Ceo Above me Below

WEAR THE RING

Gong Ouyang's expression twisted at the box that was pushed towards him on the table. He glanced at the box but his hands stayed where they were. He made absolutely no effort to pick it up.

In the last two weeks, he had his PI team re-investigate the incident on Baja cruise. He had been very sure about the instigator, until his last trip on Baja. And now, he was not sure any more.

Either way, he had to know the truth.

But the reports that were sent became more and more blurrier with only circumstantial evidence pointing towards Xiaonian. And that ambiguity made his control teeter. He couldn't risk that.

No matter what, she had to stay beside him.

Because of this unsolved business, his temper at his office grew volatile until he heard someone mention something in his board room.

"Repeat what you said," he commanded the manager who was talking to his neighbor during one of their meeting breaks.

"Sir?" the man jumped back thinking he was going to reprimanded for talking personal things in the board room. Two others were already chastised harshly for trivial reasons.

"Repeat what you said!" Gong Ouyang bit out impatiently, his finger tapping against the table.

"Uh, women in love will stay with their partner no matter what happens?" His voice came out low and with caution.

The finger that was tapping on the table stopped suddenly, "Is this true?"

The manager's eyes widened in shock at his company president's interest, he nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes president. If a woman is in love with you, she will always stay with you no matter what. One of our rival company's CEO is maintaining two mistresses but the madam doesn't say anything and still supports him because she's rumored to be-"

"Stop." He wanted to know some stuff, not gossip about an ugly old man.

The manager obediently kept his mouth shut.

----------

Gong Ouyang pushed back the velvet box towards Xiaonian with a finger. "I'm being very patient right now, so pick that up, put it on your finger and learn how to love me," he told her calmly from across the table.

His displeasure from before vanished in an instant as if it never happened.

Xiaonian became slightly cautious at his apparent calmness. She had experienced this before, it was the calm before the storm.

"This is not appropriate," she tried to subtly reject.

"Why?"

She looked at him to see if he was really asking her that question.

"Mr. Gong-"

"Say my name!" he snapped.

Xiaonian hands slid from the table and down into her lap where she twisted them in anxiety. This was not going well.

"Gong Ouyang," she looked at him and saw that he was not angry anymore. "I... we have a contract between us." A paper that devalued her as a human and made her into a thing that can be possessed irrespective of her will.

"So?" he asked indifferently.

A flare of anger lit inside her listening to his cavalier tone. She suppressed it with effort before she replied.

"I can't do it," she said simply, hanging her head low to avoid looking at him.

A small part of her felt incredibly guilty.