Aside from that awkward conversation between them that morning, the rest of the day went by pretty normally in the first day at work, with Iris showing him the way Seren was structured and taking the time to answer his inquiries between reviewing papers and meetings.
Li Jun had seen Iris' professional side, but being beside her as she made cutthroat decisions one after another without batting an eyelid for the past week had been baffling.
"Most of the operational issues get solved in the management level of every area. Unless it is at a crisis level, it will not reach the CEO's desk," Marco told him at the lunch break in the building's cafeteria. Iris had stood to the side to pick up a phone call, tasking the assistant with filling up her plate and bringing it to the table.
"Yes, I could tell that much."
The contents that made it to Iris' hands were potential acquisitions of new companies for their international expansion, a major server failure, a warehouse burning down and the need to charge the insurance company with the damages. Whenever meeting requests and calls stopped coming towards her, Iris busied herself reviewing the financial health of the filial companies, proposing solutions to slow moving sectors and tasking her teams with steps to take towards a better beginning of the coming year. Everyone was running to finish their year end reports, and the rush could be felt all around.
"I find her to be quite admirable, but I sometimes think she feels a bit alo-"
"Sorry guys it was an urgent call. I swear if that insurance company tries to lower the estimated value of the items in that warehouse to give us less of what they owe us, I will fly down there myself and squeeze their necks dry."
Marco was interrupted mid-sentence by Iris' exasperated speech. Li Jun watched as she ruffled her hair to the side in frustration, revealing the smooth line of her neck that disappeared behind her ear.
"Oh, you got me chicken? But I wanted ribs!"
"You ate pizza again last night, didn't you?"
"I jog every morning. Who cares?"
"At this rate your diet consists on only carbs and saturated fats. Do you want to get pimples?"
"I won't!"
"Oh, you will. If you keep eating that junk, it will happen for sure. You should thank me for taking care of you."
"What do you want me to do, then? You have seen what happens when I try to do something in the kitchen."
Marco shuddered, his eyes reflecting unspeakable horrors that made his brows furrow.
"With all that money you should get someone to cook for you."
"I hate having strangers in my house. Remember how the last cook I hired ended up trying to put a camera in my shower?"
Li Jun interrupted.
"Excuse me, what?"
"Oh, didn't I tell you? That is the reason why I don't invite anyone over anymore. But don't worry, we discovered it before anything happened."
Marco watched in interest as the young man's face darkened, prompting a curious idea to pop in his mind.
"Hey, Li Jun. Can you cook?"
"Yes, he can. He's pretty good too."
The glint in the assistant's eyes turned devilish the second his suspicions had been confirmed.
"Oh, so you have tried his cooking, huh?"
The words were caught in Iris' throat knowing she had slipped up. She hadn't mentioned her previous relationship to Li Jun prior to the internship, but she knew how smart Marco was.
'He probably understood everything now. Stupid dumb mouth.'
Iris practically deflated in her seat. Thankfully, the cafeteria was empty since their lunch was pushed back by the extension of their last meeting.
Chuckling at the sight, Marco proposed his evil plan.
"Well, If you are such a good cook, why don't you cook for our Boss, Li Jun? It would count as extra hours, and the bonus here is quite good if I do say so myself."
"Hey! Don't rub your greedy tendencies on him!"
Marco ignored her, making Li Jun wonder who was the real boss here.
"So? What do you think?"
Li Jun's eyes fell on Iris.
Feeling his piercing gaze, she looked to the side to hide her embarrassment, but her head whipped back in surprise the second he answered.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I can do that."
He was still having a hard time figuring out his thoughts after his conversation with Tian Yu, so he didn't feel it would be right to go back into her home once more when he didn't even know where he stood about everything.
The three fell into silence after that. Li Jun's features had hardened after hearing her speak about a creep coming into her house as if it were nothing. His past made him distrusting, unable to empathize with her willingness to keep opening herself to people after that.
Disappointment flashed on her face, but she understood why he said it. He had established a clear boundary between them a while ago, and although their relationship seemed to be looking better during the past week, it still didn't change the fact that he was not romantically interested in her.
'He's right, this is for the best. We are not even friends to begin with. Only coworkers.'
She straightened her shoulders and looked at her assistant.
"Stop messing with him, Marco. It is not appropriate."
"I apologize."
Marco realized he had crossed the line. Things between them were quite different from what he expected. Now his Boss' bad mood the weeks prior made sense, but he remained confused.
Had he truly been mistaken in his assumptions? How could that be possible with the way Li Jun looked at Iris?
The young man usually remained stoic, but when his eyes fell upon her and he thought no one was looking, his face seemed to soften, tracing the lines of her features as if carving them into his memory.
Clearly there was way more here than what appeared on the surface, but the chemistry between the two did not go unnoticed by him.
The three continued eating in the silent cafeteria, each deep in their own thoughts.
----
Li Jun's tall figure drew in gazes as he walked past the University's gates. Wearing a heavy winter coat and a neat suit for work that morning, he made his way to his classroom.
The semester was almost over, so the only things missing were the final exams and presentations.
He was on his way to retrieve his final essay from his free competition and monopolies course, leaving him with only two evaluations left before he was done. With his current internship at Seren serving as extra credit, he barely had to take a few electives next semester before he had enough to graduate, so it could be said this was his last difficult exam period.
He saw a bunch of purple hair among the crowd that flowed out of the classrooms between class periods, so he raised his voice above the noise.
"Tian Yu!"
His friend turned around and raised his hand to gesture him over.
"Hey! How was work today? I see you had no problems in leaving early."
"It was good. They said there was no problem if I needed to take a few hours off because I'm still a student."
"Oh, the luck of some. I had to practically fight tooth and nail to be able to come."
"It's your first week in the job, besides you knew before joining that ONG's are always understaffed."
Just like Li Jun, who had joined a corporation to add working experience to his resume before graduating, many of the students in their year were doing the same, including Tian Yu, who had chosen to join the marketing team at one of the biggest ONG's in Huisu.
Tian Yu sighed, lifting his hands to his chest in an aggrieved pose.
'Here he goes again,' was what echoed in the minds of not only Li Jun, but the rest of the students walking down the hallway beside them.
"Our society is terrible, how can they leave children to suffer in such a way? Why are there no more brave men and women who want to join such a just cause? We must be ashamed of ourselves! We are a disgrace towards our own kind! What makes us different from feral hamsters who feed on their own offspring?"
"Wait. Hamsters?"
"You didn't know? They're horrible creatures! The most purest form of evil in this world!"
"Weren't we the most evil?"
"We are! Just in an un-pure way. A man can choose to do good or bad, but hamsters can only choose violence. Doesn't that make their existence that much worse?"
"Huh."
"There is some darkness out there in nature, Li Jun. You don't even wanna know the atrocities dolphins commit on a daily basis."
Thankfully for him, they had just reached their class, cutting Tian Yu's rant short before he found higher ground to stand on and something to use as a megaphone.
The crowd around them seemed to release a collective sigh of relief.
The professor walked in soon after.
"Good afternoon, everyone, please take a seat. As you all know, today I will give you back your graded final essay. Most of the class passed, although I might see some of you next semester."
The professor's eyes immediately fell on Li Jun, making him frown.
"Oh, not again," whispered Tian Yu at his side.