Chapter 185
“Where’s the fruit, Mr. Henderson?” Valeria asked.
“Shane, weren’t you the one who called me an hour ago? I found a local courier and had it delivered to Slate City Medical Center.”
Valeria suddenly remembered something. Her expression turned uneasy, and she felt a bit
awkward.
Shane paid the bill and picked up another box of strawberries.
As they walked through the neighborhood, she smoothed her hair that was tousled by the cold breeze. “Sorry about that, Shane. That friend of mine is… is a doctor at the hospital. Back… Back then, he helped arrange Lenny’s surgery. I forgot I meant to get him some fruit,” she
stammered.
She held her phone, ready to transfer the money to him.
Shane merely smiled, saying nothing about how flustered and embarrassed she looked. “It’s fine. Since he’s Lenny’s doctor, fruits are the least we can give,” he replied.
When they arrived at the apartment building and were walking up the stairs, he queried, “Was it the man coming down the stairs that day?”
“Huh?” Valeria hadn’t expected Shane to still remember that day.
She pondered for a few seconds and nodded.
“Since you’re already dating him, treat the relationship seriously. He looks like he comes from money,” Shane advised.
As for the man’s temper and character, it was hard to say, though. He had the look of someone born in privilege.
Shane wondered how Valeria had gotten involved with a man like that.
He looked at her. Under the motion–sensor light in the stairwell, she looked delicate, her features defined. He didn’t know her that well, but in the past three years, he had seen how she cared for Lucy.
She was a genuine, unpretentious, and kind woman with a gentle heart.
Shane continued, “People from wealthy families like his have too many constraints.” He
simply didn’t want Valeria to get hurt.
Valeria nodded with a smile, “I know. I’ll be going back to my hometown after the New Year. There’s not much future for me and him anyway.”
Chapter 185
“Have you told him?”
Valeria shook her head in response. She hadn’t figured out how to bring it up yet.
Shane nodded and said nothing more.
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L&M Design Studio hadn’t officially started its break. The workhorses always had to hold out until the end, especially the design department, since most of them were locals from Slate City.
Valeria returned to the office. After the 10:30 am meeting, she knocked on Kayla’s door and handed in her resignation letter, intending to do things by the book.
Kayla didn’t object, but she fed the letter into the shredder. “At least not before the New Year. The holiday starts in two days. Once you’re back after the New Year holidays and have finished the remaining handover, I’ll process your departure as a dismissal.
Valeria was grateful to Kayla. If Valeria were to resign, she technically wouldn’t be entitled to any severance pay. However, it was a different story if she were to be dismissed.
“Are you sure that’s alright, Ms. Mendes?” Valeria asked.
Kayla blinked. “Why not? If neither of us speaks of it, who’s going to know? But this means you’ll need to stay on a little longer.”
“Thank you, Ms. Mendes.” Valeria meant it. In the three and a half years she had spent at that small company, the work environment had been pleasant overall, and L&M Design Studio had provided solid benefits.
With her number of years of service, and under L&M Design Studio’s policies, her resignation didn’t need to go through Nathan. As long as Kayla and Sabrina signed off, she could receive four months of severance pay after being dismissed.
“But I really want to know. Why are you quitting?” Kayla looked at Valeria. She had always recognized Valeria’s talent in design.
In Team One, every quarterly evaluation ranked Valeria as the best.
Many of their collaborators specifically requested to work with her.
Moreover, she worked hard, rarely complained, and had a calm personality.
If not for the education requirement holding her back earlier on, with her talent in fashion design, she probably wouldn’t have ended up at a small company like L&M Design Studio. That was because Valeria had a good reputation within the industry.
Even if she left L&M Design Studio and joined another company, as long as they didn’t have strict academic requirements, she would still have plenty of room to grow.
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Kayla thought that although L&M Design Studio wasn’t a large firm, at least there was Nathan.
He, as the scion of the Ford family, definitely had the financial capability to sustain a company like L&M Design Studio.
Chapter 186
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Chapter 186