ENCHANTED LOVE, VOLUME 3 - Season 12 Episode 51

“Don’t be silly, Sher. There’s no need for us to be so formal with each other!” Isla shook her head fondly and smiled happily at Sheryl. Then her face grew serious, and she asked Sheryl, “Thank God you’re here. The company is in a really bad state at the moment. I really don’t know what to do. What do you plan to do?”

“First things first, how many staff do we still have?” Sheryl asked. She knew the situation wasn’t good, but she wanted to know how bad it was. That was why she had come to Cloud Advertising Corp.

“We’ve lost about two thirds of our staff. The ones who are still here seem unreliable too. I don’t think they are planning to stay; they just haven’t found a better place yet. Either for that reason or for another, they are still undecided over what they want to do. I don’t think any of them is still here because they sincerely believe in us.” Isla’s face turned even gloomier, for part of her had been hoping that Sheryl could miraculously come up with a solution to settle their problem. This felt like a nightmare. In fact, not even in her worst nightmares could she imagine the company being reduced to such a bad situation.

“Okay Isla, here’s what I need you to do. Send out a notice and get everyone to gather in the meeting room in 5 minutes. I have an announcement to make,” Sheryl said firmly.

“Okay.” Isla agreed, without thinking any further. She didn’t doubt Sheryl’s judgement at all, so she didn’t ask why. She just nodded and went to notify their staff. While Sheryl was gone, she had been running the company and dealing with the problems all by herself. She felt as if she might collapse in exhaustion at any time, and now she was glad to hand over the reins to Sheryl.

She was so grateful that Sheryl was here to have her back. Even though her own issues hadn’t been settled, but at least she could help take some of the pressure off Isla’s back, giving her much needed relief.

Truth be told, Isla knew perfectly well that there was nothing that Sheryl could do to reverse the problem. Once the word spread, it was impossible to undo the gossip. If she wanted to be selfish, she could easily stay away and there was nothing Isla could do to force her to help. All they could do was to wait and let the gossip be replaced by other hot news and eventually die by itself.

After all, time heals all wounds, and that included wounded reputations as well, not just emotional but also physical wounds. Five minutes later, the few remaining staff were gathered in the meeting room.

“I believe everyone knows about the recent events, so I’m not going to go into further details about it. Nor am I gathering all of you here so I can tell my side of the story and try to make all of you believe me. I don’t expect any of you to trust me blindly. What I do want to tell you though, is that I’m not leaving this company. So if any of you think that staying at this company and still being associated with me will be harmful to your careers or personal life, then by all means, please hand in your resignation letter as soon as possible. I’m not forcing anyone to stay.” Sheryl chose her words carefully and spoke in a clear, crisp tone. When she was done, she looked at everyone in the room, checking if her message had been heard.

She wasn’t surprised to find everyone avoiding her eyes. Some played with their pens, twirling and clicking them. Others simply looked down at their hands or at the table, showing no indication at all that they were listening to her. It was a huge difference from when she used to have meetings with her staff, when all of them used to look at her attentively and took down notes eagerly.

Nobody wanted to acknowledge her. In fact, the way they were acting was as if she wasn’t even standing in the room. But Sheryl knew that they had heard her words loud and clear.

“Let me repeat myself. If you have lost faith in me and the company, feel free to step forward. I will not judge or penalize you. I will even help to make the process easier and inform the financial department to pay your salary immediately. All you have to do is be brave enough to reveal your stands.”

Everyone was silent. Not a single person would tell her whether they were planning to stay or to leave. None of them wanted to be the first to make a stand.

Sheryl scanned the room again, observing the body languages of the staff. When the news first broke, some of the people in the room had even comforted her and told her that everything would be okay. Now, she had obviously lost their support. To make things worse, they wouldn’t even look at her!

Sheryl couldn’t help feeling disappointed. She thought she knew her staff well and even considered some of them as her friends, but in that instant, she saw their true colors. She didn’t blame them though as it was only human nature. She knew reality was always cruel. “Very well. Since no one has said anything, then I take your silence as your decision to stay!” Sheryl said loudly and provocatively. She knew what all of them were thinking and wanted to push them to speak their minds. They all wanted to leave, yet none of them wanted to be the first person to speak up. Even now, they were scared of what other people would think. She was done with all these pretence. Didn’t they understand that the more straightforward they were, the more she would respect them? She paused again and looked closely at everyone in the room. She noted that they got a bit more restless.

Finally, some of them looked up at her. Their faces were fretful and almost panicked, and she knew she was close to breaking them. Still, they remained quiet. They didn’t know where Sheryl was going with this. They feared that it was all just a test and Sheryl actually had a plan to save them and the company. If they walked out now, it would be such a waste.

