Chapter 42- scolded

Chapter 42: Chapter 42- scolded It was her first time making such a careless mistake, and she felt embarrassed. The finance manager shook his head. "I can overlook mistakes, but this time the higher-ups found out and specifically called for you." Lilian froze. "The... higher-ups?" The manager nodded. "Yes, our big boss, Mr. Morrison." "But I don’t think it’s a big deal. He’ll probably just give you a warning." Seeing Lilian almost in tears, the manager quickly reassured her. He didn’t know about her relationship with Morrison and always thought they were just friends or colleagues. So he wasn’t too worried about the mistake. But what he didn’t know was what had really happened—otherwise, why would Lilian look so close to tears? Also, the manager was a bit puzzled. She’d made other, even worse mistakes before, but none had escalated to this level. This time she was directly summoned to the top floor. Back in her office, Lilian revised the report and took the elevator up to the top floor. Her heart was pounding with nerves, but she braced herself for a scolding—it was her fault, after all. When she arrived, Sean was just coming out of Morrison’s office, looking beaten down. Both Sean and Norton had been scolded all morning, though Norton’s punishment wasn’t as severe. They all knew Morrison was in a terrible mood and just endured it silently. No one dared comfort Morrison or admit they knew he’d been dumped. That would only hurt his pride more and make him even angrier. So they pretended ignorance. Sean gave Lilian a "good luck" look and escaped into his office. Taking a deep breath, Lilian knocked on Morrison’s office door. "Come in," came the cold voice. She pushed the door open and stepped inside. Morrison was focused on his computer. Hearing her enter, he glanced up, emotionless and detached. Then he returned to his work, but his tense expression betrayed his bad mood. Holding the report, Lilian cleared her throat and spoke, "Mr. Morrison, did you call for me?" She almost said "Morrison-san" out of habit, but remembered they’d broken up and were now just colleagues. Better to keep things polite and distant. Before, she had visited his office many times in a relaxed, carefree way. Back then, calling him "Morrison-san" was fine and he accepted it. Now, under these circumstances, she knew to keep her distance. Morrison, who had slightly calmed down before her arrival, now flared up again at her formal address. With a sharp snap, he slammed his laptop shut loudly, startling the already anxious Lilian. He then strode over with a cold face and grabbed the report from her hands, flipping through the pages with a noisy rustle. The sound felt like a cold gust, carrying his icy aura and making Lilian’s cheeks feel numb. She inwardly protested—did he really need to be so loud? She disliked people showing their displeasure with cold expressions and petty actions. If he had a problem, he should just say it. After confirming there were no errors this time, Morrison shouted at her, "Lilian, as a finance professional, don’t you understand how much damage a single data mistake can cause?" Lilian lowered her eyes silently. She had nothing to say. A mistake was a mistake; she wouldn’t make excuses. Morrison’s voice grew louder, his scolding thunderous. "Can you afford those losses? Sure, you can count on your brother, but do you think it’s okay to drag half of Washington Co. down because of your errors?" He sneered, "At your age, living like a zombie—what are you thinking?" "Is your head always filled with thoughts of breaking up with me?" Morrison’s anger grew, and he finally shifted his tirade to their breakup, using the report mistake as an excuse to mock her mercilessly. After his last harsh words, Lilian glanced at him nervously, then dropped her gaze again. Morrison was nearly furious from that look. She was so transparent—he could see right through her mind. Her glance admitted that she’d made the mistake because she was preoccupied with breaking up. Angrily, Morrison crumpled the report and threw it to the floor, then turned around, hands on hips, gasping for breath. Lilian felt a mix of sadness and humiliation. She’d rarely been scolded so harshly in her life—not by her parents, not even her brother Dave, who only occasionally lectured her. Facing his storm of rage, she knew she deserved the blame but couldn’t hold back tears. She bit her lips hard to keep from crying. After calming down a little, Morrison turned back and saw the girl’s eyes red and swollen with tears, clearly hurt but stubbornly refusing to cry. Men can never stand to see women cry. If she had burst into tears now, maybe Morrison’s anger would have cooled. But since she wouldn’t cry, his anger only grew stronger. "Speak!" he demanded. Lilian lowered her gaze. "I have nothing to say. I was wrong, and that’s it." What else could she say? Was she supposed to argue over her mistakes? Could she not see that Morrison was mad enough to explode? Shouldn’t she plead with him? If she acted cute like before, maybe he wouldn’t be so harsh. When they were together, she was good at that. But Lilian thought, We’re not a couple anymore. How can I act all cute now? If I did, wouldn’t that just make everything blurry and complicated again? Both had their own thoughts and plans, and things only grew colder between them. Finally, Morrison suppressed some of his anger and said, "Is it because you’ve never been treated like this before, so you feel wronged?" Lilian stayed silent. "Do you know why you’ve never been treated like this before?" Still silent, Lilian only stared down. Morrison gritted his teeth and said, "That’s because you were my girlfriend. I couldn’t bear to scold you!" The implication was clear: now that she wasn’t his girlfriend, he could scold her as much as he wanted. Lilian remained silent. She understood perfectly: girlfriends were meant to be pampered, regular employees were meant to be reprimanded. "So, do you have anything to say?" Morrison said this, narrowing his eyes as he stared at her. Dark waves simmered behind those black pupils, silently waiting for her reply. At the core, Morrison’s words were to make Lilian face the truth: she had broken up with him and now was nothing. No one would protect her anymore. He was indirectly forcing her to admit that breaking up with him was a mistake. He wanted her to say she didn’t want to break up, that she wanted to go back to how things were before. But the girl just bit her lip and shook her head. She had nothing to say. Morrison, furious, spun around and left the office. If he stayed, he feared he’d shout at her again. Lilian stood there dumbfounded in his huge office for a long moment. Then she bent down, picked up the crumpled report, and quietly left. Back in her own office, Lilian exhaled deeply. The matter was finally settled. She promised herself she’d be on high alert from now on—no more mistakes that would earn her this kind of treatment. The day had started with a harsh scolding, and from then on, every second of her workday was tense. She was terrified of messing up again. Luckily, the rest of the afternoon passed without incident. Near the end of the day, Sean called and asked her to step out of the office. Lilian wondered what he wanted, so she went out. In a quiet, secluded part of the hallway, Sean pulled out a box of snacks and handed it to her with a smile. "You got chewed out badly this morning, huh? I picked up some snacks when I went out earlier—consider it a little peace offering. You know, we’re comrades in suffering." Sean also complained about how badly Morrison had scolded him.