Chapter 5

“What’s with you? You keep looking at the door and seem uneasy these past few days. Are we expecting someone?” Tao sprawled over Meilei's desk to perch on his elbows beside her screen and examine her face. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that Meilei had been acting strangely the last few days, and she seemed so on edge she had been borderline snappy. Her entire team was wary of bothering her. Everyone except Tao.

“Nothing… Did you finish running the errors on the diet tracker? Users are complaining the calorie library is glitching.” Meilei was all business today, trying to focus on anything besides the fear of running into Kai in this building. This week, the Inhale app ran its first tests with real beta users. If all went well, they would officially launch the one-stop women’s health app as soon as marketing set up a plan.

She had been so careful. Coming to work early and getting up here before any executives would normally show face. She was not wandering about and bringing lunch, so she wouldn’t stray out to eat or use the canteen. She was trying to prevent any possibility of seeing him. She and Ling had worked out so many ways in which she could avoid a person in a building as large as theirs for the next four months.

“Ughhhh,” Tao dramatically sighed, childishly wiggling his very pert butt. “I want the goss….you have been acting super weird since our new blood arrived. Starting to think one of them is your ex….. And yes, boss….I have completed the task.. it was a simple code error.”

“Good, now go do this. I don’t have any exes.” Meilei picked up the most recent feedback from today, listing user complaints, and handed him the file with a raised brow and a smirk. Flippant in her remark and expertly deflecting it.

Tao tutted at her and got up with a heaving exhale. He knew how closed up she could be.

“You’re no fun.” He waited to see if he would get any other intel from his team leader, then tutted again, slumped off dragging his feet with a juvenile huffy posture, and left her to it.

“He has a point…You have been acting very uptight. Should I be worried there’s an issue with Inhale?” Chou’s voice from the facing desk pulled her to sit up and look over her monitor to see her, and Meilei shook her head defensively.

“It‘s nothing… home stuff… worrying over nothing. I’m just in need of some relaxation, maybe.” Meilei was always good at batting away personal questions or anyone trying to dig too deep. Despite their good relationship at work, Meilei kept a firm line between herself and her coworkers and only allowed herself to rely on Suying and Ling outside of work. No one here knew anything of her life or about Yue. Given the rollercoaster of a mess she had been through, it's how she preferred it.

“Team leader Liu? I need you down at the main entrance to meet someone for me. Mr. Ting from Uclah,” Manager Lee pulled her attention up with a wave from across the floor, standing with his hand on one hip and locking eyes on her.

“Crap,” Meilei uttered under her breath, trying to think of an excuse not to venture out, but she knew it would be hopeless. Manager Lin was her direct senior, and if he needed her to meet someone on his behalf, excuses would not work. He was as stubborn as Yue could be.

“I’m right in the middle of..” She tried anyway.

“Leave it… this is your client. I need you to escort him to the meeting room on the first floor and answer any tech questions he has. He’s here about the Sunrise app your Team handed off last year. I don’t have time today and should be in a meeting myself in five.”

Crap, crap, crap.

Meilei knew this was her responsibility as the one who helped build that damn app. OTS sometimes did outsourced work for other companies, and this was one of them. They had occasional updates and repairs done by her team, but they had a full-time team at Uclah who should know the system well enough by now. But OTS guaranteed they would get a one-on-one anytime they wanted a consultation.

“Go. He’s due.” Manager Lin didn’t wait for any other responses, turned on his heel, and walked back toward his office. He wasn't someone you disobeyed, and Meilei sank into her chair in defeat. Her body slumped like a wet rag, and her mood nosedived. Stress levels rose, and she exhaled heavily before pulling off her ID card in irritation and getting up.

She wrapped the lanyard around her hand fidgetingly to curb the sudden rise of anger and yet had to do as she was told. Everything inside her was playing off loud alarm bells. Her anxiety meter was spinning off the charts, and she had to blow out air to calm the sudden urge to hide under her desk. A deep gut feeling told her to stay put, but she didn’t want to test Manager Lin’s patience. She normally had a good working relationship with him, but he could be stern when giving orders and was a little scary.

