Wild Young Miss: Mister, Let's Kiss!

PRESENT TIME

'And then, the next morning, Ivan asked me to take him in. Now, he's like my mother scolding me. Why is he so in character?' She muttered internally, recalling what happened that night. 

Now, Angelo and Ivan were her assistants. Since the former could read and speak Mandarin , he was more suited for the role. On the other hand, Ivan was just there, existing. 

"I should demote him and send him to classes so he could learn." Zoey massaged her temples, shaking her head sideways as she considered Angelo's suggestion. 

"Ivan, can you come here for a moment?" After further contemplation, Zoey decided to call Ivan through her transceiver while massaging her temple. "This will be stressful," she murmured rolling her eyes while she waited for Ivan to come in. 

Shortly after, Zoey heard a knock on the door before Ivan opened it. "Boss, what is it?" He asked, entering inside before closing the door behind him. 

"Uhh, I'm demoting you to become a janitor." Zoey only glanced at him and then dropped the news as if it was nothing. 

For a second, Ivan only looked at her, his eyes blinking as his mind absorbed her words. "A janitor?" He asked, tilting his head to the side as if he was unsure if he heard her correctly. 

"Yes!" She answered along with her heavy, sharp exhale. "I am demoting you to a janitor! You only need to come on a specific time to clean! I mean, you'll have more free time and I decided to send you to Mandarin classes!" Zoey announced, stretching her lips into a forced smile to make it sound and look that this was actually a piece of good news for him. 

Surprisingly enough, unlike Zoey's expectations that he would throw a huge fit, Ivan was rather calm. "Mandarin classes?" He arched his right brow, repeating her last remarks. 

"Yes! Once you can understand and read even a tiny bit of Mandarin, you can be my assistant again. How about that?" She reassured, nodding her head as she waited for his answer. 

"Sure." Ivan nodded his head in agreement, not arguing or throwing a tantrum. 

"You're agreeing?" Suspicious of his immediate agreement, Zoey narrowed her eyes. 

"Yes." Ivan answered, nodding his head once again. "Is that all?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. 

"Errr... no," Zoey shook her head, rubbing her chin, as she pondered over the possibilities once she said he could go now. "Why aren't you mad? Why aren't you berating me?" Instead of overthinking, Zoey felt the need to ask as it was easier for her. 

"Why would I? I'm not even doing anything here. Also, I believe the assistant job you want me to drop is all the office work." Ivan shrugged. 

By the looks of it, Ivan didn't really care whether he would be an assistant or a janitor. Although the position of an assistant sounded nice to hear, however, the janitor position could make him do something at least instead of overthinking things. 

"Oh... okay?" Zoey nodded in understanding.

"Anyway, since sitting in here and going out early is the same, I'd be a janitor from this moment onwards." Ivan declared lazily.

Without further ado, he dragged his feet towards the couch inside Zoey's office and then collapsed his body on it. "I'll clean later." He murmured, closing his eyes as if he had been deprived of sleep. 

Zoey's under eye twitched, watching her 'janitor' in the company take a nap in front of her. 'Where's the shame?!' She gasped internally, giving him the look of disdain. 

Soon, Ivan had fallen asleep while Zoey sighed and massaged her temples once again. "What was he doing all this time? He looks super tired." She murmured, shaking her head once again. 

"Well, I think I was fretting for nothing." She muttered to herself, leaning her back against the swivel chair. 

The next ten minutes were spent in silence. Zoey didn't move, nor did she continue working as she stared at the ceiling. "It's been two weeks, and I didn't hear anything from him since then." Zoey whispered, her mind wondering what Matthew had been doing. 

The last time she heard from him was when he called late at night, hanging up on her sounding jealous. 'He wasn't really jealous that time, right? I could be talking to Cora and not with a man.' Zoey rationalized internally, thinking her husband wasn't that petty. 

"Should I call him...?" Her words slipped from her lips unconsciously, having the strong urge to call and ask how he was. 

"No, I shouldn't. I can move and act without him in the picture. I wouldn't worry about his well-being as he had lived for seven years without me before." Zoey convinced herself that calling Matthew now would bring trouble in the future. 

After all, Zoey was supposed to meet and fall in love with him seven years later. Calling him now would break the two weeks of them not talking to each other. 

She had stopped herself from calling him numerous times! All those sacrifices every night would be for naught if she called now! 

"You can do this, Z. Keep your eyes ahead. He'll be there... single for the next seven years. You have years to settle your problems." Zoey muttered, encouraging herself that she shouldn't worry about anything. 

Yet, aside from worrying, Zoey missed him so badly that no one would even understand. She was dying to hear his voice even for a second. Hence, it was a tough battle to win, especially now that Zoey was doing well and had more free, peaceful time. 

"No, you need to work!" Zoey bellowed to herself, slapping herself to wake up and find distraction. Immediately, Zoey opened her computer. 

However, instead of working, Zoey unconsciously searched for Matthew Xi online. In her mind, she wanted to hear news about the XI Corporation and how great they were, as always. 

Little did she know, she would regret her decision. A very huge mistake that would throw all this perseverance and endless struggle down the drain. 

*****

[XI CORPORATION]

"You're fired." Cold and emotionless, Matthew's deep voice resonated across the silent meeting hall. 

The person, who was standing in front of the projector, felt his heart sink in his chest. His complexion paled as his entire being trembled. 

"B — but, Master Xi! I have barely started my presentation yet!" The employee stuttered, mustering the courage to get his point across. 

For Pete's sake! He just started his presentation, and Matthew raised his hand, gesturing him to stop. The first word that came out from his lips was firing him. Who would accept such injustice? 

The employee had worked day and night for this very day; a day he would present a project in front of the big bosses and the boss of these bosses. Yet, he hadn't got a chance to start, but he would lose his job? 

Just why? What did he ever do wrong?

"Young Master, why won't you give him a chance? He is right... he hasn't started..." A middle-aged man who was sitting around the long table voice out. Alas, his tone was shaky, obviously he was just as scared as the employee while trying to save the poor man. 

"His collar is crooked, the way he stands hurts my eyes, he doesn't have confidence in the work he was about to present, he has made thirteen mistakes since the moment he entered through those doors, she hasn't called yet... should I go on?" Without batting an eye, Matthew listed down the reason he was firing the person, and then shifted his attention to the executive director that spoke up for the employee. 

The temperature in the air gradually went down, as none of them made the slightest sound. Some even stopped breathing for a while to avoid the temperamental man's attention. 

Still, the question in their heads remained. 'She hasn't called?? Who??' They wondered, yet, no one has the guts to ask such a question. 

"I hate wasting people's time, just like how I despise people wasting mine." Matthew reminded, his tone didn't change as he scanned his eyes around them. "Meeting..." Just before he could call off the meeting, he felt something inside his pocket vibrating. 

He paused his announcement, taking his phone out from inside his suit pocket. The moment he saw her contact name on the screen, the corner of his lips crooked into a smirk. 

Without further ado, Matthew answered it and slowly placed the phone two inches away from his ear. "Xi Matthew!!"

He chuckled, shaking his head as he heard her enraged voice. Meanwhile, the people inside the freezing meeting room could not help but rub their eyes, seeing the cold, heartless man smile. 

"....." Speechless, others had their jaw drop as they could hear a woman's hysterical voice from the phone due to the plain silence inside the room.