Atrophy of Love: Mr. Harris, Stop Fooling Around! novel Chapter 307

“Ms. White?” Mr. Stewart exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here? Are you here to see me?”

Sophia’s lips twitched involuntarily as she replied, “Yes, I am, but I have been calling out to you from behind for a very long time now. You didn’t seem to notice.”

Mr. Stewart looked even more surprised. “Is that so? My bad, I really didn’t hear anything.”

“It’s alright, you’re not young after all. I completely understand,” Sophia replied.

In other words, she just said, “You’re old and deaf.”

Mr. Stewart, “...”

“You probably already have an idea why I’m here to see you, so there’s no need for me to beat around the bush,” Sophia continued, “I’m sure you don’t want news of Jones Group delaying payments spreading to the public, do you? After all, Jones Group is considered quite a reputable company.”

Upon hearing her words, Mr. Stewart heaved a heavy sigh. “Sigh, I know this isn’t good news to be spread to the public, but the company has been experiencing some issues with our liquid funds. We really can’t make the payment now.”

“Regardless of my personal grievances with Ms. Jones, it’s inevitable for us both families to still work together on projects. Mr. Stewart, aren’t you worried that what you’re doing will ruin the cooperative relationship between both families?” Sophia’s tone hardened.

“Just like you said, your two families are old partners now. There’s no need for me to ruin the relationship between your two families because of this matter.

“But we’re currently experiencing some issues with the company’s liquid funds, so we really can’t pay you on time. However, you can rest assured that Jones Group will pay you back because after all, we’re not like the other small companies.

“We just need to delay payment a few days. We guarantee to follow up with the payment of our breach of contract penalty as well as the interest rate applied. Frankly, White Industries isn’t losing much because of this. In fact, you’re earning still. I can’t help but be envious of you.”

He had covered everything from right to wrong, and from the way he phrased his words, he was implying that White Industries had gained an extra advantage.

Shawn knew that Sophia had a good relationship with Clara and Zachary too.

“Mr. Stewart, you keep saying that Jones Group doesn’t have enough money, then how did the company get involved in this project in the first place? From what I know, this project requires a funding of almost over 162 million.”

Sophia had no clue what was the project the two companies were fighting over, nor did she know the initial cost this project required. She only said so in an attempt to outwit Mr. Stewart.

Mr. Stewart was slightly taken aback. He let out another deep sigh before saying, “Ms. White, you just started working, so I’m sure you’re not clear on how these things work.

“To put it bluntly, even brothers have to keep clear accounts on one another. The accounts for every department chief and project manager, as well as who the money belongs to, everything is stated clearly in the financial budget in advance. We can’t just move money around whenever we like.

“If an issue occurs within a project and we reallocate another project’s money over, wouldn’t it turn into a mess within the company?”

Sure enough, Sophia was only on her first day at work, so she really was not sure about the workings of a business corporation. Right now, she could not tell whether Mr. Stewart was bluffing or not. It was inconvenient for her to discuss with Thomas, so she did not know how to respond to him right then.

However, she could not just let Mr. Stewart off just like that. It would make it even harder to find him later on.

Seeing that the two of them were still going on about work, Shawn got irritated. “Are you guys done? Can we have dinner already? You should have told me earlier if you don’t plan on having dinner. I can head on myself!”

“I’m sorry for the delay, we can go now.” Mr. Stewart gave him a smile and turned to Sophia. With an apologetic tone, he continued, “I’m sorry, Ms. White. I still have things to attend to, so I’ll leave first.”

With that, he left together with Shawn without giving Sophia the chance to interject.

Before leaving, Shawn even snorted in satisfaction in Sophia’s direction.

Sophia, “...”