My Childhood Friend, Who Is An Omega, Has Become My Personal Secretary - Chapter 6

Ji Zeyuan’s heart beat like the strike of a drum—thumping with a heat that was both intense and soaring.

Zhang Linen’s voice carried a distinct emotional edge. The driver did not stop immediately, but instead shot a cautious glance at Ji Zeyuan through the rearview mirror.

Ji Zeyuan watched Zhang Linen through the mirror. Zhang Linen’s head was lowered, her expression unreadable.

“Why? Is something wrong?” Ji Zeyuan asked.

Zhang Linen remained silent for a second or two before saying in a trembling voice, “I want some water.”

Ji Zeyuan withdrew her gaze and said to the driver, “Stop at the mall up ahead.”

The driver followed orders. As soon as the car came to a halt, Zhang Linen twisted the door handle and stepped out, failing to check if any vehicles were passing by.

An electric scooter came speeding toward them. Zhang Linen stepped forward blankly, completely oblivious to the danger beside her.

A jolt of shock hit Ji Zeyuan. Scrambling out of the car, she practically lunged toward Zhang Linen in three strides, jerking her into her arms.

The scooter rider swerved the handlebars sharply and braked to change course; the momentum caused the scooter to collide with a ginkgo tree by the roadside, leaving a conspicuous dent in the rough bark.

“What the hell! Don’t you look when you get out of a car?” the rider shouted irritably.

The driver quickly exited the vehicle to negotiate: “I am very sorry. We will provide you with compensation that meets your satisfaction.”

Ji Zeyuan was still shaken, but the warmth of Zhang Linen’s body gave her an unprecedented sense of security.

“Miss, I’m sorry,” Zhang Linen said in a low, husky voice. Ji Zeyuan snapped back to her senses and immediately let go of her.

“Why are you being so reckless? Where are your eyes? Look out for cars!” Ji Zeyuan growled.

Zhang Linen looked back at Ji Zeyuan directly, offering neither a rebuttal nor an explanation.

Ji Zeyuan felt the rhythm of her own breathing falter. The image of the scooter nearly hitting Zhang Linen kept flashing back in her mind.

After a few seconds of silence, a taxi approached the curb. Zhang Linen reached out to hail it.

Almost instinctively, Ji Zeyuan grabbed Zhang Linen’s wrist.

“Where… where are you going?” Ji Zeyuan blurted out, her words stumbling in her haste.

Zhang Linen’s gaze fell upon the hand Ji Zeyuan was using to hold her, her eyes flickering.

The taxi driver, growing impatient at the roadside, called out, “Are you getting in or not?”

Zhang Linen didn’t respond, quietly watching Ji Zeyuan. Ji Zeyuan’s lips parted and her eyelashes trembled as she prepared to ask her to stay.

Suddenly, the taxi driver remarked dryly, “Are you young lovers having a spat?”

Hearing this, Ji Zeyuan snapped back to reality and let go of her hand as if she had been electrocuted.

Ji Zeyuan reminded herself repeatedly in her mind that the person before her was her own biological sister. She closed her eyes, then opened them again; her gaze quickly grew calm, and her expression returned to a cold indifference.

“You can take a taxi yourself. It just so happens I have other matters to attend to and won’t be returning to the company for the time being.”

After speaking, Ji Zeyuan returned to the car. Her body was trembling slightly, and even her voice shook.

The driver was still negotiating with the scooter owner. Ji Zeyuan tilted her head to watch Zhang Linen enter the taxi through the side mirror. Only when the taxi disappeared from the mirror’s view did she blankly withdraw her gaze.

The scent of Zhang Linen’s grass-fragrant Omega pheromones still lingered on her wrist. Ji Zeyuan’s heart beat like the strike of a drum—thumping with a heat that was both intense and soaring.

Ji Zeyuan opened the car window, wanting the wind to blow the scent away. The clear, hot summer wind poured into the car, but no matter how it blew, it could not whisk away that light, elegant fragrance of grass.

