Chapter 94

94 Fired

“Come in.”

Fred walked into Arthur’s room, a little flustered when he was ordered to appear before his executive director. “You looking for me, sir?” he asked politely.

Arthur looked up at Fred with a friendly smile. “Please have a seat,” he said, inviting the father of his sugar baby to sit in front of him. “Do you know why you were suddenly summoned here?” Arthur asked, looking intently at his employee who had served his company for seven years.

Fred smiled stiffly, feeling suddenly bad. “Is there something I just did that makes you dissatisfied with, sir?”

“Oh, no! Not at all, your job is always good. That’s why you got promotions and raises, right?” Arthur said with a sweet smile that he didn’t look suspicious at all. Fred also smiled and nodded, his thoughts being positive maybe Arthur wanted to give him something again for all his hard work.

“Mr. Johnson, may I ask you something more personal?” Arthur asked, starting to get to the topic he wanted to discuss.

“Y-yes?”

“What I see in the employee data, you have two children. One has graduated from high school, and the other is still in elementary school, right?” Arthur asked.

“T-that’s right, sir.”

.....

Arthur was silent for a moment, in thought as he twirled the ballpoint pen in his right hand. While Fred looked at him curiously and worried about what his boss really wanted to talk about.

“Looks like your eldest daughter is old enough for them to work, right?” Arthur asked suddenly, grinning widely.

Fred frowned, increasingly clueless. “W-what do you mean, sir?”

“Sorry, but you’re fired.”

“Huh? Why?! Why did I suddenly get fired for no apparent reason?!” Fred asked in surprise, disapproving of his executive director’s decision. So far, he has dedicated himself to the Jeff.corp company after leaving the former company. Compared to Arthur, who is now the leader of the company, Fred is already quite close to Albern, Arthur’s father as well as the previous leader of the company.

Instantly he felt so much pressure, and his guts suddenly shrank when Arthur was no longer smiling and was staring at him very sharply.

The aura of the man in front of him suddenly changed drastically.

“You really want to know the reason, huh? Because you’re trash who rejoices under other people’s misery,” Arthur replied. Still not making Fred understand, Fred needed a more definite explanation. Arthur sighed heavily, he was too lazy to deal with this bastard for very long.

“P-please be more clear, sir. I’ve been working here for quite some time!”

“I want you to be able to feel the suffering that your own child has been through. Your abandoned child, Kalea,” Arthur said, making Fred widen in disbelief. Arthur knew his family he had abandoned for a dozen years.

“I-I don’t understand what you mean, sir,” Fred said, feigning ignorance with a stiff smile.

“Because what you have done so far is very fatal, and you should even be put in jail for abandoning your wife and child,” Arthur said, looking at Fred with hatred. He really wanted to punch Fred in the face who was so similar to his sugar baby. “How could you marry your mistress and live happily without thinking about their condition.”

Fred looked down deeply, clenching his fists tightly. His heart was very angry with Kalea because it was their meeting at that time that kept Fred in trouble. He had a fight with his wife after arriving home because he met Freya and Kalea at that time. He kept blaming Kalea for everything that had happened.

“My decision is absolute, you are fired. Please tidy up your things and get out of the company,” Arthur said coldly, ending their conversation. He didn’t want to spend too much time with this cowardly bastard.

Fred’s actions were unforgivable. And Arthur really hates infidelity.

“W-wait a minute! Didn’t I just get a promotion? My position is quite important in this company! It shouldn’t be that easy for you to fire me! Your father also definitely doesn’t want this to happen!” Fred protested, still trying to get Arthur to change his mind.

A slight smirk engraved on Arthur’s lips made his handsome face look even more sinister. Arthur rested his chin on the back of his hand. “You seem very confident that your existence is so important here. Mr. Johnson, I can get your replacement quickly and much better than you. Plus, someone who is not as problematic as you,” Arthur replied, immediately shutting Fred’s mouth.

