Chapter 25: It was her plan all along

Raven recognised the men as soon as she walked out from the restaurant area. They were the two that were supposed to meet for lunch to negotiate the deal. She was annoyed at the fact that they were late, and she didn't really plan on saying anything until she heard their comments.

They were talking about her, and even though she knew the comments weren't exactly about her appearance, since she was in Liehen's body, it was still annoying. No woman likes to be stared at and ogled in that way.

A plan quickly formed in her mind. She was going to let them have a taste of what it meant to annoy her. Not too much, but enough to scare the wits out of them.

When they heard her comment the men stopped and stared at her, trying to seem intimidating. She was laughing at the idea that these two pig looking men would even dare to look at her that way. No, wait, it was an insult to pigs to associate these two with that species.

She couldn't cause a commotion without provoking them a bit more to make her actions look justified, so she was getting ready to make another comment when one of the men spoke up.

"I'd love to take some pictures, if you know what I mean…" he said nudging his partner with an elbow and giving him a suggestive look. That was exactly what she wanted.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Li Naihe's stunned and angry expression. She thought it was sweet that he cared about his assistant enough to react to something as insignificant as this.

Without a second thought she turned on her heels ready to leave. As soon as she turned around, the man who spoke grabbed at her elbow.

'Touchdown!' she thought as she grabbed his fat hand, twisted it hard, and flipped it upwards, breaking his wrist. A sudden crack and pop sound was heard. The man groaned in pain and from the swift motion he lost his balance and fell to his knees. The situation was quite comical in her eyes. 'Yup, brining men down to their knees since 1999' she thought to herself preparing for her next strike.

Li Naihe was dumbfounded, but quickly concealed his expression, waiting for her next move.

"Mr Shengua, you should know better than to touch a woman without her permission. I bet you didn't know such actions would bring you to your knees." She giggled while still gripping the man's hand and continuing to inflict pain. She could see his eyes were tearing up and he was starting to shake.

"The rule is getting down on one knee, not both, if you're going to make any proposals like this in the future" She was full blown laughing now. Her laughter wasn't sweet or charming and was sending shivers down the man's spine. She was chuckling an evil laugh at him and looked like she enjoyed inflicting this kind of pain. She caught herself quickly, when it dawned on her she was starting to show some of that ruthlessness she was so used to.

'I'm Liehen, need to keep that image going.'

"Since we're here, you might as well know, your proposal is rejected." She let him go and walked out of the restaurant area once again, not before throwing her business card in the man's face. She threw it with such power that the edge of it cut the man's cheek.

She intended that way. It was only a paper cut, but it would send a clear message in terms of what proposal was rejected.

She reached Li Naihe and plastered that fake smile on her face again.

"President Li, when you're ready…" she nodded politely, waiting for him to head towards the exit of the hotel, indicating with her hand for him to walk first to their car.

"You bitch!" the man snarled behind her, still on his knees."You broke my wrist!"

She completely ignored him, her back towards him, as she was waiting for the president of the company to start walking.

Li Naihe was sporting a cold, indifferent expression on his face, looking entirely unperturbed by the scene in front of him. Raven had no idea what was going on behind that stone cold, and extremely handsome face of his. For some reason, his features reminded her of Dominic, an older Dominic to be precise. If the android could age, she thought he would look exactly like the man in front of her.

Without another word, Li Naihe started walking towards the exit, not looking back at all.

They got to the car and she politely opened the door for him to get in. As soon as he did, it dawned on him finally ' that was her plan all along' he thought looking back at what happened. 'She baited them into action and they paid for it. She's one dangerous woman' he thought as he waited for her to get in the car next to him.

To his surprise, she got in the car next to the driver on the passenger seat.

Raven was not doing anything more than imitating what Dominic had done for her every time they travelled. He would always sit in the front, to both monitor the journey and to give her space to think through whatever it was they needed to do that day. In her mind, this behaviour was completely acceptable and expected of an assistant.

In the backseat of the car, Li Naihe was restless. Why was she sitting in the front? Was this her way of drawing the line between them? Did she not want to engage in conversation about what happened? His mind was plagued with all these questions.

Before he got a chance to say anything, she spoke in a very polite and soft voice.

"I do apologise for the outburst President Li, it was not my intention to embarrass you."

He waited for a few more seconds for additional explanations, or maybe some context, but she didn't seem like she was going to offer any. It didn't look like this woman ever explained herself to anyone, so he sighed and let it go.

He understood why she did that, and saw through her actions to goad those men into making fools of themselves, but he couldn't help but think she also did it out of consideration for him. Was she protecting him? This thought amused him and pleased him in the same time.

When they got back to the company, she headed straight for the executive elevator, to call it for him. Just as he stepped in the elevator, she suddenly said "Mr. President, please head up to your office, lunch is waiting for you on your desk. I'll take my leave now." The doors closed giving him no opportunity to stop her or say anything.