[6 Days Later]
In S City's airport, a tall, gorgeous woman with long, wavy black hair exits from the arrival area. Her bright red off-the-runway designer dress shows off her perfect figure, and her limited edition Jimmy C boots only makes her already-long legs look even longer. Her large sunglasses hide her seductive eyes and most of her small face, but anyone can tell she is breathtakingly gorgeous.
She flashes a confident smile at the hundreds of fans that waited for hours at the airport for her return to the country, waving either signs with her name or cameras taking photos of her.
"It's our goddess, it's her, oh my god!"
"Goddess, please accept my proposal!"
"Please look over here! I'm your biggest fan!"
"Oh god, Liu Xinyue looks even better in person! How is that possible?!"
While C country's goddess Ms. Xinyue greets her fans and poses for photos in the middle of the airport, another person is sleepily and grumpily trudging through the VIP exit despite having no crowd of adoring fans waiting for her.
Dressed in a large black oversized hoodie, black leggings and black trainers, with her hair hastily tied up in a messy bun and a round pillow still around her neck, the world-renowned Ms. Han Yu is nursing a headache from all the screaming and is currently cursing a certain CEO in her head for making her fly all the way to S City.
"Did the fucking queen of England arrive or something? God, why is it so loud?" she grumbled, intensely yearning for a soft bed, a chocolate milkshake and peace and quiet at the moment.
Assistant Chu, who is pushing a trolley with both of their luggage piled on, looks at her like she's crazy. "Goddess Xinyue was literally sitting in the seat next to yours. You even saw me ask for her autograph!"
But as expected of the girl who most likely had no idea who the mayor of the city she grew up in was, much less popular celebrities in the country, all she did was squint her eyes at her poor assistant and reply, "Who?"
Assistant Chu just barely resisted the urge to smack his hand on his face. "She was the woman wearing red, she's one of the top actresses in the country right now. You know, she starred in that recent blockbuster movie, 'The Emperor's Woman'?"
"Ah!" Han Yu suddenly exclaimed, her pretty face lighting up from its previously gloomy expression. "The one with the beautiful hands! I noticed them earlier when she was holding that glass of champagne. She was wearing that 4.5 million Lumiere ring, you know the one with the princess cut pink diamond. Didn't go well with her outfit really, but it was gorgeous. I really wanted to ask if I could touch her hands for a bit—"
"Boss oh my god, please stop!" Her assistant cut in, panicking as he looked around to see if anyone else heard that.
Fortunately, they were the only ones using the VIP exit since Liu Xinyue chose to go through the normal exit to greet her fans.
"Oh relax, will you? It's not like I said anything insulting." Han Yu rolled her eyes at Chu Shao.
Assistant Chu can only sign in exasperation. "You may not have said anything insulting, but what comes out of your mouth can be so weird and creepy sometimes. Can you think of your image just once? For my sake at least," he whined. "Yue jie is going to kill me I let you tarnish your reputation while you're here."
Han Yu just made a face at him, not bothering to argue, before assuming her blank expression once again. Even without saying it out loud, her assistant knew this was her way of saying, "Image? What image?"
"Do you want to go see your aunt and siblings first or do you prefer heading to the hotel?" he asked as they finally left the airport and headed to the spacious van the hotel provided for their stay in the country.
Chu Shao expected Han Yu to want to see her little brother and sister first as she talks about how much she misses them every day. But her answer surprised him.
"No, let's go see Mr. Zhang," she said, before settling into the plush seats of the van and grabbing a throw pillow to cuddle.
"Right now?" Chu Shao looked her up and down with a judgmental stare. "With you dressed like this?"
Han Yu scowled at him, indignant. "What's wrong with my outfit? This hoodie is newly washed, you know."
Assistant Chu is extremely embarrassed hearing her proudly say she's wearing clean clothes that he just wants to hide his face.
"Boss, you have clothes literally worth millions of dollars, but you're wearing a hoodie from your junior high days and leggings with holes in them," he said, sighing. "People will think Giacomo doesn't pay you to work."
"These clothes are the softest and most comfortable ones I have, even my handmade pieces can't beat clothing that has been softened and aged by time and a thousand laundry washes." Han Yu pouts at him. "You didn't have any complaints before we boarded the plane."
"Well yeah, because I thought you were just wearing this during the flight, not when you actually reunite with the husband you haven't seen in three years," Chu Shao lamented. "Don't you know how this goes in TV shows? You have to dress sexily and show him what he's been missing all these years so he'll dump his mistress and fall in love with you, boss!"
Now Han Yu's the one looking at him like he's crazy. "What kind of fantasy world are you living in? This isn't some sort of revenge plot novel, Mr. Zhang and I have only met once and we just have a normal relationship," she said, laughing in amusement. "Were you expecting some sort of drama or something?"
Yes actually, Chu Shao was expecting drama the moment he heard his boss had a contract marriage with someone. Though he'll never admit it.
"Still, you could dress up a little bit to go see him. If nothing else, he is still a CEO and a rich young master," he grumbled, pouting.
"What's the big deal?" Han Yu raises an eyebrow at him. "It's not like I'm attending a business meeting or Zhang Yi Zhou cares about how I look. He probably thinks I'm like a younger sister with our age gap."
Chu Shao clicked his tongue in disapproval. "You're so naive...men get super excited over girls who are much younger than them with white tender skin and big eyes," he said passionately.
Han Yu unashamedly moved several inches away from him as if she can't bear to be around such a perverted man. "You just complained about me sounding creepy, do you even hear yourself?"
