Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion
Meanwhile, Danika was chatting leisurely with her colleagues downstairs. Her gentle and compassionate personality soon invited everyone’s attention, their fear growing into curiosity and respect.
When Adrian Caiman stepped into the office near the end of the day, he was shocked to find the place rowdy.
“Are they out of their minds?” he thought. “Can’t they see that Danika Zellweger is right in their midst?”
Yet one look and he spotted Danika in the middle of the room, happily conversing with several other employees.
“You’re just in time, Mr. Caiman. Danika is treating us to dinner. Are you coming?” one of them asked.
Adrian gazed at him in shock.
Danika? How could these people address their CEO’s daughter so casually?
Not the Same Mother
Danika spotted Adrian and immediately asked, “Come join us for dinner, sir!”
“Miss J-‘ Adrian quickly stopped himself. ‘You’ve just started here, Danika. I can’t let you treat us. It’ll be my treat instead.”
“Ooh, Mr. Caiman is treating us tonight. I’ve never seen him so generous,’ someone teased, making several other employees hoot along, embarrassing
Adrian. He wasn’t that stingy. He was just occupied with work usually, so he didn’t have time to have dinner with his staff.
Danika nodded. “Alright. If Mr. Caiman treats us to dinner, well go for karaoke afterward. My treat.”
“Yeah!” Someone cried happily, eliciting a flurry of cheers. “Free dinner and free karaoke!’
This news just happened to reach Jolene’s ears on the 17th floor. Her expression immediately turned dark. “Fucking rabble.”
Philippa said nothing, standing to the side of the table. Jolene hadn’t expected Danika to be able to build connections that fast at work. Her plans to cause some trouble downstairs were disrupted just like that. She didn’t like the feeling. It was like she was lagging behind.
“My department hasn’t clocked off yet, right?’ Jolene asked Philippa. “Tell them I’ll treat them to dinner tonight.”
“Huh? Oh, sure, Miss Jolene. Right away.” Philippa nodded and left.
While Jolene was a manager in her department, there were several other managers as well, though only a handful actually did the work.
In the evening, Danika and Jolene’s crowd reached the same restaurant at the same time. Seeing Danika and her colleagues, Jolene sneered. “What’s a cheap employee doing treating everyone to dinner? Have you looked at your salary?”
“Sure, I don’t get paid as much as you do,’ Danika replied. “So why are you having dinner at the same place I am? Don’t you see how ironic this all is?” Pissed, Jolene said, ‘I chose this place for the staffs convenience. It’s the closest restaurant to the office.’
“Oh. Whatever you say, Jolene.” Danika lazily replied, rolling her eyes. She then called to her colleagues, “C’mon, let’s head in.”
After they went inside, Jolene was left fuming by the door while everyone else waited silently behind her, stomachs growling. Seeing this, Philippa asked gingerly, “Miss Jolene, why don’t we head inside too?
“Is that all you know to do, you useless shits?!’ Jolene snapped angrily. The staffs expressions instantly turned ugly. Jolene had been the one who invited them in the first place, so her insult now was just plain mean.
Suddenly realizing what she had just said, Jolene cleared her throat. ‘I apologize. I didn’t mean you guys.’
Philippa’s eyes reddened. If the insult wasn’t meant for her staff, then it was definitely meant for her.
Jolene walked straight past her. “Useless,” she thought again and entered the restaurant with her staff. She chose the biggest table for them and ordered the most expensive dishes on the menu, peppering the meal with some insults toward Danika.
Danika ignored her entirely. Adrian was the one buying dinner, not her. It was also simply idiotic to even argue over something as trivial as this, like Jolene was doing.
“Is.Js she your sister, Danika?” one of her colleagues asked, pointing at Jolene across the room. Danika nodded. She hadn’t mentioned much of her family affairs to them yet.
“You two are really different people, huh.” They hadn’t liked Danika at the start, but right now, they were beyond grateful that Danika was the one in their department, not Jolene. Otherwise, they might literally lose their heads.
Danika smiled politely.Of course they were different. They didn’t even share the same mother.
Wait and See!
Danika tried her best to ignore Jolene throughout the meal, but her half- sister kept throwing insults across the room now and then. If only she could switch off her hearing.
“You should have greeted me politely when you saw me earlier. After all, I’m a manager, and you’re just a lowly saleswoman. Anyway, I’ll let this go just once since you’re my big sister. But keep that in mind next time,” Jolene shot out again after Danika ignored her the nth time.
Danika’s colleagues all shot each other helpless, annoyed looks. “Now she’s done it,” Danika thought. She sighed and turned to Jolene. “Did you forget to take your psych meds, or are you just plain dumb?”
Her response had everyone tense up in shock. None of them had expected Danika to be so blatant.
“What did you say to me?” Jolene stood up angrily, not expecting Danika to speak to her like that in public. “How dare you?!’ she screeched, pointing her finger at Danika.
Danika left her table and went up to her. “I just do. What are you going to do about it?”
“Danika Zellweger!”
