Too Many Coincidences

The 3 biggest entertainment companies in the country were collectively known as the 'Major 3' and two of them were based in SH City, where Su Qiao currently lived.

One of them, Constellation Entertainment, was more prevalent in the music industry and churned out boy and girl groups in their shiny packaging, as well as superstar solo artists. The other giant was Duo Forest Entertainment, which also happened to be Su Qiao's current company. DFE's focus was on film. It was a difficult company to become an artist of, with a stern reputation of a strict hiring policy.

What this meant was, when Su Qiao had first been introduced to the public eye, few people believed that she had entered the company on her own merit. This was because she had only been a student in acting school when hired. That, along with the news about her socialite family background, made everyone think that she had either bought her way in or pulled some strings.

They weren't wrong about her having strings to pull though. The 'Forest' in the company's name was a reference to Lin Zizhou's surname 'Lin'. He was the CEO of DFE, which was a subsidiary company of the Lin Family's conglomerate. In her past life, Su Qiao had taken foolish pride in the fact that her boyfriend was her boss. She had enjoyed it secretly, sneaking upstairs to his office to say hi and collect kisses whenever she went into the headquarters.

But now she knew that Lin Zizhou had probably only been tolerating her behaviour. He'd probably found her annoying, a spoiled useless princess that he had to pander to so that their marriage, which would have helped him gain status in the large and competitive Lin Family, wouldn't be jeopardised.

The minute Bai Meixin had been recognised back into the Su Family and he had a better option, he'd jumped boat.

Su Qiao could only blame herself for being so blind. Ah, whatever. Don't think about it anymore. She wasn't going to allow herself to make the same mistakes.

DFE's offices were relatively quiet at midday. Su Qiao spotted some young female fans huddled in a corner near the entrance, possibly hoping to catch a glimpse of one of her handsome male colleagues. They looked pretty harmless and waved excitedly when they spotted her, so she returned their enthusiasm with a friendly wave too.

It felt nice to be loved again. To not have crazy stalkers threatening to kill her for going too near to their 'film husbands' or for blocking their 'film wives' on the red carpet. Her reputation had crumbled so badly in her previous life that it had gotten to the point where she'd been blamed for every single thing.

The lift broke down when some poor new actress was in it? Su Qiao must have sabotaged it out of jealousy.

Some fresh meat young boy group singer was caught with a woman in a hotel room? It must be that witch Su Qiao, she loved seducing male celebrities to make use of their fame.

With a small, rueful chuckle, she set aside those painful thoughts for now. She was here to meet her personal stylist, not to hurt herself by ruminating on a past that hadn't happened yet.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped through the automatic glass doors and into the cool embrace of the grand foyer.

As an old player in the game, DFE was a rich company and it showed in its glitzy furnishings. The heels of Su Qiao's Jimmy Choo kitten heels clicked against the marble floor and she could feel all attention revert to her as she cut through the lobby towards the lifts.

"Qiao Jie, welcome back!"

"Good afternoon, Qiao Jie, here to discuss a new film contract?"

She responded to all the polite greetings with a small, sincere smile that didn't reach her eyes. All these young upstarts that tried to get her to notice them, Su Qiao could still remember some of their faces although she had long since forgotten their names. They were unimportant because they had discarded her once she'd become useless to their social-climbing ways.

She had just pressed the lift button when she heard excitedly murmuring from the people around her.

"Ms Su." A deep, velvety voice resounded from behind her, with a hint of amusement. "What a coincidence."

It actually was. She wasn't as familiar with this speaker as she was with his brother, but it was not the sort of baritone one would forget easily.

"Lin Zong," she replied evenly, referring to him by surname and professional title. "How nice to see you again."

This 'CEO Lin' wasn't the CEO Lin whose engagement ring Su Qiao was still wearing on a necklace beneath her blouse. This was Lin Zizhou's older brother, Lin Zixun, who didn't often drop by DFE because he wasn't directly in charge of it. But as the CEO of the parent company, Lin Zixun was technically his young brother's boss. Perhaps he was here today for an inspection? Or just to catch up with his brother?

"Pleasure's all mine." There it was again, that edge of laughter in his tone that had always unsettled her. It made this man sound too cavalier, like the entire world was a joke that only he understood and she was just one of the clowns entertaining him.

Once upon a time, she'd used to prefer Lin Zizhou's voice over his brother's. She'd believed that Lin Zizhou was a proper gentleman, who spoke to her with such seriousness because he respected her. It was only after seeing him soften his harsh demeanour for Bai Meixin that she realised how wrong she'd been. Lin Zizhou hadn't respected her, he'd just not cared enough to give her special treatment.

"Everything all right? You look tired."

Su Qiao's eyelid twitched. What kind of man would tell a woman that to her face? No wonder she hadn't heard any news about Lin Zixun's romantic life. This young master would be a super annoying boyfriend.

He was very handsome though, she had to admit, catching sight of his perfect face and physique as she turned to face him.

The Lin brothers were both very attractive. But where Lin Zizhou took himself too seriously and hence had an untouchable aura about him, Lin Zixun was the opposite. His dashing good looks and rakish mannerisms made him look like a celebrity and he didn't seem to mind being mistaken for one. People meeting both of them for the first time often mistook Lin Zizhou for the older one, despite him being 5 years younger. Even Su Qiao hadn't been able to believe that Lin Zixun was the one holding the power of the conglomerate consolidated in his hands at the moment.

No wonder Lin Zizhou hated him. She'd guessed this from some of the things he'd said when they'd been dating but only received confirmation when she'd seen him at Lin Zixun's funeral through Bai Meixin's eyes.

Anyone who could smile at their own brother's funeral wasn't right in the head.

"How's Ah Zhou been?" he asked suddenly.

Su Qiao's eyes narrowed. She met his eyes, trying to see if there was a particular reason why he was bringing up his brother now, but the easy grin on his face gave away nothing.

"Should Lin Zong be asking me that?" she replied.

Lin Zixun laughed. "You're right," he said agreeably. "I probably shouldn't, but I always did find it interesting."

"Find what?" Every muscle in Su Qiao's body tensed up. Lin Zixun hadn't come right out and announced to everyone in their vicinity that she was their CEO's fiancee but the insinuations he was making were already too bold! She could already envision the rumours that were going to spread, why would he make her life more difficult than it already was?

Once again, she got a sense that this incorrigible man was just toying with her. And Lin Zizhou. Like they were his private entertainment.

He opened his mouth to reply, and for a terrifying second, Su Qiao thought he was going to blurt out something like, "I find it so interesting that you're still bothering to hide your relationship with my brother even though you're getting married next spring."

But to her relief, Lin Zixun seemed to finally remember that they were in public because he said, "It's nothing, just wondering what Ah Zhou's been so busy with lately."

[My sweet little sister,] Su Qiao thought wryly.

As if to prove her right, the lift doors chose that moment to open, revealing Lin Zizhou and a blushing Bai Meixin.

Su Qiao raised an eyebrow. This lift had arrived from the basement. Because Lin Zizhou's CEO office was only accessible from a private lift in the lobby, of course, he had to stop here to change over. But this didn't explain why Bai Meixin was with him. If their family driver had sent her here, she should have arrived through the main entrance instead.

Su Qiao turned to Lin Zixun, who looked like his favourite drama series had just released a new surprise episode.

"Look, Lin Zong," she said with a perfunctory smile. "Today is just full of coincidences."