No matter how much she tried, Rose Young couldn’t concentrate during the meeting at all. It was fortunate that there was nothing major to report about the status of the current project that her marketing department was handling. Everything was progressing smoothly thanks to the quality and consistency of her work and management.
Throughout the meeting, her thoughts would drift to the crumpled magazine that she slipped inside her file folder. She was so distracted about it that most of her colleagues couldn’t help but notice her uncharacteristic quietness today. They had already gotten used to her usual active participation during meetings in an obvious attempt to show everyone that she deserved her position as Jin Corporation’s new Chief Marketing Officer and also her repeated failed attempts to strike a conversation with President Jin. Despite them noticing, nobody commented about it because they also knew that President Jin didn’t care about her at all.
Some of them even had an idea of why she was acting so off like this today. They had also seen the shocking front page of a certain popular magazine earlier this morning.
After a somewhat uneventful meeting, Jin Liwei stood up and was about to leave when everyone except for Rose Young started speaking to him at the same time.
“Congratulations on your marriage, President Jin!”
“What a happy occasion! Big congrats, President! You’re finally a married man.”
“You can really keep a secret from us! We had no idea that you’re already married! Was the break you took for your honeymoon?”
“I saw the front page of À la Mode earlier this morning. You and Miss Long look great together!”
Some of the greetings were heartfelt while some were only superficial but Jin Liwei didn’t care if they were just brownnosing. Their words of congratulations for his marriage immediately put him in an excellent mood. His mouth curved into an obvious, very pleased smile. He seemed to glow all of a sudden, looking every bit like a newly-wed which he was one.
“Call my wife Mrs. Jin from now on, not Miss Long,” he corrected.
“Understood, President.”
“Please bring Miss Long—I mean Mrs. Jin here to the company so that we could also convey our congratulations to her.”
“Maybe some other time.” Jin Liwei gave a noncommittal wave of his hand to the request. His wife was having a difficult pregnancy during this time, so he didn’t feel comfortable bringing her to his company where she would surely attract a great deal of attention, especially after today’s sudden, exclusive revelation of their wedding through À la Mode magazine. There was no way that he would risk her safety and that of their babies just so that his employees could congratulate her in person.
Ketchup had informed him through text during the meeting that several paparazzi and reporters were already starting to camp outside Jin Corporation and Orchidia Beauty. Jin Liwei took comfort in the fact that Iris was safe and sound inside their home. Only stupid people would dare to sneak into Dragon Palace Homes where the security was one of the strictest in the entire country.
After the enthusiastic round of congratulations, Jin Liwei felt that these people were quite pleasing to the eye today. He made a decision right then and there. “Make time on Friday. I’ll treat you to dinner to celebrate the fact that I’m now a married man.”
A few cheers sounded in the room. These people had become more comfortable around Jin Liwei ever since he started a relationship with the woman he now called his wife. His previous cold and indifferent demeanour had now thawed bit by bit. He was still cold and indifferent most of the time but had become much more approachable to others. That was why these people dared to act friendly like this to him. If this was before, they wouldn’t dare let out a squeak or even breathe too loudly in his presence for fear of earning his displeasure. They knew that it was all thanks to Iris Long, the new madam of the Jin family.
Finally, the executives started to file out of the meeting room after Jin Liwei and Xu Tian left. Rose Young, who had been silent and forgotten during the entire round of cheerful conversation filled with congratulations, finally opened her mouth and started chasing after the two of them.
“Wait! Big Brother Liwei, please wait! I have something I need to talk to you about.”
Jin Liwei’s great mood disappeared. His cold and indifferent demeanour returned as he ignored her as usual and continued walking, not pausing in his steps at all. It was Xu Tian who stopped and frowned at her.
“CMO Young, we’re in the workplace. It’s highly inappropriate for you to call President Jin so…casually like that.” Xu Tian had been about to use the word “intimately” but changed it to “casually” at the last second.
Women were weird and mysterious creatures. Xu Tian couldn’t afford to be careless in his word choice because it might fuel this particular woman’s delusions about his boss even more. If that really happened, he wouldn’t only have to face the ire of his own boss but also that of his lady boss and the frighteningly life-like cat AIs whom the couple treated as their children.
The adorable white cat AI, Ketchup, was still fine and very easy to get along with especially since they worked closely together almost every day. It was the other one, the black cat Bacon, to whom Xu Tian couldn’t help but feel cautious. Bacon always spoke politely but the truth was that he was an extremely vengeful little monster when offended. Thankfully, Xu Tian didn’t need to interact too much with Bacon. He would take the chatterbox over the polite little monster anytime, thank you very much.
His frown deepened when Rose Young ignored him and went past him to continue chasing after his boss. “CMO Young, what are you doing?! Stop right there!”
There weren’t a lot of people in the hallway at this time but the commotion still attracted some attention. However, upon seeing that it was involving their President Jin, the handful of witnesses all pretended to be dumb and hurried out of the way.
