Chapter 2

“Oh. My. God.” Zhuzhu excitedly slammed down the pile of files she was haphazardly cradling to her chest with such speed they shot across the slick surface in front of Meilei and her team member Chou. Sending them fluttering off one end and a sudden scramble of a younger girl, the new intern, to catch them. Meilei and Chou watched them blankly before raising a brow at their interrupter.

“Why are you being so dramatic and noisy?” Chou looked unimpressed with their short and bubbly tech bursting in. Being disruptive while brainstorming the error on the women's health app they had been working on. Zhu was always like a tornado and had this compulsion to run around like a headless chicken most of the day. This was not a new occurrence by any means.

“I just saw the new management send-overs being shown around upstairs.” She gushed at them, her face reddening with obvious bursting happiness she could barely conceal. “We have not one, not two, but four new hot men in the building, and the CEO is so dreamy…. He looks like he should be in movies.” She wistfully got lost in the vision inside her head, swaying side to side and smiling like a demented woman infected with lovesickness. “His assistant isn’t so bad either…..very, very hot.”

“All men will look hot when all we have been looking at these years is the sad offerings of OTS…. The slimy likes of beast….” Chou rolled her eyes and gave Meilei a look before nodding off past the glass divider to where Zhang was waltzing around with a puffed-up chest and acting like he was doing something important.

No woman in this company thought Zhang Cho was attractive; his slimy personality killed any natural handsomeness he may have possessed.

All three women stopped momentarily to watch him, three faces curling to disgust before looking back at the files the intern had neatly placed between them before she rushed off.

“How hot? Like super idol drama hot or just hot guy on the street hot?” Tao, another member of her team, leaned in, muscles bulging as wide as his smile, and he leaned his elbows on the table to bend into the gossip. He wasn't so bad himself, but the girls in the office only saw him as one of them.

“Varying degrees….CEO was definitely super idol hot in a tough guy cold boss way, and maybe his assistant too…..the guy with them was less so but still hot….the fourth guy was super cute…puppy cute but somehow very sexy. The best is …I hear that’s not all of them…there’s a whole bunch of new suits on the HR floor, and we have a chairwoman….. a freaking woman! Oh, my days.” Her excitement grew by the second, yet Meilei couldn’t muster the same enthusiasm or interest as her coworkers. She didn’t care how good-looking the new staff were. All she cared about was that she wasn't about to lose her job or the projects she had been working on tirelessly.

“I want pictures.” Tao was invested in the hotness of the new guys. He had been short of good eye candy since he joined this company, and there was nothing more exciting than fresh blood.

Who knew? He might get lucky and find his Mr Right.

“Ummm, who needs pictures….they are doing an entire building tour. We will be next.” Tao and Zhu linked hands, jumping into a happy, juvenile dance, immersing in the excitement for a second before sensing Chou and Meilei's disapproving eyes.

“You two are so boring….. you need to get out more and let a hot man put some color in these cheeks.” Tao tweaked Chou's face and ran off quickly before she could retaliate violently, hauling a file with him and winking back in mischief.

“You have work to do,” Chou scolded Zhu, pushing her another file and getting a frown in response.

“Sometimes it feels like you are the team leader and not our fair lady over there…. Me-me, she is bullying me again.” Zhu fluttered lashes at Meilei, who completely ignored her junior member. She was used to her shenanigans.

“You have work to do,..” She repeated Chou’s sentiment and then picked up her mug to make a new coffee to get through the rest of the morning. The health app gave them headaches once they tried to add the diet tracker specs. That was the only thing she was going to focus on today. Management was of no concern to her. Neither was looking at handsome men.

“Pffft…you two are no fun. I am going over there to get an unobstructed view of their arrival. I haven’t seen this much pretty face, sexy tailoring, and broad shoulders in a long time. These Yanhue Corp men are something else… a whole different breed.”

“I think our Zhu needs to get out and experience the world more. I think the sights inside OTS have given her trauma….” Chou smirked, stood up with her empty mug, and used it to boink Zhu on the head.

