Five days later.
The initial days of the week that Qiao Ruo extended at the publisher went past smoothly. Ever since 'Ye Qi' had taken authority of the publisher, Wang Tong had started acting nice to her, and she realized something was fishy. Perhaps it was because she had lost her power and favouritism in the publisher, that Wang Tong was changing her attitude towards her.
Except for Cree, she ignored all of them, and focused her mind exclusively on her handover, prioritizing work over social interactions. The next concern on her list was how Cree's mother would be like. Cree had written down in her notebook, a list of his mother's likes and dislikes. She memorized them carefully to ensure she would not mess up by saying the wrong things.
She volunteered to work overtime to assist Cree in preparing for an upcoming event, and Cree was delighted. She didn't wish to dwell on what being alone in a big office with Cree would entail and focused on thinking about work. As soon as her co-workers had left the office, he had sneakily invited her to come into his room for 'work'. How typical of him, she thought.
"If you don't come into the room in fifteen seconds, wait and see if I'll soon have a substitute in my arms," he teased her with a voice message on her chat application, and she stormed into the room instantaneously, slamming her files on the desk. "Cree Ye!" she squealed at him.
"Nothing better than seeing you all heated up," he taunted her further, and she hit him with one of the files she had on the desk.
"Oh, feisty today, aren't you," he said and caught hold of her before she dealt more damage. He loved incurring her jealousy, but he didn't enjoy being smacked by her. He carried her firmly and placed her on the sofa, meeting with objection from the missus herself.
"Cree Ye, you bully!" she yelled, but he silenced her with a tickle under her chin.
"Don't you love being bullied by me?" he teased, and she turned red immediately.
"So, what do you need me to help you with?" she poked after a few minutes of silence had passed, which she utilised to calm herself. "Ever since you came, I've not been doing any journalism, but rather, I've been doing your 'work'."
"Isn't it better?" he joked. "Less stress and workload for you in the daytime, so you can focus on what you have to do at night."
"Hey!" she nudged him in embarrassment by his words.
"I meant to sleep. To Dream," he said, and teased her by calling her 'yellow-minded'. She wasn't pleased by his remarks and crossed her arms across her chest.
"Hey...I'll bring you for satay tonight. Don't be mad."
She shrugged. "I don't know why I was so angry. I think my time of the month is approaching. But back to the part about journalism, sometimes I feel I don't know what I should do. I'm struggling to write, and I keep getting distracted when I write my articles. I am not sure if journalism is for me."
He embraced her suddenly. "I know that for you to be unable to do what you like at work is very difficult for you, but I will be by your side and support you. It's just that I feel you can do more by being my personal assistant. So will you stay and assist me?"
She was startled. The previous boss and owner of the publisher never needed a person to assist him, but Cree did. Was he incapable as the current owner?
Cree gave her a broad smile, but he was thinking of how he could retain her. The reality was that he didn't need an assistant, but like what he had said about needing a caretaker, he just needed an assistant if it was her. So he craftily said, "Yes, I am up to my chest in work."
Her heart softened. "Okay, then."
"You are still young, Xiaoruo. There's plenty of time for you to shine."
She agreed with him, but she was determined to give journalism her all. "Yes, but time and tide wait for no man. I wish to achieve all I can while I am still young."
He patted her on her back. "I like what you just said. Few people are worthy of my appreciation, and you are one of them."
"What do you want me to do here now?" she asked, eyeing the clear workspace in the vicinity of the sofa where they were sitting. "It doesn't seem you have that much work at all, to warrant working overtime.
"Right, you are smart to have noticed that. So I will give you two options, to spend two hours reading these books on management, or to massage my sore back."
She chose the books. He expected her to and browsed the notebook on his lap as she read. Being a young couple, there was a lot that both of them had wanted to explore, but Cree had chosen not to in the meantime. Although he was keen on promoting their relationship to the next level, he also wanted to build a solid foundation for their relationship so that he didn't have to worry about losing her to any competition. He knew he couldn't let her go.
"Cree, do you prefer working here or in Qing Tian's headquarters?" she asked him casually.
"I like to work anywhere that has you in it," he uttered glibly, and she pinched him on the cheek for his smoothness. She watched the faltering lights overhead and eyed him. It appeared as if the scenes from popular television dramas were about to unfold, and as if she had jinxed herself, suddenly all the lights turned themselves off with a loud popping sound.
"It looks like we have an electrical trip," Cree said, dissuading her that it would be fine. She was indifferent since the dark did not scare her, and furthermore, she had grown up in the countryside being used to not having electricity. She felt it was a bit warm and stuffy in the room, removing her jacket and fanning herself. Cree activated the torch function of his smartphone and shone it near Qiao Ruo, only to realize that she was tempting him with the plunging neckline of the dress she had worn under her jacket.
He took a few deep breaths and attempted to focus on other matters at hand.
"We won't be able to unlock the doors in the absence of electricity," Qiao Ruo explained. "This room is defended by a security system fully dependent on electricity, and if my guess is correct, someone has tampered with the switches in the power room. The only way out would be to smash the doors open, but even the emergency axe is missing. This has to be the work of someone smart."
He took her word for it, and she stifled a laugh, keeping it muffled so well that he was unable to hear it.
"So, what do you want to do now that we can't work?" he queried her.
She opened her mouth to give him an answer, but instead, he was playfully kissing her and running his fingers over the sensitive spots of her abdomen. It seemed he had always chosen the right time to make his moves on her, she thought as she kissed him back. While she was absorbed by his kisses, she had totally lost all track of time.
"Actually, I wanted to ask you about your childhood," she said after he was done with passionate kissing. He flashed the torchlight towards his desk and seized the water bottle.
"Here," he handed the bottle to her so that she could quench her thirst, and then he finished the rest of the water in the bottle. "My mother left me when I was young, and I feel absolutely nothing for her now. My father was killed in an auto accident when I was five. I was passed between family members until the Yes fostered me as a teenager."
"Is the Ye couple nice to you?" she asked, with an arm around him.
"They are considered nice to me so far, but I can't replace their lost son. They try to control me too much. The first thing I want to rebel against them with is, my choice of girlfriend." He chuckled and gazed at her under the dim light. "My girlfriend is so perfect that no girls stand chance against her."
She smiled, although she was unsure if Cree was able to see it. She liked how he was praising her impeccably, and gloated in her victory. Closing her eyes, she leaned in to kiss him slowly and tenderly, not minding how the kisses would just make her thirstier.
He just hoped that one day, he would be calling her more than just his girlfriend.
