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Meanwhile, Emilia had finally been dropped off at Samantha's office by her friends.
The moment she had stepped out of the car, her lazy, pampered behavior was nowhere to be seen, and she cheerfully greeted the receptionist girl. "Hi~"
Surprisingly, it was the same short-haired young woman from before, though she seemed a little less peppy than last time.
Her expression brightened immediately upon noticing Emilia, though. "Miss Emilia?! Welcome, I'll call your older sister right away—"
In her mind, she was thinking of this as an opportunity to do things as she should have, and rebuild her good image in the eyes of her boss. 'A-Ah, I can even call the little girl her little wife or something, and my chances of getting a bonus increase by a hundred percent!'
Emilia waved her hand with a smile. "No no, please don't. Just go on with your work, I'll wait for Noelle here. She should be here shortly."
The smiling expression on the receptionist's face froze.
It was one thing for Emilia to never tell her older sister in advance when she was coming, or the sis-con would surely be here in advance, but wasn't it a bit too much to expect her to keep her arrival from the boss?
She had already been punished quite a bit for her gaffe the last time, even though she only really slipped up once, but thankfully she hadn't been fired. Heck, she even got a bonus on the paycheck as compensation, and got back to her old position within three days!
All in all, Emilia's previous visit gave her a close brush with death, but ended up slightly benefiting her.
But all of this was based on the premise that Sam believed it all to be a coincidence!
If the sis-con really started suspecting that she had designs on her little sister — which she did not, honest! — getting fired would be the least of her worries!
She'll admit that the girl was cute, but as a straight girl, and one who cherished her life the most, she knew what she should and shouldn't think. Even if Emilia confessed her undying love for her right now, the receptionist would only run for the hills.
"Y-Young miss, I can't possibly keep it from the b-boss—!"
Emilia leaned over the counter, fluttering her eyelashes. "Pretty please? Just hold on for a few minutes. I'm sure Noelle will take my side once she gets here."
Of course, Sam had no idea she would be here at this time, or she might have already come down to greet her. How could she let this girl ruin her surprise? If she really insisted, Emilia didn't mind knocking her out. 'Hm… what would be the least flashy way to knock her out? Ah, I can do that, right? Even regular people should be able to do it…'
Cynthia almost rolled her eyes. "If you want to be known as a lunatic, sure."
Noelle could handle the commotion later, anyway. Probably.
The poor secretary nearly had a heart attack when the executive lift opened at the worst possible moment, right when the girl was 'flirting' with her. 'No, wait! It's not hopeless! This time, I'm not on my knees, and I'm not confessing anything either! This situation is definitely—!'
Thankfully, it wasn't her boss, but Noelle who came this time around.
Looking at the pale-faced employee in front of Emilia, the silver-haired lady couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You really like making trouble wherever you go, huh?"
Emilia looked at the receptionist girl in confusion. "Eh? But I didn't do anything, you know? I just got here. You can ask this cutie-pie here to confirm, if you want."
'Am I being framed?!'
Looking at the mortified face of the receptionist, Noelle sighed. "Alright, just follow me, I've got things arranged as you told me, even though it was a massive waste of my time."
Emilia grinned as she followed her to the executive lift. "Great! I knew I could rely on you, Noelle!"
The receptionist shook when she saw Emilia wink at her as the lift closed, and collapsed on her chair in relief once the two of them were gone. 'T-This girl will be the death of me!'
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Noelle rolled her eyes at the giggling girl as the lift climbed through the floors. She really was too naughty. Thankfully, she still knew where to stop, for the most part.
Instead of heading straight for Samantha's office on the top floor, the executive lift stopped on the fifth, which was usually reserved for organizing special activities.
"Whoa, you really outdid yourself this time, Noelle!"
The whole floor seemed to have been transformed into a miniature mall, with tiny little departments of all sorts of things, be it clothing, accessories, or even footwear.
