CHAPTER 446: CHAPTER 446: MR. STERLING CHEERS

After Skylar Aldrin left, Gwen Yates was momentarily dazed. The sudden silence in the room made her feel out of place. The sense of grievance transformed into a massive dark net, enveloping her completely, leaving her nowhere to run. She wanted to cry, to let out her emotions with a loud wail, but after being dazed for quite a while, she only let out a gentle sigh.

She sat dumbfounded for a few minutes, picked up her phone, and called Rhonda Sullivan. "Was it you who said it?"

Rhonda Sullivan was snuggled up in her boyfriend’s arms, sleeping soundly. Being awakened by the phone ringing already made her very grumpy. Hearing Gwen’s questioning made her even more displeased. She cursed "lunatic" and hung up the phone, then blocked all of Gwen Yates’ contacts.

So what if it was her who said it? What can Gwen possibly do to her? Rhonda rolled her eyes dismissively, thinking that Gwen was just a pig with a pretty face.

On the other end of the phone, Gwen Yates was so angry that she yelled and threw her phone onto the ground, the screen instantly shattered into a spider web.

She was still furious and wanted to smash everything in front of her, but after the thought flashed through her mind, she held back.

Destroying her own home would only leave a mess for herself to clean up. She couldn’t keep acting so childish.

She picked up her phone, ripped off the damaged screen protector, relieved that the actual screen was still intact, grabbed her bag, and headed to the hospital.

*

At The Sterling Group, in Edwin Sterling’s office, Aidan Sinclair came early to discuss the Japan project with him, specifically the matter of who to send over next week. This project was mainly handled by the two of them, and only they had the capability to resolve related issues. Even if Howard were still at The Sterling Group, he wouldn’t be qualified.

To be frank, it was just bickering over who would go to Japan for the business trip. Well, everyone had a reason for not wanting to go.

Aidan Sinclair argued confidently, "It’s Holly’s first performance this weekend, and I absolutely cannot miss it!" Currently, he and Ruby Sullivan were head over heels for each other; would they really let him, a single guy, stay single indefinitely?

"This week Ruby Sullivan is attending a fragrance forum. There’s a banquet afterward, and I can’t let my wife bring another man to such an event." Ethan Sterling was unwilling to concede at all. What’s more important, a wife or a girlfriend? Especially since his girlfriend wasn’t guaranteed to remain his.

Aidan Sinclair slapped the table, "Don’t you want to make money?"

"If I’m not making any, don’t expect any benefits," Ethan Sterling replied with a slight smile, calm and collected.

Just as their argument reached a stalemate, the office door was forcefully pushed open, and Snow awkwardly explained, "Mr. Sterling, Skylar insists on seeing you."

Ethan Sterling glanced at Skylar Aldrin and said to Snow, "You head out first."

Both he and Aidan Sinclair instantly hid their outward emotions, as if the two childish guys from earlier weren’t them.

Ethan Sterling gave him a sideways glance, indicating for him to step out.

Aidan Sinclair blinked, laughing, and sat down on the sofa, "You guys chat, I’m not in a hurry." Hmm, he had no clue what Ethan’s look meant; after all, he wasn’t a mind reader.

Ethan Sterling was speechless and chose to ignore his presence, turning to Skylar Aldrin and asked, "Go ahead."

Skylar Aldrin bowled deeply at a ninety-degree angle, "Please give me another chance."

"Give me a reason."

"If you don’t agree, I’ll go plead with your wife." Skylar Aldrin shouted with all his might, his eyes tightly closed.

He really didn’t know what reason he had for Ethan Sterling to give him another chance, except... someone.

Ethan Sterling was left speechless, "What if I say no?"

"Then I’ll go beg your wife to take me in." Skylar Aldrin replied, straightening his body, sincerely looking at him. "I want to join the sales department. I’ve basically grasped the basic workings of each department during my time in the secretary team, and I feel the sales department is where I’d like to try. If I don’t succeed this time, I’ll leave voluntarily; you won’t have to fire me."

"No base salary during the trial period, lasting three months. Accept or leave." Ethan Sterling said decisively.

"Accept." Skylar Aldrin didn’t expect such a straightforward agreement. He promised that the first money earned from his new job would be for treating his sister-in-law to a big meal!

After Skylar Aldrin left, Aidan Sinclair was curious, "What’s the situation?"

"I don’t want to make enemies with the Aldrin Family," Ethan Sterling explained, paused briefly, and pressed the phone’s internal line, "Send Leon Sterling to my office." After saying this, he looked at Aidan Sinclair, "We’ve decided on someone to go to Japan."

Leon Sterling listened to their reasoning and was left with a dark line across his forehead, reluctant to speak, "Are you guys just showing off?"

"If you’re jealous, hurry and find a girlfriend," Ethan Sterling mocked mercilessly.

"Personal attacks constitute workplace violence, boss." Leon Sterling impatiently got up, "I’ll go handle some work and send me an introduction to the project over there."

Ethan Sterling forwarded all the data to his inbox without a word, "Didn’t you always like Japan? You could take the opportunity to go for a vacation there and maybe bring back a girlfriend."

"Shut up," Leon Sterling rolled his eyes and left.

Aidan Sinclair suddenly felt somewhat relieved, not wanting to go but also not wanting the project to go wrong. After all, if there were a mess, he’d have to team up with Ethan Sterling to fix it. He admitted Leon Sterling’s talent in painting; getting such an artist to handle tough commercial issues felt rather risky.

"Are you sure your brother is capable?"

"Why don’t we let your brother come?" Ethan Sterling raised an eyebrow.

Aidan Sinclair raised his eyebrow to counter, "My brother, bring it on."

Ethan Sterling shuddered, "Scram."

On Friday night, Aidan Sinclair, Ruby Sullivan, and Ethan Sterling were all present, cheering Holly on. The two men were responsible for holding up light boards like fans, while Ruby Sullivan waved glow sticks and cheered.

The performance consisted of a group of seven people, but Holly’s camera time on the big screen was quite limited. Holly seized every opportunity to take center stage, never wasting a single center-stage shot.

Through recent training, her dance skills had greatly improved. After learning to use her breath control, her singing also got much better, which made her more confident and glamorous on stage. Although she wasn’t performing in the lead position, her presence was nonetheless radiant.

Ruby Sullivan and Aidan Sinclair joined the fans in various cheers, but Ruby Sullivan noticed Ethan Sterling was too quiet. She sternly admonished, "You should be cheering for Holly!"

Ethan Sterling, alerted by his wife’s glare, hesitated but couldn’t shout out anything.

Ruby Sullivan shook her head, thinking it was time to take him to a music festival to practice some crazy yelling.

Feeling he had let his wife down, Ethan Sterling took a deep breath, found his center, and suddenly shouted, "Holly, Holly, you’re the best, the brightest star!"

He shouted just as others were singing, during a relatively mellow part of the melody, making his voice particularly abrupt, drawing dissatisfaction among nearby fans.

Ruby Sullivan was startled that Ethan Sterling would do such a thing and didn’t care how many people were watching. She stood on tiptoe and gave him a big kiss on the cheek, holding both thumbs up. "Honey, congrats on taking a giant step like a yodeler!"

On her other side, Aidan Sinclair rolled his eyes; these two, would they die if they didn’t feed others their PDA?