June 15th, Wednesday – 1st day
Like any other day, when Lily woke up early in the morning, she would do some yoga exercises before taking a shower. But this morning, she had to pay extra attention to her make-up, carefully applying layers of concealer to hide her panda eyes because she had a sleepless night.
Not being able to fall asleep was torturous for Lily. She kept on tossing and turning because her mind kept thinking about Zhuo Jingren’s proposal even though she had flatly rejected him there and then. Lily decided that she didn’t want to get personally involved in the discussion with Zhuo Jingren about purchasing his shares in Qin Enterprises. She would send a representative to talk to him instead. Moreover, even if Zhuo Jingren refused to sell the shares to her, she still had a Plan B which was to buy over the shares from the other smaller shareholders.
“President, I apologize for what happened yesterday. My mother ate too much and suffered indigestion…” Yang Mi apologised immediately the moment she saw Lily coming out of her room.
“It’s fine. How is your mother now?” she asked, while looking in the direction of Li Shanshan’s room. Lily had not seen Li Shanshan at all yesterday and she couldn’t help but wonder if her friend had another emergency on set with her current film.
“She is doing fine. My sister arrived last night so I don’t have to worry about my mother and was able to return to work .”
“Alright, that’s good then. What is my itinerary for today?” she asked while stuffing some cut fruits and vegetables into the blender.
“You have a skype call at 0900 hours London time, that will be 1600 hours local time. The purpose of the call is to be updated about the current status of our infrastructure projects in Mexico and Japan. You have another meeting with our Directors scheduled at 2000 hours local time. Last night, I have also received the latest annual reports of the three retail companies that we just acquired. I already sent them to your email and I also have printed a set for you to review.”
“Good. Ah yes…I want the plans and design for Harmony Isle to be completed by the end of next week. Ask for Mr. Beau’s help. Next, appoint Cathy from PR to observe the Arisons for the next few days,” she nonchalantly said while turning on the blender. Although Lily had not heard anything from Sofia Arison since that night where she was threatened, Lily had a hunch that Sofia Arison would not give up so easily. After all, the Arisons would benefit a lot from a marriage with a Facci. Moreover, Lily was sure that Sofia Arison would surely want to get back at her for what happened that night. Lily turned off the blender before looking at her secretary.
“Also,” Lily made a deliberate pause while eyeing her secretary. “Arison Holdings has been running rampant in the construction industry for too long. It’s time that they are challenged. We shall participate in all the big projects that Arison Holdings are also participating. Call Mr. Han, I want him to be in charge of writing the proposals for all those big projects. But keep a low-key. I want to surprise them on the bidding.”
“Understood.” Yang Mi wrote everything down in her tablet conscientiously. This was not the first time that President Qin had done something like this to a competitor or any company who had offended her. Yang Mi was already used to the President’s ruthless methods.
After finishing her freshly made vegetable and fruit juice, Lily immediately started working on her laptop. After all, there were many subsidiary companies under Facci Group that needed her attention.
“Ummm. President, I’m sorry to disturb you but I just received a call from the security downstairs. He said…ummm… I think his exact words were ‘an ocean of flowers was delivered for Lily Qin downstairs’.”
“I’m sorry? I think I did not hear you properly? Did you say an ocean of flowers?”
“Yes, president, do you want them to bring them up here?”
Lily furrowed her brows at Yang Mi’s confirmation. Flowers? Could this be from Zhuo Jingren? With this in mind, she rose from her seat and said, “No need. I will go downstairs to see them for myself.”
It did not long for Lily to arrive at the ground floor of her apartment building. And what she saw surprised her greatly.
Lilies.
An ocean of colourful Lilies occupied a huge space in the lobby of her apartment building. It was neatly arranged into a heart and supported by a two feet tall stand.
The sweet, almost sickly smell of lilies assaulted Lily’s nose the moment she took a step out of the elevator. Her eyes immediately reddened as she covered her nose quickly.
“Lily,” a smiling Zhuo Jingren quickly approached her. “I bought you some lilies. Do you like them?”
Lily did not answer Zhuo Jingren. Instead she gave him a glare before she gestured for them to walk out of the apartment building.
“You idiot!” she gritted her teeth, her face dark and cold. “Lilies are for funerals! Are you trying to curse me?”
“But they are beautiful and I chose them because they remind me of you,” he answered his tone righteous. He seriously did not know that lilies were associated with funerals ah. “I’m sorry, you don’t like it? Then what do you like? I can send you another new batch of flowers. Let me call Go…” his words were interrupted by Lily’s hand waving in front of his face.
“Zhuo Jingren, what is all this about?” she asked as tears started to pool in her eyes, her head throbbing.
“Courting you. What is wrong with you? Why are you crying? Was it the lilies? I… I did not know that you don’t like them. Hey… I will asked security to throw them all away.”
“Idiot!” Lily cursed. “I am allergic to scented flowers like oriental lilies! Don’t you remember?”
“I…” Zhuo Jingren frowned as he suddenly remembered that the young Lily hated the smell of flowers because she was allergic to anything with a strong scent and certain flowers, like lilies give off a very strong scent. He instantly cursed himself for making such a terrible mistake. “Lily? Are you alright?” Zhuo Jingren inquired when he noticed that Lily had closed her eyes and was massaging her temples.
“Idiot…” she muttered as her face started to pale. She then opened her eyes and tried to focus on the man in front of her. “Don’t bring me to the hospital…” she managed to say before crumbling like a puppet, falling straight into his arms.
….
Editor: Swaning
