Chapter 28 — Otherwise… I will get even crazier…
“Assistant Nan, fifteen minutes until the meeting.”
“Okay, I’ll be there right away.”
Nan Xu called back from the break room.
All of Xie Hejing’s tea and coffee were her responsibility, and he was—well, picky. Very… refined.
So she had no choice but to brew his coffee by hand, carefully following the recipe that had been sent over. After much effort, she finally managed to grind the beans and make a pot. Unable to resist, she poured herself a cup too.
The moment she took a sip, her face contorted from the bitterness. It took all her willpower to swallow it down.
She stared at the cup, remembering the way Xie Hejing could drink it without the slightest expression, and frowned. How could he possibly like coffee this bitter?
“Assistant Nan.” Someone called from outside the door again.
“I’m here.” Nan Xu lifted her head—and froze when she saw it was Xie Hejing standing there. Her smile faltered for a second before she quickly greeted him: “…President Xie.”
He disliked it when her smile slipped, especially when it happened upon seeing him.
He walked closer. “Assistant Nan, do you like our break room that much? Spending so long in here?”
If it weren’t for your overly complicated coffee… Nan Xu grumbled silently to herself, though she kept her polite smile. “Not at all.” Seeing him come closer, she hurriedly added, “President Xie, it’s almost time. We should head to the meeting.”
At her words, Xie Hejing pulled his gaze away—only for it to land on the two cups of coffee sitting on the table. His eyes flickered when he noticed the faint red stain on the rim of one. Without hesitation, he picked it up.
“Thank you for your hard work, Assistant Nan.”
“Haha, it’s nothing, not at all.”
This meeting was about a project Nan Xu had been following up on, so she was one of the ones presenting.
Xie Hejing sat in the first seat on the left, close enough that Nan Xu could see out of the corner of her eye how intently he was watching her.
She had been fairly relaxed before, but his gaze made her tense immediately.
Thankfully, she had been working overtime these past days and was confident in the project’s process.
Once she began, she gave the report with full focus, eventually forgetting about Xie Hejing’s presence altogether.
Sure enough, she made it through the entire report without him interrupting once. She was quick-witted—something Xie Hejing noted with approval as he sipped slowly at his coffee.
When the next person took over, Nan Xu finally let out a huge sigh of relief and returned to her seat. Her throat was dry from all the talking.
But she had only brought that one bitter cup of coffee with her. After a long hesitation, unwilling to get up in the middle of the meeting, she reluctantly lifted it and took a sip.
It took her a few seconds before she suddenly realized something was wrong.
She was wearing lipstick today, the kind that smudged easily. Normally, she kept a tissue handy and would blot her cup from time to time.
But this time, the rim was spotless.
Her heart skipped. She could immediately guess where the cup with her lipstick stain had ended up.
Her eyes trembled as she glanced toward Xie Hejing—just in time to see him lift his cup again, his lips pressing precisely against the faded mark of her lipstick.
Nan Xu’s eyes went wide. He looked over at her just then, and she instantly averted her gaze, silently praying he hadn’t noticed.
For the rest of the meeting, she sat on edge, terrified that Xie Hejing would suddenly realize the truth about the cup.
When it finally ended, Nan Xu darted forward at once, snatching up the nearly-empty cup in hopes of “destroying the evidence.”
Xie Hejing sat with lazy ease, long legs crossed, leaning back slightly in his chair. His tone was casual as he suddenly called out:
“Assistant Nan.”
There were still a few people in the conference room gathering their documents. At his sudden words, they all lifted their heads.
Nan Xu had just taken a few steps with the cup in hand when she froze under everyone’s gaze. Forcing herself to stop, she turned back stiffly and asked, “Yes, President Xie?”
Xie Hejing’s eyes didn’t go to Nan Xu but lingered on the faint lipstick stain left on the rim of the cup. By now, only a trace remained, and the smile tugging at his lips deepened.
Realizing what he was looking at, Nan Xu immediately shifted to block the cup with her hand, not daring to meet his gaze. “President Xie, do you need something? If not, I’ll go take care of those files from last time.”
“No,” his eyes drifted lazily from the cup back to her, “I just wanted to tell you—the coffee today was too sweet.”
Nan Xu’s face flushed scarlet in an instant, heat blooming beneath her skin.
She could only stammer out, “Noted, President Xie,” before bolting from the conference room as though fleeing for her life.
. . . . .
At lunch, a colleague leaned over curiously. “Hey, Nan Xu, I heard you added sugar to President Xie’s coffee?”
“We told you before, right? He only drinks it pure, no sugar.”
It was all his fault. She hadn’t added anything—she’d followed his recipe to the letter.
But she couldn’t explain, not without digging herself deeper. Biting down on her chopsticks, she mumbled vaguely, “I know, thanks for the reminder.”
Her desk had been arranged directly across from Xie Hejing’s office. With the blinds pulled up, the glass wall between them was perfectly clear. It was as if they were seated face to face.
Several young women in the office had even told her how envious they were—being able to look up at any time and see their impossibly handsome boss.
Nan Xu could only laugh it off, though secretly she felt trapped.
Especially now—after that mortifying incident—there was nowhere for her to hide. Every so often, her gaze flicked over, carrying a mix of embarrassment and silent reproach.
Xie Hejing noticed, of course. He always did. But since he was in an unusually good mood, he let it slide.
. . . . .
Close to the end of the workday, Nan Xu’s phone rang. It was Jiang Zhiyu, reminding her about the translation work she’d promised. The matter was important, he said, and asked if they could meet in person.
Only then did she realize she’d completely forgotten about it in the midst of all her project deadlines. She quickly apologized over the phone.
