Without waiting for Evie to respond, he walked straight out of the conference room.
Evie was confused. She picked up the copy and looked at it, unsure what was wrong.
When she flipped to the second-to-last page, she noticed the information printed on the back was two lines overlapping. It was impossible to read clearly.
If you weren’t paying attention, you wouldn’t spot it.
But everyone would see the information needed for the meeting. Naturally, they would find it.
The copier had broken down that morning. Evie had switched to a manual copy machine afterward.
She thought Chloe would double-check the documents when she received them. So when Evie bound them, she only gave them a quick glance. Plus, Ella had been rushing her, so she didn’t look carefully. She never noticed the problem.
Just now, Chloe had been called into the office by Grace for a scolding. So she took her anger out on Evie.
Evie felt a bit down. She set the copied materials aside and cleaned up the conference room. Then she carried the documents out and locked the door.
Back in the office, Evie apologized to Chloe. “I’m sorry, Chloe. The copier broke down this morning. I didn’t check it carefully, so—”
“That’s not an excuse,” Chloe cut her off. “If it broke down, someone should have fixed it. Besides, there’s more than one copier in the office!”
“I’ll be more careful next time,” Evie replied quietly.
“I really don’t know how you handle things!” Chloe shot her a glare, then lowered her head to continue working, ignoring Evie completely.
Evie felt embarrassed and wronged. But she could only bear it and return to her seat.
“Evie, have you finished what I asked you to do this afternoon?” Amy asked at that moment.
“Not yet. I’ll do it right away,” Evie said.
“It’s okay to make mistakes. Just be careful next time. Don’t repeat the same error,” Amy advised.
“Okay. I’ll pay more attention from now on,” Evie nodded.
Chloe looked up as if to say something, but in the end, she stayed silent.
Later, when Evie went to the bathroom, she heard someone come in and complain angrily. “What’s the big deal? I just asked her to copy something for me. I don’t know what else she can do if she can’t even handle something as simple as copying!”
“She’s still new. It’s hard to avoid being careless and clumsy. And you—how could you give such important documents to her to copy?” That was Ella’s voice.
“How was I supposed to know she couldn’t even copy properly?”
“Forget it. It’s just a small thing.”
“Small thing? I got chewed out by Grace this afternoon! And what was Amy trying to say?”
“Amy’s just protective of her. Don’t take it personally. Didn’t you explain to Grace that it was Evie who copied the materials?”
“Yeah. That’s why I got scolded—for giving such important documents to someone else!” Chloe said, sounding dejected.
“Then don’t ask her to copy for you anymore.”
“It’s because I’ve had too much to finish these past two days! If I’d known this would happen, I would have done it myself! Hmph!” Chloe said angrily.
Evie didn’t dare make a sound in the stall.
She could only listen to Chloe complaining to Ella until they finished and left the bathroom.
Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief. She flushed the toilet and walked out.
This was the first time Evie had encountered a problem during her internship.
To be honest, it stung a little.
She was only helping Chloe. Plus, the copier had broken down today. She had to manually turn the pages and change the paper to print the remaining half of the documents. Otherwise, this kind of mistake wouldn’t have happened.
Before leaving work, Amy talked to Evie about the matter during an internship summary.
“I know you were just helping. But the result wasn’t good, and you feel wronged. I understand. I’ve been there before.”
Evie pursed her lips and nodded.
“But now you’ve started working. Even though it’s just the internship period, an internship is the beginning of work. Having more time to learn and adapt doesn’t mean you don’t have to do things well. So you shouldn’t have an intern’s attitude. When you take on a task—even if it’s helping someone else—you should try your best to do it well. Chloe’s reaction was a bit strong because she’s always been very serious. So when something like this happens, she gets emotional. But Evie, we need to reflect on ourselves. In this matter, did we have the energy and ability to help others? Just because we’re helping doesn’t mean we’re not responsible. In fact, when someone gives us a task, it becomes our work. Once we agree to help, we’re in charge until the end. If something goes wrong, we have to take responsibility. So not every request for help is one we can accept. You have to measure your own capacity and ability. Even though you’re working with me during your internship and only need to do the tasks I assign, we’re still in the same office. And I won’t always give you a lot of work. So it’s fine to help other secretaries with what you can in your spare time. Just do what you’re capable of. When you can’t, learn to say no,” Amy said earnestly.
Evie nodded as she listened. She knew Amy genuinely wanted to teach her something.
Even if it was just the most basic rule of survival in the workplace, it was already extremely useful to her.
After Amy’s advice, Evie felt better.
Some things become clear in an instant.
After work, Evie stayed late because she had to wait for Alexander.
Chloe still didn’t have a good expression for her because of what happened. Evie didn’t mind.
She knew Chloe was still in a bad mood.
Later, even Ella, who usually worked the latest, had to leave. So Evie couldn’t stay any longer.
As an intern, she didn’t have an access card for the office. If Ella left, Evie had to follow.
“Don’t worry too much about today. We all just want to do a good job,” Ella encouraged her in the elevator.
“Thank you, Ella. I understand,” Evie nodded.
Everyone meant well. After all, it was all for the work.
“Why are you going back?” Ella asked.
“I’m waiting for someone to pick me up,” Evie replied.
“Boyfriend?” Ella asked with a smile.
“No. Family,” Evie answered, a little embarrassed.
Every time this topic came up, she felt awkward.
“That’s nice.”
“Ella, I’ll go first. Bye!” On the first floor, Evie turned to say goodbye.
“Goodbye!” Ella waved.
Evie walked out of the elevator and headed to the reception area on the first floor to wait for Alexander to finish work.
Ever since Alexander asked her to leave work with him, she always had to find an excuse to stay late until he was done.
Today was the latest. The secretarial office was off duty, but Alexander was still working overtime.
She had to wait in the reception area.
Evie was reading a company magazine when her phone rang.
She took it out of her bag and answered.
“Where are you?” Alexander’s voice came from the other end.