Chapter 187 Rumors

When the dishes and the barbecue were served, Victor had two empty bottles in front of him, and
Melinda had only drunk less than a fifth of one bottle.

"I don't know why I want to drink today. Do you mind?" After these words, Victor poured another glass
of beer for himself. He really wanted to drink, and Melinda didn't mind it at all. She could drink as much
as she wanted.

Melinda shook her head and clenched the glass in her hand. She had a feeling that Victor had
something on his mind.

"Actually, today is my wedding anniversary with my ex-wife." Victor's voice sounded a little sullen. He
lowered his head and drank another glass of beer. Then, with a bitter smile, he saw a surprised look on
Melinda's face and asked, "What's that look on your face?"

Melinda's eyes were full of curiosity and confusion. As a playboy, it seemed to be a very difficult thing
for Victor to settle down and get married.

Therefore, Melinda had never thought that Victor had been married, and had been divorced. When he
talked about his ex-wife, she had an unspeakable feeling.

She was confused, and the feeling was like sentimental, or relieved, or something else.

"No, I'm just a little surprised." Melinda shook her head, telling him her true thoughts. But Victor didn't
mind at all. "Don't be so surprised. I'm a divorced man as well."

Melinda felt that her marriage was like a child's play. Two marriages were both a combination of
benefits, and there was no so-called love, which led her to a very vague concept of marriage.

Just like what Jonas had done, Victor might have got married for family's rights or other reasons.



Melinda poured herself a glass of beer and clinked glasses with Victor. Both of them smiled knowingly.

The talk that night also made Melinda have a great view of her leader.

The next day, as soon as Melinda arrived at the office, she heard Victor's somewhat excited voice.
"Melinda, come and see if this is your first draft."

Last night, Victor spent a whole night talking with a young man in the technology department. The
young man had told him many ways to solve the problem. Earlier this morning, he couldn't wait to go to
the company and have a try. To his surprise, he found the first draft.

"The first draft?"

Melinda couldn't help quickening her pace. Looking at the documents and pictures on the computer,
she was sure that this was her first draft. At that time, the content of the speech was generally limited,
not detailed, but the contents that should be expressed were very clear.

"That's right. How did you find that out?" After reading through the documents, Melinda repressed the
ecstasy in her heart and asked. But Victor only said casually, "I had a try by the way that someone told
me."

Victor did not talk much about all the following efforts. Melinda looked at the draft excitedly, as if she
had seen water in a desert. That was a look of hope.

"Thank you, Mr. Cheng,"

said Melinda gratefully. Not until Victor gave a reminder to her how to back up the file in the future so
that it would not be easily lost, did Melinda went back to her seat. Many people had heard what they
had just said that Melinda found her first draft.

Did that mean Melinda was innocent?



All of a sudden, all the people present were thinking about the matter in their minds. The people who
were swaying in the middle began to keep a neutral attitude. They would neither offend nor play up to
both sides.

Thinking that Victor had tried so hard to find her first draft, Melinda sent him a message to invite him to
dinner. It might be the first time for her to make an appointment with Victor.

"You can choose any restaurant you like. I think the new restaurant across the company is good."

The restaurant that Victor mentioned was the one where Melinda had dinner with Jonas yesterday. She
was allergic to this restaurant's name now, and she seemed to blow up when she heard it.

"I can't afford it." The four words indicated that Melinda's attitude at this time. After thinking for a while,
she felt that it would be better to choose a restaurant by herself since she invited someone to dinner.

When they got off work in the evening, Melinda took Victor to a restaurant near the company for dinner.
Melinda happened to discover this restaurant by accident. The environment here might not be top-
grade, but its taste was quite enough to remind people of home.

Each time Melinda ate, she couldn't help thinking of her grandparents.

"It's my treat today. Order whatever you like. If I don't have enough money, you will pay the rest."
Melinda handed the menu to Victor, with orders in her hand. She could fill in the dishes she wanted to
eat.

Hearing what Melinda said, Victor did not know whether he should laugh or cry. "How could you be so
arrogant with your treat?"

"I'm poor. If I had money, I could take you to that good restaurant," Melinda answered calmly. Victor
missed her relaxed and cute expression. She had been very melancholy recently, and she lost her



brightness.

Fortunately, now the problem had been solved, and the woman who made him could not help smiling
had come back.

