Adopt

9. If I Can't Do That, Then I Might As Well Quit

YuXin walked into the changing room alongside Lin Xuan to help her into her outfit. As she pulled the zip up, it accidentally caught onto Lin Xuan's hair and she yelled out in pain.

"Oww!"

YuXin maneuvered her hair out of the tangled mess swiftly while apologising profusely for her folly, "I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

The enraged Lin Xuan turned around and raised her arm with an angry stare, landing a hard slap across YuXin's face. *Slap* the sound of her palm hitting directly on YuXin's face echoed in the small changing room. "Do you know how precious my hair is?!"

Bolt of pain quickly hit YuXin's face. Biting her trembling lips, YuXin stood there in shock, trying her best to control her tears from falling. Her cheek was radiating heat from the sudden pain and she could feel it swelling up slightly. It wasn't just the pain but also the embarrassment slowly eating her up being slapped by someone.

YuXin controlled her breathing and muttered softly once again, "I'm sorry. I should have been more careful." Even if she felt wronged, she bit her tongue and apologised, knowing that this would be better for the company.

Stepping out of the changing room, YuXin was about to go to the nearest toilet to calm herself when she bumped into Kun who's waiting right outside the room.

"YuXin? What happened to your cheek??" Kun frowned dropping all the professional formalities in calling her. The red mark swelling mark showed a clear hand print imprinted on her face.

He reached out to her face and hovered his hand in midair, deliberating how to help her when she quickly tilted her head away and mumbled, "It's okay, it's nothing."

Walking out of the room behind her, Lin Xuan was shocked to see Kun standing outside of the door and immediately changed her expression into a soft and gentle smile, "Hi Kun, didn't expect to see you here today too."

Instead of his professional smile, Kun flashed her an angry glare, "What happened to executive Liu's face?"

Lin Xuan put on her best puppy eyed look and bend her head down apologetically and stammered, "That.. She zipped the clothes and accidentally hurt my hair.. So I just waved my hand around as a reflex. It was an accident.."

But Kun didn't buy her lies and stepped forward, shielding YuXin away from her before questioning Lin Xuan again. "It looked like a slap on her face. A real hard slap."

Lin Xuan looked up at Kun with a pitiful frown.

"Miss Lin, if Executive Liu has accidentally hurt you I apologise for it. But." He took a step forward and glared down at Lin Xuan, "I do not tolerate any purposeful hurting of my employee with ill intent. I'm calling this partnership off, you can expect a call from your CEO about the cancellation of contract."

Kun pulled YuXin's elbow gently and led her away from Lin Xuan, who just stood there in wordlessly with her mouth agape.

.

"Does it hurt?" Kun asked in concern as he placed an ice pack on her swollen cheek carefully to help ease the swelling.

"It's nothing," YuXin pushed the ice pack away with a frown, "Kun, are you sure it's okay to just cancel the partnership with Lin Xuan? It will affect our launch."

Kun placed the ice pack back on her cheek again, staring at her with a serious gaze "YuXin, as a Director, it is my place to protect my staff. If I can't even do that, then I might as well quit being a leader."

Hearing the note of conviction in his voice, YuXin nodded and lowered her gaze as a sudden thought of how charismatic Kun was flashed across her mind. She could feel her face slowly burning up and hurriedly took the ice pack from Kun's hand.

"I'll do it." She muttered softly and pressed the ice pack on her cheek, hoping it would cool the heat radiating from her blushing face.

.

"Kun, I heard the product launch for the jewelry collection in our subsidiary company is delayed and you've called off the collaboration with the celebrity? What's the issue? Even though you're managing our subsidiary company, you can't be hasty in your decision." his father said as they gathered around the dining table in their mansion for their weekly dinner.

Before Kun could reply, YuXin quickly interjected and explained," Uncle, it's my fault. I'll make sure to reduce the delay period as short as possible."

Casting a frown at YuXin, Kun quickly explained, "It's not YuXin's fault. It's the Lin Xuan who ordered YuXin around like her personal slave and even slapped her across her cheek unreasonably."

"She did what?" Kun's mother looked towards YuXin full of concern. "YuXin, are you alright?"

YuXin nodded quickly, "I'm okay, I'm just sorry for the delay in the project."

Kun's mother held on to YuXin's hand gently and smoothed her hair, "Don't worry about the project."

She cast a look at Kun's father and said with seething rage. "I want this Lin Xuan to disappear from the show biz. She's a toxic example to the public."

"It's already done. I've contacted all the major shareholders we are in contact with and disseminated the information to ban her from any shows and endorsement." Kun replied.

YuXin didn't expect for Kun and his family members to have such a huge reaction to the incident, even to the extent of ousting Lin Xuan out of the show biz industry entirely. It wasn't entirely impossible as the conglomerate had several shares in the renown entertainment industry and online media platform. On their way back home, YuXin asked,"Is it necessary to blacklist her entirely?"

Tapping his hand on the steering wheel, Kun took a quick glance and smirked slightly. "Yeah, it is. I won't allow anyone to lay their hands on you and get away with it."

Once again, YuXin felt her heart suddenly beating rapidly from Kun's words and quickly drop her gaze from Kun and looked out of the window. What's wrong with me?