…Li Zhao’s heart skipped a beat, and he steeled himself as he walked toward his workstation.
“Director Ge…”
Director Ge looked up at Li Zhao and said irritably, “The team leader runs off wandering around while the team members stay behind working overtime. Li Zhao, being a leader seems even easier than being me.”
“…” Li Zhao had no reply.
“We just talked about how important this report is at today’s meeting, and you’ve already forgotten? Tell me, where did you go?” Director Ge glared, his voice hardening. “You’d better give me a reasonable explanation, or forget about this month’s bonus!”
“!”
Docking pay was the surest way to hit a working stiff right where it hurt. Li Zhao’s heart sank immediately, fully realizing the seriousness of the situation.
“I’m sorry, Director Ge,” Li Zhao apologized readily. “I had a bit of an urgent personal matter, and it’s been taken care of. I’ll start working overtime right now, I promise the report won’t be late on Monday. Don’t worry!”
Director Ge snorted. “What personal matter could be more important than the work at hand? Xiao Li, I watched you join this company and work your way steadily up to where you are now. You must learn to prioritize, don’t drop the ball at a critical moment!”
“I understand, Director. I’ll do a good job.”
After all, Li Zhao usually performed well, with a positive work attitude and solid skills, and this time he had apologized promptly and sincerely. Director Ge still counted on Li Zhao to keep working hard, so he didn’t press the matter further. He just delivered another earnest, well-worn lecture, then got up and gave way so Li Zhao could get to work.
After Director Ge left, Li Zhao felt a bit guilty toward his team members, so he offered to treat everyone to dinner and a late-night snack, and asked Su Mo to tally up what everyone wanted.
The team members clapped and thanked him, declaring their firm support for their team leader after all, who doesn’t have some important personal business to attend to now and then?
Once all that was settled, Li Zhao collected himself, opened his computer, and prepared to get to work.
There was quite a lot to revise. Looked like sleep was off the table tonight.
As Li Zhao psyched himself up and mentally went through the list of revisions one by one, deeply absorbed, he suddenly heard Su Mo’s teasing voice beside him.
“Zhao Zhao, if you’d just said outright you were off meeting your blind date, old Ge wouldn’t have dared say a single word.”
“…”
“Our company’s golden bachelor finally gets a chance to leave the single life behind who would dare stand in the way? If he messed up a perfectly good sister-in-law, tsk tsk, what a sin. How many sticks of incense and how many prayers to Buddha would it take to make up for that? Haha…”
Seeing Su Mo getting more and more carried away, Li Zhao quickly cut him off. “Okay, enough with the jokes. Are you done revising the report?”
“Oh, we’re nowhere near done, still a long way to go,” Su Mo sighed, then leaned his chair closer to Li Zhao, asking with a gossipy look on his face. “Forget that for now come on, tell me about your little Omega. Must be quite the catch, if a workaholic like you skipped out on work just to go on a date. Got a photo? Come on, let me see!”
“…” Li Zhao gave Su Mo a speechless look.
“What, you won’t even let me see a photo? It’s not like I’m going to compete with you, what are you afraid of?”
“Shh, keep your voice down,” Li Zhao lowered his voice, sneaking a glance toward the others in the office. “We just got together, and a lot of things are still uncertain. I don’t want everyone knowing so soon.”
Su Mo shot back a “I get it, bro” look. After all, he knew about Li Zhao’s past relationships each one had ended not long after it started, with the other party, an Omega, being the one to break things off. So it was only natural that Li Zhao would worry about getting dumped.
“Got it. I’ll keep it down, just between us. Photos?”
“…No photos.”
Su Mo gave him a skeptical look.
“Really, we’ve only met a few times. We haven’t even taken a picture together.” Li Zhao had no choice but to explain.
“Then what about the profile pic and life photos from the dating site? Show me those.”
“…” Li Zhao was being grilled by Su Mo until he was practically sweating. “We… we didn’t meet on a dating site…”
Just as Li Zhao was struggling with how to describe how he’d fallen for Ouyang Pei at first sight in a bar, a teammate’s cry for help sounded like heavenly music to his ears.
“Team Leader, can you come help me with this data? I can’t figure it out.”
“Coming!” Li Zhao practically sprang out of his seat and ran off.
Su Mo was left sitting there, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, watching Li Zhao’s retreating figure. “Pathetic,” he muttered with a laugh.
After grinding through an entire all-nighter, Li Zhao didn’t finish compiling the first revised version of the report until well after dawn the next day, then sent it to Ge’s inbox.
Only he, Su Mo, and two other colleagues remained in the office; Li Zhao had sent everyone else home to sleep.
The other three had already pulled out their cots at their workstations and gone to sleep. After sending the email, Li Zhao felt dizzy and foggy-headed too, so he quickly unfolded his cot and lay down fully clothed.
Drowsiness surged over him like a tide, weighing down his eyelids, he felt like he could fall asleep the very next second.
Li Zhao closed his eyes, just about to sink into a deep, dead-to-the-world sleep, when he suddenly snapped his eyes back open.