“Supervisor Hua, why are you at Secretary Zhang’s office door? Eh… what’s that in your hand?”

The department manager leaned sideways, curious to see what was going on. Hua Jianjiu quickly hid the document bag behind her back and said with a hollow laugh, “This is a list of the company’s past projects that Secretary Zhang asked me to organize.”

“Oh…” Seeing that Hua Jianjiu was unwilling to show her, the department manager nodded with a hint of disappointment and asked, “Is Secretary Zhang not in? Can’t you just leave it on her desk?”

Hua Jianjiu explained with a dry smile, “Secretary Zhang wants to discuss these documents with me. I’ll wait here for her to return.”

The manager’s brow cleared, appearing as if she wanted to say more, but just then Zhang Linen returned. Hua Jianjiu hurried to tell the manager, “Manager, please excuse me.”

Hua Jianjiu went to meet Zhang Linen and said, “Secretary Zhang, I’ve brought the documents you asked me to organize.”

Zhang Linen looked puzzled; she had never asked Hua Jianjiu to organize any documents. Hua Jianjiu signaled desperately with her eyes. Seeing the hovering department manager behind her, Zhang Linen nodded faintly and opened the office door: “Come in first.”

As soon as the door closed, Hua Jianjiu got straight to the point: “Linen, about Li Ziruo… the employee who was disrespectful to you. Can you ask Ji Zeyuan to rescind her dismissal?”

Zhang Linen gave a playful smile, sitting in her office chair and watching Hua Jianjiu without speaking.

Hua Jianjiu approached Zhang Linen, leaning her hands on the edge of the desk with an anxious tone: “Linen, I’m begging you. If you’re really that angry, then demote me instead.”

Zhang Linen remained silent for a moment, opening a bottle of aromatherapy on the desk. As the scent of roses drifted out, her foul mood eased slightly.

“I have no grievance with you; demoting you wouldn’t satisfy my anger,” Zhang Linen said, glancing sideways while sniffing the fragrance.

Hua Jianjiu quickly said, “Ask for anything you want. As long as it’s within my power, I will agree to it.”

Zhang Linen tapped her finger on the desk repeatedly. After thinking for a moment, she asked, “Why don’t you go directly to the Miss? You have a close relationship with her; she would probably agree to you directly.”

Hua Jianjiu replied, “Linen, let’s not beat around the bush. Regarding anything involving you, forget about me—even if the Chairman himself came, she wouldn’t budge.”

Hearing this, Zhang Linen lowered her head and gave a bitter smile. She then looked up at Hua Jianjiu and said, “Fine, but you must promise to help me with one thing.”

Hua Jianjiu asked, “What is it?”

Zhang Linen: “I haven’t thought of it yet. I’ll tell you later.”

Hua Jianjiu didn’t hesitate for a second: “I promise you.”

Zhang Linen looked at Hua Jianjiu with interest and asked, “Is that person your lover?”

Hua Jianjiu’s expression stiffened slightly. After a moment of hesitation, she said, “As far as I’m concerned, yes.”

The meaning behind those words was subtle. Zhang Linen picked up on the complexity of the relationship, but she wasn’t in the mood to pry into other people’s affairs, so she didn’t ask further. She said directly, “I will speak to the Miss. You may go.”

Hua Jianjiu lowered her head and said, “Thank you.”

Stepping out of Zhang Linen’s office, Hua Jianjiu clutched her chest and sighed. She stood by the door for a moment with her hand to her forehead, and as she prepared to return to her own office, she looked up and saw Li Ziruo hiding around the corner.

“Why are you here?” Hua Jianjiu walked over. Once she was sure no one was around, she naturally wrapped her arms around Li Ziruo’s waist.

Li Ziruo took a blueberry candy out of her pocket, peeled it, and fed it to Hua Jianjiu, saying with a beaming smile, “Waiting for you, of course.”

“Mmm… so? Judging by your expression, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Looking at Li Ziruo, who remained unscrupulously unrepentant, Hua Jianjiu’s heart felt heavy. She ate the blueberry-flavored candy and nodded silently.

