Okay, Huangjin

"He also said he's still holding a grudge on you for refusing to grant him leave." Ying Yue's eyes twinkled in amusement.

"So he's getting himself suspended so he could get the time off work?" Fei Huangjin's lips thinned and his mood plundered to hell. "Don't give him the suspension. Send him to A City to deal with project there."

She smirked. "Yes, I believe so, CEO Fei."

"And call me Huangjin when we're alone." He glanced at her, his lips slowly forming into a smile.

That was a drastic change of mood, she thought. Cold once and hot the next. She rolled her eyes at him and headed to the door with a flip of her hair. "Okay, Huangjin."

"And Ying Yue--"

She turned to face him, one hand already about to open the door.

"--go out with me tonight."

She took her grip off the knob and leaned her back on the door, tempting him with a naughty look. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

Fei Huangjin felt his body start to warm up and he lifted up a hand to loosen his tie. "Yes, I'm asking you out on a date."

The two were silent for a moment, simply staring at each other, each to their own thoughts. The tension in the air was thick and suffocating.

Finally, Ying Yue smiled, "Okay, Huangjin."

When she left, Fei Huangjin's face morphed into a triumphant look.

***

"I didn't know you could drive." Ying Yue was sitting shotgun beside Fei Huangjin, who was driving his car himself. This was the first time she had seen him not being driven around by his chauffer, Mr. Yang.

His expression didn't change. "I can, and I wanted to take you out and drive you home myself."

"Oh, really?" She gave him a mocking look. "Showing off, are we?"

Fei Huangjin smirked, keeping his eyes on the road. He began to debate when the right time was to bring up Juyan to her. Probably not tonight, though. She deserved to have a nice dinner without the extra nuances.

He cleared his throat and his lips thinned into a straight line. "What was your family like?"

She glanced back at Fei Huangjin, startled by his question. He looked like he was deep in thought, appearing a bit solemn at the same time. She suddenly remembered the stuff she had read about his family. His mother was the second wife; his father's first wife committed suicide after their child died in a vehicular accident.

Word had it that the second wife was never loved by her husband, but she was necessary since the Fei family needed an heir. She provided the Fei family with two: Fei Huangjin and Fei Haocheng. The second wife was cast aside once the heirs arrived and she lived separately from the Fei's.

He glanced at Ying Yue, who was staring at him in silence. "Am I that good-looking?"

"…" She blinked a few times and pretended to be unfazed. "I'm not the one who stared at his secretary during the entire board meeting." She said haughtily.

Fei Huangjin grinned at her response. She really interested him to no end.

"So… your family?" He pressed.

She had rehearsed her supposed family life several times for the sake of covering up her past and for her work in Juyan. It wasn't actually that far from the truth, so it would be convenient for her to talk about it. "My father, Ying Dongcheng, was often out on a mission with the military for weeks or months at a time." She paused, recalling how it felt whenever her father had to pack his bags and leave after he would get a call from his superior. She was still in primary school that time, and she often cried and clung to him before he left.

"I wouldn't hear from him when he was out. It was all confidential, or so I was told. But when he was home, he would walk me to school, visit my mom's grave, he cooked for me, and did all the things a normal father would do." Her dad always visited her mother's grave and left flowers for her. Although Ying Dongcheng never made her feel like it, Ying Yue always thought that perhaps her father blamed her for the death of her mother.

"I think dad was worried about me being alone a lot of times, so he made me do military exercises a lot." She smiled wistfully at the memory. Ying Dongcheng would wake her and her brother at dawn and make them go out for a run with him. He would then proceed to spar with Ying Shen with her watching them. Those were the happy days. But happy days never last.