CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

It was early in the morning when a knock came on the door of the chairman's office before it opened without waiting for the occupant's response, a wine bottle was held inside by a hand clad in expensive jewelry before the person enters with a smile gracing her beautiful face but only for it to fade as she notices the chair with its back turned to her and the voice sounding different than that of the chairman she knew, then the chair turns and she's dumbfounded by the person sitting on it, he was definitely not Kris Wu. He looked at her in an odd way then up and down as if examining her, it was a look of critique and wonder before the man smirks and makes a wild guess, "You must be Vanessa Wei" he says in his deep baritone voice.

"And you are?" she questions, quite a bit annoyed that it was not who she thought it was; it had been a week already and she had seen no sign of Kris Wu. The man on the chair puts his phone on the table before stating his name, "Park Chanyeol; I assume you're looking for Kris, yes?"

"Where is he? He's been gone for over a week now" she states and Chanyeol finds it amusing "Ah, you've been keeping count of the days? Don't worry, he's not running away from the debt" "I'm just generally worried about him" Vanessa deadpans as she walks towards the table and sets the wine bottle down before flopping herself down on the chair. Chanyeol raises a brow at her statement and smirks, something is fishy here. He cranes his neck back and looks up at the ceiling as he repeatedly turns his chair left then right and vice versa making Vanessa squint her eyes at his behavior, he was cute but quite annoying for her taste, "do you usually bring wine to share with him?" Chanyeol questions catching the female off-guard, "wine helps us both loosen up around each other, we best converse when we're low on stress levels" "Really?" Chanyeol muses which irks the Wei woman, is he mocking me? She wonders.

"Well, I wouldn't know and besides... It's none of my business" Chanyeol quips pushing himself out of the chair and walks over to the side of the room to grab a folder from the wall mounted cabinet, he still had a job to do after all and was very sure that Kris would not appreciate it if he slacked off but meeting Vanessa Wei first-hand after all the rants that he had heard from his colleague made him want to irritate her. That would be a great payback for all the shenanigans that her arrival had imposed on them all, he had to do so while being discreet, though.

Silence falls upon the office, the female quietly observes Chanyeol as he returns to the table and makes himself comfortable on the leather chair while going about his own business "Doesn't Kris like it when people barge into his office? Let alone make full use of it" she quips and Chanyeol is quick to respond with a snort "You're on that level of formality with him already? I was expecting you'd address him by his last name at the very least" "It's not like he's here anyway..." she says with a roll of her eyes. Chanyeol doesn't like her very much, she had this spoiled brat kind of feel to her aura and he bets that she would throw a tantrum if she doesn't get what she asks for; sighing deeply as his eyes focus on the papers that he had decided to work on he speaks "Kris won't be coming in for a long while and he has given me permission to use his office to the mean time while he recovers"

Vanessa looks at him in surprise "Recover? What happened to him?"

He chuckles at her look of concern and shakes his head "Don't worry... He's in good hands, I'm fairly sure that he's enjoying getting pampered and taken care of by Hana" he takes notice of the sudden flash of unease -or was it jealousy that had crossed her eyes upon the mention of the wife's name and Chanyeol wanting to tease had pressed on further as he makes recounts of how the couple can be sickeningly lovey-dovey with each other "He always craves his wife's attention, I bet they're cuddling right now as we speak -that guy loves cuddling with Hana, they're sickeningly sweet when they're alone together"

Her hands tightly gripped on the leather armrest of her chair as she tries to keep a blank stare while keeping her eyes on the man in front of her. He was provoking her and for some reason, it was working, she hated it because that was supposed to be her job. She was the one who was supposed to play the role of provoking people until they snapped but this guy, oh this guy was challenging her. She wasn't going to lose, so she loosens her grip on the armrests and flashes Chanyeol a smile "I know... Kris likes to nuzzle in female's necks too"

Chanyeol finally looks up, Vanessa sighs in disappointment as she gathers her belongings and stands up "Well, I do hope that he gets better soon. We have unfinished business and surely, a whole lot of things to discuss over wine" then she leaves and he just watches her back as it disappears and the doors are shut closed. It couldn't be, right? He knew his friend, he'd never do anything to break his family apart especially when he has devoted the rest of his life into making sure that they don't end up like his parents did. No, Chanyeol shakes his head as he assumes that perhaps the female was just messing with his brain, Kris is not that kind of guy. That was all he could do, though, he could just trust his friend but at the same time, the assumptions in the back of his mind were spreading fast because he didn't really know what was happening here in China. He remembers Kris making mention of forgetting Aiden and that had caused quite a fuss between him and Hana for quite some time, one important detail though was that it was because of Vanessa. Try as he might, as much as he didn't want to think of it the scenarios just keep popping up in his brain.

