Chapter One (Part 2 of 2)
An Xiao Li sat in the ice glacier’s car and fiddled with her seatbelt. She drank a lot at the bar and felt dizzy but the person sitting next to her made her body tensed more than she felt dizzy.
Chen Yu Bai didn’t talk and the atmosphere in his car was heavy awkwardness. An Xiao Li wanted to break the ice but didn’t know what were his interests.
‘CEO Chen, do you have music we can listen to?’ An Xiao Li asked softly.
‘No music,’ the ice glacier said.
An Xiao Li was speechless. She knew when dealing with someone who wasn’t human, there was nothing to talk about with them.
Chen Yu Bai drove silently on a route that didn’t look like he was taking An Xiao Li back to her home. ‘CEO Chen, um, I think you took the wrong turn to take me home.’
‘I want you to accompany me somewhere, there’s something I want you to see,’ Chen Yu Bai said gently and he even turned to give An Xiao Li a wicked smile.
The ice glacier’s wicked smile gave An Xiao Li the shivers.
What Chen Yu Bai wanted to show An Xiao Li was… the sports car she crashed.
‘Um…’ An Xiao Li stalled to think of a reason why she didn’t admit her guilt. ‘CEO Chen, let me explain…’
‘No need,’ Chen Yu Bai said. He gave An Xiao Li a pile of unpaid repair bills. ‘This belongs to you.’
An Xiao Li accepted the repair bills and her head felt like it was about to roll on the floor… one, ten, one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand… was the sports car made from diamonds? Did it have wings to fly to Mars? She only sc.r.a.ped a bit of paint off the sports car, why were there so many zeros on each repair bills?
‘I think you can’t pay off all the repairs at the moment, because you’re my employee I’ll be lenient and let you repay me slowly. Your monthly salary is 4,189.22, times that by twenty, in one year and four months you’ll be able to pay off all the repairs,’ Chen Yu Bai explained.
Chen Yu Bai smiled wickedly and patted An Xiao Li’s shoulder as though he was sympathetic to her plight.
An Xiao Li’s legs became jelly. ‘Hehe… hehe… CEO Chen… you’re… really witty.’
Chen Yu Bai crossed his arms and laughed coldly in a way that asked An Xiao Li – ‘Do you really think I’m kidding?’
‘Ah… I just started working, if I don’t have a salary I’ll starve to death,’ An Xiao Li embellished to evoke Chen Yu Bai’s sense of compa.s.sion.
Chen Yu Bai pretended he was seriously thinking of a solution to help An Xiao Li’s stomach from starving to death. ‘Mmm… I see where you’re coming from. Ok, each month you can budget 1,000 for food allowance, in one year and nine months you’ll be able to pay off all the repair bills.’
Chen Yu Bai softened his wicked smile but An Xiao Li’s eyes looked soulless and he felt a rare sense of amus.e.m.e.nt.
An Xiao Li’s lips trembled, everything around her was a blur, she wanted to faint and play dead… she wanted it to be a bad dream.
‘Also, about the interest we’ll follow the rate of a long term bank loan. It’d take you two years and one month to pay off the repairs plus interest, but I’ll be kind and round it off to three years to give you extra time to pay off your debt. I don’t want my loyal employee to resent me,’ Chen Yu Bai said. He adjusted his gla.s.ses and smiled brightly. ‘For the next three years you can’t quit your job or I’ll consider what you paid off as compensation for my emotional injury from the collision and you’ll still have to pay off all the repair bills.’
An Xiao Li’s world blackened, she fainted. It was the first time she fainted in her twenty years of living.
Ultraman flew down from the sky and his two eyes lit with justice. ‘Xiao Li, don’t worry, I’ll protect you.’
There were love hearts in An Xiao Li’s eyes and she nodded her head. ‘Ultraman, hurry and beat up that wicked ice glacier to death.’
Ultraman smiled sweetly and took off his mask, the handsome face underneath belonged to Chen Yu Bai but he was smiling wickedly at An Xiao Li.
‘Whoa…’ An Xiao Li mumbled.
An Xiao Li opened her eyes slowly after she was conscious again.
‘You’re awake?’ Chen Yu Bai asked.
An Xiao Li sat up – OMG! Did she xxoo with the ice glacier whilst drunk?