Using her card to exit the main floor and access the elevator, she swung it side to side as a form of nervous distraction. Heart racing, hands clammy, she started counting the minutes down that she would be away from her safe hiding hole in the tech department. It felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff, and her body was hyper-alert.

It didn’t take long to get down and locate her guest, and the consultation took less than half an hour. They had a few requests for the next update, and the performance report they were sent needed a little explanation of some new data. This was one of the downsides to being promoted to a Team leader…following up on past projects and still having to baby clients long after the project was complete.

Meilei cautiously looked both ways after coming inside from seeing the client off. Scanning the ground floor, she looked around, aware of everyone in the entire space. She had gotten into the habit of looking at every face around her as she walked, alert and ready to jump behind plant pots for the slightest similarity to Kai. She hightailed it to the elevator and impatiently bounced on her feet, willing it to hurry up.

She was relieved when it opened, and only one employee heading out passed her. Leaving her alone in the metal box to return to the seventh floor. OTS had been strangely empty these past few days, but she guessed it was because of the interviews being conducted on HR’s level. Employees feared the outcome, so no one dared slack off and spend time wandering about to the bathrooms or kitchens for snacks. OTS was on its best behavior for fear of dismissal, leaving the place eerily quiet and devoid of traffic. Every department was in ultra-productive mode, and chatter was limited.

Meilei sank back against the elevator wall and watched the numbers rise, tapping her foot and impatiently desperate to see her floor number come up.

4.5…6…. and then it stopped.

Meilei sighed. Someone must have called on it before her floor, and she moved to the left to let whoever it was have an open space to walk into.

The doors opened, and she tilted her head down to look at the floor, a habit born of avoiding idle chat and intrusive friend-makers. She always avoided interaction when she could.

Two sets of feet with expensive-looking leather shoes strolled in, dark pant legs that seemed like pricey fabric, and they turned to face away from her. One man kept his voice low as they directed the conversation to one another.

“We should have used the other elevators…. This is for regular staff.” The first voice was smooth and husky, and he sounded a little older than Meilei. Probably late twenties or early thirties.

“When did you become such a snob, Tian? The other elevators were crowded, and we couldn’t wait for the next one.” The second male replied with obvious amusement in his tone, and Meilei glanced to see who they were from her safe space behind them.

She recognized the one on the left as being on their floor the first day and summarized he must be the assistant everyone kept talking about. Although there was something familiar about him back here, she couldn’t pinpoint it from this angle. She had only seen him from afar before. It felt like she had met him prior, but she couldn’t recall where or when and wondered if he was an OTS staff member from upstairs. It didn’t seem so, as he was familiar with the other one.

Tian Wang.

Besides the CEO, they had labeled him ‘swoon-worthy’ and ‘dreamy.’ From this angle, he was tall and well built, like Kai, but only somehow with a much older aura, a nice side profile, good bone structure, and styled modern dark hair. He had the same mild tan and smooth skin as Kai; they could be mistaken for brothers, but he was mature and commanding even just standing there. He seemed attractive enough. Intimidating as a specimen.

The man with him was shorter, more of the cute and delicate type of man with an obvious bright smile that seemed permanent on his face. He was almost a foot shorter but had nice shoulders and lighter brown hair in more of a floppy cut. He appeared younger and less professional than the taller man. The familiarity had Meilei uneasy, and she tried not to overanalyze it.

Meilei looked back down to break interest in them and stood up when the ping signaled her floor. Relieved to flee for her freedom and go back to hiding at her desk.

“Excuse me.” She uttered quietly so the two men would part to let her through, and they did so politely in the small space. She caught the future CEO's nod and friendly smile as she turned his way to get between them and returned with a polite nod of respect. Momentarily distracted from where she was heading.

“Miss.” He seemed friendly enough.

“Sir.” She replied in courtesy, not paying attention.

Meilei was too busy looking backward to notice the third suit walking in and colliding with a tall masculine form right at the doorway. There was an inelegant oofft noise as her shoulder and left arm were splatted into a hard body, shuddering through her limbs and lungs as two strong hands impulsively reached up and caught her by the shoulders with the reaction to their impact.

