"It seems that after that event happened, nobody went to their bakery any more. Perhaps that's why they decided to close up their shop and leave yesterday," Cheryl explained while looking at Ashley with great admiration.
In Cheryl's eyes, if she was faced with a problem like that, she wouldn't have known how to handle it properly and would probably have ended up having to close the bakery as a result. However, she was awestruck by the way Ashley had managed to efficiently sort it all out by clearing the bakery's name and proving that the other bakery's owners were the deceitful ones.
But in reality, even though the owners had done a terrible thing, they had been running their bakery business there for a very long time and quite successfully. Surely, they would have lost some customers to Ashley's bakery, but they would still have their own regular customers. It just didn't make sense to Ashley, that they would just close up and leave.
The more Ashley had thought about it, the less it made sense. Since the day she had left the hospital, all of her attention had been on her marriage to Andrew.
So it was quite a shock and surprise to her to learn that the bakery had closed.
Even so, if anyone tried to deface her bakery and ruin her business Ashley wouldn't sit idly back and let it happen, nor would she let them get away with it that easily.
Nina stood in the background with her own thoughts on what was really behind it all. Although Ashley did handle it well, Nina knew that Ashley wasn't the only one involved.
Both Nina and Cheryl were chosen by Greyson to work in Ashley's cake shop. However, Nina had worked at Harkim for much longer than Cheryl had and she had much more insight and could see things deeper than just the surface.
When Cheryl was told to work for Ashley, she was still fairly new at Harkim and didn't even have the chance to get to know about Greyson.
Whereas, Nina, on the other hand, knew very well who Greyson was and what he was capable of doing. Nina had some sort of idea as to why the other bakery would have closed. She was almost sure that Greyson would have had something to do with it.
Earlier she had heard through the grapevine that Greyson had invested in the cake shop yet that he didn't have much regard for the shop.
Sometimes, to check that everything was in order, Greyson would occasionally pay a visit to the bakery. Nina didn't hide anything from Greyson and filled him in with all of the details about what had happened that day. Shortly after that, the bakery closed down and the owners moved out. So it would be fair to assume that Greyson was behind it all.
Ashley didn't give it much more thought. As far as she was concerned, those guys had got what they deserved. She was just relieved and happy that her cake shop pulled through and now with the other one gone, she just had one less thing that she had to worry about.
Ashley's hands were covered in flour in preparation for a cake, when her cellphone rang. She quickly wiped her hands onto her apron and pulled her phone out from her pocket. At the sight of the name on the screen, she went into the break room for some privacy to answer the call.
"Hello, Johnny," Ashley greeted on the phone.
"Hello, Miss Mu. Are you at your apartment now? I am waiting for you downstairs," Johnny replied, in a gentle voice.
Hearing this, Ashley silently face-palmed and was at a loss for what to say. 'Oh, shit! I
only by chance. Andrew had thought long and hard before allowing Johnny to come and pick her up. If he wasn't called away for an urgent business matter at the company, he wouldn't have let Johnny pick her up at all.
Johnny was a fastidious and smart secretary. Having been by Andrew's side for such a long time, he got to know his boss very well.
Ashley was speechless by his dramatic reaction.
"Then you choose another way to call me. I feel really weird hearing you call me, Miss Mu," Ashley said, giving him another option.
"How about…Mrs. CEO? Or Mrs. Lu?"
Ashley shook her head and buried her face in her hands. 'What is this guy thinking? Did he bump his head into a wall? Is everyone that works for Andrew like this guy? I hope not.
How could he come up with a name like that? Mrs. CEO?! and Mrs. Lu?! …'
She rubbed her temples with her hands and giggled at the ridiculous suggestion. Then she said, "Okay, just call me, Miss Mu. That's okay."
However, she could see his eyes in the rearview mirror. He seemed to be frowning and disappointed. Ashley was at a loss to why he would be like that.
'What's he upset for? Is it because I didn't agree with him to call me Mrs. CEO or Mrs. Lu? Surely that's not the reason why. You've got to be kidding me!' she thought to herself.
Actually, Ashley had hit the nail right on the head with her assumption. Johnny really did want to call her, Mrs. CEO.
He thought it sounded awesome.
But, Johnny had to respect her wishes, and at last he just said, "As you wish, Miss Mu."
Once they had arrived at Andrew's mansion, he helped Ashley with her luggage, chatted only for a brief moment and then left.
If it weren't for Andrew's jealousy, Johnny would have probably chatted with Ashley for a little longer. However, he understood the importance of not overstaying his welcome and making a good and lasting impression on his new superior. Besides, he also had other work that he needed to tend to.
Once Johnny had left, Ashley began to study her new home.
Her attention was focused on the room that she was standing in. It struck her as being a little familiar, but she didn't know why that was.
Suddenly, she remembered and tapped her forehead. 'This is the room that Andrew brought me to after I got drunk that night.'