Complimenting an Angel

Previously:

"I was just told to dress up," she shrugged.

"Well, you look great," Cui chuckled after putting the phone down.

"Let us not keep you waiting," Gina smiled.

"Bye," Lai smiled back and waved goodbye, leaving them.

When Na saw her as she stepped out of the elevator and entered their 12th floor, her jaw dropped.

"Now this is what I call 'dressing up and looking pretty.' You understood the assignment," Zhenya clapped her hands in excitement, "I like your attitude."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Na nodded in agreement.

"You look great," she grinned at Lai, "I always knew you were a beauty, but I feel you get more and more beautiful each time I see you."

"Yeah, it's almost envious," Zhenya added, "Almost."

"Stop it, guys," Lai blushed, covering her face with her hands, "I'm embarrassed."

"If only Lingxin and Jingyi could see you," Zhenya sighed.

Lai tilted her head.

"Where are they?" she asked, scanning the room.

"On a 2-day business trip to Hengyuan," Na answered, going to take a seat at her desk, "They'll be back by Thursday."

"I see," Lai nodded, "Well, let me leave you two to your work."

"Have fun," Zhenya winked at her as Lai knocked on Bai's door.

"Mr. Ying is not here yet, so you can just go in," Na announced.

Lai opened the door and sat at her desk, switching her laptop to read her work emails. When she found nothing, she began to organize the documents Bai had told her to not take home.

She planned to take them home with her on Friday and go over them during the weekend, but Bai had insisted on not letting her do so.

"It's been two hours, and Mr. Ying is still not here," she pressed her lips together, checking her phone and finding that it was running to 9h30.

She wondered if maybe he had an appointment she didn't know about. Just as she was about to stand up to photocopy a document, the door opened.

In came her boss, Mr. Ying.

"Good morning, Mr. Ying," she immediately greeted, flashing a Colgate smile.

He smiled back at her, and his amber eyes widened upon seeing her attire. Usually, he would see her wearing suits consisting of either pants or skirts.

It was his first time seeing her wear a dress. The light blue dress accentuated her milk-like skin. The belt around her waist made her waist look small.

And tempting to put one's arm around.

"Is something wrong?" she inquired upon seeing him stare at her for a long time.

'Maybe I didn't dress appropriately,' she clenched her fists, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

He snapped out of his daze and cleared his throat.

"No," he glanced away, "You look great, by the way."

"Thank you," she internally sighed in relief, "I was worried that I might not have dressed appropriately since I have no idea what the function is or why I have to dress up for today."

She tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled. Picking up the document she wanted to photocopy, she walked to the machine and began copying.

He had removed his suit jacket and sat down at his seat, occasionally watching her from the corner of his eye. She was pacing back and forth, photocopying and scanning documents.

To say that his admiration and love for her didn't rise because of how she looked today would be an understatement.

The man was over the moon. She looked like an angel to him. A model like no other.

A treasure more precious than his own life.

'Uh,' her hazelnut eyes widened when she rechecked her emails, 'Seems like the emails are coming in now. Let's see.'

She began to open the emails sent to her. Most of the emails were confirmations of meetings with Bai. Some were just documents she had requested be sent to her on his behalf.

She grabbed one folder and stood up, walking to Bai, who was busy on his laptop.

"Mr. Ying," she softly voiced.

He looked up from his laptop. When his eyes met hers, his heart did a mini-jump.

'Uh, she really is beautiful,' he internally beamed.

"Yes?" he replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Here," she passed him a document, "This is a revised copy of this month's financial statements from Storm Records according to what the CEO emailed me."

He accepted the document and skimmed through the content.

"It's for the artist, Xun Hyejin," she continued, "Apparently, Hyejin wasn't fussy about her salary compared to before."

"It must be because of you," he told her, locking eyes with her.

She tilted her head and raised her eyebrow in perplexity.

"Me?" she questioned, "What do I have to do with her salary?"

Bai let out a soft laugh.

'She's so oblivious sometimes that it's somewhat cute.'

"Hyejin used to be finicky about her salary even though she was being paid beyond what most companies would actually pay," he then paused and furrowed his brow.

"Ah," she nodded, "Is that so?"

He nodded.

"But I guess I understand why she did it now," he leaned forward, "Anyway, thanks to you, the contract negotiation process went smoothly before I lost my temper and interest in Hyejin. If it was me, I would have found someone else. There's nothing I hate more than wasting time."

She pressed her lips together.

"Right," she just said and walked back to her seat.

Softly sighing, she watched him get back to work.

'Sometimes I forget that he belongs to the mafia because he doesn't act like how I pictured a mafia to act,' she blankly stared at her laptop's monitor, 'Or maybe he does act like it behind the scenes, but I don't see it because...well, we're not exactly together 24/7.'

She shrugged and got back to work. They worked until the clock hit twelve in the afternoon. To say she was drained would be an understatement.

Working in a dress proved harder than she thought, especially because she had to leave the CEO's office and go to the various departments to enquire about some documents.

"Let's go out to eat," Bai unexpectedly suggested, seizing his suit jacket and standing up.

"T-together?" she froze and stared at him with widened eyes and raised eyebrows.

It was the first time he took her out to have lunch. Together. Alone. She usually had lunch with Na and the others.

Bai usually ate out alone after he was done with meetings or sometimes never ate.

"Yeah," he nodded.

As he was about to open the door, his phone rang.

"Wait for me downstairs, Lai."

She nodded and walked out of the office, finding Na and Zhenya exchanging information on a task they were currently busy with.

"Oh, off to lunch?" Na asked, raising her head from her desk.

"Yeah," she answered, clutching her handbag tightly.

"And you get to eat with Mr. Ying, right?" Zhenya had a sour expression.

Lai crossed her arms.

"Don't give me that look," she sighed.

"What look?" Zhenya innocently asked, pretending to be confused.

"That I'm-so-jealous-it's-not-fair-you-get-to-eat-with-Mr.-Ying look," Na answered on Lai's behalf.

"I'm not jealous," Zhenya pouted.

Na and Lai softly chuckled.

"How childish," Na pat Zhenya's head like a kid, "Enjoy your lunch, Lai. Don't mind this brat here."

Lai laughed again and waved goodbye. She headed for the ground floor and found Fan Qing talking to Gina. He was carrying a large blue box.

Upon seeing her, he said goodbye to Gina and headed her way.

'Ah,' she groaned, knowing what was about to come, 'Here we go. again'

"It must be my lucky day," Fan Qing began flirtatiously, "I get to see an angel. Why don't you let this human take you out to lunch? It's on him."