“I must say, I’m touched by your loyalty. Even in these darkest times, you still have faith in Cloud Advertising Corp. With all of you by my side, I am certain the sun will shine on us again. To show my gratitude to those of you who are willing to stay, I have an exclusive offer for you. I will prepare a lifelong contract for you. Once you sign it, you will automatically receive more company benefits.”

Sheryl allowed her words to sink in. She was offering them a good deal by offering them better benefits by signing the contract. But at the same time, if they signed the contract, it meant they were committing the rest of their lives to Cloud Advertising Corp.

If she had made the offer a few months ago, before the scandal had broken out, they would sign the contract in a heartbeat. No doubts, no second thoughts. But with the current situation that Cloud Advertising Corp. was in, it was a very risky decision to make. No one in his right mind would decide to stay in such uncertain conditions, especially those who had families to think of.

And then all at once, everyone started talking. They couldn’t hold their silence anymore. It was clear that Sheryl didn’t have any kind of plan to save the company. No boss would ever offer a lifelong contract with increased benefits. If Sheryl was giving them such an insane agreement, it meant that she was truly desperate and worse still, didn’t have any other options.

Now that it was all clear, they couldn’t keep their cool anymore. They had to make themselves heard.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Courtenay. Could we have two or three days to think about this?” Finally someone stood up.

“That’s right, boss. We can’t make such a big decision on short notice like this. We have families and other commitments. Some of us are the sole breadwinners for our families. This is our lives we’re talking about here. Please, give us some time to think about it.

”

Upon finally hearing their thoughts, Sheryl instantly felt more relieved. Her lips curled up into a tiny smirk. Although what they were saying seemed perfectly reasonable on the surface, she knew that they were all lying through their teeth and twisting words so they didn’t look bad. Of course, she didn’t bother trying to call their bluff. She just smiled patiently and pretended to nod understandingly. Deep down, she was satisfied that her agenda had been fulfilled. She wanted to get rid of all those who had lost faith in the company.

That was Sheryl’s style of doing things. She would rather bear the burden alone than to work with a dissident group of people who could possibly turn against her.

“Ms. Courtenay, I have actually been planning to tell you this for a while. My wife’s health hasn’t been good recently, and there is no one to take of my kids. I have to quit my job for a while so I can take care of my family. When my wife gets better, I might consider rejoining the company.”

“Ms. Courtenay, I would like to tender my resignation too. My family has found me a job in the government sector, and I have to report for duty next Monday…”

“Ms. Courtenay, I would like to resign too…”

One by one, the remaining staff tendered their resignations. The excuses they made sounded so far-fetched, and some didn’t even make sense. Sheryl wasn’t upset, however. She was actually happy to see these fake people leaving. With a fake smile plastered on her face, Sheryl announced cheerily, “For those of you who want to leave, please proceed to the HR department. Once you have completed all exit procedures, you are free to go.

Well, that’s all for this meeting. There isn’t much work left to do in this company. I was planning to retrench some staff anyway. Making your decision to leave is not just for your own good, but for the company’s good as well. Be sure to decide wisely!”

Shortly after Sheryl finished her words, all the people just walked out of the meeting room with their tongues wagging.

Sheryl couldn’t hear what they were talking about, and she didn’t want to know either. She just watched them leaving the room, feeling nothing but indifference.

“Sher, why did you let all of them go? Now there’s only two of us left! What kind of company only has two staff? Can we even be called a company with only two people?” Isla heaved a deep sigh. She finally released all the stress she had been feeling throughout the meeting. Now that everyone was gone, she couldn’t help questioning Sheryl.

“Why don’t you tell Charles what’s going on? I’m sure if he knows the state our company is in, he can do something to help!” Isla couldn’t bear to watch Cloud Advertising Corp. collapse like this. As she and Sheryl had put in years of time and effort, this couldn’t be the end! Was their hard work all for nothing?

“I’m not going to ask for his help every time I face difficulties. Even without our staff, we still have each other. Isn’t that how we started this company? We did it once, we can definitely do it again. What do you say? Will you stand with me and save this company?” Sheryl didn’t believe that this was the end of the company. In fact, she saw the departure of their staff as a blessing. She could rebuild the company with sincere, hard-working people. Although the company’s reputation wasn’t very good at the moment, she was confident that their skills and charisma would help them recruit more staff and collaborate with other companies. She was looking forward to the challenge of rising again with fresh blood, with Isla by her side.

“Yes, we’re still here, but…” Isla opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but she failed.

The staff in the financial and HR departments wanted to leave too, but luckily they were more conscientious than the other staff. They were considerate enough to stay through the process of helping the other staff complete the exit procedures.