Trapped By Tainted Love

Chapter 39: Embarrassment And Concern 

Rachel was stuck in the archive room all night long.When the clock struck nine the next morning, a group of people including Ivy thundered into the room.

lvy put her hands on her waist as she said, "Time is up.I need those materials right now!"

The smug smile on her face showed that she was sure Rachel wouldn't have completed her task.

Rachel stifled a yawn and pointed to the nearest corner.

"They're right there," she said in a flat tone.

Ivy turned to look at the corner and saw two middle- sized cartons.

As they were not sealed yet, she could see they were full to the brim.

The smile froze on Ivy's face.

This couldn't be! That kind of workload would take three people a week to finish.

How could Rachel tackle it in such a short time? She glared at Rachel.

"That's impossible! How did you finish all that so quickly?"

Rachel leaned back and crossed her arms.She looked at Ivy with one eyebrow raised.

"So you are aware that the task you assigned me was too much for such a short deadline?" Her voice was light, as if they were having a friendly conversation.

Ivy looked stunned for a moment and just a little bit guilty.

She snapped out of it quickly though and retorted, her voice raised as if that could make her seem more confident.

"Nonsense.It was just a figure of speech.Anyway, you're not fooling anyone.Do you think you can just stuff random documents into the boxes? I will check them all, one by one.If I find anything amiss, I will report you to Mr.Sullivan! Then you can kiss your job goodbye! "

"Be my guest," Rachel replied, shrugging and waving her hand towards the boxes.

Seeing Rachel so calm and composed, Ivy was on high alert.She had endured the disdain and contempt of the upstairs employees too long.

It wasn't easy to get out of this depressing, underground archive room and finally have the authority to order someone- Rachel, that is- around, just like everyone else had done to her before.

'Rachel should just be a good dog and do as I say!' lvy thought, fuming.

She gritted her teeth and barked an order to the people behind her.

They hurried to obey and check every single document in the boxes meticulously.

Twenty minutes later, the documents were stacked on a nearby desk and every single one had passed the inspection.

They had been sorted to perfection and Ivy couldn't find a single flaw in them.

"This is outrageous," Ivy murmured, looking a tad nauseated.

Rachel had decided to rest her eyes a bit as Ivy and the others were checking the documents.

When she heard Ivy complaining under her breath, though, she smiled and opened her eyes.

"Just because you're too incapable of doing something doesn't necessarily mean others can't do it."

Ivy was looking ready to burst from anger.She gave Rachel a look full of hate and stormed out of the room.

As the sound of her high heels on the tiled floor became more and more distant, triumph flashed in Rachel's eyes.

From the moment she had been assigned this impossible task, Rachel hadn't moved from her seat.

She spent twenty-two hours straight sorting documents and writing yearly reports.

Her organization skills had been honed during the three years she had spent in prison.

She had a lot of practice sorting out all kinds of documents during her incarceration, so she had come up with an efficient process.

If that wasn't the case, she wouldn't have been able to finish all that work in just under twenty- two hours.

Rachel was exhausted, her eyes feeling heavier by the minute, so, unsurprisingly, she ended up falling asleep right there on the desk.

In the week that followed, to say that Rachel was busy in the archive would be an understatement.

The bright side was that Ivy didn't show up again, as she had failed spectacularly in her attempt to humiliate Rachel.

Suddenly, it seemed that all the departments of the company needed all kinds of help from the forgotten archive room.

As soon as she finished one assignment for a certain department, another one would come to give her a new task.

The thing was that most of the documents they asked for had been stored in that room for many, many years, so it took Rachel a lot of time to dig them up.

Rachel had been working so hard that in the past week, she had only been back to the Bennet family's house once and stayed for only a few minutes, just enough to shower and grab some clean clothes.

Knock, knock, knock.

Without even looking up, Rachel called out in a hoarse voice, "There is a list on that basket over there.Write down what you need, and I'll check it out later."

She had said that so many times this week that it came out as a recorded message on an answering machine.

"Miss Bennet..."

As Abby stood at the door, she noticed that Rachel seemed like she had lost a lot of weight in just the few days they hadn't seen each other.

Her eyes stung by the tears threatening to spill at the sight before her.

Rachel stopped sorting documents and looked up in surprise.

"Abby, what are you doing here?"

Abby walked in carrying a lunch box.

Before she could say anything, though, her eyes betrayed her, letting her tears flow free.

She was really worried for Rachel.

The woman had always been thin, one of those lucky people that had trouble putting on weight even if they wanted to.

And now she had lost weight in just a week and she looked tired to the bone.

She was pale and the dark circles under her eyes were more prominent than ever.

"l...Miss Bennet, you haven't been home for two days and I was worried.I made you something to eat."

When Abby had decided to visit Rachel at work, she had no idea she would find her in such a miserable state.

Rachel was the jewel of the Bennet family, born and raised in luxury.

She wasn't cut out for this harsh, exhausting job.

"Miss Bennet, when was the last time you slept? You look exhausted.Miss Bennet, you need to take care of yourself," Abby said, sniffling loudly. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Rachel smiled fondly.

"I'm fine, Abby.It's just that the first days at work are the hardest.Things will be better soon."

Taking a look at the huge stacks of files on the desk that nearly swallowed Rachel, Abby couldn't keep her tears at bay.

"But this is so much! Obviously..."

"It's not as bad as it seems.Really, don't worry about me,"

Rachel cut in as she stepped away from the desk.She grabbed a tissue and handed it to Abby.

"Here, dry your tears.Crying doesn't suit you.With that runny nose..."

Abby quickly took the tissue and brought it to her nose, but found that it was clean.

When she realized that she had been played, she huffed, "Miss Bennet!"

Rachel raised her hand and pinched Abby's face playfully.

"Well, it got you to stop crying, didn't it? Anyway, I'm fine, Abby.Don't worry.People might think I died if they see you come out of here crying.And I'm starving.What did you bring? Let me have a look."

Abby hurried to open the lunch box, but something stopped her.

She turned to Rachel frowning.

"Please, Miss Bennet, don't say morbid things like that.You shouldn't tempt fate.Don't even joke about these things!"

Seeing the look on Abby's face, Rachel smiled and said, "Alright, I won't joke about these things anymore."

'Fate? For people who have already died once, is there really such thing as fate?' Rachel chuckled at that thought.

"I made you your favorite; French toast with maple syrup," Abby said, looking much more cheerful now.

"Enjoy!"

As soon as the lid was off, the most delicious aroma wafted to Rachel's nose.Strangely, though, it made her feel nauseous.

"I think I..." Rachel ran to the trash can with a hand over her mouth and emptied her stomach in it.