“Sorry…I was not looking where I was….” She glanced up in apology with a red flaming face of embarrassment and came eye to eye with dark, almost black eyes under slightly hooded lids framed by straight black brows. A face born with good angles and symmetrical features. A face that rendered her mute.

The expression of surprise and friendliness instantly froze on his face as shock took over, hardening his features, lowering his brows, tightening his jaw, and straightening pleasantness to cold. It seemed like there was a long moment of pause where time seemed to stop, along with breath and heartbeats, as two strangers took in the faces of one other and found familiarity. A growing scowl and tightened grimace turned beauty into something intimidating as his hands fell away from her. A drop as though touching her scolded him. Like a storm moving in without warning…a blue sky turning grey, or a dry napkin slowly dipping into water, the change came over him like a slow pull. She could feel the rise in static building around him as a huge warning sign.

Meilei jumped back, burned by his touch, unable to breathe and aware her chest was bursting with the insanity of her heart lurch and rapid beat. Kai Xuchen stared at her with veiled daggers in his glare. More obvious in his reaction by the second as disbelief, a sneer, and then anger changed his softness to hard edges. His whole body seemed to grow in height and width as his rage bristled and something internal took over. His eyes moved from one pupil of hers to the other, and she could see the thoughts in his mind whirring into overdrive. A million of them all at once, barely concealed in the eyes locked on hers.

Meilei was frozen to the spot for a second and unable to formulate a reply or pull a single noise out of her mouth. Like a deer caught in headlights, she had no ability to run.

“What’s got you looking so mad… she didn’t mean it. Just let the poor thing go …she’s probably embarrassed enough.” The man behind Meilei interjected... Tian…the assistant…or future CEO. Sounding like he had more than a business relationship with Kai Xuchen, yet it didn't dampen the heavy weight sliding down her soul.

Meilei’s insides crumbled. Kai was pinning her with a glare that was obvious in its intent, and if she dared to run, she didn’t doubt he would haul her back in here and throw her down like he did that day of Yuelin’s funeral. That memory of him pushing her onto the ground had stuck with her all these years. That hatred and venom of five years ago were again staring her in the face, and she didn’t doubt he was capable of manhandling her again.

“You two out….. you stay.” He pointed at Meilei with an icy thrust of a finger almost an inch off her face, then snatched her hanging ID card from around her neck and pulled it toward him to read. With such speed and force, it yanked her neck and dragged her from her weak legs. She stumbled forward with a yelp of surprise.

“Kai.. what is this ?… You’re not the bully type when it comes to women, and it was an accident..” Tian seemed startled by this scene and stepped forward with concern, only to meet an icy glare cast right in his face. A terrifying cold demeanor of command and a pissed off ‘don’t get in my way’ stare.

“Which one of us is the boss? I told both of you to get out.” Kai snapped, and both men sensed this was something they shouldn’t challenge. They had been friends and coworkers for a long time and knew they shouldn’t make this worse. Tian pitied the girl, knowing Kai could have a temper under all that icy statuelike manner he held most of the time, but he knew he was not one to get physical on the fairer sex. Tian nodded, pulling his friend with him as they passed one another, side-eye and questioning glances.

They would find out what this was all about later.

Tian had never seen him be pushy with girls, and he had a moment of doubt about leaving them alone but knew he was being dumb. Kai acted out of character, but he wasn’t violent or irrational.

The elevator was still open as they moved quickly past him, the taller man throwing a worried glance at Meilei over Kai’s shoulder, and she caught his eye. Tian was as mature-looking as Kai, but he had a softness around his eyes that was severely lacking in the man towering over her. He frowned, unsure why this little employee was about to meet Kai’s wrath when ordinarily he was so cool and unmoveable, but he could tell there was more to this and left.

Meilei didn’t know what to do or how to react. Panicking that the men were leaving him alone with her and knowing he was a growing volcano and the lava was yet to erupt. She stood trembling as he flipped over her ID and scanned her department and job title before thrusting it back at her with force. It bounced off her collarbone with a sting that made her flinch and recoil while he stood over her, clenching his jaw so the muscles became rigid and his hints of dimples showed up. He was fierce and had hostility oozing from every pore, with an ambiance that it was taking all the control he could muster to keep himself in check and not throttle her. The static coming from him made the air sizzle.