Finally, they ordered four dishes and one soup at the recommendation of Melinda. She stood up and
took the menu to the service desk nearby. Several waiters stood there, and someone came over to
take the menu when he saw Melinda.

"Melinda." Just as Melinda turned around, a somewhat surprised voice came behind her. She could not
help frowning. The voice seemed to be from a colleague of the company.

"It's really you. Are you here for dinner... With Mr. Cheng?"

The three of them could not help feeling excited when they saw it was Melinda. They looked around
and were surprised to find that the man in front of them was Victor. Then their eyes suddenly became
vague.

Melinda's head was pounding. She didn't expect to meet acquaintances here. Judging from their
expressions, she didn't know what to say.

"Yes. Mr. Cheng got my first draft back this time. I want to invite him to dinner to express my gratitude."
Though Melinda felt that it was hard to explain everything clearly, she still gave an explanation.

She prayed in her heart that these three people would not be gossip women. She was afraid that they
would gossip about this thing as soon as they returned to the company.

Melinda seemed to have a heavy mind while eating because of the group of women. She ate more
quickly and just wanted to take Victor away.

"What's the matter? Do you have such an appetite to eat with me?"



Victor looked at Melinda curiously. She ate twice as fast as usual. When she was almost full, Victor just
started eating.

"Nothing... I just thought of something and want to go back to the company earlier," said Melinda
embarrassedly. She felt like her head was as stupid as a pig's. She ate so fast, while Victor did not
know anything at all.

She didn't want to talk about it, so she changed the subject.

"Are you busier than I am? Take your time and eat slowly. As your leader, I agree to postpone your
work."

Victor started in a leader's tone, which amused Melinda. She gradually stopped eating fast.

But now, Melinda lost her appetite. She filled a small plate with a lot of fruit and ate slowly. Victor
looked a little like Jonas when he was eating. Both of them behaved in a slow and elegant way, but
somewhat different from each other. Because Jonas was very strict with himself, even when they were
having dinner, he also behaved like this.

However, Victor was different. He was just enjoying the process in relax.

A playboy always knew how to enjoy life. Melinda heard this saying when she attended a banquet and
heard the conversation between several socialite divas. She thought it was showed on Victor.

"This restaurant is great. It is indeed a great one." Victor wiped his mouth with the tissue and opened
his mouth slowly. The decoration here was ordinary, but it gave people a kind of warm feeling.

Melinda was also a person who knew how to enjoy life in a lot of times. About food, Melinda got Kent's
wechat message specially with the editor for the food column of their magazine, and their chatting
content was almost related to food.



As a result, Melinda found many delicious food.

"There are actually a lot of delicious food in A City," Melinda said with a smile. The two didn't stay long.
They left the restaurant soon, and several colleagues were always watching them. When they saw
them leaving, someone even took out her mobile phone to take pictures quietly.

After a long walk, Victor went to the parking lot to pick up his car and then drove Melinda home.

The next day, the rumors about Melinda and Victor became more and more in the company. What
Melinda worried about last night was completely true. The eyes of those people looking at Melinda
changed. They used to be only jealous and slandered, but now it was obvious doubts.

"The most important thing for a woman is that she has to have nice legs. Look, she has only been in
the company for a short time. I'm not sure if she will be promoted to vice section chief or director soon."

A woman's bitterness didn't disgust others. On the contrary, many people thought what she said made
sense.

For the whole night, everyone in the company got to know that Melinda and Victor were having dinner
outside, and they behaved so intimately. Someone even said that they walked to a hotel nearby to
check in after they finished dinner.

Everyone seemed to have witnessed the romantic interactions between Melinda and Victor, as if they
had seen their love story personally. When Melinda heard that, she became restless, as if she was
sitting on pins and needles.

Last night, she had agreed to come to Victor's office today to talk about how to explain her innocence
of plagiarism, but the rumors were very disadvantageous to her.

The rumors would get more violent if she still went to Victor's office at such a special time.



After a long while, Melinda rose from her seat and walked towards Victor's office. She didn't want to
give up her advantages for these irrelevant people.

"She must be stimulated. Is she going to ask Mr. Cheng for comfort or complain to him?"

"Shut up! Or we'll all be screwed."

"How dare she pretend to be pure and innocent, bitch?"

Seeing this, all the people thought that Melinda went to report to Victor. But Melinda turned a deaf ear
to their words and endured the gossip.


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