Li Fei heard footsteps coming from behind and on turning, she saw that it was Jin Liwei but she noticed him glare at her before entering the company building. She wondered if she had done something wrong and suddenly realization struck her that she was carrying flowers and gifts in the hours of work. He was probably displeased that she was leisuring around instead of working.
"You have such a wonderful and caring boyfriend," came a voice behind her and she turned to see that it was Mr Jing Yue. "Oh! Mr Jing Yue, good afternoon. He's not my boyfriend. He's a friend," she explained and he nodded before saying," Hmm. Such a caring friend, isn't he? Please excuse me."
With that, he went inside leaving her behind and she wondered if there was much to what he said.
In the night, Liling was on WeChat when a message popped into her chat list and on seeing the sender, she became surprised.
'What are you still doing on phone this late?' it read. What makes him think that he can be awake this late and not me? She thought to herself. 'I'm soon sleeping Boss,' she replied. 'You're talking to your boyfriend?' he teased knowing that she had no boyfriend. 'No,' she replied.
'You're done talking to him?' he asked once again. 'I don't have a boyfriend,' she replied.
'Why?' 'It's personal,' she replied. She felt like right now, she would reply without being courteous because one it was past work hours and two, he was asking about her private life.
In Liling's perception, it was apparent that the CEO was being flirtatious with her simply because he wanted to pass his time and leave her the next moment. She believed that no man as perfect as him would settle for someone like her, an ex-convict. She therefore reminded herself multiple times that she had to keep her feelings and emotions in check whenever she dealt with him.
'Okay. I remember you promising to tell me why you were imprisoned,' he reminded her.
'Its way too personal too,' she replied. 'At least have the decency to honor your promise,' he texted and she thought hard before replying. 'Okay. I was betrayed by my fiancee and best friend. You're happy now?' she sent only to receive,' It is always the ones we trust that betray us. Tell me exactly what happened.' She felt like she could trust him even though she hadn't met him for so long.
She promised to narrate everything to him in person whenever they got the chance.
Wishing him goodnight, she left WeChat and decided to sleep.
One day, Li Fei was in bed when she received Liling's call telling her to go to Weibo. On checking she was surprised to see the news. Several pictures of her had been posted announcing to the world that she had been released long time ago. The news were on every blog and there were mixed reactions from people. Many of her fans said that her style and demeanor had changed basing on the pictures. Some were happy for her that she got to come out of jail while others cursed her saying that there was no justice when it comes to the rich. There were other rumors saying that she was rebuilding her modeling career again in Shanghai. She knew that sooner or later, the news of her release would reach other people.
But she realized one thing, all the pictures on social media were taken while she was at work which meant that the person who had released them was working in the company. Liling called back and she asked," How are you feeling right now?" "Nervous. But I have nothing to do about it," she said. "I understand. They are going to talk but you should just ignore their words," said Liling before continuing," And please be careful while at work because it's clear that someone from the company uploaded those pictures."
"I will. Thank you so much. Have a good night," she said before hanging up and she went back to Weibo. Rumors had it that she worked in the Jins company which shocked many. They didn't know where she stayed at the moment. Her main concern was how she was going to fit in the workers with them having discovered her identity. She wondered if her reputation won't affect the performance of the company. She also wondered what Jin Liwei thought about the news
The next day at work as Li Fei had predicted, she saw that the employees were looking at her differently. Some were glaring at her labelling her a murderer while others were looking at her mercifully. They couldn't believe that they had been working with her but not able to recognize her. No wonder her face seemed to be farmiliar to most but they couldn't pinpoint on where they had seen her. What confused most of them was the fact that the CEO had hired her. Hadn't he recognized her like them?
During the day, Caihong called and sympathised, encouraging her to be strong.
In the evening when almost everyone had left the company, Yun Shi walked around the whole building and noticed that a few employees were still on the premises. She still had to wait for sometime to execute her plan. Checking the time, it was eight and she sighed walking back to her cubicle busying herself with some work. When it clocked nine, she went to the washroom and applied a light makeup on her face then grinned at her reflection in the mirror. Tonight, she was making the CEO, Jin Liwei hers.
She made her way towards his office and she knocked before pushing the door open. As expected, he was busy on work. He raised his eyes to see who it was and on seeing her, his eyes went back to what he was doing and asked," You're still here?" "Yes CEO. I had some work to finish and I decided to stay back," she answered but he didn't look at her. Seeing this, she continued, "CEO Jin, I came to inform you that I will be present in my cubicle incase you need anything."