Chapter Two (Part 2 of 2)

The following work day, An Xiao Li was timid at work. Even when she brought a cup of coffee into the ice glacier’s office, her heartbeat was fast and loud. In contrast Chen Yu Bai acted like nothing happened between them and maintained a serious work mentality as usual.

An Xiao Li used a dozen reasons to go in and out of the ice glacier’s office but he stayed solid as a mountain. She berated herself, indeed last night he was just messing with her feelings.

But An Xiao Li consoled herself that she didn’t lose her first kiss to the ice glacier. Her first kiss was given to a man named Chu Hao Ran.

An Xiao Li remembered her first kiss, it happened at Qin Sang’s eighteenth birthday banquet. It was Qin Sang’s birthday but the guests consisted of Qin Sang’s dad’s business acquaintances and Qin Sang’s distant extended relatives. She was the only guest invited that was chosen by Qin Sang. At the banquet she wore a beautiful gown and like Cinderella she met a charming prince from a distant palace named Chu Hao Ran.

At the mention of Chu Hao Ran’s name, he was nothing more than a rich man who was charming and cunning. Amongst the forest of b.u.t.terflies he locked his target – An Xiao Li, she was an innocent little lamb under the twinkling lights.

Chu Hao Ran was a seasoned hunter, how were ordinary girls like An Xiao Li supposed to survive the hunt? An Xiao Li was simple minded and fell easily into Chu Hao Ran’s net made of a gentle facade.

But when An Xiao Li was too deep in her delusion and wanted to marry Chu Hao Ran at all cost, Qin Sang intervened, requested her teachers for leave and begged her parents to let her and Qin Sang to go on a holiday together. The holiday destination turned out to be a house Qin Sang rented in a suburban area and she was locked in there for a week.

In that week of detention, An Xiao Li’s phone was confiscated and there was no landline phone or internet access in the rented house. Qin Sang rented dvds for her to watch, cooked many delicious dishes for her to eat but she wasn’t allowed to leave the house.

After that one week of detention, An Xiao Li was released and able to see the sun in the sky. She rushed to find her prince charming, it was unfortunate he turned out to be a frog who was kissing another princess in a car.

After An Xiao Li rejected the frog’s pursuit she went home and rolled around on the sofa. She oinked like a pig. ‘Qin Sang I hate you! If you knew it’ll end up like this then why didn’t you lock me up from the start?’

Qin Sang wasn’t moved by her best friend’s tears. ‘When Chu Hao was chasing you, did he treat you well?’

An Xiao Li’s tears fell more when she nodded her head. Chu Hao Ran was extremely good and attentive to her. Each morning he called her and gave her an air kiss through the phone, in the afternoon he sent someone to deliver lunch to her and at night he gave her a bouquet of red roses and took her to a five star restaurant. He always personally picked her up and drove her home. Sometimes if he was on a business trip he called her to report to her what he was doing and that he missed her. When he came back from business trips there was always a present in his hands to give to her.

‘Females are born to be loved and doted on. A rich, gentle, young and handsome player like Chu Hao Ran was sent by the heavens to romance a thousand females. In our lifetime if we didn’t get to experience being chased crazily for a few days by someone like Chu Hao Ran then it wouldn’t be complete,’ Qin Sang explained.

‘Then why did you lock me up for a week?’ An Xiao Li asked.

‘What else was I supposed to do if I didn’t lock you up? Wait until you’re completely trapped by him, once he was sick of playing with you he’ll toss a cheque at you and leave? An Xiao Li are you someone who can easily let go of that kind of betrayal?’ Qin Sang asked.

An Xiao Li fiddled with her fingers and mumbled to herself.

‘Be grateful you got to experience being chased by a seasoned hunter and you got to reject him. For Chu Hao Ran you were the first girl he met that rejected his pursuit. Saying that he’ll never forget you for the rest of his life is too much. But at least the next time he meets you he’ll remember, An Xiao Li was the first girl in his life that said no to him,’ Qin Sang explained.

Qin Sang laughed coldly. ‘Understand?’

