Overbearing CEO's Contract Love
Chapter 236: I Send You

Chapter 236: I Send You

Monday.

Having returned from the sunflower garden, Emma Hart had taken the weekend to rest at home, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Damian Sterling hadn’t brought up banning her from work again.

After breakfast, Emma quietly prepared to leave. The notion that she could sneak out unnoticed had grown increasingly ludicrous since her pregnancy began. Despite not being particularly large, it wasn’t easy for a full-grown woman to slip past undetected.

Bending to pick up her bag and shoes, she was caught red-handed by Damian. "What are you doing?"

"I... um... I was just..." Emma stuttered, fearful of displeasing Damian again.

He approached her step by step, then took the shoes from her hands, inspecting the modest heels. "You were planning to wear these heels?" he asked, glancing down at her belly with a frown, clearly concerned about her lack of safety awareness.

Damian tossed the shoes aside and turned to Mrs. Harris. "Doesn’t she have any comfortable shoes?"

Mrs. Harris hurriedly fetched a pair of brand-new flats from the shoe cabinet and handed them to Emma. "These will do."

Emma looked at the loafers Mrs. Harris offered, which clashed with her outfit. "Do I have to wear these?" The heels she had chosen were under two inches and quite comfortable.

"You must," Damian stated firmly.

"Oh," Emma nodded, resigned. "I’ll go change my outfit to match these shoes then."

As she walked past Damian, he suddenly grabbed her arm. "Change? Why change outfits? Aren’t you worried about catching a cold?"

Damian’s fussiness was a recent development. He used to deride her for her unsophisticated style, saying her clothes were too plain and that she cared too little about fashion. Now that she was paying a bit more attention, he seemed to disapprove even more. Nothing seemed to please him.

"So I shouldn’t change? Just wear this outfit with these shoes?" she asked.

Damian nodded. "Staying warm is what matters."

Following his directive, Emma put on the shoes. "Are these better?"

Damian examined her from head to toe and nodded his approval.

Emma stood silently to the side, not daring to speak loudly or even breathe too heavily. She lowered her head, thinking to herself that Damian didn’t seem like he was refusing to let her go to work.

Emma Hart stood by the door, watching Damian Sterling silently as he gathered his things and headed towards the exit, his assistant in tow. As Damian passed by her, Emma stared blankly at him until he stopped suddenly, prompting her to quickly lower her head.

"What are you standing there for?" Damian snapped sharply.

"Huh?" Emma looked up, puzzled by his tone.

"I’ll take you there," he declared.

"Really?" Emma’s face lit up with childlike excitement.

"Just kidding," Damian retorted.

Emma hurriedly caught up and naturally latched onto Damian’s arm. "Are you serious?" she pressed, unable to hide her enthusiasm.

"If you ask one more time, I might just regret it," Damian warned, stopping to glare at her.

Emma quickly released his hand and covered her mouth. "Then I won’t say another word!"

Seeing her joy, Damian couldn’t bear to crush her spirits. He turned to glance at her again, his eyes lingering on her arms.

As Emma eagerly moved ahead, she looked back. "Aren’t you coming?"

"Your hand," Damian gestured with a nod towards his chin, signaling what he meant.

Realizing his intention, Emma cheerfully agreed and extended her arm to him. It was odd how Emma, who wouldn’t sell herself for money and always insisted on earning her own way, seemed so willing to make any sacrifice for it. She faced adversity with a smile, determined to gain wealth through her own efforts. Indeed, someone should write a moving saga about Emma Hart’s entrepreneurial spirit.

Design Department.

Emma Hart entered the office with a cheerful smile, greeting her colleagues, who weren’t particularly warm in return.

The supervisor introduced a new intern standing shyly beside her. Clapping her hands to get everyone’s attention, she announced, "This is Lily, our new intern in the Design Department..."

The girl whispered to the supervisor, "Auntie, my name is Zoe."

The misnomer ’Auntie’ inadvertently caused a burst of laughter among the colleagues.

The supervisor, known among the team as ’the tigress’ for her fierce demeanor, coughed and adjusted her diamond-studded glasses, displeased. "Call me Supervisor!" she corrected sharply.

"Yes, Supervisor," Zoe quickly lowered her head in response.

The playful address had clearly soured the mood for the tigress, who quickly wrapped up and left with visible irritation.

A colleague murmured softly, "Zoe was not wrong, though. The tigress is in her forties, and Zoe is just a fresh graduate. It’s normal to call her ’Auntie.’"

Several colleagues chuckled, covering their mouths.

Emma couldn’t help but reflect on Zoe’s emotional intelligence. In such settings, it’s safer to stick to professional titles, or use ’brother’ and ’sister’ for peers. Of course, that usually applies to recent graduates; calling someone younger ’sister’ could be awkward.

Zoe, slightly bewildered by her new surroundings, soon found herself burdened with a stack of files the tigress had impatiently handed her.

Emma watched from a distance, remembering her own early days in the office—naive and easily bullied.

Zoe struggled with the printer, unable to figure it out despite studying the instructions. Though some colleagues noticed, none stepped forward to help. Sighing, Emma left her seat to assist.

She cleared the piled documents from the printer and tapped on the instruction panel. "There’s a prompt here that can guide you on how to use the printer."

Zoe stood up, adjusting her glasses and bowed quickly. "Thank you, sister."

Emma felt a strange sense of accomplishment from the respectful address. "No worries, just ask me if you need help," she said, patting Zoe on the shoulder like a seasoned veteran.

Amelia Davidson burst into the department, scanning the room until her eyes landed on Emma at the printer. She smiled and approached, glancing at the newcomer. "What’s this? Leading the troops? Or does she remind you of yourself? Birds of a feather, right?"

Emma chuckled softly. Amelia knew her all too well, always able to see right through