Li Jun walked through the entrance of the Seren Corp building, straightening his tie as he saw his reflection on the glass doors.
He had worn his only presentable suit and tie and woke up early in order to arrive on time. The voices of excited people surrounded him as he recognized some faces from the event he had attended before.
Just like him, they were in their first day in the company, standing out with their wandering gazes and wide smiles. Carefully avoiding bumping his shoulders with anyone, he followed the throng of people to the reception desk where a young woman smiled brightly at him.
"Good morning, what can I help you with?"
Already uncomfortable with the densely packed surroundings, the receptionist's smile felt sticky on his skin, making him unable to reciprocate her cheerful demeanor.
"Morning. I am here for my internship. I was told I had to come here to retrieve my credential."
The woman's smile almost faltered at his frigid stare. She had not expected this handsome young man to have such a menacing gaze.
"Oh, uh, yes. Please tell me your name and internship supervisor."
"Li Jun. My internship supervisor is Iris Zhou."
A small silence fell on the group at the front of the desk. All of the new recruits knew the CEO's name, while few were aware of the fact that she could be a supervisor as well.
The receptionist's eyes widened in surprise, but after checking the list she realized it was the truth. Clearing her throat, she passed on some papers above the counter and asked Li Jun to sign them, all while studying his face with renewed curiosity.
"Here is your credential, you will need it to pass through the building's security. There are instructions for you to use the executive elevator, it is that one on the right. Human Resources should contact you soon with the details of your contract and tasks, but for now you can head straight up. Miss Zhou's office is in the top floor."
Not wanting to be ogled at any longer, Li Jun repositioned his backpack on his shoulder and grabbed his things before muttering a quick thank you and leaving the scene.
He was alone on his way up since the rest of the people used the regular elevators, giving him time to breathe deeply and calm his beating heart.
Li Jun struggled with crowded places and tried to avoid them as much as possible, feeling like a rock weighted down on his chest making his vision blurry. He pressed his fingers to his brows while squeezing his eyes, with only the soft dings of the elevator going from floor to floor to accompany his ragged breaths. He focused on the rhythm of his inhales until the ringing on his ears finally subsided and he managed to stand straight again.
Looking at his haggard reflection on the mirrored wall he couldn't help but look away.
'Pathetic.'
Before he could keep berating himself, the robotic voice from the elevator's speaker announced its arrival at his destination.
"Ding! Top floor."
The doors opened to reveal a neat hallway leading to a reception desk and a pair of heavy wooden doors. Through a glass wall on the side, he could see a big conference room framed by the view of Huisu's business skyscrapers shrouded in the winter's morning mist.
The snow sparkled with the rays of the sun peeking through the buildings, making him pull his eyes away from the brightness.
"Good morning. You must be Li Jun."
The voice with a thick accent recalled his attention towards a tall man wearing a pristine suit and shiny shoes. His olive skin and professional smile made Li Jun instantly recognize him as Iris' infamous assistant, Marco.
"Good morning."
Without wasting any time, Marco quickly guided him toward the doors with wide strides while talking back to him over his shoulder.
"The Boss is in an international call with the occidental headquarters right now, but she should be almost ready now so you can head straight in. Your desk is set up inside her office so you can more easily follow along to all her daily task tasks. Here, give me your coat."
Li Jun pulled the woolen coat of his shoulders, passing it to Marco who carefully hung it as if it were a piece of fine art instead of clothes from the discount store that had seen better days.
"Thank you."
"No problem. I am right here if you need me. Oh, and please hand this over to the Boss when you go in."
With a heavy stack of documents tucked in his arm, Li Jun lifted his hand to knock on the door, hearing a faint 'come in' from the other side.
The office was wide and spacious, with several bookshelves filled with tomes and prizes Seren Corp and Iris herself had won over the years. The furniture was simple but elegant, reminding Li Jun of the times he had gone to Iris' apartment, giving him a feeling of comfort and familiarity. A big screen on the wall across the desk projected the faces of the heads of the company, heatedly discussing the newest operational master plan for the next year. Sitting on a leather chair, Iris listened quietly, nodding from time to time.
