On Saturday evening, Professor Li Na was at home writing and combining the lesson material she was going to use for her next class when she heard a knock on her door.
She leaped up as the knocking becomes a pounding, and that's when she heard Xiu call out, "Li Na, are you in there?! Come out and open the door. These things are heavy".
She hurries to the front door and opens it for her friend, who appears to be more than a little irritated.
"Hey! How are you?" She greeted her with a smile as she collected the bunch of old newspapers and food items which Xiu was carrying.
"Hello, My dearest friend," she snaps as she stomps inside the house, heading straight to the kitchenette.
Li Na followed her, waiting for her to announce why she's here and why she seemed pissed.
She makes a beeline for the refrigerator, swinging the door open and grabbing a couple of drinks that Li Na bought yesterday.
"I've been texting and calling you since this morning, but have yet to hear back from you. I was really starting to worry something had happened to you. I thought I was gonna come over here and find you since you didn't bother to call me that you are back." she said
"Oh, and the newspapers are from my father's old collections. He wanted to throw them away and I remembered that you recycled them as paper mache for making pots for your plants" she continued as she turned around to hand Li Na one of the bottles.
"Thank you Xiu, I was preoccupied with the sudden news of my father who was admitted into the hospital and—" Li Na replied as she placed the newspaper at her side and sat on the tiled floor.
"Wait hospital? What happened? Is he alright?" she asked concern evident on her face.
"Yes, he had an accident some days ago; the nanny called me and told me that it happened when he was coming back from work. I called the family doctor to confirm and I was told that he was still in critical condition. So I've not been able to call you to call or visit you at the office to tell you that I'm back."
"wow! That's pretty serious. So what about your mom?" she asked
"I called her and she was not picking… so I decided not to go back home for now but I'll keep finding out how his health progresses either from the hospital or my nanny." Li Na murmured.
"Wow, your mom... I don't know what to say " Xiu shakes her head.
"So Li Na the cougar, tell me what's going on with the relationship with your student/CEO?" she asked changing the topic to lighten the mood.
Li Na looked over at her with an expression that resembled sarcasm. "well, it progressing fine… he took me back home on the day I was told about my father, it's raining and my car was not working. He cheered me up when I was dejected and I took him to the restaurant as a gesture of gratitude for staying with me." She shrugged as she was sorting out the newspapers from their bundles.
"So?" Xiu prompted as she tucked her legs beneath her on the couch and leaned into the corner.
"So what?" Li Na raised her eyebrows.
"You know what, Li Na." Grabbing her Tablet off the small table, Xiu propped it on her crossed legs. "Are you going to tap that or what?"
"Gosh I'm just getting to know him, I can't just jump him like that. Remember the non-fraternization rule"
"Oh! Really." she started typing on his tablet. "Li Na you need to come out of your shell, this guy is young, Interested in you, A CEO and both of you are adults, He is not a high schoolboy. See I know you are afraid of commitment but you need to stop being cowardly about your happiness. Live your life as if there's no tomorrow. Bullshit with the non-fraternization rule. Rules are meant to be broken"
The hand Li Na was running through her loose hair stilled. "I know and I'm trying."
"You know," Xiu turned her tablet screen and showed Li Na the home page of Lu Corporation, which boasted an awesome photo of the Lu businesses across Taiwan. "His company is even sponsoring scholarships and disbursing bursaries for students in our university."
"He has people to handle marketing for his subsidiaries. Probably dozens of people to handle it. So do you think he is going to blackmail you for sleeping with him? He has categories of women to choose from but he chooses you his Professor, talk about forbidden interest. I think he's genuinely interested in you if he's taking his time with you." Xiu grinned.
"Stop talking, Xiu"
"He's hot, rich, and he likes you. What's the problem?"
Li Na looked at her. "It's just that if it does not work out, it's going to be awkward running into him all the time since he's my supervise and I'm his supervisor. I'm hoping to hang on to my job for a long while. I really like it. I really love it here Xiu and I don't want to jeopardize it with a silly fling."
"Hey! I won't say you should forget what happened with your ex but learn from it and don't let it be a burden. Remember what Dr. Liú Cheung says about calculated risks? When your shrink tells you to take some, you should take some. You can deal with it. You and Li Jun are both adults."
Xiu turned her attention back to her Internet search. "Wow. Did you know he doesn't turn thirty for another three years? Think of the stamina."
"No, you think of the threat to my Job. I'm scared of the attraction towards him. I don't want to be disappointed again. "
Xiu paused and looked up at her, her eyes softening with sympathy. "I'm sorry, baby girl. You're so strong, so much stronger than I am. I just don't see you carrying around the baggage I do. If not for the love from my parents and you, I would have done dangerous thing to that idiot ex of mine and I would not love my Le Le as I do today"
"I don't think I am, most of the time," she mumbled and looked away because she didn't want to talk about what they had been through in their pasts. "
Browsing through her phone Xiu came upon the news page detailing the death of Li Jun's parents, as she passed her phone to Liana Soberly.
Liana thought it was like watching a train wreck to read that he was the son of Lu, former chairman of an investment agro-firm that was growing steadily. Li Jin was just about to celebrate his twentieth birthday when his parents were both attacked by a suicide bomber on the plane which was headed to France.
Oh, Li Jun, she tried to picture him that young and imagined a handsome dark-haired boy with beautiful brown eyes filled with terrible confusion and sadness. The image broke her heart. How devastating his parents' death—and the circumstances around it—must have been, for both him and his sister. The stress and strain at such a difficult time would've been enormous.
It seemed that his grandparents had taken both him and his sister in to help them stabilize after such a huge shakeup. his sister's picture was not shown on the newspiece or internatHe seemed closed off not to bear some painful emotional scars.
With a critical and curious eye, Li Na noticed that there was not much information about him. And there was a woman who appeared with him most often bore the hallmarks of Hispanic heritage. She was taller than her, willowy rather than curvy.
"Daiyu Perez," she murmured, grudgingly admitting that she was a stunner. Her posture had the kind of flashy confidence that she appreciated.
"Okay, it's been long enough," Xiu interrupted with a soft note of amusement. She was, leaning insolently on the couch with a smirk evident in her mouth.
"Really?" she'd been so absorbed; she hadn't realized how much time had passed.
She gave Xiu her tablet and stood up.
"Interesting reading, isn't it?"
"Very." How had Li Jun's parents' death—influenced his life? Li Na thought.
That made her smile. Xiu could always do that. "well" she shut her tablet with a decisive snap. "What should we do tonight?"
"I was thinking we should go check out that gym studio down the street."
She'd done a little research after Albert invited her during the lunch she had with Li Jun at Restaurant and as the week passed the thought of having that kind of raw, physical outlet for stress seemed more and more ideal.