third person's POV
Someone stepped in to help, and what they meant couldn't have been more obvious.
Just kicked Melinda out.
After all, with Cliff gone, they really didn't have to be nice to Melinda.
"How come I just left for a bit and the mood got so tense?"
Vanya came out of the bathroom and looked at Melinda.
Melinda turned around, and the moment she saw Vanya, her face instantly looked awful.
Vanya dressed up today and looked classy and elegant in every move. In contrast, Melinda's outfit looked way tackier—not classy at all, and nothing like a rich girl. She just looked like a girl from a cheap bar.
Vanya had doubted Cliff's taste before. Melinda didn't look that pretty, her figure wasn't that great either, she just had a bit of that innocent vibe.
But now she dressed up on purpose to look mature, and ended up hiding her only advantage. She looked just like a nouveau riche who'd never seen the world.
Vanya smiled and said, "Miss Coleman is here too, what a coincidence."
"Vanya..."
"I still preferred you calling me Mrs. Todd." Vanya cut her off directly.
Melinda looked really unwilling, obviously not wanting to admit Vanya's identity in front of so many people.
"What did Miss Coleman come here for?" Vanya looked around, "But how come you're here alone?"
Melinda forced a smile and said, "I came with a coworker, she went to the bathroom."
"Oh?" Vanya raised an eyebrow, "You got a job? I heard from the Thompsons that you left their company. Where are you working now?"
Melinda opened her mouth but didn't say anything.
She glanced back at Cliff, who was ignoring her, then at Vanya, who was waiting to watch the show, and forced a smile: "I was... interning at Shenglong Company."
"Shenglong?" Vanya raised her eyebrows. "I remember that was a company under M Group, right?"
It wasn't a secret anymore that M Group and the Todd family hadn't been getting along lately.
As soon as Melinda spoke, the faces of those chairmen around didn't look so good—their businesses had been tough lately, mostly because of the M Group.
"Alpha Cliff, looks like these past few years you were helping Miss Coleman, you were actually helping someone else."
"M Group was really something, they didn't even check whose people they were hiring."
A few people took turns making sarcastic remarks, all aimed at Melinda.
Melinda looked upset.
She chose M Group back then because Cliff gave the order not to let any company related to the Todd family hire her, so she really had no other choice.
She looked at Cliff a bit awkwardly, hoping he would say something to help her out.
But Cliff said, "Melinda wasn't getting help from the Todd family anymore. Where she worked had nothing to do with the Todds."
This blatant attempt to distance himself made Melinda's face look even worse.
Vanya said, "Looks like Miss Coleman had lunch with her colleagues from Shenglong today, so we won't bother you. Go ahead."
After she finished talking, Vanya went back to her seat.
She glanced at the used glass on the table and raised her voice, saying, "Waiter, get me a new glass."
Soon, the waiter came over and changed Vanya's glass.
This scene was especially harsh in Melinda's eyes—it was no doubt Vanya slapping her in the face in public.
"Melinda, did you order yet?" At that moment, Barbara came out of the bathroom.
Melinda shook her head. "Not yet."
Barbara frowned, sounding obviously like a boss: "What's going on? You can't even handle something as simple as ordering food? Then stop, I'll do it."
No one here was stupid. This wasn't colleagues at all, it was clearly a boss-subordinate relationship.
Melinda looked upset and wished she could just disappear.
She immediately sat back in her seat and put some distance between herself and Cliff's table.
Cliff could tell Vanya had just made things hard for Melinda on purpose and asked quietly, "Not happy?"
"No." Vanya shook the cup in her hand, "I just didn't really like other people touching my stuff."
Cliff gave a wry smile, "I thought you'd be jealous, but I guess I was overthinking it."
Vanya never gave Melinda a hard time for no reason before. He thought it was because Vanya was jealous.
But now it seemed she just wanted to stress she was Mrs. Todd.
But just this alone was enough to make him happy.
Cliff said, "If one day you give her a hard time because you're jealous, I'll be really happy."
Vanya didn't respond.
She did this today to tell everyone that Melinda had already been dumped by Cliff.
Everyone in this business was sharp and knew best how to go with the flow.
Melinda's only value was "Cliff's woman." Now that Cliff had nothing to do with her, those people naturally wouldn't hang out with her anymore. They'd even avoid her just to not upset Cliff.
She completely cut off all of Melinda's options—at the latest, the day after tomorrow, everyone would know Melinda had nothing to do with Cliff anymore.
"Come on, try this." Barbara recommended a dish.
Melinda just brought it to her mouth, then suddenly felt sick and started gagging.
Her voice was loud and got people's attention over here.
Vanya glanced at Melinda and saw that her face was red and she kept clutching her chest.
Barbara asked with concern, "What's wrong? Are you not feeling well?"