Condescending

The dull thumping sound made when sandals hit the tiled floor mixed together with the sharp clicking noise of stiletto heels made for an unusual yet harmonious amalgamation of noises. A pair of beauties kept walking in tandem to this noise along the brightly-lit, almost empty corridor littered with various offices on both sides before finally stopping in front of a door in the very corner of the building floor.

Yang Jingshen furtively glanced at his cousin and seeing her still wearing that expression of exasperated amusement, secretly sighed in relief. For a moment back there, he had thought he overdid it when he saw the shock on Feng Xue's face, but then she had laughed and pinched his face.

But she still hadn't said anything and he couldn't help feeling slightly on tenterhooks. After all, he had taken a gamble by assuming that Feng Xi was just like your average teenage girl, chasing idols and all.

'Not like I can tell her– hey you know, I met that guy Luo Cheng at the hospital and I kinda acted crazy in front of him, right?'

Yang Jingshen wouldn't have thought much about her cousin's reaction -after all, she had shown a proper degree of amusement and exasperation- if not for the fact that for a moment back then, a flummoxed and suspicious expression had appeared in her eyes.

He had felt cold sweat trickling down his back but still decided to continue with the farce. He had already boarded the tiger's back so there's no getting down now.

'Fudge that! I even acted like some love-sick teenage girl and there's no way I'm backing down now. Guess I'll just have to be more careful.'

Noticing the suddenly twisted expression on Feng Xue's face, Yang Jingshen carefully glanced at the door. But other than a nameplate with the title 'Jr. section manager Wang', it really didn't have any other special feature that would warrant such hospitality from his otherwise mild-mannered cousin.

Somehow reminded of her hawk-like expression and tigress-like demeanor since this morning, he shuddered lightly and decided to mind his own business. Anyway, whoever was on the receiving end of her displeasure, it definitely wasn't him. At most, he'd just light an incense stick in the hope that the poor fella would survive the ordeal.

Feng Xue took a deep breath and her expression returned to a more polite and faker version as she neatly knocked on the door. Hearing the muffled voice saying 'come in', she opened the door without further ceremony and directly walked in after signaling Feng Xi to follow her.

And then she stood in front of the office table in the middle of the small, eighty-square feet room and quietly observed the man seated at the table, who apparently looked busy with some paperwork.

The silence continued, only occasionally disturbed by the scratching noise of a pen on paper. Realizing that this unanimous silent contest wasn't showing signs of stopping any time soon, Yang Jingshen quietly looked around the small room as he took note of various significant and insignificant details around him.

The small office only had the usual furnishing of an office table and chair with an office cupboard to the side and two other chairs for use by visitors. However, the room's current owner seemed to have taken some effort to decorate it personally as well.

Yang Jingshen took in the sight of the expensive-looking custom-made model car on display on top of the cupboard and the family photo on the table showing a two-story single-family type detached villa with an SUV of the same model parked chicly in front of it and curled his lips lightly. They screamed of a wealth that seemed inconsistent with the tiny office and its blading, middle-aged owner.

The man twisted uncomfortably on his chair but Feng Xue didn't seem to notice, so he finally gave up and, looking at her, cleared his throat. "You're late."

"My bad–" Feng Xue drawled, enjoying the way the rather ordinary face in her vision warped into showing an expression of anger. "We got caught up in traffic."

Wang Zhou glanced at her mutinously for a few seconds before pointedly glancing at the clock mounted on a side wall. Feng Xue also looked at it and thought for a few seconds before answering in a matter-of-fact manner. "We live in suburbs."

"..."

Wang Zhou took a deep calming breath and reminded himself not to rise to the gauntlet thrown down by this bitch. 'Just you wait– I'll have you pay me back in double before long.'

Deciding to ignore this eye sore, he turned to look at the other person in the room and felt his mouth twitch lightly, but when he spoke, the expression in his eyes was hard to read. "....Feng Xi, I see that you recovered well."

Yang Jingshen removed his eyes from a framed certificate on the windowsill commending excellent service and turned to look at the beady eyes of the junior section manager before politely nodding his head.