Chu Shao coughed into a fist awkwardly. "Anyway, I don't believe Zhang Yi Zhou just sees you as some sort of little sister. As a man, I know I would never marry someone I'm very sure I would never develop feelings for, even if the marriage had an expiration date."
Han Yu pauses for a moment, looking thoughtful, before shrugging once more. "Honestly? I'm just too lazy to dress up and put on makeup. And I just want to get this over with."
"Besides, even if he doesn't see me as a little sister, I don't even see him as a man so it doesn't matter," she said, before closing her eyes and taking a nap.
'Oh boy, I hope she doesn't actually tell him that,' Chu Shao thinks nervously. He didn't Zhang Yi Zhou personally, but he had somewhat an idea of how these rich young master types were since he worked for one in the past. 'His naive little boss might be eaten if she said this within hearing distance of Zhang Yi Zhou.'
+
Secretary Zhou is not even the target of CEO Zhang's icy glare, but he could feel his heart racing in fear.
He would feel sorry for the member of the planning team who was currently the recipient of the boss' legendary arctic glare, but he made a big mishap that would force them to spend a few more hours in the company today so Zhou Mi was only feeling irritated...well, aside from terrified.
He was seriously itching to yell at him for making such a simple mistake with huge consequences, but he knows his boss' glare would be enough to make this guy regret every decision he has made that led to this moment.
"I-I-I a-a-a-apologize again CEO Zhang, it won't happen again," the man continued bowing while stuttering his apologies. "I-I'll make sure to fix it by today—"
"I expect an update in three hours. Let's end it here," was the only thing the boss said before rising from his chair and making his way out of the conference room.
All the directors collectively sighed in relief, making Secretary Zhou even more irritated as he followed right behind his boss.
These useless pieces of shit can't even do anything right, honestly, making him and boss pull all-nighters to fix their goddamned messes... CEO Zhang had already been extremely irritable these past few days—well more irritable than usual, he should say—and his handsome face was becoming more and more like a demon.
Secretary Zhou had an inkling that it had something to do with the mysterious Ms. Han Yu who has yet to appear a week after boss gave him instructions about accommodating her. Boss has never mentioned her again, but he keeps looking at his phone more often as if waiting for something.
He doesn't know if the stress was getting to his boss or something, but he has asked Zhou Mi to do the weirdest things these past few days. Aside from stocking his office fridge with cans of soda and coffee, the boss also had him change all the throw pillows on his couches with much softer ones and put a stack of the latest popular comics on the coffee table. His boss had a list—a list!
He could swear he once heard his boss mutter, "will she hate these curtains," to himself at one point when he thought Zhou Mi was out of earshot. He was prepared to call the interior decorator connected to the company yesterday, but thankfully his boss hadn't gone completely crazy yet.
Secretary Zhou has been nearly beside himself with anticipation for Ms. Han Yu's appearance, but since yesterday, he was ready to sacrifice his nonexistent firstborn child if only she would just show up and put his boss (and him) out of his misery.
His senior was right when he said that there was rarely any clear photos of Ms. Han Yu online. She can really only be photographed when she appears at the end of her fashion shows and she indeed looked like a beauty. She wasn't as tall as the models who wear her clothes, but she could rival them in looks and bearing.
He could see how the boss fell for her. She seemed like a beautiful refined young lady with perfect manners, and though he hasn't heard her speak, she likely spoke with a soft, gentle voice. Ah, how good would it be if she could come here and coax his boss out of his bad mood and save them (him)?
He doesn't know if she is his boss' lover, though or if she might just be a friend whom the boss has fallen for secretly. Or she might just be meeting him for a secret project and the boss has been nursing a crush all this time...yes, this one was more likely since boss expected to meet her here in the company and not at his home or a restaurant.
Oh no, how tragic! His poor boss!
It's true he has an extremely handsome face but he can just imagine his terrifying icy expression scaring away that gently bred, refined young heiress and making her cry—
He is suddenly jolted out of his fantasy—I mean, thoughts when he saw his phone lighting up due to a call. He had put it on silent for the meeting.
"Secretary Zhou speaking."
"Sir, Ms. Han Yu has arrived—"
"What?!" he gasped, before clearing his throat. "I mean, please send her up to the CEO's office immediately. Thank you."
In his excitement, Secretary Zhou hung up on the receptionist and quickly informed his boss that Ms. Han Yu was here. He didn't notice that the receptionist had been trying to call him for 15 minutes.
"Sir, I was just informed that Ms. Han Yu has arrived."
Zhang Yi Zhou stopped walking for a moment, before continuing on to his office, his steps noticeably quicker.
Secretary Zhou almost wanted to laugh out loud from how excited his boss was. Even just the news of her arriving seemed to lighten up the previously dark and gloomy aura around CEO Zhang.
Zhou Mi was super excited himself to see this amazing beast tamer Ms. Han Yu who could upset Zhang Yi Zhou's equilibrium to this extent.
Instead of the gently bred, refined young miss he was expecting, however, it seemed reality was much different.
He and his boss were greeted by the shapely behind of a girl...crawling on the carpet...who appeared to be eating chips scattered all over the floor. Along with a rather tall, muscular man, also on his knees, scrambling to pick up the chips while also preventing the girl from eating the ones she picked up from the ground.
Wait, what?
The girl suddenly looks up, noticing the two of them standing in front of the door.
"Oh, it's you," she said, a smile lighting up her gorgeous face, not even a bit fazed that she was caught eating food off the floor by CEO Zhang. "Husband mine, you got old!"
Wait...what?!!