Yours, Until Needed
Chapter 117: Rumor Mill

Chapter 117: Rumor Mill

Thinking that the flower debacle was finally over allowed me to concentrate on checking the new applicants and our training plan.

But before I could finish checking on our contract with Sid Miller, Ben’s brother, I received a call from Alyssa.

That was unusual, considering how she should be working by now.

"Alyssa, what’s wrong? You normally don’t call at this time?"

"Boss, I’m hiding out at Oliver’s office to make this call. She’s started moving. Photos and videos of your graduation and speech have been posted online. And that should’ve been fine if not for Alexa claiming that the bouquet you received felt familiar to her. She said it looked the same as the white roses her boss asked her to order for his beloved’s graduation."

"No wonder she was waiting. But those flowers weren’t from him, not after Lara stopped the delivery personnel and exchanged them with the flowers she bought for you. She even made it sound like it was a secret people shouldn’t be sharing with other people."

"Do you have a photo of the original flowers? From what I remembered, they shouldn’t be the same?"

"No, boss, the flowers he sent were White roses. And Lara sent White peonies. But with the sheer number of flowers in that bouquet that was as big as a child, it does look similar in photos."

"Then that’s great. It’s the perfect time to post my thanks."

I don’t normally post on social media, but this looks like a monumental enough event to warrant a post.

"But let her fan it out first. I’ll post by late afternoon. The greater traction it would get in the office, the bigger the impact of my post. Please tell Lara about my plan."

Then I figured I had to prepare Lucian for the latest office gossip. As expected, he was again irritated by the mention of the flowers. I could already tell he was going to have permanent issues with the innocent flowers.

__

Throughout the day, I received updates regarding the office gossip Alexa had been spreading. She did this secretly because the more secretive one is, the more sensational and believable the gossip becomes.

According to Alyssa, at first, no one offered to make the connection she wanted, but eventually, she found a few employees who had widely known crushes on Lucian. With these women finally getting some ammunition, they finally managed to circulate the rumor by lunchtime.

By this time, the girls reported that Lucian got stared at for a totally different reason today. It was a mix of pity and longing, with people thinking that Lucian may be available again soon, with how I was probably cheating on him.

What actually helped was how ticked Lucian looked at most of the graduation photos taken by random people. He was unhappy that day, and it just fueled the rumor mill.

I’m sure Alexa’s too happy today that things were finally working for her.

Alyssa even pointed out Alexa’s hesitation at work. She showed how hesitant she was to talk about it and how unsure she was of the suggestion to inform Lucian of the problem.

Alexa said that she couldn’t just do that to her boss and that Lucian might not take her seriously because she was just a BCI intern.

Of course, she got encouragement and support for that. With the other employees saying that it’s important for the boss to know, she was encouraged to come forward and inform Lucian herself.

But she wouldn’t do that right now. Not by herself. She’d be too dumb to challenge Lucian as Alexa when he knows her enough.

So, what would I do if I were Alexa and going to Lucian was out of the question?

I smiled at the thought because maybe I’m more suited to be a villain. Then I’d definitely go to the next best thing. The Chairman.

Then a call would be good today. Grandpa had long given me his private contact number and told me to just call whenever.

So, every now and then, I call him to ask about his well-being and health. I ought to do that because Lucian probably doesn’t.

And like normal, Grandpa picked up my call.

"Good afternoon, Grandpa! Are you available to talk?" I asked while leaning back on my office chair.

"Good afternoon, Eli. Sure, we can talk. I have time."

I’m pretty sure he doesn’t, given how busy he normally is, but Grandpa just always says he does anyway, and I appreciate that.

"It’s about the rumors that are probably going around right now. I’m not sure if you’ve already heard about it, but it was started this morning."

"Oh, are you talking about receiving flowers from Nicholas?"

"Yes, that rumor, though I didn’t actually receive the flowers he sent. The flowers in the photos were actually from Lara. His flowers never got to me."

"HAHAHAHA! And yet Lucian looked like he had eaten something very bitter when he came over to tell me about it."

"Huh? He already told you about it? I didn’t expect that."

"Yeah, he told me about it because he was sure it would be escalated to me anyway."

"Do you want me to do anything in particular?" Grandpa asked, probably understanding the reason for my call.

"I was hoping you could just listen to her report first. I have a plan to counter it, but it’ll be better if she reports it first before I do."

"Sure, Eli, I can do that for you. Congratulations on your graduation. We’ll have to celebrate it since it was a shame we couldn’t attend the ceremony."

"Thank you, Grandpa! But there’s no need to celebrate that. You’ve given me more than enough, and I couldn’t possibly accept anything anymore."

True to the Sinclairs’ core values, Grandpa would send over a gift every time something happens. It would have been fine if the gifts had been food or even goods, but Grandpa’s gifts had been either stocks, bonds, or voting shares.

"That can’t be Eli. We would’ve sent over flowers, but I think you’d be too desensitized by how Lucian dumped a truckload of that! HAHAHA!" Grandpa’s hearty laugh could be heard through the phone, and I couldn’t help but facepalm at the embarrassment.

"Ugh, Grandpa, you even know about that."

"Of course, little one. Seeing that dolt fumble like this is the current source of my joy." I chuckled because at least someone was getting a kick out of this.

"But Grandpa, could you check on that shop? Hopefully, Lucian isn’t planning on making it churn out buttloads of profit. Because that’s impossible, considering he’s using it to send me a constant stream for free."

"It’s a vanity purchase, so no need to worry about that. Lucian could afford it. And he deserves to buy as many of those as he deemed necessary."

"And they’re all for you anyway, so it should be fine."

Grandpa tried to comfort me, but I’m really concerned about Lucian’s recent behavior.

"Well, I see, but if you could check on him once in a while, that would be good too. He seems a bit down these days, and I’m not sure what to do with him."

I wasn’t planning on telling him about everything, but he ought to know that Lucian might be susceptible to scammers due to his current mood.

But as usual, Grandpa just found that amusing.

Haaay...