Standing Right Next To You - Chapter 444

After being reminded of the promise Lina had made to Steph, to be his showstopper for his Winter Collection, she revealed that he thought too highly of her.

However, Steph was quick to reject her self-deprecating words.

“Noona, you are my muse. I can never think enough about you.” He blushed as he confessed his true intentions to her.

Lina’s lips curved into a smile while Benji once again rolled his eyes at the scene unfolding before him.

Previously, he had no clue about the promise these two had made to each other but now that he was aware of it, he too felt that these designs were not enough to bring out his Boss’s brilliance.

Lina rarely appeared at high-profile events as they infringed on her privacy.

Anyone who was close to her knew that she would much rather spend time with her friends, getting drunk in a bar than attend events with media coverage and fake pleasantries.

However, on the off-chance that she could not get out of it and had to attend such mainstream events, she made it a point to always look her best.

She disliked attention but this did not mean that she would dress up in rags to avoid gaining their attention.

Doing that would be a foolish move as not dressing appropriately for the occasion would only garner vile comments from others who might use this opportunity to demean her.

Therefore, if she could not avoid such events, she would rather be a pretty wallflower who watches from the sidelines, enjoying the event while staying away from the spotlight.

Even at the first-ever auction of LY’s jewelry which she had attended with Wade as her partner, though she was in a mask she had caught the eyes of many.

The gown she wore had been prepared by Stephen himself by keeping her specifically in mind.

Though she had been a masked mystery on that important day, she did not fail to enchant the people who had laid eyes on her and a large part of the credit for that could be given to the brilliant dress that Steph had prepared for her.

In fact, when Benji had arrived in the country, one of his first duties was to delete the numerous secret pictures that had been posted online with netizens debating the identity of that mysterious lady and discussing her stunning dress.

Therefore, comparing that dress that Steph had made for Lina with the ones he saw now, he felt that more work needed to be done on them.

So when he heard of the reason why Steph had displayed his reluctance towards those designs, Benji agreed with his opinion.

“You need to make better designs if you want Lina to walk the runway with you.” The tall and bulky assistant declared without any hesitation.

Steph was already aware of shortcomings regarding these designs but hearing the same coming from Benji, he could not help but be a little peeved.

Even if they shared the same opinions, he just felt irked with everything that Benji did and said.

However, Benji was keen enough to grasp that the young man was being petty so he did not care much about his irate behavior as he glanced at his watch.

“Nana, lunchtime.” He pointed out that they had spent the entire morning running around and it was finally time for them to eat.

Steph had more to say regarding his plans on walking with his Noona on the runway but hearing the assistant’s reminder, he did not wish to keep her waiting.

Lina truly was hungry as confronting Mrs. Jasmine Tong had used up a large portion of her energy hence she desired to eat up and recuperate that lost energy.

Therefore, hearing that it was time to fill her empty belly, she was excited to see what she would have for lunch today.

“Steph, join us!” She offered and her determined expressions revealed that she was unwilling to take no for an answer.

How could Steph ever refuse a chance to eat with his Noona?

Therefore, he gave her an eager nod as he rose to his feet and pulled her up as well.

“Leave these aside, Noona.” He tossed the remaining papers back on the couch where they had been seated until now.

“I shall prepare much better ones and personally sew them together for you!” He guaranteed that she would be in awe of what he would create for her.

Lina chuckled and stood on her toes to pat her cute little puppy’s head, a gesture that Steph enjoyed thoroughly.

Benji rolled his eyes at the two children before him as he walked to the door, holding it open so that they would hurry along.

With Steph’s promise to create something much better than the already exquisite designs that she had seen just earlier, Lina could not deny that she was quite excited for the Winter Collection’s exhibition which would take place in no time.

‘Looking forward to how things would turn out on that day.’ She giggled, hoping that nothing would go wrong in the preparations of that big day.

With this excitement and nervous giddiness in her heart, Lina along with Benji and Steph made their way back to the 22nd floor that belonged to the Marketing Department.

Unfortunately, poor Lina had no clue about the storm that was heading her way and would reach her soon as well.

It was still a mystery whether she would be able to shelter herself from the storm or get caught up in the middle and get ripped apart due to the intensity of its destruction.

However, it was a matter of certainty that many people were looking forward to the days to come.

Just like Lina, many others had their hopes up for the coming days yet it was only the employees of Obsidia who were excited for the Winter Collection’s performance in the market.

The rest… they were just waiting to watch the show that would be here in no time.

___

Ignorant about the storm heading her way, Lina and the two men with her were heading towards her office in the Marketing Department.

As soon as they got off the elevator on the twenty-second floor, Lina smiled when she saw someone waiting for her outside her office.

A man donning a prim and proper uniform of a chauffeur was standing by the door of her office and in his hands were what appeared to be insulated boxes.

“Your lunch has arrived.” A sarcastic voice shifted her attention from Derek, her driver, towards the one who had just spoken up.

A little distance away from her office door were the cubicles designated to the assistants of this department.

While Julia was nowhere to be found, the ever-curious detective genius of the office, Leon Jiu was striding in their direction right now.

“She got caught by Director Bai.” Leon snickered when he noticed Lina’s scanning eyes as she tried to locate the other assistant who sat next to him.

While Lina was upstairs, the rest who had attended the meeting with her had returned to their respective posts.

Since Director Stuart Bai had no assistant of his own, he would often call for whoever he laid his eyes on and made them do his bidding.

Therefore, when he found the Director scanning the room to check who was free at the moment so that he might give them a task of his to complete, Leon had lowered his head and stared hard at the blank piece of paper.

The Director who was too far away from the assistant’s cubicle had no way of knowing that Leon was doodling on the paper instead of working like he should have been.

Therefore, after witnessing Leon ‘busy’ at work, he had called out Julia and another employee who appeared to be sitting idle.

Julia had just completed checking her boss, Assistant Director Irene Zhou’s schedule for the day and was taking a moment to collect her thoughts when the Director had called her name out.

To add insult to injury, Leon pretended to be sorry for not being able to help them out, a gesture which Director Bai appreciated immensely and even asked him to continue working hard.

With a surprised expression when Julia looked in his direction, she found the paper which was the object of Leon’s hard work until now.

‘SUCKER!’

The mocking word written in all caps with an intricate tongue-out emoji was what she found on that paper, an illustration expressing what he felt at that moment.

Gritting her teeth at his despicable behavior, Julia had no other choice but to head towards Director Bai’s office while dragging that other employee who was also called along with her.

However, she did not forget to curse him out and promise to avenge herself when she got back.

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” Lina warned her friend who liked to play with fire.

Benji snickered when he caught the glint of fear that flashed across Leon’s eyes momentarily.

‘If you are scared of her then why did you mess with her?’ The taller assistant with the higher amount of muscle mass in his body sneered at the other man standing before him.

“Good luck.” He smirked without letting his real thoughts be known.

However, just taking a look at his expressions was making Leon feel that Benji wasn’t truly wishing him luck but was waiting to witness him get tormented in the future which in a way was the truth hidden inside his heart.