###Chapter 58: So Awkwardly Adorable!

8:30 AM. An elevator at the Sterling Group.

Maxine Rhodes stepped into the elevator, coffee in hand. Just as her finger touched the close-door button, a delicate voice called out, "Hold on, please!"

Rose Joyce entered, clinging affectionately to Lydia Thorne’s arm.

"Oh, Maxine, it’s you. What a coincidence."

Lydia Thorne was wearing a navy blue suit today, her pearl earrings gleaming with a soft luster.

"Director Rhodes, good morning." Lydia Thorne’s gaze flickered to the coffee cup in Maxine’s hand, a small smile playing on her lips. "It seems you’re a fan of the coffee shop downstairs? I tried it once and found it far too sweet. I much prefer a Geisha, hand-poured by my assistant. It’s more to my taste."

Maxine met Lydia Thorne’s superior gaze. She lifted her cup, took a small sip of coffee, and offered a polite, professional smile. "You have a point, Vice President Thorne. But personal tastes differ—much like work styles. Some people prefer to have others handle every little thing, content to just enjoy the final results,"

She paused, casting a pointed glance at Lydia Thorne’s empty hands. "Whereas I prefer to be hands-on, to enjoy the process of controlling every detail. After all, a temporary title isn’t what’s important. The real winner is the one who ultimately holds the core resources. Wouldn’t you agree, Vice President Thorne?"

Just as she finished speaking, the elevator arrived at the project department’s floor.

"I’ll get to work, then." With a composed stride, Maxine Rhodes was the first to exit the elevator.

Lydia Thorne stood in the elevator, watching her go. The smile faded from her face.

On the surface, Maxine’s words had been about coffee, but they were a thinly veiled jab at Lydia’s lack of core competencies.

Rose Joyce, oblivious to the sarcasm, muttered under her breath, "What was that all about...?"

Lydia Thorne shot her a cold look, and Rose Joyce immediately went quiet.

2:00 PM. Conference Room 3.

Lydia Thorne sat on one side of the long table, a beautifully bound report from the project department on data discrepancies spread open before her. Benjamin Sterling occupied the head of the table, leaning back slightly with the air of a final arbiter. Beside him, Rose Joyce stood with an expression that said she was ready for a good show.

Maxine Rhodes sat opposite them with Coco and Bubbles. Coco was focused on her tablet, while Bubbles stared blankly at the projection screen.

"Director Rhodes, shall we begin?"

Lydia Thorne lifted her chin, her tone all business, yet failing to conceal a hint of arrogance.

"Please."

Maxine Rhodes gestured for her to begin, her posture composed. But a closer look revealed a trace of weariness in her expression.

Once the meeting started, Lydia Thorne went on the attack. Pointing to a highlighted data node on the projection, she spoke in a rapid, piercing tone. "According to the project activity logs for Q3, the data peak in week seven is severely inconsistent with the actual project progress for that same week. The discrepancy exceeds thirty percent. I’d like to know how this inflated data was generated. Was it a statistical error, or is there another reason?"

Bubbles looked up and explained, a note of urgency in his voice, "Director Thorne, that peak was because we took on a temporary brand-crossover promotion. The data was merged into the main project’s records. The related approval process..."

"I’ve seen the approval process," Lydia Thorne cut in bluntly. She turned to Benjamin Sterling, her tone pained and disappointed. "President Sterling, you see? The problem is right here in the details."

She tapped the signature with her fingernail. "Appendix Three, page two. The approval process is completely non-standard. The signature is illegible, and the timestamp is off. Today, you might ignore procedures because of an emergency; tomorrow, you could cause even greater losses for some other reason. Director Rhodes’s team is known for its efficiency, but rules are rules. We can’t set this kind of precedent."

She delivered the lines with sanctimonious flair, posturing as the sole defender of the company’s interests.

Bubbles opened and closed his mouth, his face flushing red. He clearly wanted to argue but held back because of her seniority. In the end, he just mumbled, "It was an urgent situation... President Sterling knew about it..."

Seeing him tongue-tied, some of the attendees shook their heads slightly.

"Director Rhodes is a capable team leader, but she’s so young. It’s tough being targeted like this..."