Anyone else would have assumed this was meant to be some sort of demo for a future project plan, but Noelle knew that this was just another way for Emilia to waste money and time.
The silver-haired girl sighed. "Just so you know, I may have kept Sam occupied, but now that I'm not with her, it'll probably only take her thirty minutes to start checking."
Emilia nodded. She expected as much, and the only reason she could rest assured about this plan was because she knew the exact sources of Sam's information network, and that they would all be willing to adjust for her. "Good, what was her last update on me?"
Noelle checked the time on her watch before shaking her head. "She asks about you every fifteen minutes, like always. I gave her the accurate information, as I should. Eight minutes ago, you were in your friend's car, isn't that right? Of course, I never told her you weren't headed for your usual destination. If this causes a reduction in my bonus, I trust you will cover it?"
Emilia grinned as she started looking through the shelves. "Of course, don't worry. I'll be sure to compensate you 'properly'."
The silver-haired lady rubbed her forehead, feeling a little exasperated. "I only accept monetary compensation."
The younger girl hummed to herself. "Don't worry. You'll always get plenty of pocket money and praise for being obedient to me."
Noelle knew that she probably shouldn't bother, but she still couldn't help but make a vain attempt. "Can't you phrase that better?"
Emilia grinned. "Mhm. Good girl."
'That's even worse! At least she never said that before, I think…' Noelle instantly regretted asking her to change the phrasing. "Please refrain from saying that. I'm older than you, you know?"
Emilia shrugged. "So? Older girls can also be adorable. Anyway, each of my praises comes with a bonus of five hundred thousand dollars, you know? Are you sure you want me to stop?"
'Five hundred thousand…' Thinking about how often this girl praised her… no wonder her bank account had been getting a lot of suspicious transfers lately. "I shall humbly accept it, thank you very much."
"Good girl."
Noelle nodded, almost able to see the +500,000$ floating above Emilia's head each time she praised her. "Thank you very much."
Emilia giggled. "Ehehe… anyway, what about all the other arrangements?"
The silver-haired lady checked the correspondence on her tablet once more, just to make sure, and nodded. "All done."
"Great!"
'Hm? Is that a praise or not? Do I get paid?' Feeling a little confused, Noelle decided that it was time to finally download her banking app. At the very least, it would make dealing with Emilia a lot more 'fun'.
Oblivious to the change in Noelle's attitude, Emilia continued humming to herself as she looked through Noelle's arrangements.
Although she had been occupied with a lot of things recently, Emilia knew that if she kept putting off Samantha's date for later, it would never come. Plus, punishment and rewards should be swift to have their intended effect.
She already felt charged from the massage her darlings had given her in the car, and felt as ready as she could be.
With all the arrangements already handled to her specifications by the ever-capable Noelle, all Emilia had to do now was get ready and surprise Sam before showing her a good time. 'Hah, it's a pity that I can't have her do the same for her own date in the future. I'll have to figure something else out then… but that's for later.'
Seeing how the girl seemed to be lost in her own world, Noelle decided she had wasted enough time already, and cleared her throat. "Ahem, I shall give you some privacy, then—"
Emilia immediately swiveled around to give her a pleading look. "Wait! I haven't brought a stylist with me today, and I'm a little clumsy… help me out, will you?"
Noelle frowned. Why couldn't she remember the name of the stylist on call for Emilia? Did she recently get replaced? Anyway, she would be a poor replacement, and messing with things she wasn't familiar with didn't sit right with her work ethic. "I believe you've got the wrong lady for the job. There are many things I'm good at, but fashion isn't one of them."
Emilia giggled. "Ahaha… don't worry, I'm quite familiar with my sister's taste. I just need you to assist me a little, no need to think too much."
As a subordinate, there was only so much Noelle could reject before she had to just accept it with a sigh. "You're really too much…"
The silver-haired lady took out her phone to check her bank balance, and feeling much better, moved over to where Emilia was picking out which dress she would be going with.
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