Chou followed Meilei to the kitchen space of their floor, where she was pouring herself a black coffee and eyed her up warily.

“Don’t worry… we have a strong team and good results. They won’t find any fault with us… it’s him that should be quaking in his boots.” She chin gestured towards the other end of their open plan floor at Team Two, where Zhang was still on his feet, walking around like a lord and commander. All he ever did was stride around like a demented rooster and never seemed to do any actual work.

They gazed around, seeing Team One and Team Four huddled in their confined areas and working hard without distraction. Neither of their leaders was up and drawing attention like Zhang was. All was quiet.

Sometimes, she wondered if she was far too soft on Team Three as she caught sight of Zhu and Tao pushing one another for optimal viewing by the main hall entrance. She didn’t seem to have the hierarchy of One or the organization of Four. Her juniors thought nothing of giving her sass and fawning off to scout out good-looking men. She needed to be more strict with them, although they never failed to hand in tasks on time, and they met all deadlines. They were talented workers.

“As long as Zhu and Tao stay quiet and out of the way, I’ll be less worried…. They two will be the death of me.” Meilei picked up her mug and took a sip, smiling at the view from here. She saw Tao and Zhu straining to look out the door while not trying to be obvious, yet being totally obvious. Zhu used Tao’s strong body as a ladder, almost climbing him to look over the foyer's potted plants. “They are worse than children.”

“The novelty will wear off…..you know how fickle they both are and have the attention spans of fish. They will ogle and then get back to work.” Although Chou was the stricter second in command, she was just as soft as Meilei and hid it well. She had no complaints about their team and no more control than Meilei had. She accepted that higher-skilled and talented young workers had bigger personalities and a rebellious streak. They were her interns when they both joined, and she had a deep fondness for the troublesome duo.

“Heads up…. here they come.” Chou shoved Meilei a warning in the ribs as she spotted the first black-suited men walking along the glass corridor leading to the tech department's main entrance. Both women ducked their heads and hurried back to their respective desks, flicking on monitors to get immersed in work before they were fully invaded. It wouldn’t look good for their entire Team to be absent from their stations and wandering around like they had nothing to do. As it was, two of them were absent today while doing fieldwork, and one was off sick.

Meilei caught sight from the corner of her eye of Tao and Zhu fast sliding into their seats nearby with the skill of stealth ninjas and smiled to herself with a gentle headshake as they pretended to be engrossed in coding. She should never doubt them. They never let her down before.

Meilei’s screen pinged, and an internal message from the server popped up a red icon in the bottom right corner. She clicked on it, saw Ling’s name, and opened it to check.

“Don’t worry about the tour…they should be with you soon. Just work and carry on unless they come directly to meet you. They shouldn’t, though. They want to observe and look around, so you don’t need to interact. Leave them to Manager Lee.”

Meilei was warmed by Ling’s message, knowing she couldn’t have a better friend. Always watching out for her even from afar and keeping her right. She knew she owed Ling so much, and that was why she even worked here. That girl practically dragged her into this company while struggling to finish her final semester. She would never have completed or considered an internship if it weren't for Ling.

She had been pregnant then, although she hid it well. Struggling with everything, Ling wouldn’t let her lie down and admit defeat. She told her that her child needed a mother with a future. If they were to survive, she had to fight to ensure that. Back then, the three of them were penniless, struggling students and vowed to stay by her side and ensure Yue would have a childhood lacking nothing.. None of them had much family to lean on… Meilei didn’t have any at all. So they became one family.

Another ping on her desktop distracted her from the invasion of the men as they headed off the far end towards Team One’s section in her peripheral view, and she opened it with a click, seeing Chou’s name.

“I hate to admit it, but that little demon was right…the CEO and his assistant are smokin' hot….I won’t get any work done while they walk around here.”

Meilei giggled under her breath, leaning up to cast Chou a frown across the top of her monitor and caught her winking in her direction. She shook her head to signal how hopeless Chou was, and as she did, the men in the rearview walked into her line of vision right at the side of Chou’s head. Further back, almost too far to get a clear view but not quite.

