Chapter 132: Chapter 132

Chapter 132:

“‘Are you serious?” Eileen quickly dismissed the idea. She felt it was absurd.

“What’s wrong?” Phoebe was a little surprised to see Eileen’s expression. “You have worked for him for several years and solved many of his problems. Don’t you think it’s normal for him to help you? He’s merely returning the favor.”

Eileen helped fasten the buttons of Phoebe’s pajamas. Then, she patted Phoebe’s cheek. “Go back to sleep. I’ll handle it,” she said.

Before Phoebe could react, she turned around and left.

Eileen rarely went to bed early, and she couldn’t fall asleep. She wasn’t surprised about her competitor slandering her; however, she was curious to know where they had gotten the evidence.

The next day, early in the morning, she arrived at the educational agency earlier than usual, and the other tutors arrived after her. At nine in the morning, Emmett Bryant, who was filling in for Bailee, approached Eileen with concern.

“Several parents of online students are requesting refunds,” Emmett said anxiously.

Emmett had recently graduated from university with a major in foreign trade and worked solely as a tutor here for a primary language class. He didn’t have much work, so Eileen had assigned him to take over Bailee’s job temporarily.

Emmett was inexperienced and didn’t know how to handle the current situation.

“Give me your phone!” Eileen took his phone and read the conversation.

Not knowing what to tell the dissatisfied parents, Emmett had only replied, “All teachers are professional…”

₥ₒᵣₑ ᵤₚdₐₜₑₛ ᵢₙ gₐₗₙₒᵥₑₗₛ.𝒸ₒₘ Eileen asked the parents why they were requesting a refund. The parents all told Eileen that they believed the tutors in the organization were irresponsible.

Eileen invited them all to a group chat and tried calming them down.

She felt strange to hear similar complaints from them, suspecting someone was deliberately causing trouble.

She agreed to provide them with a satisfactory explanation and requested them to wait for two days.

But after that, several parents who had previously paid fees for offline classes arrived at the institution, also requesting refunds.

“Ms. Curtis, we doubt your sense of responsibility as a teacher. How can we trust a teacher who uses her phone during one-on-one tutoring sessions?”

“How could you do that? Your tutoring sessions are expensive. You are wasting our hard-earned money!”

Eileen calmly responded, “My phone is always on silent mode during classes. Even my family and friends can’t reach me during my tutoring sessions. I don’t know where you heard such rumors.”

The parent sitting at the front table unlocked his phone and showed Eileen a picture. It was a screenshot of the surveillance footage.

It showed Eileen sitting in the chair, staring at her mobile phone while Milford was busy playing a game.

Another picture showed Raymond walking in with fruits while Eileen and Milford were engrossed in reading books.

There were several screenshots, each marked with the time in the upper right corner. The pictures proved Eileen was an irresponsible tutor who didn’t pay attention to her student.

“I agree I’m the person in this photo and that the boy is my student. But you have to understand his situation is different,” Eileen said.

The parents grew angrier when they heard that.

But Eileen calmly continued, “Every student is different. I meticulously prepared study materials for each student, and Milford is an exception. If you don’t believe my words, check with the parents of other students if such incidents have occurred. Since yesterday, only parents of newly enrolled students have visited me with complaints. This makes me think that only those who are unaware of the situation can be easily misled.”

“We have the evidence. Since you are adamant about denying it, I don’t think we can do anything about it. Anyway, you’ve already received your fees. If you refuse to refund us, what can we do to you?” said the parent in the front. The other parents also seemed to agree with him.

Several people walking by stopped to look at Eileen and the others, whispering among themselves.

Eileen spotted a familiar figure in the crowd. The person was from the Sanchez Education Agency. Eileen narrowed her eyes and immediately recalled meeting the person before.

The person locked eyes with Eileen before hastily leaving.

The Sanchez Education Agency was far from Eileen’s educational institution. Therefore, the person being here couldn’t be just a coincidence.

There was only one plausible explanation.

“Everyone, if I don’t find any evidence to prove my innocence within two days, I will refund your tutoring fees in full,” Eileen announced loudly. “If you don’t believe me, go inside with Emmett and sign the agreement.”

She then turned and signaled Emmett, who understood the gesture and promptly guided the parents inside.

Eileen turned to look at the person from the Sanchez Education Agency, but the person had vanished into the street. Eileen sighed and walked inside.

The parents reluctantly signed the agreement complying with the two-day deadline for the full refund despite their discontentment. They returned within two days before leaving.

After they left, Emmett asked, “Ms. Curtis, what should we do now? Is that the photo posted by the parents of that student? It is possible that your use of the phone during the tutoring session might have made them displeased, which in turn led them to post the photos.”