With her back to the view, she seemed surrounded by sparkling clouds, the light shining through her tresses while her manicured fingers rested on her chin. Her eyes brightened in recognition when she saw Li Jun, subtly gesturing for him to take a seat in one of the couches while she wrapped up the meeting, adding some final corrections before saying her goodbyes.
After finally hanging up the call, she stood up.
"Li Jun, you're here! I'm sorry, the meeting ran long after a few issues popped up in one of our subsidiaries. Did you have any problems with your credential?"
"Thank you, I had no problems. Marco told me to hand this to you."
Iris then looked at the papers in his hands, frowning the moment she saw them.
"Marco, that cheeky bastard. I told him I would review those tomorrow. This is his way of saying I should have time to do them today. Just leave them on the desk, we have to go our weekly operational review with the heads of every department."
Li Jun did as he was told and stood up, staring curiously at Iris' back while her clacking heels marched in front of him.
He knew he was the one that said he didn't mind working with her because he trusted her professionalism to not let what happened between them affect their professional relationship, but seeing it in the flesh was completely different from what he expected.
Iris eyes when she looked at him showed no trace of the care for him they had reflected before, and her smile didn't crinkle the corners of her eyes like he was used to. Her posture was firm, just like it had been when she spoke at the charity event, worlds away from the image he had of her with her feet tucked under her body as she munched on popcorn while watching movies.
She really was treating him as a colleague, just like he had asked, but somehow he felt a bit bitter. His fists clenched unconsciously, and before he knew it, his face was somber while he looked at Iris send a glare at Marco, who smiled at her without a care in the world.
Did she really not care anymore?
At this, his thoughts screeched to a halt, stopping him mid-step as well.
Had he gone crazy? He was the one who had asked to cut everything off, what was he expecting? If anything, Iris was doing him a favor and here he was resenting her, for what? For not liking him anymore? Wasn't that exactly what he wanted?
He rubbed a hand down his face and sighed.
This morning he almost had a panic attack in the elevator at being surrounded by some people, how could he ever expect anything more from what they already had?
"Li Jun, are you coming?"
Iris and Marco both stood at the door of the conference room, with some people already taking their seats inside.
Clearing his head he quickly nodded and followed them in.
A chair was reserved for him right next to Marco on Iris' right side. He took his seat and watched as the last managers made their way in, along with two other people he quickly recognized as the other two interns in the mentorship program from their intense stares directed at Iris. The rest of the people in the room were completely used to her presence, making them stand out like sore thumbs.
Once they were all seated, Iris spoke up.
"Now that everyone is here, let's begin by introducing the three mentees from our mentorship program this year. Would you like to present yourselves?"
The question was directed at Li Jun, but before he could answer, a young man stood up.
"May I go first? I am Chen Fu, the intern in the marketing department. Let me take this chance to thank CEO Zhou for giving me the opportunity to participate in the program. I will not let you down."
Iris nodded and smiled, although she had to reign in a scowl. She disliked boot lickers the most, specially those that tried to look better than others.
She didn't know much about this young man, but she could judge a lot of his character from the cold gaze he had directed at Li Jun the moment he entered the room.
"Thank you, Mr. Chen. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Iris then directed her eyes towards Li Jun, prompting him to stand up as well.
"I am Li Jun. I will be accompanying Miss Zhou in the future as his mentee. Thank you."
He quickly sat back down, doing his best to ignore the intense stares he felt on his body. His heart rate picked back up, making him clench his teeth. Preventing him from falling into the spiral any further, the last mentee stood up.
"My name is Bai Xiu, my internship is in the procurement department. Pleased to meet you all."
The girl with dress pants, sneakers and sharp eyes was the last intern in the mentorship program. Like Li Jun, she quietly bowed and sat back down, her gaze facing Iris while waiting for her to begin the meeting.