It took a moment for them to become focused as her eyes adjusted to the distraction, and Meilei’s entire body froze with an instant icy chill that sent shards of prickling fear through every nerve ending. It only took one glance, not fully looking their way, to see what she saw, and she knew instantly what it was.

The sudden consuming of dread and terror in equal doses paralyzing her entire being and dragging time to a standstill.

She couldn’t move or tear her eyes from the tall, dark-haired figure of a man in his late twenties. Stocky, wearing an expensive tailored dark grey suit and a styled youthful haircut. His side profile chiseled and well groomed with straight black brows, a high nose, and perfectly shaped lips. Handsome and mature yet undeniably familiar. A face that sometimes haunted her dreams as much as the nightmares did. She couldn’t inhale or move and was held hostage by her own body as she tried to navigate the intense reaction. Her lungs compressed, her heart was thundering to explosive levels, and she could barely move.

Meilei didn’t breathe. She couldn’t. She didn’t dare rip her eyes from what she saw, yet her brain collapsed into a chaotic mess of disbelief and manic panic.

It couldn’t be….

He left…

He went abroad.

He said he would never return as long as she lived in this world.

He wouldn’t come here

He couldn’t be the CEO.

He told her he never wanted to look at her or share air in the same place again.

He hated her.

So why was he standing there being shown the company's layout?

The company she worked for?

Meilei sank with a speedy reflex born of utter fear with an instant reaction she didn’t know she was capable of as he turned his head her way. Cowering down behind her screen and trying to swallow hard, inflate her lungs, and failing. Her hands shook, and her heart pounded through her chest, almost exploding right out all over her desk with painful intensity. She stared blankly at her fingers and couldn’t formulate any coherent thought.

The gripping, tight crush of an impending panic attack started flowing in with a dark vision and dizziness, pulling her mental focus to the fact her ribs were immobile and tightening. She thrust her head between her knees to try and stop it, practically climbing under her desk. Clutching her chest and screwed her eyes tightly to shut out the world and her fear and focus on gaining oxygen. Trying to remember her counselor's steps to get through it without escalation.

Touch something real… count your fingers, and move your toes.

Focus. Do not fight it.

Stay where you are. Don’t try and move.

Breathe slowly.

Identify something close to bring reality back, look at it, and focus.

Tell yourself you are okay.

It will pass.

Picture Yue and her happy, smiling face. Everything you find joy and peace in.

Focus,… focus, and breathe, slow and steady. Count it out.

Meilei brought it to a simmer but still couldn’t catch her breath. The invading thoughts and fear would not be quiet, and she huddled into a small ball, hoping they wouldn’t venture this way. She didn’t have the strength to get up and run; if he saw her, she had no idea how he would react.

If he knew she was here, her job and career would be over, but that is not what plagued her now.

He wouldn’t be able to conceal his hatred if he saw her.

Something like that between them was not something five years could dampen.

Five years…. Of hell and hurt and haunted memories.

Kai Xuchen stood in the middle of the floor while listening to Manager Lee summarise the department's ongoing projects and past successes. Unaware of the cowering figure at the far desk almost thirty feet away. Cool and confident, still as a stone as he listened intently, and his quick eyes scanned the space and employees with little interest. He quickly got his impressions of this department, and everything seemed good. This was the company's star floor, and he had no complaints.

Meilei wanted the floor to open and swallow her, yet she clutched her knees and pictured Yue in her mind’s eye, growing more distressed as the seconds rolled by.

Yue’s perfect little face… her pouty little mouth and straight and high nose. The darkest of brown eyes that seemed almost black when she glared at you with indignation. Her obsidian black hair that was practically silken in texture and her confident and bold personality were not born of Meilei….. Her stubborn nature and feisty heart. Her fast temper and hostile streak when she felt wronged.

The source of her calm was also the source of her panic growing higher.

If he knew about Yue…if he saw her…..

He would know

He would take her.

Why wouldn’t he?

Meilei took someone precious from him, and she had no doubt he would take someone precious from her, especially if he found out she belonged to him, too.

What was she going to do now?