Seducing The Future CEO (7)

"Yingyue, you're just fine as you are." Ye Jiangyu said in a softer voice.

Xia Zhilan looked up with slightly damp eyes, and what she saw almost gave her a heart attack.

All she wanted to do was create a beautiful scene like in romance movies but who knew that Ye Jiangyu's face would suddenly be extremely close to her and trying to kiss her...

Apart from the initial shock Xia Zhilan immediately felt grossed out. No way in h*ll was she going to let him kiss her - she was just barely allowing him to even touch her wrist!

Xia Zhilan immediately jumped backwards and backed away before he could grab her back.

Hiding the disgust on her face, she quickly lied "Uh- Bai Meixiu called me a while ago. We're supposed to meet up in 5 minutes from now. I should probably go now!" whilst rushing away before he could drag her back.

Luckily for her, Ye Jiangyu, although slightly annoyed, thought that she was just shy.

'Side Task 97% Complete'

After hearing the notification from the system, Xia Zhilan was immediately overjoyed.

'I guess my sacrifice wasn't in vain after all' she thought to herself.

...

Fast forward a couple of months and at last, it was graduation.

As one of the top 5 students in the year, Xia Zhilan had to perform a final speech to everyone graduating.

Since there was still only 3% left of the mission and it was finally graduation, Xia Zhilan decided to make one subtle push.

Dressed in the iconic graduation gown, Xia Zhilan stepped on the stage.

"I'm extremely honoured to be chosen to stand on stage and perform a speech on our last day at university. These past 3 years have been extremely important to me and I'm glad I could meet so many new people and strengthen previous relationships." Xia Zhilan gave a quick glance to Ye Jiangyu. "After today it'll be all of our proper start to adulthood. I'm sure most of us we'll meet someday again in our business or work lives or perhaps in our personal lives" Zhilan gave Ye Jiangyu another meaningful glance. "I hope we'll all have successful lives together."

Although no names were said, everyone assumed her speech was about Ye Jiangyu.

'Side Task 100% completed'

Xia Zhilan was extremely excited. No more pretending to like him anymore! Xia Zhilan was kind of confused that she even managed to complete it so quickly since she had been extremely vague and ambiguous about her 'feelings' she had for him and she had thought true love was always supposed to work out in the end.

'Does this mean I... Replaced the female protagonist?" She asked System 005

'Not really.' System 005 replied 'This is because you 'stole' all the scenes which should have been Shi Huilang's. However, she'll always have the protagonist's halo and will probably end up meeting someone better or on par with Ye Jiangyu. But Ye Jiangyu will end up losing his halo since Shi Huilang was the 'main' protagonist and that someone will obtain the male lead role.' it explained.

'Ah I see, so is Ye Jiangyu no longer the male lead?'

'Currently, he still is as still the most wanted bachelor of the country and the plot could change to a 'The rich man's white moonlight died but then he found new love' type story. As a child of heaven, Shi Huilang MUST have the best or one of the best.'

'Wait... Wouldn't that make me his 'white moonlight'? Am I about to die soon? But wouldn't that mean I failed the mission?'

'This world was tailor-made for her existence. Unless Ye Jiangyu's status falls then he'll still be the most likely person to be Shi Huilang's lover.'

...

Since the mission finally reached 100% after almost 2 years, Xia Zhilan no longer had to please Ye Jiangyu since the completion percentage won't decrease.

After her speech and during the after-party, Ye Jiangyu came looking for her, just as Zhilan expected. Of course, she managed to skillfully avoid him throughout the day.

But against the male lead's protagonist skills he eventually found her the next day.

"Yingyue why are you avoiding me? Did I do something wrong?" He asked in confusion

"I'm avoiding you because I don't want to speak to you. Do you have a problem with that?" Xia Zhilan said calmly

"Why? Are you mad at me?"

"Didn't I just say why?" Xia Zhilan responded in annoyance "Since you know that I'm purposely avoiding you, why are you still showing up in front of me?"

"What happened to you? Why are you being like this, Yingyue?" Ye Jiangyu asked worriedly.

"What do you mean? I've always been like this. There's nothing wrong with me." Xia Zhilan said with a slight smile.

"I thought you said you liked me yesterday? Why are you being like this now?" Ye Jiangyu pestered "Is it because you're embarrassed? Yingyue, you don't have to be shy in front of me, we're going to get married one day."

The calm smile remained on her face. "Ye Jiangyu, please don't go out spreading false information. Although our families have spoken about a potential marriage between us, nothing has been confirmed and I definitely have not agreed to it.

Ye Jiangyu immediately got upset "What do you mean by that? We love each other, Xiao Yingyue!" He said angrily.

"I apologize if I had given you the wrong impression but I had only seen us as friends." Zhilan said whilst bowing her head slightly "But then... I found out the one who had been spreading those rumours about us was you." Xia Zhilan stared at him coldly.

Ye Jianhong looked visibly flustered

"You aren't even trying to deny it... You thought I wouldn't find out that you were using the public opinion to pressure my family into agreeing to the engagement? I really didn't expect it to be you all along, Ye Jiangyu..." Xia Zhilan said in disappointment "Didn't I tell you how much this had been stressing my parents and me out?"

"No, you-"

Xia Zhilan didn't give him a chance to deny it "Because of you, we have been suffering quite a lot now that our businesses have been tied up together. Although my family's status is quite high, it's not even close to yours which means this past year, the number of assassination or kidnapping attempts against me has been higher than usual. Of course, I haven't been any genuine danger but this has been worrying my parents a lot."

"Why didn't you ask me for help? This is quite serious, Xiao Yingyue." Ye Jiangyu said concernedly.

"I'm not in any danger and we definitely don't need any more 'help' from you," Zhilan said coldly.

Xia Zhilan turned around and walked away.