Li Ziruo happily stood on her tiptoes and kissed Hua Jianjiu on the cheek: “Supervisor, want to grab dinner tonight?”

After saying that, Li Ziruo added suggestively, “We can go to your place after dinner.”

Hua Jianjiu shook her head, her tone serious: “Li Ziruo, I hope this is the last time I clean up a mess for you.”

A flash of guilt crossed Li Ziruo’s face, but she immediately hugged Hua Jianjiu and acted coyly: “I know, I know.”

A few days later, the shoot for the Ji Xia beauty device advertisement began.

After finishing a mountain of work documents, Zhang Linen breathed a long sigh of relief and leaned back into her high-backed chair.

After a moment of silence, Zhang Linen stood up and walked toward the small glass door in the office.

Behind the glass door was the CEO’s office. Zhang Linen’s office was right next to Ji Zeyuan’s; the two were essentially one suite, with the secretary’s office being a small cubicle partitioned off by frosted glass.

Zhang Linen pressed her ear against the glass door. It was quiet inside. It seemed Ji Zeyuan had not yet returned from her event. She pushed the door open and entered Ji Zeyuan’s office.

Stacks of document bags were piled on Ji Zeyuan’s desk. There were many files, but they were all categorized and arranged neatly; though numerous, they were not cluttered.

The wall directly behind the desk facing the door was a glass wall. During the day, sunlight projected through it, scattering dappled shadows across the desk and floor like shards of crystal.

Zhang Linen approached Ji Zeyuan’s desk. She pulled out Ji Zeyuan’s office chair and sat in it after a moment of silence.

On the desk sat a closed laptop, a pen holder full of pens, as well as aromatherapy and tissues.

Even though their offices were adjacent, under Ji Zeyuan’s deliberate avoidance, Zhang Linen had only seen her three times in the past five days. Even the total time of those three meetings amounted to less than five minutes.

Eight years of departure without a reason, and now she was avoiding her at every turn.

Zhang Linen opened the closed laptop to check it, hoping to find some clues, but Ji Zeyuan had set a password.

She tried entering Ji Zeyuan’s birthday, but the password was incorrect.

Just as she was about to make another attempt, the landline on Ji Zeyuan’s desk suddenly rang.

This was the dedicated phone Ji Zeyuan used for official business. Most of the time when Ji Zeyuan was not at her desk, Zhang Linen would answer on her behalf.

Zhang Linen picked up the phone, only to hear a familiar, sickly-sweet voice on the other end.

“President Ji, you really are a busy person. Didn’t we agree you would come to the set today? You’re really not giving me any face.”

It was noisy on the other end, but Zhang Linen immediately identified the woman’s voice as Shen Jiuyue.

Shen Jiuyue’s voice carried a hint of coquettishness: “President Ji, I look even better today than usual. Just do me a favor, show your face, and consider it as coming to support me.”

There were many rumors about Shen Jiuyue, the most common being that she had dated several Alpha tycoons in an attempt to marry into wealth and elevate her status in one leap.

Zhang Linen didn’t say a word and quietly hung up the phone.

Regardless of whether the rumors were true or false, judging by the way Shen Jiuyue spoke, it was hard to say she didn’t have certain “intentions” toward Ji Zeyuan.

Zhang Linen returned to her own office and took her car keys out of the top drawer.

Since Ji Zeyuan had finally returned to the country, Zhang Linen would not act rashly, nor would she allow anyone else to approach with “ulterior motives.”

Zhang Linen pulled up the number for the advertisement producer from her contacts and dialed.

“This is Secretary Zhang. Notify the people on set that President Ji is heading over immediately.”

“Eh? President Ji didn’t say she was coming today,” the producer’s voice sounded confused.

Zhang Linen explained calmly, “Didn’t Shen Jiuyue want the President to go? As soon as President Ji took her call, she said she was going over right away.”

The producer suddenly understood, letting out a subtle laugh: “Oh… I see! I see! Thank you, Secretary Zhang. We’ll make sure everything is ready.”