Polly didn't go out for dinner, nor did she order room service from the hotel; Victor found out only after he finished his work.
When he arrived at Polly's room, all he saw was papers scattered everywhere. Polly had her hair tied up with a pencil and was lying over the desk drawing, with even more waste paper at her feet.
Victor didn't disturb her, instead leaning against the wall at the entrance, watching the woman inside who was sometimes frowning, sometimes scratching her head in frustration. Turns out, she also had moments where she focused on serious tasks.
Victor stood for a while, turned around, and left, ordering late-night snacks to be delivered to the room. Polly looked up at him while chewing on a pencil, then lowered her head to continue drawing.
Once Victor finished handling his work, he saw it was already 2 AM.
He initially thought about resting, but somehow felt compelled to check if Polly had gone to sleep.
But when he went inside, he only found more waste paper on the floor, nothing else had changed since his last visit. The only difference was the cold late-night snack still lying untouched on the desk.
Victor frowned, stepped forward, and grabbed Polly's wrist, "Come with me."
"What are you doing? I'm still…"
Victor turned back and took the Bluetooth earphones off her ear, tossing them onto the sofa, and led her out.
On the other side of the phone, Emma Turner and her senior exchanged puzzled looks. "What's going on?"
"Polly won't be in any danger, right?" the senior was worried.
Emma yawned and stretched lazily, "I think we should call it a day; an all-nighter isn't happening."
After all, someone is being looked after now, unlike them.
The senior was confused, "What are you saying? Do you know who Polly is with?"
"The father of those two buns," Emma said to the senior and then got up and left.
The senior opened his mouth, seemingly about to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.
Victor dragged Polly back to his room and directly pushed her into the kitchen, "I'm hungry, cook something."
Polly steadied herself and finally heard what he said, "What did you say? Cook for you? Are you out of your mind, or am I?"
Victor lowered his head and unbuttoned his cuff, rolling up his sleeves.
Polly took a step back, "What are you doing?"
Is he going to hit her?
"One meal, and I'll reduce the contract term by one month."
Polly paused her retreating motion. Reducing by one month meant there were only ten months and fifteen days left, "This could work."
If that's the case, cooking a few more meals would get her divorced soon.
With this thought, Polly felt even better; it's just cooking, right?
Hasn't she at least eaten pork if she hasn't seen pigs run?
Victor watched as Polly began preparing with some seriousness; it was rare for her to cook...
Ten minutes later, Victor hadn't even sent out an email.
"Ah—"
Polly suddenly screamed, and Victor quickly rushed over. Seeing the pot on fire, he pulled her away and covered it with the lid, then looked around the disastrous kitchen.
Victor: "..."
He took back what he said earlier.
"You can't cook?" A kid who grew up in a rural mountain village, parents deceased, ailing grandfather, yet she couldn't cook.
"Who said I could cook?" Polly blew on her scalded red hand.
Victor turned to look at her, his gaze probing.
Startled by his expression, Polly couldn't help but take a step back, "Can't cook, is that a crime?"
Victor withdrew his examining gaze, took her wrist, and led her out, instructing the staff to bring burn ointment, applied it for her, and then went back to the kitchen to clean up.
Polly followed him to the kitchen door with small steps, "It's not that I don't want to cook; the reduction of a month's time still counts, right?"
"Daring to bargain with me after doing such a terrible job?"
Polly looked at Victor's skilled movements, a bit surprised that a young master like him would do these things.
And he didn't seem like a beginner.
After cleaning up the kitchen, Victor cooked two bowls of noodles. Polly hadn't felt hungry initially but now genuinely felt starved, and she happily received the noodles bowl, "I didn't expect President Parker had this skill too?"
"At least I won't starve myself; how did you even grow up this way?"
Polly gulped down the noodles, wolfing them down, and once for the first time, Victor felt like he was feeding an ox.
Polly finished the noodles in a few bites, drinking the soup as well, while Victor had only just eaten a few bites; he seldom ate at night.
"Aren't you eating?" Polly looked at Victor as he ate slowly, her big eyes sparkling, as if afraid others couldn't decipher what was written in them.
Before Victor could say anything, Polly already reached over to grab his bowl, "I haven't eaten since this morning; it's not that I'm gluttonous, I'm just too hungry."
Victor put down his chopsticks and looked at the person who was almost burying her head in the bowl, "How did you grow up?"
"Good luck, a lucky star descended upon me." Polly ate happily, her mood lifted.
Victor: "Just in time to tell you about something not-so-fortunate, the Parker Family's bidding has been moved up to the third of next month."
Polly was halfway through her noodles, and as she looked up, her eyes were filled with stunned confusion, "The third of next month?"
Polly quickly swallowed the mouthful she had, counting on her fingers, "That's not long at all, was supposed to be two months?"
"A few hours ago, the board of Parker Corporation unanimously decided to move up the timeline. I'm not in City A, so my reach is limited."
Apart from being out of reach, there's another point, Victor's shares weren't enough to completely suppress all shareholders.
Polly was briefly stunned, struggling to digest the information, then picked up her bowl, gulped down half the soup, and wiped her mouth.
"Wicked capitalists."
Victor watched as Polly got up to leave, frowned, "Where are you going?"
"There's less than 20 days left, I must work hard for that five million."
Victor watched the woman wipe her mouth and leave, "Five million, I don't know if you're smart or blind."
Can she not see the wealth standing right in front of her?
It was almost three o'clock when Polly went back, deciding not to contact her senior or Emma, she continued revising her drawings alone.
Victor sat at the dining table for a while, raised his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, and reflected on Parker's deeply-rooted problems of lip service. Even at higher levels, it's like this, let alone below.
For instance, the hotel's security discipline was so lax, yet no one raised the issue, and every report simply stated that everything was operating normally.
The phone on the table rang, Victor glanced at it before answering.
"When are you returning to the country, do you know what you're doing?" the person on the other end suppressed their anger.
"There're some problems in the family business."
"Do you desperately need Parker Corporation?"
"The thirty thousand employees in Parker Corporation's factory shouldn't suffer because of these people." Victor leaned against the chair, gazing at the night sky, "I'll explain to Edgar Lucas, no need to worry."
"Victor, you..."
"Mr. Jones, have you ever put your utmost effort into anything?"
"What nonsense?"
"For example, for five million."