All the while, out of the corner of his eye, Xie Hejing had stopped working.
Watching her laugh softly into the phone, her eyes crinkling, his own narrowed.
He noted the time. From the moment she picked up until she hung up—ten full minutes.
She’d never spoken to him on the phone for more than five minutes.
Xie Hejing set his pen down, completely abandoning his work. Seeing how her mood had clearly lifted after the call, he reached for his desk phone.
“Nan Xu,” his voice came through cold and clipped, “come to my office.”
The chill in his tone made Nan Xu’s heart give a sharp lurch.
Ever since he had teased her about that drunken night and her reckless antics, she’d felt something between them had shifted into uneasy, dangerous territory.
And afterward, he had never once mentioned it again.
That silence unsettled her more than anything—because she knew, deep down, Xie Hejing wasn’t the kind of man to simply let things go.
Which meant her heart had been on edge ever since.
Nan Xu had been searching for a way to get along with Xie Hejing, wanting to clear the air. But every time their eyes met, she always ended up looking away first.
So when he suddenly summoned her to his office, her heart leapt into her throat.
The moment she stepped inside, the door slammed shut behind her with a bang. The sound made her flinch. Before she could react, Xie Hejing was already standing right in front of her, his eyes locked on hers.
“Do you have plans tonight?”
Nan Xu’s first instinct was to glance at the large glass wall—but she realized the blinds had been drawn at some point.
At least he wasn’t bringing up that matter. Relief loosened the tight knot in her chest, and she let out a small breath.
“Yes. I might be home late tonight, but don’t worry about me, Brother.”
That tiny exhale didn’t escape him. His already dark expression grew even stormier, and the fragile space between them vanished as he advanced step by step.
“You’re that afraid of people seeing us together?” His voice was low, almost dangerous.
“…No.”
Panic rising, Nan Xu retreated until her back hit the door. There was nowhere left to go.
“Tsk.” Xie Hejing gave a cold laugh. “So who are you meeting? That blind date of yours again?”
She bit her lip, nodding first, then shaking her head. “He doesn’t really count as a blind date anymore. More like… a friend.” Her gaze dropped as she swallowed hard. “Um, Brother, could you step back a little? Right now it’s…”
“It’s what?” he pressed.
“Too close,” she blurted, hands clenched. “It’s not appropriate. And you promised—” she drew in a breath and forced herself to finish—“you promised not to kiss me for no reason.”
At that, Xie Hejing’s expression lightened ever so slightly, one brow arching. “So just now… were you hoping I’d kiss you?”
Nan Xu’s head snapped up, eyes wide.
That wasn’t what she meant at all! How could he twist her words like that?
“I wasn’t. I only meant it’s not okay to stand this close at the office.”
“At the office, no.” He paused, as if mulling it over. Then, after a beat: “So you mean at home it’s fine?”
Her brows knitted in alarm, heat rushing through her. “No! I mean nowhere. Not at the office, not at home—nowhere.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed, his gaze falling inevitably to her lips. “Then where would be fine?”
“Nowhere!” she burst out. “Absolutely nowhere!”
By now, office hours had long ended. When she’d been on the phone earlier, she’d told Jiang Zhiyu when she got off work, and he had mentioned he’d already be waiting downstairs.
Nan Xu hated keeping people waiting.
Trying for a softer tone, she said, almost pleading, “Brother, it’s already past time. Can I go now?”
“What’s the rush?” His eyes sharpened with a dangerous glint. “You that eager for your little date?”
“It’s not a date,” she explained quickly. “I’m just helping Jiang Zhiyu with something important.”
“Helping?” His voice was edged with sarcasm. “You’re that generous with your kindness?”
Nan Xu nodded earnestly. “I’ve always been like that. And it’s nothing serious—just a small favor, really.”
“Brother, if you ever need help, I can help you too!” Nan Xu muttered.
Of course. He should have expected that. This girl was always like this—warm to everyone, giving without reserve to anyone who needed it.
To him, she was no different than she was to anyone else.
A bitter sense of unwillingness surged inside Xie Hejing, a feeling that had been festering for years.
Jealousy spread like wild grass, growing unchecked, rooting itself deep and dense in his chest.
He tried to cast it aside, but the moment Nan Xu smiled at someone else, it flared again—stronger, fiercer, uncontrollable.
In all their years apart, he had locked away that burning, reckless affection and the jealousy that came with it, over and over again. He thought he had mastered restraint.
But he couldn’t stop himself from looking at her. Couldn’t stop himself from making her his assistant, keeping her close to him every single day.
Every glance, every smile, every little gesture of hers tugged at his emotions with unbearable ease.
And in her eyes…
He was still only—
Brother.
He’d had enough!
She thought he stood so close just to remind her to be careful on her way to her “date”?
No. What he wanted was to kiss her, to bite her.
To make sure her heart was filled with no one but him.
She should only ever show that unguarded smile to him.
Xie Hejing’s brows lowered.
If he couldn’t hide these thoughts anymore, then they might as well drown together.
Her confused gaze met his.
His lips curled, sharp and dangerous, like a wolf in the dark baring its teeth before the strike.
He bent down, his lips brushing her ear—then bit.
A sharp sting shot through her, and Nan Xu beat at his chest with muffled outrage. “Xie Hejing, you’ve lost your mind!”
But he wouldn’t budge. She pushed and pushed, her fists striking hard enough to hurt her own hands, but he didn’t move an inch.
“Yes,” he growled, seizing her wrists and slamming them against the wall, his eyes burning with obsession and madness. “Nan Xu, maybe tonight we finally need to talk things through. Otherwise…”
His chest heaved as he leaned close to her ear, voice dropping to an icy murmur:
“…I’ll go even crazier.”