Kris will never cheat on Hana. He affixes his thought with a shake of his head, he can never do it.

The room was slowly brightening up, the thick curtains had been pushed aside and all was in peaceful silence. Kris shifts onto his opposite side and snuggles deeper in the thick white duvets relinquishing the sweet hours of sleep without having the need to get up and go to work, getting sick may not have been his ideal way of escaping his professional responsibilities but he was getting rest and he couldn't really complain especially when Hana was all over him. He knew that she may be doing it out of guilt, which he insists that she shouldn't even think so, but he had to admit that he loved the fact that her attention on him was undivided. The last time she solely focused and spoiled him was before Aiden arrived, he almost feels guilty because it would seem as if he was stealing his wife from someone who was his own flesh and blood.

He sighed peacefully as he felt soft touches on his forehead then slowly brushing through his hair, it was a repetition of over five times before the touches stopped and he felt something warm press against his forehead then his cheek and he smiled with his eyes still shut "Good morning" it was melodious in his ears making him open his eyes and fall in love with the sight of his wife smiling down at him, the light behind her making her seem angelic. She really was an angel though and he couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like if ever he s this one up. Without another thought, he adjusts himself to sit up and pulls her by the neck, softly pressing his lips against her own as his own way of returning her greeting; they stayed like that for a while, lips moving slowly in rhythm as if they had all the time in the world.

But Hana was first to pull away and she bites back her lip in a grin pressing her forehead against his, she felt giddy because it had felt like forever since they had time to spend together without rushing into anything or having to worry about being late.

"Breakfast is ready downstairs" she informs him as he falls back onto the bed, he pulls on her hand making her their chests meet and Hana laughs heartily at his childish pout "Can't you be my breakfast instead?" "No," she lays it out flatly, "doctors said that you're not allowed to engage in strenuous activities"

He sighs in disappointment then proceeds to playfully squish his wife's cheeks together and chuckles at the adorable expressions she would make "baobei, it's time for breakfast... Aiden is waiting for you and refuses to eat unless you're at the table with him" she gets up from her position and gently tugs on his arm, Kris eventually obliges and gets up letting her lead him down to the dining room. Ever since he got discharged three days ago, they had been having breakfast together in the dining room as Hana suggested it would be a change of setting plus they would have the opportunity to eat together like a normal family instead of having to stand around in the kitchen every morning, also because Aiden was starting to grow out of his high chair and training him to eat with the grown-ups would help him better understand table manners and such.

Aiden's eyes had light up and a grin spreads across his face upon seeing his parents enter the dining area, "Good morning, baba!"

It had been like this every day ever since Kris had gotten out of the hospital, Kris ruffles the boy's hair as he takes his seat on the chair at the end of the table while Hana sits across Aiden then they eat breakfast.

"Mama, did Baba tell you yet?" the young boy asks out of the blue, his mother sends him a clueless look then turns to Kris; he shakes his head at the young boy and Aiden is quick to cover up his mouth with both hands because obviously, that was a big ‘no-no' for him to say. Hana raises a brow at the two, "what is it? You know it's bad to hide secrets from mama"

"It's nothing, honey…" Kris mumbles then continue to eat his breakfast but Hana was not one to let the subject rest "usually, it is a something when you say that it's nothing… so what is it?"

"It's a surprise!" Aiden exclaims in an attempt to save the situation while failing to realize that he was only making it worse, his mother looks at his father suspiciously but Kris goes about eating as if the gaze didn't bother him at all. Eventually, she figures that she would get no word out of him so she shrugs and continues eating as well while Aiden giggles to himself.

After breakfast, Aiden had been dropped off at school by both of his parents much to his delight because he found it somewhat of a pride to show off his parents to the world. Hana gives him one last hug before sending him on his way and he waves at both of them before proceeding, of course, it was always a spectacle to see the Wu family in their splendor. Some of the faculty could not help but wonder why such a powerful family would bother sending their only child to an average school and they would always ask Aiden, the boy would only shrug and express how he's fine with it.

"I'll be dropping by the office today" Kris informs his wife as he slows the car to a stop at a red light, Hana turns to him "But aren't you off-limits for another three weeks?"

