[Miller’s Company]
Open invitations lay scattered across Haines’s desk, his face grim. He had opened them only because they ca from Penny’s "legal team." Assuming they were important invitations Penny needed him to attend, he checked them all. But alas, they were just birthday invitations.
There were a total of thirty.
"Uh... Haines." Just then, Charles’s voice reached his ears.
Charles was holding the door open, seven invitations in his hand. "Do you happen to know what these invitations from Gracie are about?"
"..." Haines glanced at the invitations in Charles’s hand and compared them to the ones on his desk. Charles had received far fewer. "How many did you get?"
"Seven," Charles replied with a nod. "All of them are birthday invitations from Gracie. Is this so kind of prank Penny ca up with?"
"It must be," Haines said, his voice colder than usual as he gathered the invitations on his desk, intending to throw them away later. "Just ignore them, Charles."
Charles furrowed his brows as he took in the sheer number of invitations on Haines’s desk. "Why do you have so much junk on your desk? Did Grace send you all of those? How co you got more than I did?"
"If you want them, you can have them, Charles."
Deep lines appeared between Charles’s brows as he noted the deliberate coldness in Haines’s tone. Although Haines was generally quiet, he was rarely this cold. Not that he was the friendliest person, but sothing was clearly bothering him.
"Is everything alright, Haines?" Charles asked, his concern evident. "You seem... off."
"I had an hour stolen from . And another fifteen minutes today," Haines muttered, pushing the invitations onto the floor before facing Charles. "I am not satisfied with this."
"Uh... I guess you’re fine, then." Charles smiled and raised a brow briefly. "I’ll be heading ho after my eting in an hour. Are you coming?"
"No, but I’ll be there later—for Nina."
Charles’s smile widened. "Of course, you would. You should."
With that, Charles didn’t linger and left. He had only stopped by Haines’s office to ask about the invitations, having received them as soon as he stepped out of the eting room.
anwhile, Haines, now alone in his office, pinched the bridge of his nose. After dropping Grace off that night, he hadn’t heard from her again. He had thought—hoped—that she had finally snapped out of whatever ridiculous idea she had in her mind.
But days later, here she was, sending out birthday invitations.
[I’ll catch up to you real soon.]
Those were her words, and now, Haines could only see these fake birthday celebrations as her way of making good on that promise.
"How troubleso," he whispered to himself, exhaling heavily as he leaned back in his chair.
Not only had she successfully stolen an hour of his ti that night, but she was also stealing more. Because now, he couldn’t focus on work. Not because he was flattered—but because he was deeply bothered.
A young woman, half his age, was showing interest in him. Or rather, she had turned this into a challenge.
Haines leaned back in his chair, thinking of how to put an end to this madness.
"Frankly, this isn’t even flattering," he muttered, weighing his options. Should he ignore it completely or address it?
After a mont of consideration, he nodded to himself.
"Ignore it."
As long as he ignored her, she would eventually stop. Whatever she did, he wouldn’t let it affect him. This was what she wanted—his attention. If she didn’t get it, she would try sothing else. And by allowing himself to be distracted, he was already playing into her hands.
Shaking his head, Haines resolved not to let this nonsense bother him anymore. He was almost ready to return to work—after all, Theo Miller had just sent him a presentation on expanding their network, an assignnt Haines had given him.
But just as he began reading, his phone vibrated.
Sliding his gaze toward the device, he removed his reading glasses and answered the call.
"Mildred? I didn’t expected to hear from you today."
A soft chuckle ca from the other end of the line. " neither, but I had a dream last night, so I thought I’d check in on you."
"I’m fine," Haines said with a small smile. "It’s been a while. How have you been?"
"I’m alright," Mildred replied. "The family is still the sa, and I’ve been visiting the Old Madam more frequently. The Master has been too preoccupied with work to visit her properly. Even when he does, it’s only for a short ti."
"I see." Haines nodded, thinking about how Penny had also been preoccupied with the upcoming cyber competition. Little did he know, Penny’s real problem wasn’t the competition—it was the people who had started treating her office like a tourist attraction.
After a brief pause, Mildred let out a shallow breath.
"The Old Madam has been asking about us," she said. "She knows we got along on that date and was expecting... sothing more."
Haines chuckled. "I knew you had another reason for calling." He didn’t mind, though. He had always considered Mildred a good person—soone he could call a friend from the first day they t. "Shall we grab so tea?"
"Are you free? Or am I bothering you?"
"No," Haines replied, shaking his head. "I’m not busy." Not anymore, at least—Grace’s ridiculous thirty-day birthday celebration had already stolen enough of his attention.
A short ti with a friend didn’t sound so bad, considering he couldn’t ask Charles as the latter was preoccupied with other things. One of them was the family eting.
"A date it is, then." Mildred sounded satisfied. "I’ll see you in an hour. Sa café where we t last ti."
"Sure. See you then."
They both hung up, and Haines’s gaze inevitably drifted to the pile of invitations beside him.
With another deep breath, he shook his head, determined to put the nonsense out of his mind. After finishing his review of Theo’s presentation — correcting quite a few things — he finally got up and left for his "second date" with Mildred.
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