“What are you yelling for? I’m standing right in front of you. Are you blind? Yoohoo~’ Danika mocked her, waving a hand in front of Jolene’s face. This woman wouldn’t dare do anything physical to her, at least not in public. Plus, Jolene was no match for Danika when it came to fighting, either. “You really think I’m scared of you, Jolene? You should be thanking me, really, for letting you whine on like a broken alarm,” Danika continued, watching Jolene’s face redden further. Jolene was shaking with fury. “Mock me again, and I’ll show Dad how you really are!”
To Jolene, Danika was a scheming, greedy woman who had Graham wrapped around her finger. It was infuriating just how caring and doting he was with her.
“Sure. We’ll see who he believes then.” Danika shrugged. “You really must be bored, trying to pick a losing fight with me. I don’t know if I should praise you for being brave or call you an idiot.”
If they weren’t in public, Danika would’ve had Jolene eating her dust by now.
“You…just you wait and see!” As if recalling the chokehold around her neck from before, Jolene frightfully stumbled backward.
“Hah. I see you’re more of a broken toy than an alarm. Always repeating the same few sentences.” Danika laughed. “Do your best, Jolene. Your marriage depends on it.” Before Jolene scurried away, Danika added, “Brandon Britt would make a good match for you. You two have so much in common.”
Jolene nearly stopped in the doorway upon hearing that. Her father had just asked her what she thought about Brandon yesterday. So it was Danika who shoved that idea in his head.
“Fuck you, Danika!” Jolene thought. No way in hell was she going to marry that man. Especially when the Britt family was lesser than the Zellweger family. Jolene would end up ranking lower than Danika for the rest of her life!
After Jolene scurried off, Danika returned to her seat, now having everyone’s attention on her. They had thought she was working in the same positions they were because she wasn’t of much importance to Graham Zellweger, but seeing her rise up to Jolene had changed that impression permanently.
Danika smiled as she met their eyes. “What are you looking at me for? Eat, eat.”
One of her colleagues asked daringly, “Danika, is it true that you’re Mr. Zellweger’s favorite?”
Danika would most likely be their next CEO if that were the case.
Danika gave it some thought. “Eh. I don’t really care about that.”
She really didn’t. Maybe that was the reason for Graham’s guilt and why he always wanted to give her the best
What on Earth Were You Thinking?
The staffs respect for Danika only increased upon hearing that. Danika had a powerful background, and it took a truly selfless person to be able to not care about it all.
After dinner, Danika brought them out for karaoke before finally going back home. It was already late when she reached Zellweger Castle.
Jolene spotted her in the doorway and tucked herself beside her mother, murmuring, “Wonder what shady business she’s been up to, coming home so late.”
“You’re young, Danika, so we understand if you want to have some fun after hours. But you still need to watch yourself. The public now knows you’re Graham’s daughter, after all,” Rowena cautioned, seemingly kind.
Danika spotted Graham sitting beside the mother and daughter too. “He must’ve stayed up to wait for me,’ Danika thought.
“I had dinner with friends at work, Dad. Got caught up in traffic. You don’t need to wait for me to come back from now on. I can handle myself,” she explained.
“Dinner.’ Graham nodded. “Already making friends on your first day, hm? Not bad.’
Jolene instantly piped in, “I had dinner with my work friends too, Dad.’
Graham was about to give equal praise when Danika responded, “Yeah, she did. We even ate dinner at the same restaurant.” Her smile then turned into a sneer.
“So why didn’t you tell Dad I was having dinner? Don’t you know he has to get to bed early so he can be well-rested for work? What on Earth were you thinking, Jolene?”
Jolene gaped silently like a fish, having no answer to that question. Not even after a whole minute.
Graham’s expression darkened. He had asked Jolene earlier where her sister was, but she claimed she didn’t know.
“Jolene didn’t expect you to be out so late, Danika. She stayed up to wait for you to come back, too,” Rowena explained, much to Danika’s irritation. eyes. She knew what this half-sister of hers was truly like.”
Really? So she didn’t stay up just to watch Dad reprimand me.”Graham hurriedly interfered, not wanting to see his daughters fight again.” Why don’t we all get some rest? You too, Danika.” He then turned to Jolene, eyes narrowing. ‘As for you…this better not happen again.”
With that, he got up and went to his room.
Danika scoffed, seeing Graham’s intention clear as day. He obviously couldn’t stand to see Jolene getting scolded.
She went to her room, leaving Rowena and Jolene in the living room. Their expressions were as gray as their mood.
“Danika is really crossing the line!” Rowena gritted out. That woman hadn’t stopped or slowed even once since she arrived.
“You need to do something, Mom,” Jolene whined. “Or she’s just going to keep humiliating me!”
“I’ve already arranged something. Didn’t I tell you to avoid her?” Rowena huffed.
She had gotten more careful after the last time.
“Why does she always win? It’s not fair!” Jolene complained. If only she were
Danika’s match, she’d have strangled her to death by now.
Rowena caressed her daughter’s head. “Don’t rush. This city is ours, remember?She won’t win forever here.
“If Danika wants to start from the bottom, we’ll make sure she never has any results to show for it. When everyone sees how useless she is, she’ll lose their support.”
Jolene nodded upon hearing this, her hatred dissipating. She knew what she had to do now.