“My apologies Mr. Zhou but there seems to be a misunderstanding somewhere.” The director smiled. It was normal for him to meet a person like Zhou Jingren every now and then. After all, these people stand at the pinnacle of success. Their arrogance was completely reasonable.
“Miss Adalind Brooke is an expert that is working for us. She has already been working for one of our magazines abroad. She is not just having a vacation here in Hong Kong. She is also working for us in some of our projects.”
“Don’t worry President Zhou… Miss Brooke is completely professional and she won’t direct you to do something that you are uncomfortable with.” He added. “Isn’t that right, Miss Brooke?”
“Oh please… you can call me Adalind.” Adalind smiled. “And yes. I will be directing the shoot. Don’t worry it will not take a lot of time.”
The other businessmen nodded as they smiled. Having a supermodel should make their images look better, right? However, Zhou Jingren was different. He did not see the point of doing this at all. “I only have twenty minutes.” He uttered before walking towards the current set up.
Seeing this, a smile surfaced on Adalind’s face. She followed Zhou Jingren. “Mr. Zhou… this is the pose that I want you to do. Nothing special but the background on this one will be an office.” Her lips curled into an enchanting smile as she leaned forward, letting Zhou Jingren smell her sweet cologne.
Zhou Jingren stared at the pose in the photo. He furrowed his brows at her actions but said nothing. He then sat on the leather seat and looked at the camera.
“Mr. Zhou… your tie is a bit crooked, let me fix it for you.” Adalind ignored Zhou Jingren’s stern expression as she leaned forward, making her hair fall down her face, framing an enchanting sight in the process. Lily was in front of them. It was only normal for him to act tough and unaffected.
“Miss Brooke.” Zhou Jingren’s words were enough to stop the woman from touching him. “Do you know what happened to the last woman who schemed against me?” He lifted his chin, meeting her blue eyes.
“Mr. Zhou, what are you talking about?” Adalind froze for a few seconds, however, she still shamelessly fixed his tie. “I am only doing my job.”
“I see.” Zhou Jingren nodded.
“It’s fixed now.” Adalind beamed. “Now we can start the shoot. Mr. Zhou… where are you going?” she asked when she saw Zhou Jingren rise from the chair and take off his coat. He then started removing his tie as he walked towards Secretary Go. “Mr. Zhou…. Is there a problem?” Surprise flashed in Adalind’s eyes as she watched Zhou Jingren walk away from her.
“Throw it away.” Zhou Jingren uttered as he handed the coat and tie to Secretary Go. “Let’s go.”
“President Zhou!” The director ran towards Zhou Jingren. He never expected that Zhou Jingren would be this hard to handle. “Please … may I know why you are leaving? The shoot is not done. We also can’t reschedule this for another date. We need this done by tomorrow for the magazine.”
“I am sending you my own photos tonight.” He answered without looking at them. “Taken by professionals abroad.”
“But the background.”
“Not my problem.” Zhou Jingren said. This was not a competition of who would have the best photo or who has the best attitude. This was about business. Zhou Jingren would not mind if these people would not have an image of him. As long as they mentioned his company then… he did not have a problem at all.
“Mr. Zhou… May I know why you suddenly decided to leave?” The director decided to press for answers when he saw Zhou Jingren ignore his attempt at stopping him.
“I have another meeting in fifteen minutes.” Zhou Jingren answered. He then turned towards Lily and gave a gentle smile. “Let’s go?”
“Alright.” Lily’s eyes swept through everyone present, including Adalind. Her lips tugged upwards into a provoking smile. The difference between her and Zhou Jingren was his direct behavior. A no was a no. A yes was… a yes. Simple but direct.
Zhou Jingren is not the type to complicate things. He would not want to drag something that he is uncomfortable with. Unlike Lily, this man does not waste his brain cells thinking about schemes to embarrass someone and beat them at their own game. He just… attacks and leaves.
With the same smile, Lily held her husband’s hands as they left the place. She did not expect him to be that direct but she couldn’t really say that she didn’t like it.
“Mr. Zhou! Mr. Zhou! Please wait!”
When Lily heard Adalind’s voice, she let go of Zhou Jingren’s hands. “I will wait for you in the car?” she whispered. In response, Zhou Jingren stared at her wife’s cunning eyes. He nodded and leaned forward to kiss her.
“Mr. Zhou!” Adalind eyed Lily’s back as she wondered why would she leave instead of confronting her. Adalind’s eyes then landed on Zhou Jingren’s secretary who was holding the coat for him. “May I know… May I know why you decided to leave the photoshoot? Was it because of me?” Adalind was only a few inches shorter than Zhou Jingren so it wasn’t hard for her to look at his handsome features.
“Yes.”
A flash of surprise glinted in Adalind’s eyes at his direct response. “I— May I know why? Am I making you uncomfortable somewhere?” she smiled. Her ambiguous words were enough to make someone blush.
“Knowing your records… I don’t think I can even breathe the same air as you.” Zhou Jingren said, his words cold as ice . “People who like to ruin marriages… are dirty. I want to keep my wife safe from contamination.”
“You— ” Zhou Jingren’s harsh words made her freeze. For a few seconds, she was speechless. What kind of answer was that? “Mr. Zhou why are you insulting me like this… I didn’t do anything to you. Why would you…”
“Miss Brooke… this is nothing personal. I just don’t like to associate myself with the likes of you. And I have the right to dislike someone.”
“But you have no right to say something as harsh as that.” Adalind fired back.
“Wrong. I have the right to say whatever I want. You also have the right to ignore it. But you didn’t and that is not my problem anymore.”
