CHAPTER 2:

Routines are the most important thing to Luhan. He wakes up at five in the morning, when the sun has barely risen and has yet to paint the sky in an array of pastel blue and pink colors, so that he could shower and prepare a cup of hot coffee and toast before his hectic day starts. There is a balcony outside his bedroom where he sets his breakfast and reads the news from his tablet. He spends an hour there enjoying and appreciating the silence of the city before the morning rush begins and the sounds of cars’ honking reaches up to the thirteenth floor of the building where he resides. When the hour mark is up, Luhan gathers his things and places his work suit over his dress shirt and slacks for the day then he gels his hair a little, pulling it back to look professional.

It takes him a twenty minute ride from his pad to his office, and he is able to drive leisurely since the traffic jam is yet to escalate at this hour of the day. When he arrives at the hotel, it is always ten minutes before eight and he reaches his office just in time for him to begin his schedules. Yifan, his tall and model like secretary, is immediately there to assist him, reading off his schedule for the day and giving him all the documents he needs to go through for approval. Yifan is an efficient worker, more than capable of making sure that all of Luhan’s appointments are attended to and deadlines for projects and proposals are met on time. His uncanny ability to be precise and effective with his job had placed him among the very short list of Luhan’s trusted people, unfortunately for Luhan it seems as if that privilege also gave the tall male the guts to tease and ridicule him a lot.

“Ah such darkness, I’m afraid if you keep scowling like that night time might come a little bit early today.” Yifan remarks, once they reach the inside of Luhan’s office. The latter throws him a mighty glare before motioning his assistant to continue reading his schedule on that day, Yifan smirks at Luhan when he sees what’s written next. “You have with a meeting with the Oh’s for a snack later. 3 pm at the coffee shop downstairs.”

A stiff expression slowly takes over the blonde male’s face reminding him why he has been having such a sour mood for the past days. Among the many routines that make up his life the biggest of them all has been broken and that is his routine of normalcy and freedom. Luhan always had a choice regarding the things he would and would rather not do. Because of that he would like to believe he had led a normal life, choosing not to rely on his father’s position and working his way up their company by studying business, graduating on top of his class, and impressing his bosses with his outputs and abilities.  

In addition to that, Luhan is also a firm believer that in order to reach the top an individual’s professional and personal life should never intermingle. However with the arranged marriage set in stone, many of the things Luhan has had and believed in seems to vanish.

“There must be a lot going through your head,” Yifan muses with a teasing smile. “Is it because the son of the Oh’s is attractive?”

“Shut up Yifan.” Luhan says darkly, “Is there no other way to save our assess that doesn’t involve me getting married to some stranger?”

“You know the answer to that Luhan.” Yifan comments, taking a seat on the chair set in front of Luhan’s desk. ”Practically every other corporation is merging because of this economic crisis, with the Lu and Oh corporations getting together it’s a win-win on both sides and both corporations get to stay on top. So there’s no other way out.” Yifan shrugs helplessly, giving Luhan an apologetic look even though he was just teasing him earlier.

“I can’t believe I’m getting roped into doing this.” Luhan covers his face with his hands, groaning in a frustrated manner. “Yifan you’re intelligent, help me get out of this.” He says, still not giving up.

Yifan leans onto Luhan’s desk, placing his hand under his chin while thinking contemplatively. “Maybe you could piss him off?”

“Piss who?”

“That guy, the Oh son.” Kris smiles devilishly, “Maybe you could throw him off or something. Piss him until he’s the one who’d want to break the engagement off.”

Luhan rolls his eyes, “Wow genius.” He deadpans, “Didn’t we establish already that we can’t break the engagement off because it’d be bad for both of our corporations? Think of something else that could help, this whole engagement is stressing me out.”

“What about a divorce?” Yifan suggest, leaning back onto his seat and quirking an eye at his friend and boos. “It’s going to be basically the same, just keep pissing him off until you’re both married and wait until he divorces you?”

Luhan’s face lights up at the idea but it instantly falls again after a few seconds, “how do you suppose I piss him off? And what if he’s too patient? Or kind? And like he doesn’t divorce me until we’re like 100?!”

“Good lord Luhan you should see your face.” Yifan laughs, poking fun at his boss’ reaction. “It really surprises me that you’re the CEO of this hotel but when it comes to matters like this it’s as if you don’t have a brain of your own. The idea’s simple really, stop freaking out.” Yifan pointedly looks at the smaller male,  “You’re powerful, we can do a background check on him and then we can figure out the things he dislike the most, maybe you can start from there?”

“You are god sent Yifan!” Luhan exclaims, grinning enthusiastically before he realizes how obnoxious he must look when the laughter of his assistant does not seem to end. Immediately he puts back on his serious face and sits primly on his swivel chair. “I think you should start finding out information about my fiance then.” Luhan drawls, smirking at Yifan. “Make sure you find out the ins and outs of his life. And update me by lunch.”

“By lunch?!” Yifan shrieks in that deep voice of his, now glaring at Luhan. “Are you serious???”

“Yes I am.” Luhan smiles promptly before moving on to check on the files stacked on his table. “Now, you better start if you want to reach my deadline. I’ll be waiting here for the documents at twelve sharp, you’re dismissed.”

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