One week already passed since the incident. Xiu Mei didnât receive any calls or messages from Lu Chen ever since the day he disappeared. She couldnât even go through Lu Shaoâs line as well so she has no way of finding him.
Every day that passed, she grew more worried. What if something had happened to him? After her Dad, maybe he was the one being targeted now?
That kind of thought swirled around her mind. He kept ignoring her calls and he wouldnât reply to her messages. Not even a single character. Nothing.
If it werenât for her second brother assuring him that heâs fine, she wouldâve thought that he was killed or something. No matter how much she tried asking her brother, he wonât even peep a word as to where Lu Chen was.
When she asked Lu Qiang about this, he just casually replied to her that his Dad would often disappear like this before. It was then that she remembered that Lu Chen sometimes never come to work for a long period of time before. She thought that he was on some business trip or something so she never bothered contacting him unless thereâs an emergency she canât handle but that rarely happens.
Xiu Mei deeply sighed. Itâs really different when your boss is just your boss and your boss is your husband ah.
Currently, she is lining up in an ice cream shop at the mall nearby the office. It was already after office hours so she was planning to bring some tub of ice cream for dinner with Lu Qiang. The two of them have been enjoying some various desserts for the past few days without the supervision of the big boss of the house.
"One pint of Black Sesame and Strawberry for to go please." She said. While waiting for her orders to be packaged, she sat on an empty table. She briefly messaged her son who was waiting at home and she smiled upon receiving his reply saying that he was very excited to eat it.
She couldnât help but feel soft and grew more eager to go home as soon as possible.
"A cup of strawberry ice cream, for Mademoiselle." A cup suddenly appeared in front of her, startling her.
She looked up and saw Albert grinning at her.
"Uh..."
"This is for you, Ms.Xiu." Albert pushed the cup of ice cream into her hands. She wanted to decline it as usual but Albert beat her to it by suddenly grabbing a spoonful of the strawberry ice cream and stuffing it in her mouth.
She was stunned and became speechless. To think that this guy would forcefully feed her just so she couldnât decline the food he gave me ah.
"Are you going straight back home, Ms.Xiu?" Albert comfortably sat on the opposite chair while holding his ice cream cone. He was talking with her so naturally as if they were some close friends. This shameless guy...
"I am." Instead of wasting her energy in pushing this annoying and shameless guy away, she focused on the cup of ice cream on her hands and ate it.
"Can I offer to drop you off?"
"No, thank you. My driver is just outside waiting for me."
"Oh, then can you drop me off instead?"
"..."
She looked at him with âare-you-seriousâ look.
This shameless guy knows no bounds eh?
She finally made up her mind and lowered the ice cream cup she was holding. Crossing her arms, she finally decided to correct him once and for all.
"Mr.Albert, I would very much like it if you would stop being so assertive with me because one, I am getting annoyed by it and two, if youâre unaware of it, I am informing you then that I am currently in a relationship."
Albert paused for a second before laughing. Xiu Mei frowned at his reaction and was puzzled. Did she say something funny?
"I did hear that youâre dating our President. I thought it was just some kind of publicity stunt or something. After all, Ms.Xiu isnât a person that needs to marry for money ah."
After hearing that, Xiu Mei suddenly found something wrong with his words. Somehow, she felt like he was implying something.
"At least, thatâs what Iâve been hearing from our employees ever since I started working here." Albert casually mentioned as he licked his ice cream again.
Xiu Mei fell silent after hearing that. She was able to understand the message he was trying to send across.
A lot of people in the company have been gossiping about her relationship with Lu Chen. And it seems like a lot of people are saying that she seduced the president into dating her by tempting him with her money ah?
Her mood dropped after she realized that. It seems that she was too busy to even listen to the gossip getting passed around ah. The people keep forgetting that the topic of gossip theyâre talking about is their president and boss.
"Hereâs your order, Miss." A waitress appeared beside the table holding a paper bag.
After thanking the waitress, Xiu Mei received the paper bag and stood up while holding the cup of ice cream with her other hand.
"Iâll be going first, Mr.Chen." She said.
"Ms.Xiu can just comfortably call me Albert ah. Thatâs what the people in the office call me as well."
Fine. Since he informed her about some news.
"...Then goodbye, Albert."
"Goodbye and see you on Monday, Ms.Xiu."
After that, she left the store and went straight back home. She was welcomed by Lu Qiang as he excitedly received the paper bag with the tubs of ice cream and placed it on the freezer.
The two of them made some cheesy burgers for dinner and homemade fries. While the two of them were happily chatting about their day, they heard the front door open. They were just gonna ignore it at first thinking it was the nanny or the butler but their chat was abruptly interrupted when they heard a familiar voice.
"Iâm home."
The movements of the woman and the child sitting on the dining table stopped. Both of them turned towards the entrance of the dining area and saw Lu Chen standing there.
Lu Qiang just smiled at his Dad and picked up his burger again to resume eating whilst Xiu Mei blinked twice at Lu Chenâs direction before turning back to focus on her food again without uttering any word of reply to him.
She continued talking with Lu Qiang as if she didnât see Lu Chen at all. She almost jumped in surprise when suddenly felt an arm snake around her shoulder and something warm pressing on her head.
"I missed you, Wife." Lu Chen uttered after dropping a kiss on his wife. However, Xiu Mei just shrugged off his hand away from her shoulder and ignored him.
He was stunned when he was suddenly shooed away and looked at his hand that was left hanging in the air.
He looked at his son, baffled as if asking for help. But Lu Qiang didnât even bother to look at his direction and just continued chatting with his mother.
"...."
Okay, it seems like he couldnât rely on his sonâs help ah.
Lu Chen sat on the empty seat beside Xiu Mei and held her left hand.
"Wife, can I also have some dinner?" He acted pitiful as he tugged on her hand. Xiu Mei tried pulling her hand away from his grasp but this stupid man beside her felt like he wasnât planning to let it go.
She gave up on her hand and just continued ignoring him instead. Afterward, she asked Lu Qiang to grab the ice creams she bought for dessert since she couldnât pull back her hand from Lu Chenâs hold.
"Just a two big scoops of each okay? Or else youâll have cavities." She reminded Lu Qiang. The kid obediently nodded and only put one big scoop of each ice cream flavor in his bowl. Xiu Mei already ate a strawberry one a while ago so she only had a scoop of the other flavor.
She lifted up her spoon to eat it but a big head suddenly appeared in front of her. She gasped in surprise seeing Lu Chen eat the ice cream on the spoon that she was holding.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Goodness, is this guy a kid?
"Dad, youâre so childish." Lu Qiang didnât hold back at all and openly criticized his Dad.
Lu Chen flinched then he glared at his son for a second before pulling back to sit properly again. He saw Xiu Meiâs combined expression of surprise and disbelief. Realizing that he was indeed acting immaturely, he coughed to clear his throat and explained his side.
"I was feeling hungry so I wanted to taste first the ice cream to see if itâs good."
"..."
"..."
Lu Qiangâs thoughts: Dad is so stupid.
Xiu Meiâs thoughts: Shameless.