A Naive Bride for the Sophisticated CEO

Chapter 13: Brace Yourself Up!

The meeting came to an end, and they began to exit the conference room one after the other. James’ company, and one other won the competition.

“Congratulations, Mr. James. Your assistant did brilliantly well! I’m so impressed. Who would have thought she would have such words in her mouth.”

The chairman greeted James, and James smiled faintly. Amelia that stood behind him couldn’t help but giggle. This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .

“My former secretary would have done better too. Don’t make her too happy. She could have done better.”

He looked at her face, and she stopped giggling. ‘Why isn’t he happy? At least we won.’

“I understand you. But we should still celebrate. There is a party here tonight. The lucky companies should be around to celebrate.”

“Sure. I’ll surely attend,”

“You are invited too, Miss Amelia.”

He looked at her, and she nodded excitedly. “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

The chairman walked away, and James began to walk to the building’s exit. Amelia followed behind him like a fly following poop, because of the eyes that peered at them.

If possible, she would enter his body, just to stay away from the people’s stare.

“Why are you so close? Do you want to push me to the floor again?” James asked, without looking at her.

“I’m sorry.”

Amelia abruptly took a halt and let James walk forward a little so that there would be a gap between them.

“Amelia Cooper.” A pretty young lady, Priscilla , called behind Amelia.

Amelia turned to look at who had called her, and immediately she turned, the young lady hit her cup of hot coffee on Amelia’s chest, spilling the coffee on her.

“Argh!” Amelia cried as the coffee burned her skin painfully.

“Oh my God. I’m so sorry.” The young lady uttered sarcastically.

James heard Amelia’s cry when he got to the entrance. He turned back almost immediately and saw the young lady. He recognized her to be the CEO of the second company that won.

‘What does she think she is doing?’

He stormed back to where they were, the camera flash flicks and clicking sounds didn’t stop. The reporters weren’t ready to sleep on it.

“What is going on here?” James looked at Amelia and saw her holding her shirt away from her chest. It was stained with coffee.

James immediately understood what happened when he saw the coffee cup in Priscilla’s hand.

“Will you watch where you are going? Your clumsiness would do you no good.”

Priscilla rolled her eyes and shot Amelia a deadly look. “I think you should say that to your secretary, she got in the way first.”

Amelia couldn’t hold back her tears when she heard Priscilla’s lies, but she was too hurt to speak. Her chest was burning.

Priscilla flipped her hair sexily and walked to the entrance of the company. Her two female workers that watched the whole incident followed behind her too.

James looked at Amelia again and when he saw she was crying, he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

He moved closer to her and moved his mouth to her ear.

“Can you stop being stupid? Must you cry over everything?! Stand up for yourself, woman, and don’t disgrace my company!”

He moved away from her and proceeded to the exit too.

Amelia looked at the entrance to the company and saw the reporters still taking pictures. Her shirt was ruined, and she knew her chest had turned red due to the burn.

She gulped hard, trying to push back the heavy tears that threatened to pour out of her eyes. She summoned the little courage she could gather and headed to the entrance.

“What happened there, Miss? Who are you to Mr. James Parker?” The reporters’ questions filled her ears, but she kept mute.

She walked briskly down the narrow path, with the microphones and other gadgets pointing to her face.

Soon, she got away from the reporters, and she began to walk down the street.

James watched her from inside his car and knitted his brows. He wondered where she was headed.

“Where is she going?”

His driver looked at him through his interior mirror as he ignited the engine. He waited for him to give him orders before he started driving.

“Drive to her.”

The driver did as James told him, and he followed behind Amelia quickly. When they got close to her, James wound down his window, and his driver slowed down.

“Where are you going, girl?” He asked.

Amelia reduced the pace at which she walked and turned to look at him. Her eyes were swollen and teary.

“I am going to get a taxi, Mr. James. I couldn’t wait in front of the reporters, so I wanted to walk far from the company first.”

She ran the back of her hand over her eyes and clasped her lips hard.

James heaved a sigh and said, “Get in the car.”

Amelia moved her hand from her eyes and looked at him. She believed she misheard what he said.

“Sir?”

“Get in the car or you get punished.”

She hurriedly bounced her head and walked to the other side of the car.

She sat upright in the car, burying her hands between her legs and gluing herself to the door. She made sure there was more than enough space between the both of them.

She didn’t want to make the same mistake she did which made her stuck with him again.

James’ driver hit the highway afterward and there was awkward silence in the car.

Amelia kept her head bowed, and James kept his eyes on his phone. Sometimes, he would steal glances of Amelia.

He noticed she was still shedding tears. and he was forced to speak.

“Must you cry over every little thing? Aren’t you always tired of crying?”

Amelia closed her eyes at the sound of his voice, and she shook her head.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of crying. I’ve been doing it my whole life, and I’m used to it already.” She responded without lifting her head.

James stared at her for minutes, his head was blank, and he didn’t know what to say to her. He looked out of the window and exhaled softly.

They arrived at James' company in no time, and Amelia hurriedly stepped out. She left the door open so that James could step down too, but instead, his driver opened the door at his side for him, and he stepped out.

“Thank you for giving me a lift, Mr. James.”

James scoffed and walked up to her. He took a step past her and whispered in her ear.

“I did it for my company. People were watching, and I didn’t want to give a bad impression. I won’t do that next time. I’m not that nice.”

Amelia gulped hard and closed her eyes as James’ cologne filled her nose when he walked into the company.

She heaved a sigh and opened her eyes a few seconds later. ‘What is wrong with you, Amelia?’

She slapped herself hard on the face because of her thoughts.

‘You can’t keep letting people step on you like you are some trash! You need to brace yourself up! I need to look hot at tonight’s party. Maybe this torture will finally come to an end.’