‘You don’t have to check your body. I’m not interested in sleeping with a kid. You were drunk and fainted. I drove you back to my place,’ Chen Yu Bai said coldly. He wasn’t happy when An Xiao Li lifted the bed sheet to check her body. ‘Go wash up and make me breakfast.’
A towel and toothbrush was thrown on An Xiao Li’s sleepy face and there were still rheum in the corner of her eyes. She continued to look for signs whether she was torn.
Who did that ice glacier call a kid? An Xiao Li mumbled curses behind his back. Her bra size was cup B, as if he’d seen a kid with a matured body like hers.
An Xiao Li quickly showered in the bathroom. After she returned to the ice glacier’s room she walked around to take a closer look. There was no dust, no unnecessary furnishings that cluttered his room, only one large bed, the ceiling looked cold as his handsome face – it was like his office, everything smelt like him.
Chen Yu Bai’s patience ran out and he knocked on his bedroom door. An Xiao Li reluctantly left the safety of his bedroom that didn’t have a kitchen and its owner in it.
An Xiao Li walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge. There was only a carton of eggs from the supermarkets in the fridge.
An Xiao Li’s eyes were about to be torn from glaring all morning. She scooped some white rice into a bowl, added two eggs and after seasoning she cooked it in the microwave. Presto, scrambled eggs and cooked white rice.
An Xiao Li served the breakfast she cooked to Chen Yu Bai. He didn’t look grateful. ‘What’s this?’
‘It’s delicious!’ An Xiao Li said.
An Xiao Li grabbed her portion into her bowl and happily ate like she always did if there was food in front of her.
Chen Yu Bai stared at An Xiao Li scooping a spoon of her unappetizing breakfast dish into her mouth. ‘Is it delicious?’
‘Um,’ An Xiao Li said and nodded her head in satisfaction.
Chen Yu Bai grabbed her bowl off her, tasted a spoonful of it and creased his forehead but he continued to swallow.
An Xiao Li had trouble swallowing her masterpiece. ‘Why are you fighting over food with me?’
Chen Yu Bai lifted his head from An Xiao Li’s poison dish and looked coldly at her.
An Xiao Li was frozen from the ice glacier’s dagger and changed tactic by sweet talking him ‘Hehe, I was wrong, the food belongs to you. Don’t mind me, go ahead and eat.’
An Xiao Li maintained a stiff smile, inched the ice glacier’s bowl toward her and slowly swallowed food from his bowl.
‘About… CEO Chen?’ An Xiao Li said.
‘What?’ Chen Yu Bai asked.
‘About last night…’ An Xiao Li said.
‘I didn’t do anything. Don’t try to entrap me,’ Chen Yu Bai said.
‘Not that… I meant about the compensation,’ An Xiao Li explained.
An Xiao Li suppressed her anger because she wanted him to smile gently at her and say – ‘An Xiao Li, I was kidding last night.’
‘Oh,’ Chen Yu Bai said.
‘Oh?’ An Xiao Li asked.
‘Oh,’ Chen Yu Bai said.
‘Oh…’ An Xiao Li said.
An Xiao Li’s deflated body fell back on her chair, the ice glacier wasn’t kidding, she was sold!
Chen Yu Bai turned to the side and secretly smiled. He turned back and looked coldly at An Xiao Li. ‘Apart from the dish you cooked for breakfast, do you know how to cook anything else?’
‘Oh…’ An Xiao Li said.
An Xiao Li was mentally depleted and didn’t have the energy to explain Qin Sang was a cooking guru and she learnt some cooking skills from Qin Sang to survive her own cooking.
‘If you make dinner for me each night, I’ll pay you an extra 2,000 a month,’ Chen Yu Bai offered.
‘5,000!’ An Xiao Li bargained.
An Xiao Li inflated her body onto the chair, the ice glacier had deep pockets. A pauper like her was in no position not to exploit it.
‘1,000!’ Chen Yu Bai heartlessly halved his original offer.
‘2,000! 2,000!’ An Xiao Li agreed to the original offer and thought the ice glacier was also a blood sucker.
‘1,500. Plus you need to clean my place each day too,’ Chen Yu Bai said in a don’t-mess-with-me-tone.
An Xiao Li didn’t dare to argue and quickly nodded her head before the blood sucker added more ch.o.r.es.
Chen Yu Bai saw An Xiao Li pouted her lips in defeat. His loyal employee resented him openly and he couldn’t hide his smile any longer.
End of Chapter One (Part 2 of 2)
