Your secretary is a spy

"What put you in such a good mood?"

Ying Yue's head whipped to the source of the husky, low voice and found Fei Huangjin stepping out of his office.

She grinned. "Nothing. Just took care of some flies."

Flies? Was Jade Circle bothering her again?

His forehead creased. "Did you run in to any trouble?"

"Nothing I can't handle," she answered confidently.

"Mmm." Fei Huangjin decided to let the matter go and look into it later. "Let's have lunch."

***

"I heard you dismissed the foundation director today," Ying Yue said as she picked up the menu.

The restaurant was one they frequented. It was just a block away from the Fei International headquarters and Fei Huangjin would often hold lunch meetings there.

"Yes, the accounting department found that he's been embezzling funds from the foundation for the past two months." He was reading the menu as he said so. "I'll have the steak and stroganoff and a glass of red Shiraz. She'll have the seared salmon with a glass of lemon juice."

The waiter nodded his head and turned to leave.

"Wait," Ying Yue frowned at this. If there was anything she hated, it was not being given the opportunity to choose. "You can't just order for me like that. What if I wanted something else?"

One of his eyebrows rose and he cocked his head to one side. "Ying Yue, I do always let you order, but I also do know that for the past year, you haven't ordered anything from this restaurant other than seared salmon and lemon juice."

He may not have noticed it, and it may not be obvious to both of them, but he'd been unconsciously paying attention to her, too -- even if it was supposedly the other way around with their job descriptions.

She wasn't sure if she should laugh or pout. Try as she might, she couldn't think of a rebuttal.

"Fine." She didn't want to concede defeat, but Fei Huangjin was her boss and it was true; she actually always ordered seared salmon and lemon juice.

Fei Huangjin was observing the mix of emotions on her face and a ghost of a smile graced his lips.

"But for your information, that foundation director has been embezzling funds for the past four months -- not two months," she said nonchalantly. "It's a shame you didn't know that."

"Really…" he eyed her interestingly. "And how would you know that?"

She lifted one eyebrow at him, jutting out her chin in a proud manner. "In case you forgot, your secretary is a spy."

"I think the proper statement would be -- my girlfriend is a spy," he replied.

Fei Huangjin's handsome face carried with it a natural sense of aloofness and coldness. Even now while he uttered those words -- which to Ying Yue sounded very much like he was joking -- he was expressionless and his face was flat, probably from all the years of practicing his poker face or perhaps out of habit.

She couldn't even discern any hint of teasing in his eyes.

His seriousness only caused Ying Yue to become confused. She didn't quite understand what made the man so adamant to get into a relationship with her.

"Ying Yue…" Fei Huangjin leaned a bit closer, his flat, expressionless face unchanged, "I seem to enjoy your company very, very, very much."

He dragged on each word to show just how much of an effect she had on him.

Against her will, Ying Yue's face became hot and she chewed on her lip to try and stop her face from turning red.

The attempt was futile, and her face soon became flushed all the way to the tips of her ears.

Big Boss had been complaining about that characteristic of hers during her training. He said she blushed too easily, which was both a blessing and a curse.

A blessing because it can trick people to have certain expectations over what she was thinking. And it was a curse because, like today, it showed what she was feeling -- a mixture of surprise, panic, embarrassment, and, if she was really honest with herself, elation.

"I know you probably got into this thing with me to protect yourself from Jade Circle." He frowned, his words leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

She started becoming defensive. "No--"

He held a hand up to stop her from talking. He really wanted to get a message out to her before she said anything else.

"There are a lot of secrets between us. We both know that." The hand he held up shot forward, taking Ying Yue's hand in his.

His thumb caressed her knuckles, the way he did when they went out on a date last night. But this time, it felt a bit different to Ying Yue, like he was doing it to calm himself down rather than to reassure her.

Her chest tightened, and she could hear her heartbeat getting faster with each passing second.

"But if you let me, allow me to be your man. I'll carry all the wind and rain for you. I'll protect you. All you have to do is to trust me and be with me."