Emmett didn’t speak further. He was just hinting that Eileen should apologize to that student’s parents.

“You are right. I’ll explain everything,” Eileen took her bag and called Raymond to ask where Bryan was.

Raymond stood in the corner of the conference room and glanced at Bryan, who was in the middle of a meeting. “‘Mr. Dawson is currently in a company meeting. There’s an important high-level meeting this morning. Ms. Curtis, do you have anything important to discuss with him?” he whispered on the phone.

Eileen could hear Bryan’s muffled voice over the phone. He was indeed in a meeting.

She said, “Yeah, I need to discuss something important with him. I’ll go there and wait for him. Please help me arrange a meeting with him as soon as possible. I don’t mind even if it’s during lunchtime.”

As she spoke, she started the car to drive to Bryan’s company.

Hearing the noise of traffic, Raymond understood Eileen wanted to discuss something urgent. Half an hour later, Eileen arrived at Bryan’s company. Perhaps Raymond had informed the security guard. They let Eileen in right away. The receptionist took her to the waiting room and brought her a cup of coffee.

The last time Eileen had come here, Bryan had made her wait. Her visit had ended in vain. However, this time, everything had gone smoothly, which surprised Eileen. As soon as she took a sip of coffee, the door of the room flew open. Bryan strode in with one hand in his pocket and a document in the other. A frown lined his forehead when he saw Eileen. Then, he turned and looked at Raymond. Raymond quickly explained, “Mr. Dawson, Ms. Curtis mentioned she had something urgent to discuss with you and was on her way here. I presumed it was important and required immediate attention, so I prioritized it over other tasks.”

Eileen was taken aback. She hadn’t expected Raymond to perceive the situation this way. She had rushed to schedule an appointment with Bryan because she feared she would lose this opportunity. But she hadn’t figured out how to broach the subject and question Bryan yet. To be frank, she had to hear Bryan’s explanation. But she was anxious because she couldn’t afford to upset Bryan any further.

She had anticipated a lengthy meeting and believed that would give her ample time to prepare for the conversation with Bryan. But that was not the case. Bryan put the documents on the table and plopped into the chair, leaning back comfortably.

“What’s the matter?” he asked indifferently.

Eileen took a deep breath. “Although I might not have made significant contributions to the company, I have worked diligently for you in the past. You shouldn’t have been so hostile toward me.”

Bryan only narrowed his eyes, frowning.

“Ms. Curtis, what are you saying?” Raymond asked in surprise.

“Mr. Dawson, I believe you understand the uniqueness of Milford’s situation and the need for special treatment. If you have any problem with my teaching method, you should have approached me directly. You didn’t have to resort to extreme measures.” Eileen sounded frustrated.

She had stood up when Bryan entered the room, and now she looked at him accusingly as if she were interrogating him. But somehow, she didn’t feel like she was intimidating enough for Bryan.

Bryan’s face darkened as he sized her up. He believed she had undoubtedly grown bolder over the years. He couldn’t believe she now dared to question him.

At that moment, Raymond said, “Ms. Curtis, I guess there is a misunderstanding. Mr. Dawson has been busy with work lately. He didn’t do anything.”

After a moment’s hesitation, he glanced at Bryan and asked him politely, “Have you taken any further action besides initially making things difficult for Ms. Curtis?”

Bryan was rendered speechless. A deathly silence prevailed in the room. Bryan glared at Raymond. Seeing that, the latter quickly averted his gaze, pretending like he hadn’t uttered a word.

Then, Raymond cleared his throat and turned to look at Eileen. “Ms. Curtis, I assure you that Mr. Dawson hasn’t taken any action against you recently!”

“Make it clearer to her!” Bryan said coldly as he looked at Eileen.

Eileen was astounded. She couldn’t help but wonder if it was indeed a misunderstanding.

“Someone sent screenshots of me using my mobile phone while tutoring Milford to my clients. It has undermined my clients’ trust in me. Numerous parents have questioned me about that, requesting refunds.”

Eileen explained, examining Bryan’s face.

Bryan’s eyes widened for a moment; he was clearly puzzled. Eileen quickly understood him. But then, she shook her head. “The surveillance video is from your house. Who else could have done that?”

“I know who did that,” Raymond said. “Milford is a computer genius. I’ve thoroughly checked his background. He dropped out of school this year with no support from his family. The only reason he has been making ends meet without starving to death is that he has been relying on his great computer skills to make money.”

He implied that Raymond had hacked into the surveillance footage of the house and taken the screenshots.

“You go and deal with the rest of the work,” Bryan said to Raymond. He then stood up, placed the document on the table beside Raymond, and strode toward the door.

He opened the door and turned around to look at Eileen.

“What are you waiting for? Come with me!”

.

.

.