The Former Assistant Seduced The Current President - Chapter 1

The air in the early autumn night remained heavy with the lingering heat of summer. Outside the side entrance of a shopping mall, a crowd gathered in front of the elevators. The space was thick with a cloying mixture of perfumes and sweat, making the atmosphere oppressive.

Lin Wei stood by the elevator entrance, waving her hand in front of her face in a futile attempt to catch a breeze. She turned to the young man beside her. “Yan Xi, aren’t you hot?”

The man was checking a restaurant menu on his phone. He shook his head gently. “It is not too bad.”

Amidst the restless, agitated crowd, he remained unaffected, composed, and calm.

With a soft ding, the elevator doors slid open, and the waiting crowd surged forward. Just as the doors were about to close, someone shouted, “Wait!”

Lin Wei shoved Yan Xi out of the crowd.

“What is wrong?” Yan Xi looked at her, his eyes full of confusion as he pocketed his phone.

Lin Wei stared at a nearby elevator. Its display arrow was blinking downward. “Yan Xi, I think I just saw your boyfriend.”

“You must have recognized the wrong person,” Yan Xi laughed, tucking his phone away. “Cheng Zhen is on a business trip and will not be back for another three or four days.”

“Do you think everyone is as face blind as you?” Lin Wei dragged Yan Xi toward the elevator. “Come on! Let us go see for ourselves.”

The neighboring elevator bank had two exits: one leading to a basement KTV and the other to the underground parking garage. Yan Xi followed Lin Wei to the garage, weaving through rows of parked cars, but found nothing.

“Let us just go eat,” Yan Xi said, checking the time. “They will be closing soon.” Having worked overtime, he was already lightheaded from hunger.

“Can you just be a little more alert?” Lin Wei snapped. Suddenly, she stopped. Near a corner, a car door was opening. Her internal radar went off instantly. She took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Cheng Zhen!”

The man froze, his hand still on the doorframe. He turned slowly. Beside him, the door of an orange sports car stood half open. A woman sat inside, nonchalantly applying lipstick in the rearview mirror.

Lin Wei inhaled sharply and glanced at Yan Xi. In the dim garage lighting, shadows fell across Yan Xi’s dark lashes. He stood expressionless, eyes cold as he waited for an explanation. Sensing the strange atmosphere, the woman inside the car put down her lipstick and looked out with a glare.

The noisy environment fell eerily silent, save for the KTV music drifting through the concrete walls, wailing: “Am I not the person you cherish most? Why do you not speak?”

Lin Wei felt like laughing, but the timing was all wrong. She nudged Yan Xi’s arm.

Yan Xi looked from the woman in the car to Cheng Zhen and offered him the most dignified exit possible: “Your sister?”

The woman erupted in fury, pushing the car door open and storming out. “Who the hell are you calling his sister? Are you crazy?”

Yan Xi was speechless. His pale face flushed with embarrassment, and he stepped back. “I did not mean that.”

Lin Wei poked him hard in the back, rolled up her sleeves, and joined the fray. “Who are you calling crazy? What is your relationship with him? Do you know who the person next to him is?”

“He is my junior!” Cheng Zhen finally spoke.

He did not address Yan Xi; he pulled the woman behind him. “My junior might have had too much to drink. Do not take it personally. Let us go.” He stared at Yan Xi with a desperate, apologetic look, as if he had a thousand things he could not say.

Yan Xi reached out and pulled back Lin Wei. This was their arrangement: Cheng Zhen’s family did not know about his orientation, so they agreed to pose as senior and junior if they ran into anyone they knew. When Cheng Zhen used that label, Yan Xi had to remain silent.

Watching the orange car roar away, Lin Wei put her hands on her hips, furious. “You can put up with this? It is obvious there is something going on between them.”

Lin Wei was Yan Xi’s best friend at work and the only one who knew about their secret relationship. Cheng Zhen, representing a client company, had been smitten with Yan Xi from the moment he saw the president’s assistant. They were a study in contrasts, Yan Xi quiet and reserved, and Cheng Zhen vibrant and enthusiastic, but they had been surprisingly compatible. Seeing her ship sink after half a year made Lin Wei angrier than if her own partner had cheated.

