Chapter 391 Can’t Just Be Friends
Rachel went straight home. No one was home, so the house was empty. Lately, the two children stayed with Gloria, while Jolly had moved in with Leroy after a fight against her parents.
The originally crowded apartment now seemed deserted. Julian’s words echoed in her ears, causing her brain to buzz as she sat slumped on the sofa.
To say that she didn’t know his intentions was simply self-deception, but to say that she had always known Julian’s intentions wasn’t true either.
Anyone who had seen what she was like six years ago wouldn’t think that Julian would fall in love with her.
She was disabled, a mute who couldn’t even speak when she wanted to.
She was an illegitimate child whom her family had cast out in cold blood, someone who had no dignity to speak of.
Whether it be her qualifications or family background, any ordinary man wouldn’t choose her, not to mention someone who was a young, promising doctor like Julian.
She leaned against the sofa, took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.
Even now, she believed that Julian wasn’t in love with her but probably sympathized with her. Moreover, they had perhaps grown dependent on each other after spending time together for so many years.
The next day, as soon as Jolly arrived at Hudson Pharmaceuticals, she rushed into Rachel’s office and exclaimed, “What’s going on? Chris, what’s the situation with Julian? Why did he call me so many times last night?”
Rachel was startled from her work and looked up from behind the computer.
Now it was Jolly who was caught off guard. “And what’s up with you? Didn’t you get any sleep last night? Look at those dark circles!”
“Don’t get me started.” Rachel yawned, not in good spirits.
Jolly pulled out the chair in front of her desk and sat down. “Tell me. What’s going on with you two? I was in an argument with my family last night, so I didn’t check my phone at all. I called Julian early in the morning, but he had already gone to a meeting. I’m guessing it was related to you. Tell me the truth. What’s going on?”
Rachel recounted everything that had happened the day before.
“This…”
The corners of Jolly’s mouth twitched. “Are men so brainless when they fall in love?”
“What do you mean?” Rachel was confused.
“There are so many opportunities and ways to confess. He just chose the worst time possible. Doesn’t he know that women hate emotionally unstable men? He really made a bad move!”
Jolly sighed and played the part of a relationship expert. “I’ll lecture him another day. How can he do this? He even announced in front of your ex-husband that you’re his fiancée. As your best friend, I didn’t even know that you’re his fiancée!”
Knock, knock, knock.
Rachel knocked on the table. “Jolly! Can you be serious for a moment? We’re talking business here! I don’t even know how to face him now!”
“What’s so hard about this? Nine of my ten buddies have a crush on me, and eight of them have confessed to me, but we still drink and party together. What century are we in? We’re long past all that!”
Rachel rolled her eyes so hard that only the whites of her eyes could be seen. Then, she held her forehead after being rendered speechless. “Asking you for help is a waste of my saliva.”
After Jolly was called unreliable, she became serious again.
“Why are you overthinking this? This kind of thing isn’t something that women need to consider. If Julian is really meant for you, he’ll find a way to solve it.”
“What if he insists?”
“What? Are you really not going to give him a chance? Chris, it’s not that I want to criticize you, but men and women can’t have a completely platonic friendship, especially after leaving school.”
“Even you think Julian and I can’t be just friends?”
“You may be able to, but obviously, Julian can’t.”
Rachel frowned slightly, and when she thought about something, she hesitantly spoke about her concerns, “I always had the feeling that Julian is different from before.”
Jolly was rather careless about details that she wasn’t focused on. “What’s the difference? Didn’t he just become the president of Burton Group? He’s no longer the world-saving doctor. The fluctuations of the business world would inevitably bring out sharpness in him. He’s managing a company, not doing charity work. All right. I repeat, don’t overthink this.”
Jolly leaned back in her chair. “Anyway, aren’t you going out together this Saturday? You can talk things out then.”
“Can I not go?” Rachel’s face scrunched up when she was reminded about the outing on Saturday.
She wasn’t good at rejecting people, so she would try to show her stance before things deteriorated beyond her control, but she didn’t know what Julian thought.
“Why? We’re all friends!”
“You just said that we can’t be friends!”
“Don’t twist my words.” Jolly suddenly had a mischievous look on her face as she leaned closer. “Actually, I have another way. Do you want to hear it?”
“What is it?”
“I can call Ornand over too. Then, when the two of them fight, he might not bother you anymore, just like when we were in Montenegro.”
“Jolly! Don’t you dare! Don’t you think the situation is messy enough?”
After finally persuading Ornand to return home, she didn’t want to bring him over again.
With Ornand’s rowdy and feisty character, he would definitely get into a fight against Julian. This wasn’t Montenegro, where no one would think twice, no matter how dramatic one was. It was different here.
“I was just throwing ideas out! Haha. Look at how scared you are.” Jolly stood up. “My dear President Hudson, get ready for the meeting. Everyone’s waiting.”
Rachel exhaled forcefully and calmed down. “Let’s go attend the meeting.”
She cast her immersion in the matters of love aside for the time being, as she couldn’t delay work matters.
Meanwhile, executives were gathered in the large conference room at Burton Group.
“I have doubts about our cooperation with Carter Enterprise. Obviously, the price of materials from the same supplier can be even lower. Why do we use the building materials provided by Carter Enterprise? Their price is even 2 percent higher than market price.”
After Julian became the largest shareholder of Burton Group, Carter Enterprise suspended its acquisition plan for Burton Group because Julian took the initiative to show goodwill and cooperate with Cater Enterprise so that they could complement each other. It was a win-win situation for both sides, which earned them more stable benefits than Burton Group’s acquisition and Carter Enterprise’s expansion.
This way, it solved Burton Group’s worries and also won the hearts of the board of directors.
However, the problem gradually became prominent, and soon it was discovered that Carter Enterprise’s interests were too high. As a result, the recent few collaborations almost squeezed all of Burton Group’s profits dry.
A marketing executive asked Julian, “According to these calculations, we aren’t getting any profit at all. It’s not conforming to the laws of the market at all. Are we doing this for nothing?”
Julian remained silent.
Robin immediately refuted the executive. “Manager Hoult, didn’t you attend the first few meetings? It has been said that this is to achieve a good cooperative relationship with Carter Enterprise, so losing out a few percent of profit is nothing. This is done with consideration for the long-term benefits.”
“A contract to give up on our profits is enough to express the sincerity of our cooperation. If we let them win every time, we might as well be acquired! If President Burton were here, he definitely wouldn’t agree to this.”
After he mentioned ‘President Burton’, Julian raised his head, and his gloomy eyes slowly fell on the manager—Charles Hoult.
“What did you just say?”
