“I can’t make you suffer if you’re not here to play with.” He didn’t see a point in hiding his motives from her. It made no difference to the outcome, and seeing her squirm like this brightened his previous filthy mood.
It skidded towards her and stopped precisely at the end of the surface so she could reach up for it and take it. She was slow to do so and pulled it back, eyes fastened to his, but he was again focusing on his screen. To him, she was unimportant. He was waiting with glee for her reaction to the contents of that file.
Meilei opened it, scanning the employee contract that would dissolve and renew her current one under Yanhue Corp. This was what HR was doing during evaluations, so it was not a shock her new agreement had been written up. What did worry her was that it seemed to cancel her position entirely.
“What is this?” Meilei didn’t understand what she was reading. Her eyes blurred as the words swayed because her stress levels had elevated to heart-palpating levels. It was an employment contract, but not as a team leader or in tech.
It said nothing about being in IT but instead listed the floor she was on as her department and the title of Administrative assistant. This didn’t seem like a contract for her. She had no clerical experience, and it made no sense.
Meilei sat silently, her body poised in fight or flight mode, trying to get her head around this ridiculous request. He couldn’t be serious. He had told her never to cross paths with him again, and now this. He needed his head examined.
A single tear escaped Meilei’s eye and rolled down her cheek as she looked from him to the contract in her hands and back again. She felt trapped and hopeless. Feelings of being back in that interrogation room five years ago. When officers hounded her relentlessly, she knew they wouldn’t let her leave no matter what she said. She felt that way now, which stoked up many internal pains and unhealed scars. The weight of genuine fear and not knowing how to escape. She had been powerless. Held hostage and experienced a unique kind of despair.
She really did think she was walking in here to resign.
Kai had been waiting for this moment for days, and she had no idea how much he was planning to abuse his position as her boss and give her no other options. She could not do much about it as long as he stayed within a boundary. He knew how far to push to keep it legal. He wanted her to suffer just enough she felt like she was going insane. In the same way his years after leaving had made him feel.
The tears were falling faster and freely despite Meilei trying to stop them, yet she sat as straight as she could muster, swiping one away as it dangled from her chin. Kai had zero sympathy for the pathetic display.
Meilei was silent as her brain raced, staring at the folder she gripped in her hands. Her clammy prints appeared as she moved her fingers. She had no words. Felt like a rabbit caught in a trap, sat here, and had no idea how to get out of this.
Meilei thought hard, recalling what Ling had told her when they first took over OTS, and the four-month detail sprung into her mind. He said he was a temporary figure in this company and would move on when he got the company in order. That meant she would only endure him for four months, and then maybe she could be let go. It was a slight ray of hope in this.
Maybe if she let him do as he pleased and exacted his revenge on her until then, she could save her app, her team, and Ling and then close the door on him when he left.
She could endure it for them. For Yue.
She couldn’t see any other solution. He had her over a barrel, and suing her was something she could never win. She didn’t have the kind of money that would entail or the ability to hire lawyers on top of that. He would ruin her and affect Yue’s life.
“Are you going to just sit there like a mute, wasting my time, or will you give me an answer.” Kai was losing patience. Watching her crying like some damaged victim was getting on his nerves.
“For how long do I have to endure you?” her voice was so quiet and defeated that Kai almost missed it, and she sunk her chin to her chest, closing her eyes in defeat. She couldn’t let Ling and her team suffer for her. She had to deal with this herself, and Kai was out for blood. Trying to plead innocence for the past was not even an option. He didn’t believe her then, and he obviously would not believe her now.
She faltered and glanced at him and then at the paperwork again.
Did that mean he fully intended to let her walk away in four months? The contract dissolved her previous one, and she wouldn’t need to resign when it expired. She would have no employment. She would be free, and so would Ling and her team.