Chapter 305 Don’t Bargain With Me

“Director, can you give me a few more days?” This was Sophia’s first time responsible for such a task, and she was worried that it would not go well. Maisie gave her a side-eye and replied coldly, “Don’t bargain with me. Either you return this document to me right now and leave, or you get moving now!” There was no room for bargaining at all. Although Sophia thought this was an extremely troubling task, she had no choice but to accept it. Then, she excused herself from Maisie and headed to the finance department to find the partner Maisie had arranged for her. “Thomas Zimmerman? Give me a minute, I’ll go get him,” a plump woman said to her. The woman went to the office zone behind and tapped on a table. A few moments later, she came back with a man who was wearing a suit and a pair of glasses. The man looked like he was in his 30s. With his crew cut, he looked like a proper, decent man. When he saw Sophia, he sized her up before stretching his hand out. “Hello Ms. White, I’m Thomas Zimmerman.” When the woman heard his words, she looked Sophia up and down in shock as if she was observing a magical creature. “Hello, Thomas.” Sophia returned him a smile and shook his hand. Thomas nodded curtly and withdrew his hand. “Do you want to go now?” he asked. “Sure.” Sophia did not want to waste another minute, so she left together with him. Once the two of them disappeared from sight, the woman covered her mouth and ran to her close colleagues. With suppressed excitement, she exclaimed in loud whispers, “That young lady just now is Mr. White’s daughter, Sophia White! She’s so different from what all the rumors describe her to be!!” However, some of them were not too surprised. “Sophia was involved in the scandal with Charles and Leah. Have you really not seen Sophia’s pictures? I already recognized her when she showed up yesterday.” “She looks the same as she does in pictures, but she has had a rough life. She was in prison for two years before this.” “That’s right, and because of this stain in her record, the Harris family won’t accept her as their daughter-in-law. Oh, that poor thing!” “Now that we’re on this topic, I still get scared when I think about Leah. She’s too frightening… Oh, lucky for me that she’s not my friend. I wouldn’t even know I’m being played!” Sophia could hear bits and pieces of their chattering. Though vague, she could easily make a guess about what they were talking about. If this was her two years ago, she would have slowed down on purpose to hear what people were saying behind her back, but now, she was already used to people gossiping about her to the point that she no longer cared anymore. The two got into an elevator. When they reached the first floor, they bumped into James. Seeing Sophia walking alongside a man he did not recognize, James frowned and said to her, “Why aren’t you working on your first day at work? Where are you going now?” “Mr. White, Ms. Leadman arranged for me and Ms. White to head to Jones Group to do something,” Thomas replied. “I see.” James had his classic nice guy smile when facing Thomas. “Soph doesn’t have any experience in this area, so we’ll have to trouble you to look out for her now,” he said with a gentle smile. “It’s no trouble. It’s a normal rite of passage for newcomers,” Thomas quickly responded. “I’m just worried that Soph won’t be able to handle the task because she doesn’t have a solid foundation. Anyway, sorry for troubling you to look out for her.” Then, James paused for a moment before continuing, “Oh, what’s your name?” Sophia’s expression went cold instantly. The employees in the company were already upset enough with her about parachuting in as the chief financial director’s assistant, yet her father had to say such things in front of them. This was just making it worse for her to get around the company from now on. Thomas adjusted his glasses as he replied politely, “My name is Thomas Zimmerman, and I’m an accountant in the finance department. I just transferred to the headquarters here the year before last.” “I believe a young man like you who’s able to transfer to our headquarters is extremely capable. Keep up the good work!” James gave him a pat on the shoulder along with a few more encouraging words before leaving with his assistant. Sophia tilted her head and looked at the man standing beside her who was grinning ear to ear. She asked, “Thomas, is there a company car?” “Yeap, I already got the keys. Come on, let’s go,” Thomas replied. With that, the two of them got into a van and began their journey. Thomas was easy to talk to. In fact, he practically talked throughout the entire drive over whereas Sophia merely listened and occasionally chimed in with curt responses. He talked about interesting things and would occasionally incorporate a few jokes here and there, so she did not get bored. Although he acted almost like a boy next door and his effort to converse with her was a means to pull the two of them closer, Sophia could easily sense the deliberate obsequiousness in his words. After all, she had gone through so much in the past two years. It was only human nature. There was nothing she could do about it. Soon, the two arrived at Jones Group. Before they got down the car, Thomas asked her, “Ms. White, do you have any suggestions for our task?” “Thomas, you don’t have to be courteous. You can just call me Sophia,” Sophia replied, “I don’t have any good suggestions.” Thomas raised a thoughtful brow. “White… You do have an idea on how to accomplish this task, right?” “I guess,” Sophia replied vaguely and switched the topic. “Thomas, do you often encounter such situations since you work in the finance department? What would you usually do in normal circumstances?” Thomas then proceeded to explain some of the common solutions. “However, this payment has been delayed for five days now, and on top of that, Ms. Leadman didn’t sound exactly happy when she gave me the task, so I don’t think we’ll be able to get this done using our usual methods.” Sophia frowned in response. He was not wrong. Judging from Ms. Leadman throwing her phone out of frustration earlier, she could tell that this sum of money was not going to be easy to acquire. “Okay, why don’t you share with me your idea and we can discuss?” Thomas offered. Sophia shook her head. “I think we should meet with Mr. Stewart first and understand the situation better.” “To be honest, I had the honor to have dealt with Mr. Stewart once in the past, and I have to say, he’s an old sly fox who has a lot of experience in this field. He has his ways, and even Ms. Leadman had to admit defeat in his hands before. “Although we’ve made an appointment to see him, we might not even be able to see him. Even if we do, we might be on a wild goose chase. That’s why I’m just saying that if you have any ideas, this is the time to share so we can brainstorm together. Don’t be afraid whether it’s right or wrong.” Thomas unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to her with an expectant look. However, Sophia made no effort to unbuckle hers. “I think we should just see Mr. Stewart first.” Her idea was her last resort, and she would not use it unless she had no other choice. The two of them entered Jones Group together. Thomas had insinuated that Mr. Stewart would refuse to see them, especially at a time like this. Fortunately, he knew where Mr. Stewart’s office was, so they could head up straightaway. However, before they could enter the elevator, the receptionist at the front desk stopped them. “Excuse me, are you here for an appointment?” Sophia was inexperienced in such matters and was worried that she would say the wrong things, so she kept quiet and turned to look at Thomas. “We have an appointment with Mr. Stewart,” Thomas said calmly with a straight face. “That’s not possible. Mr. Stewart has an appointment with Mr. Johnson right now, he just went up.” Sophia’s heart instantly sank as the receptionist lady continued, “Are you sure you made an appointment?”