The Rejected Man's Rise

CHAPTER 09

Whispers sprang to life immediately.

Judge Mercy wasn’t married yet.

So, everybody there thought that Caleb was her boyfriend or something. After all, she didn’t bring along any guards. She came alone with him in the car.

This was enough for people to imagine crazy things.

Edward, however, found that hard to believe.

The same could be said for Rita who was giving a bit of sharp gaze at Caleb.

Mercy understood what was happening, and so she said, “Don’t misunderstand. This young man’s dad was a good friend of mine. He’s like a son to me.”

Her words astonished everybody.

And many of them believed her words.

But Mike and Sherry couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

“She’s lying,” Sherry said in a low voice. “Caleb never told me about that woman. Not once in all the years we’ve been friends.”

“I see,” Mike grinned angrily. “Now that he’s lost the job, he was so quick in finding a sugar mommy. And he attended this party on purpose. He probably wants to ruin our happiness, but the opposite will happen.”

Sherry nodded in agreement. “If he really had a connection with the district court’s judge, then why wouldn't he have told me?”

“Yeah, that makes total sense,” Mike fully agreed with her.

Just like these two, the other employees of the company also ignored Caleb. The same could be said for many guests.

Everybody gave importance to Judge Mercy, but who was Caleb?

They acted like they couldn’t care.

Mercy didn’t want to glue to Caleb and discomfort him, so she went away with Edward.

Edward briefly glanced toward the HR manager Andy.

Andy, swallowing all his pride, went over to Caleb. He was the only person who brought a bouquet and handed it to Caleb.

“Welcome to the party, Caleb,” Andy said.

Caleb acted like he was surprised and had no idea what was going on. “A-A bouquet? For me?”

“Yeah, you’re an important employee of our company,” Andy added. “I believe your promotion is long due.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” Andy quickly nodded, plastering on an artificial smile.

“Promotion? Who?” Mike snorted as he strode over with hands in pockets.

Sherry accompanied him with a wine glass in her hand. “Mr. Andy… you just misspoke. How can someone you already fired is still considered an important employee of the company?”

“Hahaha,” Andy laughed, confusing Mike and Sherry. “You guys really believed that prank?”

“What? A prank?” Mike was visibly upset. “Are you kidding me?”

“Of course, Mike,” Andy replied with calm and composure. “Caleb is not even close to retirement, so why would I fire him, who's one of the finest employees outside the core team?”

Mike gritted his teeth.

It was common in many companies to fire employees who were close to retirement so that the company wouldn’t have to pay the retirement pension. Of course, this was considered as malpractice, but it still happened to many employees all the time.

Mike came closer and whispered to Andy, “What are you doing?” 

“Nothing,” Andy replied and then looked at Caleb. “Let’s go and enjoy the party, shall we?”

“Yes. That’s why I came here,” Caleb walked past both Mike and Sherry.

“Hmph,” Mike snorted, despite being angry that Andy ignored him. “Let him have fun. Once my promotion to the Chief Designer’s post is announced, I will immediately fire him!”

Sherry did not say anything.

She quietly went over to Judge Mercy who was talking with a group of high-profile people.

She waited until they were gone and Mercy was alone.

“Um, excuse me…” Sherry approached her with a pleasant smile on her face. “I’m Sherry. A good friend of Caleb.”

“Oh…” Mercy shook her hand. “You look beautiful. Are you just a friend of Caleb, or… more?”

“Ha-ha, a close friend, you can say,” Sherry chuckled.

“Haha,” Mercy laughed along. “I was a bit worried since Caleb was living in that same old apartment, but he’s working in a solid company like Grand Little Interiors, so his life seems stable.”

Sherry understood the meaning behind her words. (Is she telling me that I have to consider marrying Caleb so that she can still secretly have an affair with him? How ridiculous! I’m going to expose your relationship with Caleb!)  Despite feeling disgusted and angry, Sherry kept on smiling.

Meanwhile, Caleb was standing alone, eating strawberries.

An unexpected person approached him.

He was 179 cm tall. But she was an inch taller than him because she was wearing 3 inch high heels.

It was the CEO of Grand Little Interiors, Rita Grand.

With arms folded across her chest, she stood next to him.

Neither spoke a word.

“You didn’t come in your car,” she said. “Did you give it for repair?”

“Don’t act like you care,” Caleb said and walked away.

Rita frowned.

She followed him and once more stood next to him. “I will only talk about business, so listen to me. You are going to become the Chief Designer. They will announce it soon.”

Caleb was genuinely surprised to hear that. He was not expecting Phantom Dream investors to actively do such a big favor. “Did the new investors ask for my promotion?”

Rita’s expression changed. “How did you know?”

He glanced at her. “Your father would never promote me. Isn’t the reason why I never made it to the core team… because your father was against it?”

Rita remained calm, as though admitting to his words.

A few seconds passed.

“If it was up to me, I would have given you a promotion long ago,” Rita stated. “Do you believe me when I say that?”

“It doesn’t matter what I believe,” Caleb replied with a bit of a heavy voice. “I was scared to leave the company because your father threatened me that I wouldn’t get a job anywhere in the country if I were to leave the company without his permission. And you, as the CEO, did not do one thing that’d help me.”

Rita was stunned by his words.

“Still, I worked my ass off, hoping that you or your dad would one day recognize my hard work and promote me to the core team, but that didn’t happen. I was a fool to think that those above me could be fair toward me.”

Saying that, he walked away, but she did not follow her.

She was genuinely shocked because she did not know that her father had threatened Caleb like that.

She had wondered many times as to why Caleb was still working in the company even after the incident that happened five years back. She had no clue that Caleb was not even allowed to leave the company.