Iris then passed the word over to Marco, who would present he agenda for he day, and the weekly operational review began. Li Jun took note of relevant dates and events to come, along with any interesting concepts that called his attention.
Nothing was out of the ordinary, until the very last point in the agenda was addressed.
"Alright, so in the 'others' item on the agenda, does anyone have anything to add before we adjourn this meeting?"
"I have something, Boss."
Marco turned to her.
"Seren Corp has received an invitation to the annual International Commerce Conference right before the end of the year. We can bring a team and they wanted to know if we can present our vision for the investment industry for the year to come."
"Alright then. I'll give the speech. If anyone here would like to participate, please contact Marco in order to align the schedules. We still have two more weeks before the conference, so there should be no problem if we organize ourselves with time, but remember our priority right now is to get that Government bidding proposal ready before the due date next month. Anything else?"
Marco lifted his hand.
"Yes, Marco?"
"They asked us to inform them if we intend to bring a date."
The cheekiness in his eyes was evident, as he smugly watched his Boss' face sour.
"Thank you, Marco. Now, for the last time, is there anything else we need to discuss?"
Silence ensued.
"Perfect. Then this meeting is over. Thank you."
The attendees stood up to leave the room with Iris and Li Jun following suit, when they were stopped at the door by Chen Fu, who eagerly stretched his hand out to Iris.
"Miss. Zhou, I would like to introduce myself again, I'm Chen Fu. I truly, honestly, thank you for this amazing opportunity. I have been wanting to join Seren Corp ever since I saw it had arrived in Huisu. I followed your investments in sustainable energy through social media and I really admire your vision..."
Iris looked over the man's shoulder towards Li Jun who had stepped aside. They locked eyes for a second, and he seemed to tell her to be patient with his resigned face.
As the people walked through, Li Jun scooted more and more towards the window to avoid being so close to them, when he suddenly bumped his toe in the corner of the secretary's desk, making him almost double over in pain. He tried his best to keep his face straight as he reigned in the impulse to jump on one foot and howl. When he came to, Iris was staring at him with mirth in her eyes, all while nodding at whatever Chen Fu was saying.
Iris wanted to laugh out loud, but she held her chuckles inside to avoid being rude to the over-enthusiastic recruit who kept babbling without the apparent need to breathe between sentences.
Before he could continue for eternity, Iris finally decided to subtly interrupt him.
"Mr. Fu, thank you for your kind words. I hope you can achieve your goals in your time here in Seren. Now, if you would please be so kind, I have an urgent international meeting that I cannot postpone."
"Oh, no! Please, go ahead! The last thing I would want is to take up your time."
Iris blinded him with her thousand-watt professional smile.
"Thank you for understanding. I will see you around. Have a good day."
"Have a good day too, Miss. Zhou!"
Iris and Li Jun left for her office, with him closing the door behind them as they left the hallway.
"Well, someone has an admirer."
Iris let herself fall on her desk chair.
"Jealous?"
They stared at each other before bursting out laughing.
"Hahaha! Your face was so-"
"Pfft. Don't you even start! How was I supposed to keep my composure with you looking at me like that?"
"You looked so funny! I could barely hold it in when I saw you limping all the way here. "
They crackled until they were heaving for air. Iris, who was now wiping he tears from her eyes, thanked the architects of this building for providing her office with thick doors that prevented the sound from going through.
"Hoo, that was terrible."
"Yes, it was."
"And that Chen guy."
"Yeah."
"Are people around you always like that?"
"Not all, but way more than one would expect."
"The poor man was about to light a candle right there."
Iris smiled again, this time in the true, wide grin that Li Jun had been used to seeing. His breath caught in his throat at the sight. The pain in his foot was completely forgotten. It felt just like it did before they drifted apart.
"That is why I told you I like that about you. You talk to me like normal. Like anyone else."
An awkward silence fell on them after Li Jun found himself unable to answer. He felt that bitter feeling rising in his chest again. Noticing the odd atmosphere she had created, Iris spoke up again.
"Ehem, so... How about we get to work?"