“This is my floor…I need to leave.” Meilei had melted to submissive and afraid when faced with the obvious venom, yet he stood between her and the doors as they slid closed. Her voice was barely a trembling whisper of breathiness.

“This is my building. You will stay where you fucking are!” He replied with an instant rasp, cornering her with a slight lean as though warning her to try and get past him. “You work in this company?” He snapped in sarcasm, trying to reign in his urge to break her little neck. He was overwhelmed with so many chaotic feelings and emotions that he didn’t know how to hold them together. He felt like he was about to explode, and his heart was racing so fast he had begun to sweat in his tailored suit. His mind was a crashing mess of conflicted thoughts.

Meilei could hardly deny it and nodded her head, eyes wide with fear. She was battling the tightening of her lungs as her breath grew thin. She willed herself not to freak out and have a panic attack here and now in front of him, as he would most definitely stand there and watch her suffocate to death.

“So your life just carried on……IT…… Team leader… like nothing happened, and you still deserved to follow your dreams? Even in the same fucking city… you have no shame.” The tone was a snarl, low and menacing, and he moved closer, hemming her in. Meilei stumbled backward, afraid of his presence, fearful of his anger, and tried to slide to the side to get out when the doors opened next.

Kai was barely holding his temper, in the rush of emotions that seeing her had overwhelmed him. Shocked by something he never thought he would encounter again and yet consumed by a sudden growing need to pick her up and throw her against the wall. The urge to choke her half to death where she stood, and had she been a man, he would have punched her in the face at first sight. Had she been a man, he would have broken every one of her bones five years ago and left her in a permanent coma. Even then, that was a light punishment in his eyes.

“I …I ….” Meilei had no answer. How could she tell him that her life had not just carried on unscathed by that night? She was a broken soul who had to be dragged up by her two childhood friends to piece her life back together. That only by the skin of her teeth did she graduate, and she struggled through every second of the day for months after. Even years on, she was haunted by the memory of Yuelin and all her death left behind.

“Here I believed that somehow you would have remorse, be living the kind of life you deserved…miserable somewhere and repentant… I stupidly thought you might have a conscience, yet no. You just sailed right through …got a cushy little job in the same place you were and moved on like nothing happened.”

Kai couldn’t look at her anymore. His heart rate was elevated so much that his breathing had become shallow to the point of almost panting, and every nerve ending was tingling within him. A full-body response to seeing her and how he hated it. That she could get to him this way, from merely seeing her again.

Seeing how she looked… exactly the same.

Still big-eyed and innocent, dressed in soft floaty clothes giving a sweet appearance, yet he knew she was a serpent under that fake façade. The kind of woman who kissed you while sticking a dagger in your heart.

“It’s not like that..” She didn’t know what else to do except try to answer him but knew nothing she said would filter through. She had tried many times back then to make them believe her version of things, and he had disregarded every word as a lie.

“Is San here with you…did that snake slide back and pick up where you two left off? Am I going to run into him in my own fucking building too?” He turned his head away, biting his bottom lip to curb the insane, spiraling feelings that felt like they were drowning him. The jealous spike of rage saying that bastard’s name brought up and the crushing pain he thought he buried years ago finding out his best friend and girlfriend were betraying him.

“San…. We never …He never came back….I haven’t..”

Why was she trying to explain?

The elevator pinged again, signaling it would open on the next floor, and he turned and finger-punched a button with hostility to deter it. He moved back into her space to ensure she couldn’t run. She wasn't getting away from him yet, not after running smack bang into him and destroying his entire day.

Kai let out a sardonic, breathy half laugh, half exhale, making it clear nothing she said would be believed. He made a menacing sound and nodded his head, his expression a biting cold fury, before slaying her with another pointed glare.

“Don’t get too comfy in your role…. If the only thing I have control of is seeing your career fail as punishment, then you can bet I will annihilate you this time.” He spat the words, and Meilei recoiled into herself. “You got off way too easy if this proves anything.” He waved his hand in the air to indicate he meant OTS.

