"Go ahead."


    His cold, distant tone made her frown, but she forced the anger down. "I went to see Hannah today during her lunch break. I apologized to her in front of all her colleagues." She sighed dramatically. "But... she seemed really unhappy with me. Even after I apologized, she wouldn''t ept it. She just kept humiliating me in front of everyone."


    Her voice broke. "Lionel, I did what you asked, but she still hates me. I don''t know what else to do. Do you think I should try apologizing to her again?"


    Lionel stopped walking, his brow furrowing. "Who told you to go and see her in the middle of the day, in front of everyone?"


    His sharp, usatory tone stunned Sandra into silence. "I... I apologized, but Hannah wouldn''t ept it," she repeated, thinking perhaps he hadn''t heard her clearly.


    "Sandra, I told you to apologize to her privately, not to corner her in public and force her to ept it!"


    He knew Sandra''s pride. Getting her to apologize at all was a monumental task, and he hadn''t actually expected Hannah to ept it. He had just wanted her to go through the motions so he could try to smooth things overter. He never imagined she would turn it into a public spectacle.


    "I just... I just thought..." Sandra stammered,pletely blindsided. She had apologized, and yet he was still defending Hannah. "I thought if I did it in front of a lot of people, she would see how sincere I was. I swear, Lionel, I wasn''t trying to pressure her."


    She clenched her fists, her knuckles white.


    "Find another time and apologize to her properly," Lionel said coldly, and then he hung up.


    "Lionel? Hello? Hello!" Sandra stared at the phone as the disconnect tone buzzed in her ear. With a scream of


    frustration, she threw on


    onto the passenger seat and mmed her fists against dashboard. "This is insane! They both trying to make my life impossible! I already apologized! What more do they want from me?"


    Her chest heaved with rage. Just then, her phone rang again. She snatched it up, hoping it was Lionel, but when she saw the paller ID her eyes narrowed. After a moment''s hesitation, she answered.


    Hannah and her colleagues returned to the office after lunch, all of them immediately pulling out their phones to check Twitter.


    "Huh, I guess the psycho didn''t hire a photographer today. Nothing''s trending."


    "Yeah, I totally thought that ''apology'' would be all over the inte by now."


    Hannah put her phone down, a cold


    smile on her face. "Oh, I''m sure she wanted to But she''s probably afraid ally sue her this time."


    I''ll