The hotel suite was dark and lightless.
A floor lamp in the corner gave off an ambiguous warmth.
The woman curled up beneath the man, her eyes brimming with tears. She trembled slightly, like a pitiful little kitten drenched by the rain.
“President Ji, I’m sorry, I was wrong… Can you please let me go?” Xiao Tongyu’s trembling voice carried a sob.
The more she cried, the more it stirred the beast within the man.
Ji Yunze idly toyed with the stray hairs by her ear. “Too late.”
He roughly tore open her clothing, pulled off his own tie, and bound her slender wrists. Then his scorching kisses rained down like a violent storm.
And then… Xiao Tongyu closed her eyes, feeling utterly dead inside.
……
The next morning, Xiao Tongyu was awakened by sunlight streaming through a gap in the curtains.
The sound of running water came from the bathroom.
She struggled out of bed, but even the slightest movement left her aching all over, as if her body were falling apart.
Just then, the water stopped, and Ji Yunze walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a bath towel.
His short hair was still dripping, droplets sliding down from his temples along his sharp jawline before falling onto his perfect abs.
Ji Yunze’s pale, slender fingers deftly operated his phone, and the next second, Xiao Tongyu received a bank notification.
“A million for you. What you do next is your choice.”
“Thank you, President Ji.”
She put away her phone and hastily pulled on her coat, covering her open shirt. Her outward calm could hardly conceal her inner collapse.
Xiao Tongyu, what stupid thing have you done?
“Today’s schedule?” Ji Yunze’s voice was cold and clear.
“President Ji, at nine thirty you have a meeting with the Finance Director, at twelve a business lunch with Consul Joshua from the embassy, at three in the afternoon a video conference with the UK branch, and this evening the Old Master and Madam want you home for dinner—but Young Master Han and Young Master Luo have also invited you out, and you haven’t decided yet.”
Ji Yunze gave a cold nod.
“Be at work on time at nine. I want…”
“I know—a hot Americano at sixty degrees, made with Geisha beans from Emerald Estate.”
Xiao Tongyu answered with utmost respect, once again the picture of a professional secretary.
“I’ll be going then, President Ji.” She gave a slight bow, turned, and walked out the door.
Ji Yunze gazed at the woman’s slender waist, her long, fair, straight legs, and the inconspicuous spot of red on the sheets, lost in thought.
……
Back at her own apartment, Xiao Tongyu stripped off her clothes and plunged into the bathroom, letting the hot water pour down over her body.
She scrubbed herself hard with a towel as tears streamed down her face. Her entire face was soaked—it was impossible to tell water from tears.
After her shower, she stepped out of the bathroom and glanced at the time. It was almost eight.
No time for heartbreak.
After blow-drying her hair, she sat down at her vanity and began applying makeup.
Xiao Tongyu had bought this apartment just last year.
When her parents died in an accident when she was eleven, they left her a considerable sum of money. But she never touched it, instead using two years of savings from her job at Ji Corporation to make the down payment on this apartment.
After graduating from Imperial Capital University, the top university in the country, Xiao Tongyu entered Ji Corporation with her excellent grades and résumé.
In just one year, she had transformed from an ordinary clerk in the administration department into Ji Yunze’s personal secretary.
Ji Yunze was a godlike figure in the imperial capital’s business world. Handsome, cold, and untouchable, he struck fear into every major corporation with his ruthless tactics in business.
Yet, approaching thirty, he had never shown interest in women. Countless women had tried to climb into his bed, only to be thrown out by him.
One of them had even stripped completely naked, only to be kicked out the door, sitting naked in the hotel corridor, weeping.
So the reason Xiao Tongyu became his personal secretary wasn’t her beauty. Was it because she was bold enough?
In truth, she didn’t know why herself.
It was just that one day, in the company’s underground parking garage, she happened to run into Ji Yunze waiting for his driver, and without a second thought, she went up to speak to him.
“Hello, President Ji. I’m Xiao Tongyu from the Administration Department.”
Ji Yunze glanced at her, then turned away in disgust, as if he’d seen a pile of garbage.
“I want to become your personal secretary, President Ji.”
Ji Yunze said nothing more, the anger on his face already unmistakable.
“Please give me a chance, President Ji.”
“Get lost now if you don’t want to be fired.”
At this point, any ordinary person would have been terrified out of their wits by the menace on the man’s face and fled in panic.
But Xiao Tongyu didn’t. Because she had already made up her mind.
Xiao Tongyu licked her lips and clenched her fists. “Please give me a one-month trial period, President Ji. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll leave immediately.”
Just then, Ji Yunze’s Rolls-Royce pulled up. The driver got out and opened the door for him, and he got in without so much as a backward glance.
Xiao Tongyu thought that was the end of it, but the very next day, she was transferred directly to the position of Ji Yunze’s personal secretary.
Over that month, Xiao Tongyu was diligent and devoted.
Every day before work, she could recite the day’s schedule from memory, and she had memorized every one of Ji Yunze’s habits.
She would tidy up the office after he threw things in a rage, tactfully block everyone he didn’t want to see, and smile calmly whenever his friends teased her.
Presumably, Ji Yunze also felt she was a competent secretary, so he never transferred her away again.
At this thought, a sharp ache seized Xiao Tongyu’s chest.
It was her own fault too—blinded by a desire for revenge, she had slowly begun to plan, to seduce Ji Yunze.
Knowing that Ji Yunze disliked being touched, she boldly drew close to him anyway, brushing his hand deliberately or otherwise, reaching out to adjust his tie, wiping coffee stains from the corner of his mouth.
“Secretary Xiao, do you have a death wish with those hands of yours?”
“No, President Ji. You wouldn’t have the heart.” She smiled sweetly.
With zero romantic experience, Xiao Tongyu worked hard to package herself as a player of the dating scene, a heartbreaker.
“Secretary Xiao, are you so certain I won’t make a move on you?”
“President Ji, I’m not afraid.”
Xiao Tongyu didn’t actually want to drag the woman-averse Ji Yunze down from his pedestal—she knew full well she lacked that ability.
She only wanted to see a look of hurt on that man and woman’s faces. That was all.
And yet, she had been far too naive.
For the sake of that petty revenge, she had provoked Ji Yunze, the most dangerous man in the imperial capital.
Quickly applying light makeup, Xiao Tongyu looked at herself in the mirror.
A small, palm-sized face, cherry lips, a delicate nose, large fluttering eyes, and fair skin. She knew she wasn’t bad-looking.
Yet it was also this same her who, back in high school, because she was chubby and wore thick glasses, was mocked by the young master of the Lin family, whom she had liked since childhood.
“She’s so plain and ugly—who could ever like her?”
Xiao Tongyu sighed. Just then, a new message arrived on her phone:
“Tongtong, are you coming home for dinner tonight? I had Sister-in-law Wang make your favorite dishes.”
Home? As if she still had a home.
Xiao Tongyu put down her phone, changed into a fresh set of clothes, grabbed her bag, and headed out to the company.
On the way, she stopped by a pharmacy and bought a box of contraceptive pills.