She didn’t know what to say.

“You should have been rotting in prison for what you did…. Not walking around my company dressed like Little Miss Innocent. Who are you trying to fool? Or is this for the benefit of your newest victim…. My condolences to him. He has no idea what he’s getting.” He tugged at the loose skirt of her dress, tossing it to the side to emphasize her romantic attire. A floaty pale pink dress with layers of chiffon that was loose around her legs and knees but fitted into a more formal bodice with a button front. It was office but also date wearable, making her look young and pure. She always was a girly dresser, which is where Yue got her love of princess outfits.

Right now, Kai hated it with a passion. Seeing a resemblance to the dresses she wore back then for him anytime they were together. He wanted to rip it off and set fire to it.

“They found me innocent…you know what the investiga…” He didn’t let her finish. Although trembling and higher in pitch due to her emotional state, her voice grated on him. Her voice was like a spear into his brain, and he never wanted to have it back in there haunting his memories like it once did.

“Your boyfriend providing a convenient account of what happened and saving your ass is not the same as being innocent….. You killed my sister…you pushed her …all to conceal your dirty little affair…. I don’t care what they said happened….if San was being honest, why did he hightail it abroad as soon as he could?” He leaned in so close they shared air, and Meilei sank back against the wall, pressed hard with nowhere else to go, and couldn’t escape him. Her entire body was trembling with adrenalin, and she was only barely gripping on and being able to continue breathing in his presence.

His eyes bore into hers, his nose only an inch from brushing hers, yet the darkness in the depths pouring her way made her feel like he was strangling her with his presence. Back then, she had never feared him or needed to until the funeral. Now, the way he looked at her, she knew he was no longer the man she once knew, and she didn’t know what he was capable of doing to her.

“I…I…don’t know…maybe he felt guilty for….” Her voice had become soft and thin, almost incoherent, and she clung to the wall to remain upright. Her body had no strength anymore. She was cold and afraid and leaning for support on bowing limbs as her blood drained from her veins.

“Save it…. Everything that ever came out of your mouth was a lie….why would I listen to you now….after seeing how unaffected your life turned out? Seeing how after killing your best friend, you could still go on to graduate and act like she never existed.” He lifted a finger and pushed her ID card against her chest in the center of her ribs with a little force, swiping her breath before tapping the card with a menacing smirk. “You should have taken my advice and disappeared… Don't blame me for what’s coming. I let you go once…..that was a mistake. I won’t let you go a second time…Yuelin deserves to be avenged.” He straightened up as the elevator pinged again, this time opening almost immediately after, and stepped back as he sensed the change in the air.

He smoothed down his suit jacket and adjusted his collar. He instantly transformed his expression and posture as he reverted to a cool and unaffected CEO, like the flick of a switch, from psycho to blank.

Aware of others coming in, he gave Meilei the needed breathing space. Beads of sweat formed in her hairline, edging forward to pour down her face, and her heart rate was so fast that she was dizzy.

Two employees walked in, oblivious of anything dramatic or amiss, startled to see him in the staff lift, and immediately nodded bows of respect. Breaking into shy grins and widening their eyes to one another in excited communication. It was obvious they were thrilled to run into one of the swoony bosses.

“Afternoon Mr. Xuchen.” They chorused in smiley unison, and he nodded a curt and expressionless greeting. Moving further away to let them pass him. He quickly regained his composure as though he hadn’t just ravaged Meilei and reduced her to ashes.

Meilei was still crushed to the wall, unable to move on weak legs and so close to an all-out panic attack she couldn’t even breathe. Her eyes glued to his form as he turned on his heel, nodded to the two women who were blushing, smiling profusely, and walked out without a backward glance.

It took everything Meilei had not to slide down the wall into a broken huddle on the floor, and she rested her head against the steel interior to regain body control. Her mind was whirring and clicking, and her only thought was that she needed to leave.

The two women were so disinterested in her and busy watching Kai walk away they did not notice her pale and panicked state. Meilei didn’t care. She was so focused on the what now.

She knew his threats were not empty.

She knew he had the means to make her suffer.

She should heed this as a warning.

Take Yue and leave.