Ling simmered back to calmer when she realized it was just that equally jerkish male’s leech-like girlfriend and returned to slamming canisters. That woman was so Team Kai that she was unimportant in this equation. Kai had shit taste in women.
Anna walked smoothly to Tian and picked a piece of lint from his lapel before side-eyeing the chaos in the kitchenette and throwing Tian a raised brow of ‘What’s up with her’ in question and receiving a disinterested shrug. Anna wondered if it was related to Meilei, knowing Tian was somehow mediating in the mess of Kai’s life momentarily, not that anyone had told her anything. She knew Meilei and Liling were close friends and somehow connected in this.
It was a raw topic for Anna, given Kai’s recent avoidance of her and their black wall of silence over that woman’s child. Even Qian couldn’t be bribed for intel and had seemed too busy for even a late-night meal together lately. Since coming to this city, all three men in her life were acting weird and pushing her out.
Kai’s family had flown back and were staying in their old house here. Minhui seemed to be working at their HQ for now, yet no one was opening up. Minhui had been strangely evasive since their dinner, and Anna was getting frustrated with being out of the loop.
Tian, his usually unreadable and cool self, was giving Anna the aura of ‘I don’t care,’ and she let it pass before sliding into the seat next to where he was standing. Assuming this was related to personal matters, their dislike of one another was seeping into work. She sighed and brushed it off as a non-important distraction in her day.
“Seems we’re early today.” She added in perky cheerfulness and eyed up the curvy figure at the side who seemed intent on murdering the coffee machine. That level of angry outpouring was borderline terrifying, and she guessed Manager Huo was in a bad mood.
Her gut instinct had her flicking back to Tian and caught him side-eyeing Ling with a clenched muscle in his jaw before snorting under his breath and returning to what he was setting up. Anna sighed to herself.
Something was going on there, but she knew better than anyone Tian would play it all close to his chest. He was a man who kept his circle small and the people he confided in smaller. She had never been privy to his thoughts despite their close friendship.
She was another Yanhue Corp invader plopped on the executive floor. Probably someone he had worked with for many years, given her over-familiar attitude toward him. She seemed to follow Tian around occasionally, and it wasn’t the first time Ling had seen her and had the urge to throat-punch her right out the door.
“Morning.” Anna and Tian, in unison, greeted the girl, and she slid around the table to sit beside Tian, beaming at him like he was the most amazing human on the planet. It was so gag-worthy.
Tian caught it, straightened up, and replied with a nod. Evasive of her infatuation and irritated she always chose to be so obvious about it. She wasn’t the only woman in this building to repeatedly make their intentions clear, and he found himself impulsively glancing Ling’s way in a weird, almost guilty reaction.
Hemmed in by two beautiful women, yet his focus was on the raging ball of psycho giving him a headache with her scent and noise. He couldn’t understand how, even edged between two perfume-wearing women, he could still smell it. He wondered if he needed therapy or if she needed to tone down how much she was wearing. He had no idea what brand she bought because no other woman in the building seemed to wear it. It was so invasive he could even smell it in his office at odd times.
Finally done with her overly strong cup of killer coffee, Ling waltzed around to her usual seat and slumped down, even though it directly faced Tian and ignored him. Tossing her shoulder bag on the table to slide out her laptop instead. She had no intention of being a shrinking violet in his presence. He could keep waiting if he expected awkwardness and shyness around him.
“Ahhh, Miss Huo, my favorite finance manager.” Mr. Wren walked in, spotting his busty beauty, and slid straight to the seat beside her. Despite being a man in his late fifties and married, he would tirelessly pursue her anytime they crossed paths. Ling sighed to herself, readying for another evasive morning dealing with him. He was creepy but harmless; she could handle men like him in her sleep.
“Morning.” She threw his way casually and engrossed herself in her keyboard. Pulling up this month’s finance report in readiness to tell Lord and King Tian how much profits were up since they took over OTS. Her department had seen a steady rise of data and incoming in the last few weeks since they reshuffled and prioritized certain products. The new marketing efforts were already showing a return.
Ling caught it, though, and smirked to herself.
“Really, I thought it was great. They put so much effort into the event this year, and I heard it was their biggest turnout in three years. What about you, Tian? Did you enjoy it?” The annoying Miss Chen pouted, thrusting her bust and leaning into Tian, raising Ling’s temper. Almost sitting on his lap in eagerness to engage him in conversation. Ling wondered if she would like a foot up to climb on him as she was almost halfway there. She was so shameless.
Tian chuckled and tapped the table.
The two other women exchanged glances, confused and clicking that something weird was happening while Mr. Wren was oblivious. Miss Chen appraised Ling with serious attention and tried to summarise the likelihood of anything going on with Tian, dismissing it as ridiculous. She had known him many years, and women like Miss Liling Huo were the type he avoided like the plague. Brashy, over-sexualized, and pushy women like her irritated him. It stirred up a little green eye envy nonetheless, and she tried to brush it away, wishing the woman would button up her shirt a little.
She choked on her saliva, and her stomach lurched over. Incensed with how blatant he was being and the audacity of the asshole.
The nerve of that man, assuming she had enjoyed what he did to her. That kind of cocky arrogance was why she disliked him so much. For all he knew, she faked every single orgasm, and he was the worst she ever had.
Even if that’s what it was.
Tian snort, tsked under his breath, and just seemed amused.
She knew she had more skills in the sack than most women because she was sexually confident, and he had no right to diss her this way. He was the first man she had sex with outside of a real relationship, and there hadn’t been that many men, but they had been long romances with plenty of bedtimes, and she never had any complaints.