"I'm just going to check on things, I won't be working… I promise" he gives her an assuring smile but Hana wasn't feeling it but she knew that she couldn't stop him from doing so, she breathes out heavily and gives him a half-crooked smile "it's not like anyone can stop you from ensuring the company is safe"

He smiles, takes her hand, and presses a kiss on it "I'll be back before dinner time" and although Hana was very much against the idea of him going, she knew that he had set his mind and that she would just have to wait at home since she was still on leave. Maybe she could set up a nice dinner for tonight, she smiles at the idea since it had been a while that they had candle lit dates because of Aiden but perhaps given that Aiden is already at the age of understanding, it would be a nice time to train him proper table etiquette saving Kris the trouble from hiring a trainer -he had been bugging Hana about it sometime a while back.

To see Kris Wu walk into the office without the usual black suit and tie was always refreshing, he sported a simple baby blue button up with its sleeves rolled up and black slacks -the ladies are always in awe for these rare times when their boss ditches the tight get up as y as suits may be but their daze had not gone on for long when wonder dawns upon them as to why their boss had suddenly shown up because shouldn't he be on a leave?

Greetings had suddenly filled the lobby as the chairman trudged through the lobby heading straight for the elevators, he pressed the button for the top floor and sent his wife a quick text informing her that he was on his way up to check on Chanyeol adding that there was nothing that she should be worried about. Soon, the elevator doors opened and he was greeted by a dumbfounded Meifen

"M-Mr. Wu! W-what are you doing here, shouldn't you still be on a leave?" she stammers as she quickly takes the tablet containing his schedules to double check if she had missed out on an update but everything was on point, everything was still for Chanyeol and there was no e-mail informing her that he was coming in today. Kris waves a dismissive hand at her, "I'm just here to check up on Chanyeol, is he in?"

"Well… yes, sir but I think he has a visitor?"

"A visitor? Who?" Kris raises a brow just then the door had opened and a familiar face -although not the one that he hoped to see- appeared, almost automatically a smile broke its way to red-stained lips and a high pitched voice calls out his name "Kris!"

What the hell is she doing here? Kris sports a blank stare and acknowledges her presence "Ah, Ms. Wei… what are you doing here?" Vanessa walks up to him and in a swift movement presses a kiss onto his cheek surprising both Kris and his assistant, Meifen was utterly shocked and Kris could not even begin to comprehend how uncalled for it was thus so much for keeping a blank stare because full blown frown got slapped onto his face "What? I was just dropping by to see if you've returned, you have been gone for a week and I had no one to drink wine with -" "Ms. Wei, next time, a handshake would suffice for a greeting… my wife would not be pleased to know that other women kiss my cheek"

Vanessa holds her hands up in defense "Okay, wow, relax… I just missed you"

"What?" now that just sounded ridiculous but Vanessa shrugs off the oncoming awkwardness with a chuckle "You're so uptight, Mr. Wu… really, you need a nice long vacation and -" "Kris" Chanyeol suddenly interrupts to which Kris was secretly thankful for as he suddenly directs his attention to his colleague -who was really his person of interest; "Ah, Chanyeol…" he walks over to him leaving Vanessa in the background, his friends give him a half hug and whispers over his shoulder "That girl gives me the creeps…" Kris only smirks and breaks the hug "How are things going?"

Chanyeol gives him an ‘okay' hand sign and smiles "Everything is smooth sailing but what's going on with you? You should still be on leave" "I just wanted to check up on things here" Chanyeol laughs "It's a miracle that your wife had allowed you" he steals a quick glance at Vanessa over Kris's shoulder but the female remained with a neutral expression.

"Well, I for one am glad that you're back on your two feet and that you're okay" Vanessa cuts back into the conversation as she walks towards the two men, her hand giving Kris's arm a firm squeeze as her lips curved into a smile. Chanyeol almost scoffed, had he not been raised right then he would've done so then and there but alas, he was a gentleman and didn't have the heart to spark an argument with a woman… especially a woman. "Why don't you gentlemen join me for dinner? My treat, let's celebrate having Mr. Wu back"

Before the both of them could decline, a ping had sounded from Chanyeol's pocket and as he checks the message he quickly speaks, "Sorry but we're both going to have to pass… Kris, we have something to discuss." he smiles apologetically at Vanessa -who didn't seem to happy and looked like she would not take no for an answer; however, before she could insist Kris had pulled his arm away discreetly and nodded at Chanyeol "Right. We apologize, Ms. Wei and if you would excuse us…" with a nod, Chanyeol walks back into the office with Kris following leaving behind the woman.

Meifen stands in the background and quietly watches the guest stomp her heel hard before turning around meeting the secretary's eyes, "What are you looking at?" surprised Meifen turns back to her computer as the woman leaves. Had the floor not been carpeted then she was sure that the woman's heel would have broken the tile, she turns around with a huff and walks to the elevators to leave.

