Chapter 96 Mrs Parker

"No… No… I don't know him," Mrs Parker replied. She looked very flustered following Joanna's question.

The way she refused to look at Joanna's face made Joanna suspicious.

[What could she possibly be hiding?]

Joanna shifted her gaze to Chris standing outside.

Judging from the way he stood she couldn't tell whether or not he was pretending not to be looking in their direction.

"So when are you willing to start working?" Mrs Parker quickly changed the topic.

The way she changed the topic so hastily showed there was something she was hiding.

"When am I willing to start work?" Joanna repeated in astonishment. Her heart began beating hard against her chest.

"Are you trying to tell me that I am hired?" Joanna asked dumbfounded at the turnout of the event.

Mrs Parker frowned, "Are you not willingly?" Mrs Parker asked.

Joanna startled her when she suddenly jumped to her feet.

"Of course, I am very willing," Joanna couldn't stop smiling as she stood there staring at the woman in the brown dress.

Although Mrs Parker has confirmed it everything felt surreal.

A moment ago she had made up her mind to go as far as begging Mrs Parker if she refused to reemploy her.

The fact that she didn't have to talk much or plead with the pretty lady wearing a brown dress made Joanna elated and shocked at the same time.

"Your partner has been complaining of workloads I would really love it if you can start as soon as possible to relieve her of some of the workloads," Mrs Parker said.

The elated Joanna sat down realising that customers were staring at her.

Joanna tried to compose herself first before she started speaking. "I have a few things to sort out first so I will only be able to resume work in two days…,"

"That is fine then," Mrs Parker readily agreed and this made Joanna kinda suspicious.

Although she was happy that she got her work back she couldn't resist doubting Mrs Parker.

Back then when she was searching for a job, she and Audrey went to so many places and applied for different jobs.

But she was rejected without any second thoughts. Some went as far as pushing them out of their workplace.

Out of all the places she has been to only Mrs Parker was willing to accept her. In fact, she accepted her without asking too many questions.

At that time the naive her didn't see anything wrong. Just like now, she was elated that at least someone was willing to employ her but she is not that naive girl anymore.

"Since you are of legal age to work now I am happy to announce to you that there will be an increment in your salary," Mrs Parker said smiling.

She expected Joanna to jump up in joy but she was surprised to see her staring at her strangely instead.

"What is wrong? Are you not happy with the conditions or do you have a problem with the salary?" Mrs Parker asked out of concern.

"Mrs Parker, can I ask you something?" Joanna asked seriously.

Mrs Parker signalled her to go ahead with her question.

"Why are you so nice to me?" Joanna asked firmly.

She focused all he attention on Mrs Parker. She didn't only want to hear her answer but also wanted to see all the expressions and movements she makes.

It is easy to lie to a person with the mouth but very hard not to let out some hints with facial expressions and body movements.

"You didn't look terrified like the others when you saw me. Neither did you ask me too many questions, it was as if you had already prepared your mind for this moment, why?"

Mrs Parker chuckled. She didn't look flustered despite the difficult question Joanna threw at her.

"Why would I look horrified like the others when the news clearly stated that you proved that you were not a ghost?", Mrs Parker countered her question with another question.

Joanna watched as Mrs Parker crossed her legs.

"Also, I am not the type of boss who pries into her employees' privacy so what is so surprising about that?" Mrs Parker asked.

Her reply wasn't satisfactory to Joanna and her expression showed it.

"If that is only the case then why is it that you said I should start working without giving me the contract to sign?" Joanna asked yet again.

Audrey that was listening to their conversation as though she wasn't was awestruck to see Joanna interrogate her boss the way she did.

"You have never let anyone work for you without signing the contract…,"

"And who says you weren't gonna sign the contract?" Mrs Parker said, standing up to her feet.

"But…,"

"Since you are so eager to fill the employee contract form then you will get to do that when you resume work but not right now…," Mrs Parker trailed.

The noise belonging from the group of people that just entered the cafe caught her attention.

"As you can see we are very busy. I will no longer keep you company," Mrs Parker said.

She walked away before Joanna could get another opportunity to question her.

Joanna watched as Mrs Parker welcomed the newly arrived customers instead of letting Leah do her job.

[Although she looks so gentle and sweet why am not still convinced by her reply? I still feel like there is more to why she had been unbelievably nice to me]

Joanna jolted back to reality when Audrey now standing beside her tapped her.

"Aren't you gonna let us leave or have you changed your mind and decided to start working today so you can keep your eye on her?" Audrey asked seeing how Joanna was secretly watching Mrs Park.

"Although the snake Adhara hasn't fully shown her true colours she is slowly going back to how she was so I can't start work today even though I wanted to…,"

"How about staying in my apartment. It will just be the two of us…,"

"Sorry but my answer is still no," Joanna said playfully. She picked up her handbag lying on the table.

She started walking away. And Audrey didn't fail to follow her.

When they got outside and Chris wasn't standing where they left him, Audrey was very happy and her expression showed it.

"So what was that in there? Why were you questioning your boss like she was so criminal guilty of some crime?" Audrey asked curiously as they kept on walking.

"Although I can't say for sure whether she is a criminal, the truth is that she is guilty of something…,"

"And what is that?" Audrey asked. "Didn't she answer your questions so why are you still suspicious of her?"

Joanna abruptly stopped walking. "And that's exactly the problem," Joanna said seriously.

Audrey stopped walking and looked at Joanna. "See you are not the one I asked those questions and you are upset on her behalf but didn't you see how composed she was in there?" Joanna asked.

"Anyone would have gotten angry after hearing my questions but the problem is that she didn't look or sound the slightest bit upset, don't you find this suspicious too?" Joanna asked.