Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
"What's wrong?" In a split second, Ji Ziming had vacated his chair and was before the nervous Pei Ge.
"Nothing." She reflexively hid the cut finger behind her back.
He, of course, noticed her minute action. With furrowed brows, his slender and well-defined fingers pulled the hand she was hiding behind her.
His movement was light and gentle when he pulled her hand.
"I am really fine." She felt a little awkward and tried to retract her hand from his grasp.
Alas, while his hold was gentle, his grip on her wrist was firm.
"Stop moving!" he reprimanded her with a glare.
He was clearly glaring at her, but she did not feel an ounce of danger from it.
Instead, it made her feel… somewhat happy?
That's weird. Why do I feel happy?
She looked at the man squatting beside her and felt a little lost and confused.
"Is it painful?" He continued to hold her hand lightly as he examined the small cut on her bleeding finger, his face revealing a trace of heartache.
"It's painful," she instinctively admitted, but her mind quickly cleared up, and she hastily tried to cover her slip-up, "Actually, after that initial pain, it's no longer that painful."
He eyed her grinning face as she explained that she was fine and coldly harrumphed. He then released her hand and stood up.
At his abrupt change in attitude, she felt a little wronged and aggrieved.
One moment this annoying fellow is treating me well, the next he is treating me coldly. He is so irritating!
"Why are you so careless?" he demanded, making it sound as if she had committed a major crime.
"It's your fault. I was holding it just fine, but then you spoke…" The current Pei Ge was feeling wronged because of his temperamental attitude, so it totally escaped her notice whom she was complaining to and about.
Only after a tirade of complaints did she remember that the person before her was her superior.
Regaining her senses and realizing what she had just thoughtlessly done, she did not dare lift her head and meet his angry face.
She waited for a long time with her head down, but when he remained silent, she carefully raised her head again.
With that raise of her head, she saw that the man, who should have been standing before her, had actually disappeared without her knowledge!
"Er…" Where is he?
She blinked her eyes and perplexedly looked around.
"What are you looking for?"
Just as she was searching for the man, she heard his voice come from behind her.
"Look - Looking for you." She was startled into speaking the truth.
His lips curled upward and his eyes showed gentleness at her answer.
Only upon seeing his upturned lips did she realize what she had just said.
She irately pursed her lips and thought to herself, Could it be that I haven't recovered from yesterday's drinking session, so I am this stupid today?
"Come over here." He noticed her dazed look again and thought the exact same thing Pei Ge had just thought.
Is this dumb woman's reaction this slow today because she hasn't recovered from her drinking activity yesterday?
She looked over and saw him sitting on the sofa where he usually received guests.
"Come over here." Seeing that she had not moved, he patiently repeated himself.
He currently felt that half his lifetime's worth of patience was used on her.
"Oh." She did not know why he would want her to go over, but she still obediently walked toward him.
When she was near enough, he signaled her to sit down by patting the sofa next to him.
"Sit," he lightly ordered.
"Huh?" She looked at him with puzzlement, completely not getting what he was trying to do.
"Sit." He glared at her and coldly remarked, "Why are you so troublesome?"
"Who is troublesome? You are the one who is clearly not making sense here," she complainingly muttered and then sat down beside him with a huff.
"Hand." Since she obediently sat down next to him, he decided not to pursue about what she had just said. Instead, he signaled her to reach out her cut finger by slightly raising his chin.
"For what?" She frowned at him, showing her complete bafflement at his actions.
"Show me your injured finger," he patiently clarified.
She blinked and her eyes drifted for a moment. This was when she spotted something resembling a medical kit sitting on the sofa on his other side.
Er? Does this annoying fellow want to dress my hurt finger?
She eyed the first-aid kit in shock and incredulity.
He, whose patience had been running low because of her sluggishness, reached out his hand and gently pulled hers into his.
The coldness unique to Ji Ziming's hand quickly summoned her soul back into her body.
"You… What are you doing?" she licked her lips and demanded softly.
This annoying fellow never says anything or makes any sound when he does something; how vexing.
He did not answer her question. Instead, he took out an alcohol swab from the medical kit and proceeded to rub it on her injured finger.
"Ssik!" The disinfectant in the swab caused a strong sting when it touched her open wound, causing her to flinch.
"Don't move. Your wound must be disinfected properly." He firmly held her hand while he gently but solemnly coaxed her.
She originally wanted to say that it was merely a small cut and would be fine if she simply washed it with running water, but upon seeing how serious he was at cleaning her wounded finger, she swallowed her words.
He carefully and thoroughly disinfected her injured finger before discarding the alcohol swab.
His attentiveness, for some reason, made her heart beat erratically.
This annoying fellow… must've taken the wrong medicine today, right?
No! He's been under the wrong medication from the very start!
He treats me well sometimes and mistreats me at other times. It's as if he were off his rocker.
She mumbled inwardly while staring dazedly at the man's handsome features as he carefully treated her wound. She was still doing this when he finished dressing her wound with a plaster.
"Done," he declared, looking at her finger in satisfaction.
He was clearly talking coldly, but she only felt warm inside right now.
She raised her hand to look at her injured finger that was now wrapped with the plaster, and a gentle smile uncontrollably formed on her mouth.
