Yours, Until Needed
Chapter 121: Peace

Chapter 121: Peace

There was peace at home.

Lucian thankfully stopped sulking and Chester had been enjoying his renewed play time.

If I hadn’t known better, I could have forgotten what had just happened. But that would be impossible, considering my husband’s new obsession.

Not that I’m not allowed to talk to other people. I just have to let him slink around me while doing so.

If the conversation took a while, I had better touch him somehow, somewhere, as an assurance that I still remembered he was standing close by.

The assistants were the first to notice, and their reactions alone were proof that something life-changing was happening before our midst.

But Lucian was much calmer this way. And it wasn’t really anything difficult. If anything, it felt like getting a new pet that feeds me instead of the other way around.

The pet even walks itself and listens well when I complain about not finding the right vendors or when I just want to rant about anything.

He also helped me maintain my social battery, which, contrary to his opinion, wasn’t as large as he always made it out to be.

So sometimes, having him slink around allowed for a shorter small talk. It wasn’t really easy for people to linger around for longer than necessary because Lucian was like a giant cat ready to pounce.

However, the most sensational by-product of this whole new arrangement was felt by the employees of SCC.

And I had no idea until today.

It’s been a while since my last visit, and today, I was coming over to take a look at approved shop drawings and the as-builts of the completed parts.

SCC does not play around with deadlines, so every week, we get closer and closer to completion.

When I mentioned that I wanted to see the updated reports myself, my husband graciously offered to bring me to the assigned people.

Technically, I should be able to do that myself, but he’s insistent, so I just let him be.

That’s how I ended up walking the corridors of SCC with many people gazing up at me with adoring looks.

I kid you not. It felt creepy.

I felt like it was pointless to ask my husband as the guy was oblivious to common experiences like everyone admiring him. So, I went to ask Oliver.

"Hey, Oliver, what’s up with the people of this company? Why are they looking at me like that?"

I don’t personally remember doing anything that would warrant a sudden change in behavior.

They had always been rather respectful or, at the very least, polite. But nothing to this extent.

Some even looked ready to prostrate themselves before me.

Oliver rubbed the back of his neck before answering, "About that, Ma’am... It’s because of the new working schedules we’ve been using at the office."

"You’ve got a new working schedule?" I asked, a bit skeptical as to the relationship between that and these odd gazes.

"It wasn’t explicitly stated, but lately, we’ve barely done any over-times. As if it was highly discouraged unless your department was at death’s door."

"No overtime? Why, what’s wrong with the company?" I lowered my voice to ask Oliver, not wanting to alert anyone in case it was something big.

"Yes, Ma’am. It’s because the boss wants to go home on time. So, everyone must raise the productivity to the highest possible level during work hours."

My eye twitched at his statement, and I had to ask to verify. "Wait a minute, are you talking about that guy?" I pointed towards Lucian’s back as I whispered my question.

Oliver could only nod briskly, afraid that his boss would catch a whiff of his behavior.

Come to think of it, Lucian had been picking me up at the same time every day.

He was like clockwork.

"Then shouldn’t they be looking at Lucian like that? Why are they looking at me like I’ve sacrificed a kidney for them?"

"Because they know that the boss goes home on time to pick you up."

Seriously?

I had no idea people would associate those two together.

"But how’s the company? Is it suffering from the sudden decrease in overtime work?"

Oliver shook his head wildly. "Just the opposite, Ma’am. Everyone’s too fired up, realizing that they really would be able to go home provided they finish their work according to company standards."

No wonder even Oliver looked like his skin had undergone a major spa treatment.

Is this what sleep and rest do to a person?

Everywhere we passed by, there were people who looked shiny and shimmering, and I started to wonder how bad they all had it before the overtime stopped.

Then I couldn’t help but wonder how the little schemer was doing around all these productive people. It wasn’t really easy to start rumors when everyone was more invested in turning in their reports and projects.

We walked toward the spaces assigned to each project, but as we neared the meeting room for our project, we encountered something unsettling.

There was really nothing constant in life save for death and taxes. Even peace was a construct of the mind, and most of the time, it was fleeting.

Because before us was Nicholas, who was talking to a few employees.

He was rather amiable based on the expressions of the people around him. But none of that mattered to my husband as the temperature in front of me dropped to freezing.

It’s surely my imagination, but the tension was palpable, and some of the busy employees paused their work to look.

"Ms. Eliana, Mr. Sinclair, it’s nice to see you," Nicholas said with a big smile as if he wasn’t affected by Lucian’s aura.

I wasn’t one to be impolite, so I greeted a polite good morning and left it at that. But Nicholas had a death wish and pressed on.

"Congratulations on your graduation! I remember sending you flowers to congratulate you, but I think something happened along the way. Maybe next time, then."

I don’t know who to be praying for, but it was certainly not Nicholas who went into this knowingly. It was me who needed the prayers.

It took days to calm Lucian down and here he was trying to poke the hornet’s nest.

"There’s really no need! Your congratulations are more than enough. Thank you!" I gave a professional smile.

Oliver had been stiff since Nicholas showed up, and the employees who were so elated earlier were starting to worry.

If I were in their shoes, I would too.

"But that won’t do! You deserve far more than just congratulations. Especially since I now owe you more after rescuing a distant relative."

Huh?

"Pardon?"

"Sorry, I only belatedly realize that I never told you about it. You rescued Joshua, right? We’re distant relatives. But I’ve been around the family too much that Joshua’s like a close family member."

So, was that the reason why he’s being like this? But I met him before the incident with Joshua.

I only realized I had been too absorbed in my thoughts when Nicholas asked if everything was okay, breaking me out of my daze.

"Ah, Joshua! Then all the more that you shouldn’t bother. There’s no need to thank me for something that anyone would do."

Please stop thanking me because my husband’s fists were all too ready to fly!