The CEO's Seductive Doll-Chapter 125: Incentives or Praises

"Now that all the documents are here, Miss Doll, let’s go through these—Oh." Evan paused mid-sentence, glancing at the digital wall clock. "It’s still lunchtime."

"Yes, it is, Sir Holz," Jakob confirmed, as he finished placing on the table the documents he was carrying.

Evan hummed thoughtfully, his gaze lingering on the towering stack of documents as he considered his next move. After a moment, he shifted his attention to Eternity and Jakob.

"Eter—" Evan stopped himself, coughing to cover his slip. "Miss Doll, it’s still lunchtime. Go take your lunch and come back when office hours resume."

"I already ate lunch, sir." Eternity said. "Since I’m not doing anything, I might as well be productive with my time."

Evan gave her an amused look.

"Although I appreciate your hardworking nature, Miss Doll, I do hope you know that working during your break time is a wasted effort that will not give you any monetary incentives or praise. Now."

He gestured at the door.

"Go take a break, Miss Doll."

***

"What did he mean by that?" Eternity mumbled to herself as she exited the CEO’s office, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"I know you were merely talking to yourself," Jakob said as he followed her out of the door. "But to answer your question, he’s probably telling you not to be too idealistic."

This only caused her confusion to grow.

"What do you mean?" She pressed, pulling her office chair and sitting on it.

Jakob let out a huge sigh, not out of irritation but more out of pity. As if in synch with Eternity, he also grabbed an unoccupied office chair from across the room, dragging it over with more effort than necessary, and positioned it beside her.

"Don’t work too hard." He said, finally sitting down in front of her table. "Just use enough energy that your position requires you to use."

"So are you telling me to be... mediocre with my job?" Eternity’s expression was far from pleased, trying her best to process his words that were contradictory.

"Something like that," he replied with a dry laugh.

"But shouldn’t the CEO be happy instead that I’m working hard for the company?" She pointed it out.

Jakob gave a tight smile. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"It’s because he’s the CEO. That’s why he’s telling you to slow down."

"That doesn’t make sense!" She argued, crossing her arms.

"It does, actually." Jakob shook his head with a chuckle. "He’s the CEO of a billion dollar company. He knows more than anyone that he got where he is now because of the backs of his employees. So the least he could do is tell his employees to maximize their break time."

Instead of arguing further, Eternity hummed deeply as she took Jakob’s words into consideration. She was still trying to make sense of the logic behind it when he abruptly spoke, cutting through her contemplation.

"I know what you’re thinking."

Without waiting for a response, he continued, "You’re thinking that Sir Holz is a lot kinder than the rumors portray him to be."

She blinked blankly, tilting her head to the side like a confused puppy. Eternity actually knew this already, but she decided to play along just to hear what Jakob was planning to say.

"He was actually as bad as the rumors said before," Jakob revealed. "But something must have happened because he changed a few months ago."

"Oh?" She exclaimed, her interest piqued. "Do pray tell."

He looked around them cautiously, turning his head from left to right.

"What are you doing?" Eternity asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Making sure no one is around to hear us." Jakob said in a hushed manner.

Once he was certain no one was eavesdropping, Jakob leaned closer and continued speaking in a low voice.

"According to the rumors, Sir Holz got himself a girlfriend!"

Eternity gave him a blank look, internally questioning the excitement in his voice over something so trivial.

"Is this supposed to be...?" She trailed off, not knowing how to react to this news.

"It is!" Jakob affirmed, knowing what Eternity was meaning to say, even if she herself didn’t know what she wanted to say in the first place. "It is a big deal since everyone thought this was an impossible feat!"

"Was it considered ’impossible’ because of his personality?" Eternity asked.

He nodded before adding something in a lower murmur.

"Pardon?" Eternity squinted, as if this would make it easier for her to hear him. "Can you repeat that?"

"Among other things," Jakob said, a bit louder this time.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You already heard about the gossip on his sexual orientation." He shrugged, as if this was supposed to be a given already.

She narrowed her emerald eyes, and the tone of her voice noticeably turned heated. "Does the gender of Sir Holz’s lover matter to the change in his personality?"

Noticing how Eternity’s tone turned slightly hostile, Jakob waved his hand dismissively.

"Anyway." He shrugged it off and changed the topic, much to her indignation. "About 4 months ago, Sir Royall—the son, not the father—visited Sir Holz’s office. Their voices were loud and booming, so we assumed that they were fighting about something.

"But well, whatever their fighting was about, that was the start of the changes in Sir Holz’s personality."

"4 months..." Eternity whispered, wondering what it could possibly be that caused this great shift in Evan’s attitude.

Then it occurred to her.

It was about 4 months ago that Eternity first met Evan.

Could it be... that she was the reason for the change in Evan’s personality?!

"Fascinatingly," Jakob added. Even though he was the one starting the topic, he sounded intrigued by his own words. "A day after Sir Royall’s visit, Sir Holz got caught up in some viral video."

"Viral video?" She repeated, confusion evident in her voice.

He nodded ferociously, appearing to be still scandalized by this information.

"There were videos of Sir Holz circulating around the internet where he was passionately making out with a woman in the middle of Andromeda Mall!"