It Feels Like I'm Being Targeted

Julian Sterling was sitting on a leather sofa, holding a neatly organized set of documents in his hand, his expression grave and his brows tightly furrowed.

"Mr. Sterling, if nothing unexpected happens, Miss Bennett's mural should be finished within the next two days."

After Marcus Reed spoke, he lifted his eyes to look at Julian Sterling.

He saw that Julian said nothing, and his brows drew even tighter. Marcus knew that this was perhaps not good news worth being happy about. In any case, Julian Sterling was not very pleased.

A moment later, Julian Sterling set down the papers in his hand, looked up at Marcus Reed, and said, "The mural is going to be finished that easily? Keep an eye on it for me. It has to achieve the most perfect result possible."

Marcus Reed's expression stiffened slightly.

Very quickly, his face fell, and he felt deeply wronged. Why did he have to be the one to play the villain?

...

Downstairs, Claire Bennett was hard at work when suddenly a voice sounded behind her. "Miss Bennett."

She turned back and glanced over. "Assistant Marcus, are you here to check on the mural's progress? It'll be finished very soon. I'll do my best to speed things up."

Marcus Reed was anxious to death inside.

Speed things up? Right now, Julian Sterling wanted her progress to slow down.

Although that was what he was thinking, Marcus didn't show it on his face. With his hands clasped behind his back, he said, "Mm, Miss Bennett, just keep painting. I only came to take a look. Don't mind me."

Claire Bennett didn't think much of it and turned back to get busy again.

Once she immersed herself in her work, she quickly forgot all about Marcus Reed. Unexpectedly, just after she had painted in one small patch of color, she heard Marcus say from behind her, "Miss Bennett, this color is wrong!"

"What?" Claire Bennett stopped her brush.

She took out the draft and looked at it. "It's not wrong. That's exactly how it is in the sketch."

"Uh... I misspoke. It's that Mr. Sterling doesn't like purple. You'd better switch it to another color. Just... change it to blue."

"All right."

Claire Bennett was full of confusion, but could only remix the paint and cover it over.

She hadn't expected that after that, Marcus Reed would either say the color was wrong or say the shape had been painted incorrectly.

No matter how thick-skinned Claire Bennett was, she still noticed something was off. She felt that Marcus Reed was deliberately picking on her.

When Marcus Reed raised an issue for the last time, Claire Bennett put down the paintbrush in her hand.

She looked at Marcus Reed and asked, "Assistant Marcus, what exactly do you think is wrong? Why don't you just say it all clearly at once, so I don't keep painting and then changing it?"

Marcus Reed forced a grin, his expression awkward.

How was it that he thought there was a problem? It was clearly Julian Sterling who thought there was a problem!

"Mm, it doesn't seem to have any problems right now. I think it's getting late. If there's anything else, let's talk about it tomorrow."

After Marcus Reed said that, he turned and left.

Watching his departing back, Claire Bennett felt baffled. It was like she was being targeted.

Talk about it tomorrow?

If Marcus Reed kept making all kinds of picky demands again tomorrow, then wouldn't her mural never be finished?

No! She had to find a way to solve this once and for all!

That evening at dinner, Claire Bennett listlessly poked at her bowl of rice, absentminded and clearly without much appetite.

Julian Sterling turned his head to glance at her and asked with concern, "What's wrong? Something on your mind?"

Claire Bennett said, "My mural is almost finished, but today Assistant Marcus kept finding fault with me. I suspect he did it on purpose."

Julian Sterling nodded.

He thought for a moment, then said casually, "Maybe there really was a problem with your mural?"

"How could that be? I painted it strictly according to the sketch. At first I thought there really was a problem and changed it the way he said, but then what he said got more and more ridiculous. The color was wrong, the shape was wrong..."

Claire Bennett's face was full of indignation. The more she thought about it, the more wrong it felt.

She was even starting to suspect that it was an order from above. And Marcus Reed's superior was that Mr. Sterling, wasn't he?

It probably wasn't him, right?

But that day Mr. Sterling had seemed pretty easy to talk to. He didn't look like that kind of person.

Hearing Claire Bennett's complaints, Julian Sterling's eyes flickered slightly.

He shamelessly said, "Then if you change it according to what he says, there shouldn't be any problem, right?"

"Who says that!" Claire Bennett said excitedly. "He said he'll keep watching tomorrow. I suspect he definitely still has a lot of bizarre, weird demands..."

After saying that, she looked at Julian Sterling and asked, "Do you have any way to deal with a situation like this?"

"..." Faced with Claire Bennett's questioning gaze, Julian Sterling finally gave a light cough and said, "How about having him sign off on the revision requests?"

"That's right! How did I not think of that!" The worry on Claire Bennett's face instantly vanished, replaced by delight.

Seeing how happy she was, Julian Sterling couldn't feel happy at all.

It had been his idea in the first place to have Marcus Reed find a way to keep Claire Bennett there longer so she could stay a little longer. He hadn't expected that in the end, the person who solved Claire Bennett's problem would still be himself.

With the matter perfectly resolved, Claire Bennett was finally in the mood to eat.

She thoughtfully picked up food for Julian Sterling, telling him to eat a little more.

The next day.

After getting pointers from Julian Sterling, Claire Bennett made plenty of preparations. When Marcus Reed came, she even greeted him warmly and generously.