was playing the staring game with Stuart, the doors were pushed open and Wade walked in followed by Kirk and then Mr. Hitoshi and his team.

She smiled at them and then looked at Mr. Hiroshi.

"Twinsie!" Lina happily yelled and skipped to his side.

Today they both wore all-black clothes so she went up to him and showed off her outfit.

He wore simple black trousers with a black loose shirt but that combined with his cane made him look like an old mob boss.

"Looking great, boss!" Lina saluted him and he blushed like a young man.

When the other Hitoshi family members saw him blushing, they quickly took out their phones and clicked his pictures.

"Aya, Nao, Mitsuo!" He yelled and they instantly put their phones away.

Lina then went ahead and greeted the others and when she saw Aya she just wiggled her brows teasingly at her.

Because at yesterday's dinner, Lina had confronted her about Stacy and finally made her confess that she too had feelings for Stacy but she still wasn't sure if it was a fleeting crush or something more.

Since Lina had promised Stacy that she would not interfere, she just left it at that.

While all this was going on, the others also came up to them and greeted Mr. Hitoshi and his team with respect.

As Maxene and the other assistants had not met them before, Wade introduced them to each other.

Wade had ordered some more chairs to be arranged before they came and soon everyone sat down to continue the meeting.

But before Wade could speak, Lina got up from her seat and looked around.

"I baked cookies this morning, please taste it." She humbly bowed before pushing the opened box forward.

Instantly, everyone who had heard about her cupcakes the last time gasped and reached forward to take a piece.

Irene took pictures and posted it on the company group and they were forwarded by the other staff from the Marketing department.

Within a few minutes, the cookies were polished off and the crumbs in the box went inside Leon's stomach.

The only person who did not touch them was Maxene who just smirked at the others who were eating like there was no tomorrow.

Lina had seen her behavior but decided to ignore her.

'I need to talk to Wade about her.' When she looked at him, Wade signaled to her phone and she saw that he had sent her a text.

*Nana! Where is big brother's box of cookies?* 

She looked up at him and asked him to check his phone.

*In my office, take it after the meeting.* 

He finally smiled and then they began the meeting.

"Now that we are done with those great snacks by our new consultant. Let's take a look at LY's new designs for the collection." He announced and everyone cheered in excitement.