CHAPTER 96: CHAPTER 96: NOT FAMILIAR

"Shannon, you’ve been such a help all morning, thank you so much. Let’s have lunch together later, my treat."

"No need, it wasn’t a big deal. If there’s anything you’re unsure about in the future, feel free to call me."

"Thank you so much."

Shannon Quinn smiled as she saw Aidan Lockwood return from outside.

"Mr. Lockwood," both of them called out in unison.

Aidan nodded, walked over to Shannon, and asked with a smile, "What brings you here?"

"It’s Lynn’s first day at work, so I came to check on her."

Aidan glanced at Lynn Kendall, then said, "If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask me directly."

"I was worried you’d be too busy, Mr. Lockwood, so I brought Shannon along."

"No worries. If I’m not around, you can also ask the people in the assistant’s office. You’ll get used to it over time. Did you find today okay?"

Lynn smiled and nodded, "I’m getting used to it, it’s just that..."

She spoke while casting a meaningful glance at Shannon, who caught on quickly and said to Aidan, "Oh, Lynn feels that the current work area is a bit noisy, so she’d like to move to the team leader’s office."

Aidan replied, "It should be pretty quiet during work hours, right?"

"Mr. Lockwood, I have this quirk where I can’t find inspiration with too many people around. At my last job, I always had a private office."

"All the private offices here are occupied. I’ll move you to the team leader’s office for now, just make do with it."

"Alright, thank you, Mr. Lockwood. By the way, Mr. Lockwood, why don’t you join us for lunch?"

Aidan glanced at Shannon, then nodded and agreed, "Okay, I’ll just put my things away."

Lynn chose a Western restaurant, probably because she got used to eating Western food abroad. She mentioned she’d eaten there twice since returning home and found the taste quite authentic.

Shannon wasn’t very familiar with Western cuisine and seldom ate it.

Seeing the steak served, it reminded her of the time she had steak with Landon Sutton, how he cut the steak and handed it to her...

"Mr. Lockwood, do you still teach students?"

"Yes, why?"

Lynn joked, "I was thinking... do you have any suitable students to work as my assistant in the studio? They can gain some internship experience without missing their courses. I can assign them some tasks during their free time. Is that doable?"

Shannon paused her steak-cutting; she didn’t expect that Lynn would want an assistant as soon as she arrived. She looked across at Aidan, who seemed to be hesitating as well.

Lynn is very clever and perceptive. Sometimes, even if she says something excessive, she finds a way to smooth it over so no one blames her, "Mr. Lockwood, I was just saying casually. If there’s no suitable candidate, it’s fine. I was just suggesting it since I have experience mentoring newcomers. It’s tough in this field, and bringing in someone is always good."

Aidan, known never to show a stern face, always came across as gentle. After a moment of silent thought, he said, "I do have a lot of students. There’s a girl from a difficult background who does part-time jobs. I can ask her to try out at the company."

"Great, thank you, Mr. Lockwood," Lynn said, a little embarrassed, "Am I asking for too much?"

"No worries, I’ll try to meet any request I can."

It must be said that Lynn is very tactful. Even if you can’t stand her personally, on the surface there’s never any conflict, as doing so would make her seem innocent while others appear unreasonable.

After talking about work, Shannon seldom spoke up because Lynn was all about chatting with Aidan, as if Shannon wasn’t even there.

Aidan, however, thoughtfully included Shannon in the conversation every now and then.

"Shannon, do you have anything going on this afternoon?"

"Why do you ask?"

Aidan replied, "If not, could you come to the school and act as my teaching assistant? Haven’t found a suitable person yet."

Before Shannon could answer, Lynn eagerly said, "Mr. Lockwood, I can! I haven’t visited the school in quite a while."

Shannon just smiled and didn’t compete for the role. Aidan politely declined Lynn, saying, "Shannon’s been my assistant several times before and has more experience. You just joined the studio and have a lot to manage. If Shannon’s free, she can come with me."

"Okay, I was worried that Shannon might not have enough time."

Shannon had seen people like this often, so it wasn’t surprising. As long as they didn’t target her directly, she could overlook these little things.

"Hey? Mona! You’re eating here too?" Lynn suddenly called out to a girl passing by, and Shannon instinctively looked up, immediately furrowing her brow.

Lynn’s "Mona" was none other than June Yardley’s sister, Claire Yardley.

Claire also recognized Shannon, her expression a bit disdainful, and said to Lynn, "Why are you eating with her?"

"What’s wrong? Do you know Shannon?"

Claire didn’t admit it, just looked at Shannon with disdain.

Attempting to mediate, Lynn said, "Shannon and I are colleagues, just having a meal together. I was planning to say I’d visit you someday."

"We can talk about that then. I can tell you all about this ’Shannon’."

After saying that, Claire walked away, and Lynn glanced at Shannon, quietly asking, "What kind of history do you have with Mona?"

Shannon shook her head and said with a faint smile, "Not well-acquainted."

Seeing that Shannon didn’t want to stay any longer, Aidan stood up and said, "Thanks for the lunch today. I have a class at two-thirty, so I’d better prepare, Shannon and I will get going. If you have any questions at the company, just ask anyone; we’re all like family here, no need to be formal."

Shannon followed Aidan to his car, shot him a couple of glances, wanting to vent about Lynn, but unsure of how Aidan felt about her.

Thinking that men generally have broader minds, especially someone as magnanimous as Aidan, if she complained about Lynn, he’d probably think she was petty, so she decided to stay silent.

"How have you been feeling lately?" Aidan asked casually as the car started.

"The same as usual," Shannon didn’t mention the intense morning sickness she’d been experiencing lately.

"Everyone at the company says it feels different without you there. You don’t look very pregnant yet, so you could come by more often, just for a stroll."

Shannon joked, "Who’s not used to it? They probably wish I weren’t around, then they wouldn’t have anyone managing them, it’d be so free."