“Wh-what do you actually have to do with Kalea? She can’t suddenly be here,” Fred asked daringly to ask. His fists grew stronger as he looked at Arthur with anger.

“She? Don’t you know that the parking lot has CCTV? Your quarrel is recorded there. After all, my relationship with Lea is none of your business, Mr. Johnson,” Arthur replied sarcastically. Ever since he found out about the condition of the Kalea family, Arthur had wanted to kick Fred out of his company. Not to mention he got a report that Fred really likes to tease other employees, cheating habits are not that easy to change.

To be sure, Arthur didn’t want to let the pest continue to be in his company. At the same time, getting rid of someone who had made Kalea suffer for years.

“Oh, I also forbid you to meet Lea. If you go up to her and blame that girl for your job loss here, I assure you that you won’t be able to work anywhere else. Well, congratulations on finding a job, even though it won’t be as prosperous as it is now,” Arthur said casually while smiling sweetly until his eyes narrowed.

Fred gritted his teeth, without saying a word, he walked out of Arthur’s room.

Arthur sighed heavily, this wasn’t the first or second time he fired an employee. However, perhaps because it had something to do with other people, he somehow felt very tired. After this, he had to explain to his father the reason for firing the man.

Shortly after Fred came out of his room, Juan came in with a surprised look on his face.

“Did you just fire Mr. Johnson?” Juan asked.

“Yep,” Arthur answered simply.

“Huh? Why? What exactly happened? Didn’t you just promote him and agree to raise his salary?!”

Arthur handed the data he got from his other subordinates to his secretary. Juan didn’t know this yet.

“He’s the father of your sugar baby?” Juan asked, still continuing to read all the data there. “Wow, that’s crazy.”

“They met here by accident, after her mother found out her ex-husband was still alive, she almost killed herself if I was too late to take them to the hospital,” Arthur explained. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Now your job is to find a replacement for Fred, you can ask the HR team for help.”

“... that’s their job.” Juan took a deep breath, everything that happened was enough to take him by surprise. He thought that Arthur was arbitrarily firing employees, but it turned out that behind it all, his executive director were quite good and paid attention to people’s feelings. Well, Arthur’s serious mode can’t be denied if the man is very charismatic.

***

After the incident, fortunately Kalea’s next door neighbor was still holding her mouth from spreading it to other neighbors. She explained a little and looked for a plausible excuse. Her neighbors didn’t have the heart either and immediately hugged Kalea, bursting into tears because she didn’t think that Freya, who used to be so friendly and cheerful, actually almost wanted to kill herself in front of her own daughter.

Kalea couldn’t cry anymore, she didn’t know if her neighbor’s tears and feelings were genuine or not, but at least she would appreciate it. With everything that had happened so far, Kalea had a hard time trusting her neighbors.

And after that week, she was able to go back to college as usual without giving an honest reason to the campus. She only said if the fever was high enough to require hospitalization.

Today, Kalea wanted to go home even though her mother wasn’t there. With an uncertain time, Freya must undergo mental treatment at a rehabilitation center. Until now, she had not been able to meet her mother. Kalea had contacted Arthur if she was going to stay at the house, but the man had strictly forbidden her, worried that something might happen to Kalea.

[If you still insist on staying alone there, I will accompany you.]

[Don’t be crazy, I don’t want any strange rumors to be spread by my neighbors.]

[Then don’t go there yet.]

[I just went there for a while to pick up some of my things.]

[Whatever, but if you are stubborn, I will have my men drag you from there.]

That’s what their argument looks like in the message.

Finally, Kalea just wanted to go home for a while to pick up some books that were still left there. After getting off the bus, she walked towards her house on foot. As usual, the area around her house is quite quiet in the late afternoon and into the evening.

She frowned when someone tapped her shoulder. Kalea turned back, her eyes perfectly rounded, and took a few steps back from the person.

“D-dad?”