"Hmph! Do you know what kind of trouble you caused? Not only lost the whole company's face but mine too. Succeeding in this industry just doesn't depend on a pretty face. You-"

'Knock knock'

Wang Zhou nearly choked on his saliva and stopped his lengthy lecture before grumpily calling out "come in". But the displeasure on his face disappeared like clouds seeing the sun at the very same instant he saw the new visitor, as his face became wreathed in a huge smile that looked quite comical.

But on the other hand, Feng Xue didn't appear happy in the slightest; for a moment, she even looked positively apoplectic.

The visitor was a woman who seemed to be in her late twenties and although her looks couldn't compare to that of Feng Xue's, no one could call her ordinary either. What she lacked in the looks department, she made up for it in the way she held herself and the way she dressed.

Yang Jingshen looked on with interest as this smartly-dressed lady directly smiled right at his cousin's face despite seeing her fuming look. Then she proceeded to step into the room, as cool as you please while smoothly greeting manager Wang.

The said manager looked eager and kept dishing up praise after praise, but the woman only kept on listening with good-humored attention without looking embarrassed or overwhelmed in the slightest.

Feng Xue ground her teeth as her anger kept on mounting at this behavior and finally couldn't help murmuring what she was thinking. "Shameless!"

But apparently, the other woman heard her because she turned in her direction and the hateful smile on her face grew wider.

"Long time no see Ah'Xue."

"We saw each other just last week." This reply sounded as insipid as it could get, but the other person didn't seem to mind in the slightest. Still keeping the same condescending smile -yep it was condescending- on her face, she turned to look at the young girl who had been quietly standing at the side and observing them.

"Feng Xi, it's been quite some time since I last saw you. You already recovered well. By the way… got any new roles to act on these days? If not, I could find a good spot in some drama for you."

"Zhu Jin!"

"... What do you say? Let big sis help you. I'm sure I can find a good enough role for someone of your, ah– caliber."

Yang Jingshen stared quietly at the face of this newest 'big sis' for a few seconds as he ignored the pointed glare and the eye signals made by his cousin, his eyes curiously blank. And then he suddenly smiled.

This smile was so good-looking and sweet that Zhu Jin who was the direct recipient of the said expression dazed out for a moment. But, the words that came out of the younger woman's mouth in the next second caused the expression on her face to freeze.

"Thank you, aunty… Zhu Jin? You're very kind" A beat of silence and then,

"Pfft"

Zhu Jin could feel the muscles in her right cheek spasming and for the first time in a long while, she found herself at a loss for words. Was this brat funning her? Why- how dare she call her something- something like that? She resisted the urge to touch her face with great difficulty when Feng Xue drawled after finally finishing laughing.

"Ah, I forgot to mention this before. My sister lost her memory after that accident. So, it's only normal that she won't remember you. It was my bad, but agent Zhu, if her words, er, offended you some way or other, I beg for your forgiveness. It wasn't intentional."

Manager Wang spluttered while Zhu Jin took a deep breath as she tried to school her expression to her previous indifference. But, she found it really difficult to smirk like earlier, especially after listening to this explanation.

'Was this little bitch acting? But it doesn't look like it.' She could now clearly see the confused and slightly nervous expression on Feng Xi's face- it was the sort of expression one would have when they knew they did something wrong but didn't know what. And it didn't look fake!

'If she's faking something like that, then she won't be easy to deal with– No, the Feng Xi I know, she isn't as deep as that…" So this girl really has amnesia. But if she really does, doesn't it mean that when she addressed her earlier, she was sincerely saying what she really thought in her head?

'...'

"Enough!" Wang Zhou rebuked, finally unable to keep looking at the shocked expression on agent Zhu's face. This pair of siblings, none of them were anything good. Zhu Jin was already someone showing signs of reaching bigger heights, so was she someone to be provoked casually? These two might have a death wish, but he doesn't.

"Here, take a look at these two scripts." He threw the pale pink folder on his table at Feng Xue. "With Feng Xi's current reputation, no decent crew would be willing to give her any role. Even to get these scripts, I had to use some of my personal connections too… So you better be grateful and accept this without a fuss."