“Maybe she is just a colleague like us, and he does not want people to know his connection to me,” Yan Xi said, trying to stay calm.

“But.”

“Enough buts. Let us eat.” Yan Xi nudged her along. As they passed the exit, Yan Xi stared at the green light of the garage for a long time, whispering to himself or perhaps to Lin Wei, “Do not worry. He is naturally gay. He is not interested in women.”

Meanwhile, night had just fallen in country Y.

In a bar, the music was deafening. On stage, a woman in daring attire danced vigorously, drawing wild screams from the audience. In a sofa near the stage sat two men. One waved enthusiastically at the dancers; the other sat with zero interest, swirling his glass.

The lead dancer suddenly stepped off the stage, shook her black rabbit tail, and walked straight to their table. She stood on her tiptoes and sat on the edge of the table, her eyes fixed on the man’s throat, her intentions dripping with suggestion.

The man offered a roguish smile. Under the gaze of everyone, he reached out, placed his hand on the only place he could, her rabbit tail, and gave it a firm push, sending her tumbling off the table.

He pulled a few bills from his wallet, handed them to her, and gave a gentlemanly gesture for her to leave. The girl shrugged and went to the next table.

“I say, Shi Ye, that is just mean,” his friend muttered, green with envy. “That is just wasting perfectly good opportunities.”

Shi Ye leaned back and yawned, bored. “Can we go now? I need to go back and pack.”

His friend stared at his handsome face, suspicious. “Shi Ye, do not tell me you are not capable?”

After dinner, Yan Xi watched Lin Wei leave in a taxi and began to wander down the street alone. The streetlights cast long, lonely shadows. He felt chaotic and did not want to go home yet. He walked until he was physically and mentally exhausted, finally stopping to call a ride.

Just then, his phone, which had been quiet all night, rang. Yan Xi’s heart jumped. Cheng Zhen was finally calling to explain.

But when he pulled out his phone, the screen read: Manager Ma.

The sweat he had worked up from walking turned cold instantly. Manager Ma Zhiming, Yan Xi’s immediate supervisor, had a habit of assigning work at any hour. Yan Xi caught his breath and answered, his voice calm. “Manager Ma.”

“The new president arrives tomorrow. There is an emergency board meeting tomorrow night,” the manager said briskly. “Book a first class ticket for tomorrow morning immediately. And make sure all the personnel files I asked for are ready by tomorrow afternoon. Understand?”

The company was undergoing an equity transfer. The original president had been gone for a month, and rumors about a new one had been swirling for weeks, but the arrival was shockingly sudden.

“Yes,” Yan Xi said, putting the phone on speaker and opening his notes app. “Nine a.m. tomorrow, personal information for the new president?”

“I will send it to you.”

After hanging up, Yan Xi looked at the night sky. His mood mirrored the tangled, dim clouds. A new president meant a personnel shake up, and as the assistant to the former president, Yan Xi was in a precarious position.

Ping. Manager Ma’s message arrived. It contained the new president’s name, age, and ID number. Yan Xi logged into the site, chose the flight and seat, and went to pay. Having been an assistant, this was second nature. According to company policy, employees paid for temporary expenses first and claimed reimbursement later. However, Yan Xi’s balance was insufficient for an international first class ticket. The page flashed: Payment Failed.

It was too late to borrow money. He had to use his backup fund, which he kept in a separate account for emergencies. He did not even link it to online banking for safety. He had to find an ATM, withdraw the cash, and transfer it.

He checked the map and found an ATM near a hotel. He hurried over. Twenty minutes later, he reached the door. Just as he reached for the handle, he caught a flash of orange in his peripheral vision.

Yan Xi’s arm went limp. The heavy glass door swung back, nearly hitting him in the face.

An orange sports car drove past him and entered the underground parking garage of the business hotel. His brain went blank. A few seconds later, Yan Xi sprinted toward the lobby.

The hotel was modern and upscale. A two meter tall ornamental plant stood in the lobby. Yan Xi, thin and lithe, hid behind it.

Five minutes later, Cheng Zhen appeared. And with him, was the woman.