Meanwhile, inside the office, Chanyeol had immediately proceeded to question Kris "Don't take this the wrong way, man… I just want to know where you stand with Vanessa Wei" taken aback, Kris's brows furrow at his friend "What?" Chanyeol chuckles with a shake of his head "Dude, she came in here a few days ago with a bottle of wine as if it was a regular thing she does; I know you had a couple of drinks before and if I remember correctly, it led you to forget to pick up Aiden and a fight with your wife." Kris sighs heavily at the memory and with a frown, he states "If you're implying that I'm fooling around with her then you can rest assure that I'm not and besides, where the hell did this idea come from?"

"Just making sure," Chanyeol says, "I just don't want you to do something you'd regret later on. That girl gives me a bad feeling, Kris and more than anyone, I know that you have an exact idea of what I'm talking about."

The office parking lot was awfully quiet. In fact, it was too quiet for Cho Kyuhyun's taste because last time he's checked something has been irking him lately. With a heavy sigh, he fishes out his phone and sends a text to Vanessa

To: Vanessa

From: Kyuhyun

Don't come to the office for the time being. Let's stick to texts.

To: Kyuhyun

From: Vanessa

I'm on my way tho. Why?

To: Vanessa

From: Kyuhyun

Someone's been following me around lately. I'll text you later, I have to get to a meeting.

Just as he had put his phone away and entered his car, his eye catches something through the rear view mirror and an idea pops into his head. An opportunity had presented itself before him, as much of a troublesome obstacle it had been lately, he could use the extra attention. "Alright… I'll give you something to look at, Yifan."

"Mrs. Wu?" her assistant's head popped through the crack of her office door and Hana looks up from her computer, "Yes?" her assistant slides inside with some more paperwork to which Hana gives a sigh but nonetheless gestures for the other female to put them on her desk. Her paperwork had been increasing lately, her in-law had asked it as a favor if she could look deeper into the company's financial papers and as well as stocks, then also came when the elder had accidentally let her secretary insert her scheduled meetings into Hana's own schedule.

Come to think of it, Hana and other employees seldom saw her within the premises of the company building, only when there was a meeting with the board of directors did they catch a glimpse of the elder Wu.

"Would you like me to order some lunch for you, ma'am? It's almost twelve" her assistant offers but just as Hana was about to take up the offer, a knock lands on her door and Vanessa appears. Hana dismisses her assistant; once alone, she turns her attention to the woman across her desk and smiles “Hello, Vanessa.” she greets and the woman returns the smile, “Hello, Hana. I was just wondering if you wanted to get lunch?”

Hana thinks for a brief moment, she remembers her conversation with her in-law and she grows curious as to what is possibly so bad about Vanessa. So she takes up her offer for lunch, “Great, my treat!” Vanessa exclaims in delight, clapping her hands together. She chooses a French restaurant for the both of them and does the honor of choosing the wine for them, “Give us the Chateau Lafite” she tells the waiter after they finish giving their respective orders and the young man gives a nod before walking away.

“Kris loves this wine” Hana quips as the waiter returns with their drink and pours for them, Vanessa mouths a quiet thank you before turning to Hana then takes a quick sip, “Yes,” she puts down her glass and drags a finger lazily around its mouth “He told me its his favorite.”

A questioning look comes across Hana’s face and her head tilts to the side, a half-heart chuckles escapes her lips “Uh, it seems you’re very well acquainted with my husband, Ms. Wei” Vanessa keeps a tight lipped smile, “There are times that we see each other for business, you know… professional meetings”

“I didn’t know that you do business with Wu Prime directly…” Hana sips on her drink, she begins to get the feeling that she won’t be getting along with Vanessa any further. The other lady senses the sudden change in the atmosphere and laughs in an attempt to lighten it, “Come on, Hana! Don’t get us wrong, it’s all just for business” she assures but Hana is less than convinced considering that somewhere deep in her gut she felt as if Vanessa was intentionally letting her know all of this. “Your husband is a businessman and I am a businesswoman, you’re a businesswoman too… it’s only normal for us to interact with different people to broaden our social relationships”

Their food arrives to the table but Hana has lost her appetite at this point, the uneasy feeling was overpowering her senses and she wanted nothing than to sit down with Kris at the moment because a lot of questions were running through her head and only he seemed to be the eligible person to answer them; nonetheless, she forces herself to eat wanting to be polite more than rude. Her assumptions would remain as so unless confirmed.

AW YIIIIS GUEZZ WHOZ BACK BUT PROBABLY NOT GONNA UPDATE AS OFTEN STILL. I AM SO SORRY (TuT)