An Xiao Li broke out of her self-pity mode.

At night An Xiao Li made dumplings whilst softly berating herself. Chen Yu Bai sat on the sofa like an emperor and occasionally hurried her along.

‘What’s with the long face?’ Chen Yu Bai asked.

Chen Yu Bai’s good mood was spoiled by An Xiao Li’s bad mood.

‘It’s nothing,’ An Xiao Li said.

An Xiao Li thought even if she told the ice glacier about Qin Sang’s phone was stolen there was nothing he could do. Suddenly she remembered he was sent to manage the company she worked for by Liang’s company and wasn’t it rumoured the big boss of Liang’s company was a triad boss? That would mean there was hope to find Qin Sang’s phone.

‘CEO Chen…’ An Xiao Li called sweetly. She walked to the sofa. ‘Are you a triad member?’

Chen Yu Bai was laughing on the inside. He saw An Xiao Li’s eyes were bright with antic.i.p.ation and he wanted to tease her. ‘What do you think?’

‘Yes,’ An Xiao Li said.

‘No,’ Chen Yu Bai said.

An Xiao Li’s sweet smile disappeared and she glared at the ice glacier.

‘Why are you looking for a triad member?’ Chen Yu Bai asked.

‘Qin Sang’s phone was stolen, it’s important to Qin Sang… but you can’t help me,’ An Xiao Li said.

Chen Yu Bai pushed his gla.s.ses up. ‘What if I can help?’

‘I will…’ An Xiao Li said. She thumped her chest to show she was serious. ‘Um… tell me what you want.’

‘Oh?’ Chen Yu Bai asked. He leaned into An Xiao Li and smiled wickedly. ‘Whatever I want?’

An Xiao Li thought the ice glacier rarely smiled so when she saw him smile beside her, she was dazzled.

Chen Yu Bai stopped smiling and pretended nothing happened. ‘The dumplings are about to burst.’

An Xiao Li snapped out of her daze and ran into the kitchen to save her dumplings. Chen Yu Bai smiled behind her back as she wrestled with the stove.

The dumplings that night were burst opened and soggy. But Chen Yu Bai and An Xiao Li were moody for different reasons and they both silently ate the abused dumplings.

At work the following day, An Xiao Li clamped her work phone between her ear and shoulder whilst using a screwdriver to rotate the screws off the computer hard drive. ‘Sang Sang? Why didn’t you call my personal phone?’

The ice glacier’s work computer was broken every two days, sometimes it was the software and other times it was the hardware that needed to be fixed. An Xiao Li was frustrated fixing his computer countless times. Finally she dared to suggest to him to get a new computer. Unexpectedly he laughed gently and spoke to her in a serious tone. ‘Do you want your salary deducted to finance a new one?’

An Xiao Li understood completely after that conversation. She wasted her brain cells, the ice glacier never liked her to begin with. What he liked was to find ways to bully her.

‘I got back my stolen phone. Xiao Li, transfer the call to your boss, I want to talk to him,’ Qin Sang said.

‘h.e.l.lo,’ Chen Yu Bai greeted coldly.

‘I’m Qin Sang. I have my phone back, thank you for your help,’ Qin Sang said.

‘Miss Qin, it was nothing. You don’t need to be courteous,’ Chen Yu Bai said.

‘Oh? I don’t need to be courteous?’ Qin Sang asked suspiciously.

The pen in Chen Yu Bai’s hand stopping writing, he smiled because he knew Miss Qin Sang knew why he helped.

Chen Yu Bai lifted his head and looked out his office window in front of him and saw An Xiao Li in a rush to fix his computer, he smiled wider. ‘Miss Qin if I said you need to, how will you show me?’

Qin Sang laughed. ‘If you want me to be courteous with you, my courtesy will be useful.’

‘Oh? Qin Sang you’re very courteous,’ Chen Yu Bai said.

‘No need for thanks,’ Qin Sang said.

Chen Yu Bai hung up the phone and admired An Xiao Li’s focus on his ‘broken’ computer.

End of Chapter Two (Part 2 of 2)