"Tell me about it. The attack is clearly personal. That kid, Bubbles, though—his reaction seemed genuine. Looked like he was really stumped, not just putting on an act."

From his seat at the head of the table, Benjamin Sterling took it all in.

He saw Bubbles’s predicament and Maxine’s silent, tight-lipped expression, and a deep sense of satisfaction at being in complete control washed over him.

He cleared his throat, speaking in the tone of a mediator. "Yes, I was aware of the temporary project at the time. Director Thorne, the data itself is likely fine, but procedural compliance is something we must enforce."

His words seemed to admonish both sides equally, but in reality, he was siding with Lydia, cementing the narrative that Maxine’s team had been careless with procedure.

Lydia pressed her advantage, raising several similar issues. Each was a carefully laid trap: a problem that seemed serious but was explainable, though not without making Maxine’s team look flustered and incompetent.

Her aggressive posturing was starting to make even the other senior executives in attendance frown.

When she’d spent nearly five minutes harping on a trivial issue with report formatting, a low murmur of conversation began to ripple through the room.

"She’s going a bit too far..."

An older director of operations leaned toward the CFO beside him and whispered, "We need to focus on the big picture, not get bogged down in the details. Moving the key projects forward is what’s critical right now."

The CFO adjusted his glasses, replying impassively, "Her motives have little to do with the data. It’s the classic case of a new manager wanting to make her mark. She’s just coming on a little strong."

While Coco answered a question about retaining customer feedback data, her voice remained calm, but the hand resting on her knee involuntarily clenched into a fist.

"We’ll need to pull the raw back-end logs to verify it. That will take some time," Coco said.

"Fine. But I expect it done quickly." Lydia Thorne lifted her chin slightly. "I wouldn’t want muddled data to affect a proper assessment of the project’s value..."

Before she could finish, Rose Joyce chimed in, stifling a laugh behind her hand. "That’s right. Integrity is the bottom line, after all..."

After she spoke, she shot a nervous glance at Benjamin Sterling. Their little performance made the atmosphere in the room even more tense.

At last, Maxine spoke.

She looked up, her gaze fixed on Lydia Thorne. Her voice was steady, but carried a deliberately suppressed hoarseness. "Vice President Thorne, data verification is your duty, and we will cooperate. But I must stress that my team’s results on every single project are real and hard-earned. Perhaps, in our pursuit of efficiency, some procedural details were overlooked, but that is by no means a reason to invalidate our accomplishments."

She paused. Her gaze flickered almost imperceptibly toward Benjamin Sterling, a complex mix of what looked like disappointment and defiance in her eyes, before she looked away.

"We will submit any necessary follow-up documentation as soon as possible. Now, if there’s nothing else, I have a project advancement meeting to run. It concerns this quarter’s core KPIs."

Benjamin Sterling caught the look in Maxine’s eyes, and he didn’t miss the undercurrent of exhaustion and defiance in her voice. He smiled to himself.

’Is she at her breaking point already? Like a stray cat caught in the rain, desperate to get close to the fire but too proud to ask for help.’

’She must have left these openings on purpose, baiting Lydia into attacking her. It’s all so I’d see how wronged she is, and then I’d swoop in to save her, just like I used to. So I’d take her back under my wing again, right?’

’It’s really... so awkwardly adorable!’

"Alright."

Benjamin Sterling brought the matter to a close, a knowing, magnanimous smile on his face. "Regarding the data issues, correct them if they exist; if not, take this as a lesson learned. Everyone here has seen what Maxine’s team can accomplish. And President Thorne’s review was very thorough, all for the good of the company. Let’s adjourn the meeting. Maxine, your project advancement meeting is more important. Go on, get to it."

The meeting was over.

The executives filed out, exchanging knowing glances. Once in the hallway, their hushed discussions grew a little bolder.

"Looks like things are about to change at the company."

"It all depends on whether Director Rhodes can hold her ground. I have my doubts. Vice President Thorne clearly means business, and President Sterling is..."

The sentence was left unfinished, but everyone understood.

This spreading consensus—that Maxine Rhodes was at a disadvantage—was the perfect smokescreen. It was exactly what she needed.*****