Lisa did not realize that her neck was exposed. She still continued to talk to the ignorant Riani.

However, with eagle-sharp eyes and cat-like curiosity, Riani glanced at Lisa's exposed neck. The woman grabbed Lisa's collar by force and showed the blue kiss and bite marks.

Lisa immediately brushed the gloomy woman's hand quickly. Shame began to fill her eyes, removing the firm and dignified looks she had on her face.

"Oh, look at you! You got hickeys on your neck, Lisa! It turns out that you were wasting your time making love with guys all night, huh? So you are going to order me and the others to do financial reports while you are sleeping around with your boyfriend!?" Riani sneered, crossing her arms and scoffed, feeling she had won the battle that morning.

Lisa immediately grabbed the collar that covered her neck and fixed it to hide the kiss marks and embarrassing bites from Oscar.

"Lisa, how can I trust all your orders if you are not responsible yourself?" Riani asked in a sarcastic tone. 

Lisa's mind began to fall into chaos. She was panicked after a moment until she could not think straight. She didn't know what to say to this woman in front of her.

"You scolded me for coming late, but you are also not responsible yourself. You purposely told us all to do financial reports so you can make love to your boys, right?" Riani added, making Lisa's anger boil even more.

"Don't talk carelessly, Sis Riani! You have no proof that the bluish marks on my neck are the hickeys from making love to a man!" Lisa fought Riani with a burning anger. With all her strength, she tried to remain calm even though she really wanted to land a fist on Riani's face right now.

Riani didn't want to be outdone, this was her golden opportunity to embarrass Lisa in front of other colleagues. She didn't want an enterprising, bright new employee like Lisa to run her life.

"Come on, Lisa, don't try to make excuses! It's clear that the hickeys on your neck are proof that you have been making love all night while others are busy working on financial reports!"

Lisa really wanted to refute the slander launched by Riani, but she had to stay calm and not to cause trouble in the office like she did when she was still working at Petersson Communication.

"Sis Riani, please be professional here! Don't try to excuse what you did. You are still not working on the financial reports I ordered last week!"

"Why do I have to work on the financial statements if the person who orders me is someone who'd irresponsibly left her work and subordinates in order to be comfortable with a handsome man?" Riani deliberately argued that she would be released from the punishment Lisa would give for not doing her job.

"Listen to me, Sis Riani, the problem with the bruises on my neck is not a problem for you or anyone else. The problem that you have to solve is the financial statements that you have not completed until now because you delayed the progress and refused to work on your reports!"

"I see, is that really how you talk to your seniors? Just because you are my boss now you think you can rule this department the way you want it, Lisa? Hey, just so you know, me and Rangga are really close! If I report you to him because you disturb me and force me, then you could be expelled from this company!"

Riani's threat sounded serious and tense. But Riani didn't know that Rangga and Lisa were actually much closer— they were childhood friends! In fact, it was Riani who was likely to be expelled from the company if Lisa complained about her to Rangga and told him that she was very irresponsible with her work.

Lisa was not afraid of Riani's threats. She knew that Riani was just bluffing so that the woman could escape her problem. 

"Don't try to threaten me, Sis Riani. I'm sure Mr. Rangga is not a fool to make such a decision!" Lisa replied firmly and confidently.

"So you want to try it, huh!?" Riani sounded threatened by Lisa's last words. Her bluff failed to catch Lisa off guard.

"Please feel free if you want to try to report me to Mr. Rangga. I have kept a performance record of all the employees in this room including you, Sis Riani," Lisa replied firmly.

Riani frowned when Lisa's response sounded very confident and unwavering. The woman initially wanted to escape responsibility and cause trouble for Lisa but all her attempts failed. 

It wouldn't look good for her if she were to taste her own medicine!

The woman with the gloomy face was silent for a moment, she was really helpless when she heard Lisa refuted. Her bluff didn't frighten Lisa at all. 

Riani then gave up in an instant. She lowered her head as a sign of apologies to Lisa.

Lisa had known that Riani was not someone who would drop her pride and apologize to people younger than her. But she didn't care about that.

Lisa also understood that if Riani really did report her to Rangga, it would be Riani who'd be fired, not the other way around! Lisa really understood the quality of Riani's performance in the finance department, and he kept Rangga updated about it. Rangga was not a petty man who couldn't make the right decisions.

Riani's face turned bright red because she was embarrassed to be defeated by Lisa. She snorted in annoyance and started the computer roughly. The woman then took out an unfinished financial report folder and threw it on her table.

"What are you looking at!? I have to do this now so piss off!" Riani snapped in annoyance to see Lisa when she found the woman was still standing in front of her table.

Lisa smiled with satisfaction. This time, she could make Riani obey. She turned and returned to her table.

There were not many employees in the finance department. Everyone in the room surely heard when Riani mentioned Lisa's neck which had a bruised blue mark. But Lisa didn't care, she just wanted to finish her day smoothly.

The atmosphere in the financial room suddenly turned quiet, only the sound of typing from the keyboard and the occasional noises of the deafening, creaking printer could be heard. It seemed that all the finance department employees were busy and productive as they worked on financial reports!

The report that Riani worked on was finally finished. This time Riani did a good job.

Lisa smiled happily when the woman handed her a folder containing several A4 sheets of paper on her desk. Finally, Lisa could breathe a sigh of relief.

***

After work, Lisa locked the fence with a double padlock with the same front door of her boarding house. She was afraid Oscar would come to her and sneak in while she was asleep or off guard.

Lisa took a deep breath as she went up to the second floor and lay down on the bed. She looked at the clock on the wall. Apparently, it was 8 o'clock at night.

She then went down to the kitchen and made instant noodles. Not long after Lisa cooked, her cell phone rang several times in the room. She clicked her tongue when the loud sound of the cell phone interrupted her cooking activities.

Three minutes later, the instant noodles were ready to serve. Lisa returned to her room and reached for her ringing cell phone again. She picked up the phone lazily and a little sleepily. 

"Yes, hello?" She answered in a hoarse voice.

"Lis! Can you help me? I'm not in Jakarta anymore!" The man's voice sounded very worried and panicked. 

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