If only this annoying fellow doesn't keep changing attitude and just remains 'kind', then it won't be that bad!
She looked at the beige plaster on her finger and her lips curled upward.
"… Thank you," she squeezed out words of gratitude after a long pause.
He raised an eyebrow at her grateful words and then wordlessly got up off the sofa.
"Mhm." He slowly strode toward his desk and sat back down to peruse the same files he had been looking at a while ago.
Noticing his nonchalance, she put some effort into calming the rapid beating of her heart.
"CEO Ji, can I leave now?" She got up off the sofa as well and smiled at him.
"You can go out now." He raised his head and peered at her.
She nodded at him and turned to leave. She brought the broom and dustpan with her when she walked out of his office.
The moment she left his office, she sucked in a deep breath.
Pei Ge, stop flattering yourself.
After telling herself this, she returned the cleaning tools to where she had taken them and went back to her workstation.
"Yo! It's no wonder a certain someone dared to be late."
She heard Lu Huiya's mocking the moment she entered the CEO Secretariat.
She did not bother with the other's ridiculing and just settled on her seat once more. Without showing any indication that she had heard her, she calmly flipped open the document in her hand.
Since she did not give her any reaction, Lu Huiya probably felt that it was not worth pursuing the matter and, after muttering something, fell silent.
The morning passed by in a blur and it was soon noon.
Pei Ge was originally intending to have lunch with Pan Xinlei and Qin Qitong at the company's cafeteria, but a sudden phone call made her change her eating location.
"Sister Ge Ge, why are you not having lunch with us? Could it be that you are going on a date with your boyfriend?" Qin Qitong grinned as she posed this question.
Once she had made her relationship with Ji Ziming clear to Qin Qitong, although the latter felt slightly regretful that she would not become her cousin-in-law, their relationship was not affected in the least.
"What nonsense are you spouting? Didn't I tell you yesterday that my longtime best friend is back? I'm having lunch with her today." She cast the gossipy Qin Qitong an amused look.
"Tsk. That best friend again…" The other unhappily pursed her lips.
After bidding Qin Qitong and Pan Xinlei goodbye, she picked up her handbag and quickly left the company building.
Reaching the bus stop by the building, she was about to flag down a taxi to head to her and Tang Xiaoyu's agreed-on meeting place when an extremely familiar car stopped before her.
She blinked in puzzlement at the black Maybach before her.
Although its tinted windows were not rolled down and one could not see inside the car, she could still tell with certainty that the one driving the car was Ji Ziming.
"Wow! What an expensive car!"
"Why did it stop here? Is the driver picking someone up?"
The car window slowly rolled down under the onlookers' murmurings at the bus stop.
As she had guessed, the person driving the car was none other than the man.
"CEO Ji?" While she already expected it, she still thought that it was a little strange. Why did this annoying fellow appear before me again?
"Get in," he calmly ordered, seemingly not noticing her confusion.
"Huh? Oh." She was momentarily frozen from shock but quickly regained her composure.
She coolly got into his car under the onlookers' shocked and disbelieving looks.
pαпdα Йᴏνê|,сòМ Having experienced the same thing in the morning, she directly moved to sit in the passenger seat.
Pak!
Once she shut the door, she turned to look at him with puzzlement.
"CEO Ji, are you sending me again?" Not understanding his intention, she continued to look at him perplexedly.
If he doesn't like me, then why does he treat me differently? If he likes me… Hur hur! Why does he treat me critically and cynically sometimes? I really don't know what to say about this.
"Where are you going?" he did not answer her question but only asked straightforwardly.
"Oh, Daoxiang Hotel," she informed him of her and Tang Xiaoyu's meeting place.
"What are you going to do there?"
She speechlessly rolled her eyes at his question.
"Of course, it's to have lunch."
"Who are you having lunch with?" he coldly interrogated.
"… CEO Ji, did you have a change of profession and is now a policeman? Why does it sound as if you're interrogating a criminal right now?" She exasperatedly pouted at his ridiculous questioning.
The car ambiance tensed once she asked these sarcastic questions.
She caught his dark expression yet did not know what she had said wrongly to provoke this CEO's anger again.
Fine! Next time, I'll make sure to steer clear when I see this car.
The car fell silent because of her questions. The man did not continue his questioning, which resembled the police's background check, of her.
He only gripped the steering wheel tightly and stared straight ahead.
"You actually know who I'm going to have lunch with. It's my best friend who was with me at Hotel Vista last night." Pondering on it for a while, she decided to explain.
"Oh." After a pregnant pause, he nodded and appeared unconcerned with her answer.
Still, at her words, the tension pervading the air inside the car slowly dissipated.
She was clueless as to why he would send her to the hotel but did not bother to ask him. Her current mentality was that the lesser one spoke, the fewer mistakes one would make.
This was also to prevent her from saying anything that would unknowingly offend the man and make him show her another black face.
The car finally reached Daoxiang Hotel amid this silence.
She quickly unbuckled her seatbelt once the car stopped.
CEO Ji, thank you for sending me over," she smilingly thanked him and then opened the car door.
She, who had gotten off his Maybach and was about to enter the hotel, saw him pass the car to a valet and follow her.
She blinked in confusion and asked inwardly, What does this annoying fellow want again?
"CEO Ji, why are you following me?"
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