He remembered that after parting ways with Ouyang Pei yesterday, he hadn’t contacted him at all. So he forced himself to fight off the drowsiness, took out his phone, and sent Ouyang Pei a message.
“Worked overtime until just now, about to get some sleep. I’ll probably have to work overtime again today, so I might not be able to keep you company. What do you want for lunch? I’ll order delivery for you.”
After sending the message, Li Zhao forced himself to stay awake for a few minutes, but no reply from Ouyang Pei came.
Afraid he’d fall asleep and miss the reply, he thought about calling Ouyang Pei to tell him directly, but when he checked the time, it was only a little past 7 a.m. Worried about disturbing Ouyang Pei’s weekend sleep-in, Li Zhao hesitated back and forth until, phone still in his arms, he drifted off.
He slept all the way until 10.
Li Zhao was woken by a call from Ge.
“Xiao Li, I’ve read the report you sent. Mm, well revised, but there are a few places that still need polishing. Open the report now, and we’ll go through it point by point…”
The conference call lasted over twenty minutes. After hanging up, Li Zhao rubbed his sore, aching temples. His mouth was dry and parched, so he got up to fetch a cup of hot water.
Just as he was about to stand, Su Mo came over carrying Li Zhao’s mug, setting it down in front of him, filled to the brim with hot water.
“Ah, thanks.” Li Zhao picked up the cup and took a sip of water, immediately feeling his dry throat soothed and relaxed.
Su Mo, holding his own cup, looked at Li Zhao with sleepy eyes. “Ge talked for so long, do we still have to change a lot?”
“Mm, not that much. It’s mainly concentrated in Xiao Wang’s and Xiao Tang’s parts. Doesn’t have much to do with you.”
Su Mo let out a long breath, almost moved to tears. “Then I’m going home to catch up on sleep. That little bed nearly broke my back.”
“Mm, go ahead. I’ll sort things out in a bit, then have a video conference with the relevant people so everyone can make the revisions from home.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll just stay at the office,” Li Zhao thought for a moment. “After I compile everything, I don’t know if there’ll be more changes. I’ll leave once it’s all done, otherwise I won’t get any peace at home either.”
Su Mo looked at Li Zhao with sympathy. “Zhao Zhao, with a work attitude like yours, the company would be doing you a disservice if they didn’t promote you to department head. But you’re not young anymore take it easy. Once a man passes 30, all his bodily functions go into a steep decline.”
“Especially you Alphas, your pheromone quality gets worse by the day. Even if it’s just for the sake of your future Omega, you’d better take good care of yourself!”
Li Zhao couldn’t help thinking of that Omega with whom he’d shared a night of intimacy, and his cheeks flushed hot.
“? Hm? What’s wrong with you? Is the AC too warm?”
“…A little. Ahem. Okay, enough. Aren’t you sleepy? Hurry home and sleep. Take a taxi, and remember to keep the receipt for reimbursement.”
Su Mo was genuinely exhausted and didn’t notice Li Zhao’s odd behavior. He gave a huge yawn. “Whew, alright then. I’ll head out with the others. You take care of yourself too.”
“Mm, got it.”
The vast office was soon left with only Li Zhao. He stared at the computer for a while at the revisions he’d noted in the report, when he suddenly remembered that a few hours earlier, just before falling asleep, he had sent Ouyang Pei a message and the other hadn’t replied at the time.
So Li Zhao quickly took out his phone and opened his chat with Ouyang Pei, only to be disappointed to find the screen still showing his last sent message, with no reply from the other party.
Li Zhao wanted to call Ouyang Pei, but he wasn’t sure whether the man might still be sleeping in at this hour. After hesitating for a while, he gave up and decided to finish his work first.
At noon, Li Zhao called Ouyang Pei, but the other didn’t pick up.
With his work unfinished, Li Zhao couldn’t just go straight to Ouyang Pei, so he could only patiently stay at the office. It wasn’t until nearly 5 p.m. that he finally completed the final version of the report.
After sending it to Director Ge, Li Zhao was in no mood to rest and immediately called Ouyang Pei again but unexpectedly, the other still didn’t answer.
Now Li Zhao was truly panicked. He wasn’t sure whether Ouyang Pei was angry because he hadn’t accompanied him to the movie, so he could only grab his car keys and prepare to drive straight to Ouyang Pei’s home to check on him.
After confirming the address on the car’s navigation, Li Zhao drove off, covered in the dust of the road.
By the time he arrived at Ouyang Pei’s home, the sky had already begun to darken. Li Zhao parked the car in the open space in front of the villa and got out, walking up to the door.
He raised his hand and knocked on the door, then called out in a louder voice, “Anyone home? Hello?”
He shouted for a while with no answer. Just as Li Zhao was beginning to think Ouyang Pei wasn’t home, he suddenly heard voices and footsteps coming from inside.
The next second, the villa’s front door was opened from within, and Ouyang Pei walked out amid a crowd of people.
Upon seeing Li Zhao at the door, she was visibly taken aback.