Chapter 2 Drunk

(Randall's POV)

I sat in my office, reminiscing about the 'goodbye' that Patricia said, and I always felt that something was wrong.

She acted like she was about to travel far and never saw me again.

There was a knock on the door, and I looked at the time, guessing Ethan returned.

"Come in."

Sure enough, Ethan pushed the door and came in with a document in his hand.

I didn't say anything, just glanced at Ethan, and he immediately reported, "I have talked with Patricia."

I noticed that Ethan called her differently.

"What did you addressed her?" I raised a questioning eyebrow.

Only in bed do I call Patricia by name. When her name came out of Ethan's mouth so easily, it made me a little unpleasant.

Ethan looked embarrassed. He coughed lightly and handed me a letter.

"This is Miss Hawn's resignation letter."

I opened the letter. It was Patricia's resignation. And it was handwritten.

Only Patricia frequently did so in an age when printed letters were already convenient.

She had a kind of stubbornness that was not in line with this impetuous era, or, in other words, a kind of sincerity. I felt it from the first time I met 13-year-old Patricia.

She was so special that when the 22-year-old came to the Rayfiel Company for an interview, I recognized her from the multitude of interviewees at a glance.

Patricia's resignation letter, stroke by stroke, was written very carefully, but the content was extremely formulaic.

She took it easy enough that I was going to be separated from her, and she didn't even want to hold down her job.

The corners of my lips curled up slightly, pulling out a mocking smile. He opened his mouth and asked, "How did she react when you gave her the document?"

Ethan was uncommonly silent for a few seconds, as if thinking about Patricia's reaction seriously. He replied cautiously: "Of course she can only accept your arrangement. Miss Hawn has always been sensitive, and she also praised that you are very generous."

Praised me for being generous? Was that the woman's answer?

My mood suddenly became very bad, and I crumpled up Patricia's neatly handwritten resignation letter and threw it in the trash.

"What's next on my agenda today ?"

Ethan glanced at the laptop, "There are two acquisition project meetings. Miss Hawn has handed over the information to other people in the secretarial department, and a new secretary will come over soon to take charge of the meeting."

I was a little irritable, "She won't come even if the resignation letter has not been processed yet?"

Ethan said calmly, "Miss Hawn is on sick leave. But don't worry, she looked healthy when I left."

I inexplicably read a hint of theater-going on Ethan's expressionless face.

I raised my eyebrows, "Let the people in the secretariat rest. I'll give you all the information, you follow me."

A flash of annoyance flashed across Ethan's face quickly, but he soon regained his composure.

"OK." he replied.

Working meetings are as dull as ever, and last an entire afternoon.

When I was about to sign the materials at the end of the meeting, my signature pen ran out of water.

Without looking up, I blurted out, "Miss Hawn."

A brand new signature pen was handed over, and when I saw that the pen's hand belonged to Ethan, I remembered that Patricia wasn't here today.

Also, she didn't plan to come again in the future.

A sense of loss I had never experienced before, so I signed and closed the material.

Ethan announced the end of the meeting and the employees left the room one by one. In the huge space, Ethan and I were soon left alone.

I closed my eyes and rubbed my brows, trying to get this unfamiliar emotion out of my mind, but Patricia's smile appeared inexplicably in my mind.

"Goodbye, Mister Rayfiel."

I suddenly regretted that I didn't look back at her expression when she said this.

Did Patricia say this goodbye with a smile?

Ethan's question interrupted my meditations.

"Shall I made an appointment with Dr.Sloap for you?"

I replied, "No, go straight to the BON club."

"Ok."

I probably need alcohol more than the doctor tonight.

******

When I got to the box of the BON club, not long after I was seated, Francis came without being invited.

He took a bottle of bourbon and walked over to my table.

"Hey, Randall. A surprise seeing you here. A workaholic like you would come to my club at this time."

said Francis in a heavily jesting tone.

He poured bourbon into my empty glass and his eyes swept around, "Where's Miss Hawn?"

I picked up the glass and drank it.

"Thanks to your damn proposal, I broke up with her. There was no anger, no tears, no hysteria, and she accepted it quickly and calmly, handing me her resignation letter by the way."

Francis was stunned for a few seconds, then burst out laughing.

"Haha, I am really starting to like Miss Hawn."

About a week ago, I lost a game of darts to my friend, Francis.

According to the game's tradition, I promised him one thing to do. Unexpectedly, Francis made a very boring request and asked me to break up with Patricia to see how she would react.

This should have been a trivial matter, but Patricia took it seriously and even offered to resign immediately.

Just like, she was ready to leave.

Even without this stupid gamble, Patricia would have found other reasons to leave me and quit your office.

Francis was still curious, "Did she take all the things you gave her?"

"Yep."

I grabbed the culprit was bourbon and poured myself another glass.

"Miss Hawn is such a pragmatist. Usually, women at times like this would angrily reject and then rush to show that in this relationship, she doesn't really care for material items."

I had to say, Francis thought the same as I did.

I also thought that if I broke up, I would get Patricia's sincere retention. After all, in my impression, she always got along with me carefully and rarely fully expressed her emotions.

I took another drink, put it down, and started fighting back, "So you planned to give Zoey the BON club years ago, and she never accepted it because Zoey is a romantic?"

Francis' playful expression stiffened.

Zoey was his lover, but as far as I know, their relationship was also far more complicated than the normal lover.

Francis got up and grabbed one of the bartenders, "Don't give this guy a hard drink."

He turned to look at me, "Now, learn to face the night without Miss Hawn soberly."