You finish applying your lipstick and look yourself over in the mirror one last time. You know you looked good. The bold red lipstick and stilettos doing wonders for you. You look at the time one last time as you grab your purse and head out.

The company you worked for had been growing and expanding in the last couple of years. The simple staff lunches in the conference room were no longer enough for the number of employees so they had decided to hold the monthly staff meals over dinner at one of the nicer restaurants in the area.  You arrive at the address given, and look at the venue chosen for the event. It was a very expensive looking restaurant with a dining area upstairs and a dance floor and bar on the lower level. Well this was definitely better than takeout in the conference room.

You head inside and look around trying to find your company’s reservation. Turns out they had rented out one of the private rooms overlooking the dance floor. You take notice of the private bar and unlimited free drinks as well. This was definitely a step up to the staff lunches you were used to!

You grab yourself a drink as you hear a girl from HR speak up trying to get everyone's attention. 

“It’s time to announce the employee of the month.”

You take one more sip of your drink as you fix your hair and prepare yourself to go up and receive the recognition and bonus for this month. Just as you are about to begin walking up you hear a name that's not yours.

“Dong Sicheng.”

What?! There’s no way. How dare he steal that bonus from you?! Your numbers for the month were by far better than the previous months and stellar in comparison to others on your team. You are so mad you refuse to look up at him as he walks up and accepts the check and says thank you. You can feel your face heat up in shame and anger. Everyone claps and you quickly make your way to the bar for another much needed drink.

“Omg, did you see him? He looks so hot in that jacket!” 

You turn and see the two girls talking and giggling as they keep stealing not so discreet glances towards someone, probably the new guy in billing. You roll your eyes and continue to down your drink, still sulking over the fact that you lost your 3 months streak to Dong freaking Sicheng! 

“Don't be too upset. There’s always next month right?” 

You look up and a guy is leaning on the bar next to you and winking. You look closer and notice the guy resembles Sicheng. A lot. Your eyes go wide. 

“Sicheng?” You ask, surprised.

He gives you an arrogant smirk. You take a closer look at him, He looks nothing like he does in the office. He has his hair styled up to look slightly messy with a piercing you had never noticed before. He is wearing a tight pair of ripped jeans, a black button up shirt opened and revealing in the front and a leather jacket.  A complete contrast to the suit and tie he usually wears for work. 

If you had run into him under different circumstances you probably would've been very attracted to him, you realize. But you’re not. You hate him. Ever since he came to work at the same company 2 years ago you’ve harbored resentment towards him. You were always the star employee, constantly winning bonus checks for your hard work. That is, until he joined the company. Ever since then, it became a rivalry between the two of you. Each one constantly trying to outdo the other. 

“Hey gorgeous.” He says with a teasing look as he sips his drink and takes a step closer.

You roll your eyes at him. Sicheng’s reputation as a player was well known in the office. His constant flirting with the vast population of female employees was hard to ignore.

“So who’d you flirt with to get that bonus huh?”

“Ouch!” he lets out with a laugh. “ You know, I'm really good at what I do.”

“I’m sure the girls in HR think so too” You tell him bitterly. 

“I’m sure they do, that’s why they picked me this month” He continues to tease.

You can feel your irritation rising at his words. You throw the fakest smile you can manage in his direction as you sip the last of your drink and walk away. 

You walk downstairs onto the dance floor hoping the change in scenery will help ease your bad mood. You make your way to the bar area and order yourself another drink. “Something strong” you tell the bartender who just nods in understanding.

“Hey, what’s a pretty lady like yourself doing alone and ordering such strong drinks huh?” 

You turn around and see a tall guy in an expensive looking suit coming closer. You take your drink from the bartender and walk away ignoring his advances. You just can’t seem to catch a break today can you? 

You can feel him following you to a nearby table and where he tries to talk to you again. 

“So, you dance?” 

You ignore him once again, not even bothering to look up from your phone hoping he will get the hint and move on. You suddenly feel him take a hold of your wrist to try and get your attention. You look up and make eye contact. “Don’t touch me.” You tell him firmly.

He looks slightly amused and opens his mouth to say something when you feel a presence behind you. You suddenly feel an arm on your shoulder and turn to look and see Sicheng standing there with his arm protectively around you.

“I think I heard her tell you not to touch her.” He says with an icy tone, starring the guy down. 

“Look man, I was just asking her to dance” He says letting go of your hand. “I didn’t know she was with you” he says putting his hands up in sign of surrender. 

“Well now you know” Sicheng spits back.  “C’mon babe” he turns to you, “let's get out of here.” he says loud enough to be heard by the guy walking away. 

Once he is out of earshot you let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding. That’s when it hits you how close Sicheng is standing. You clear your throat uncomfortably as you try to take a step out of his embrace. He chuckles at your reaction and takes a sip of his drink. 

“Thanks” You mutter without making eye contact. “I guess I owe you one.”

“How about a dance?” he teases.

You look up at him and roll your eyes, “I meant like a coffee run or getting you copies at work.” You tell him. 

He laughs even louder. “You can do that too if you want.” He says taking a step closer to you while maintaining eye contact.

You try to take a step back feeling intimidated by his proximity, your cheeks burning under his intense gaze. He seems to notice your discomfort but doesn’t make an effort to move away. He reaches behind you to put his drink down on the table managing to fully invade your personal space. You hold your breath as you feel the warmth of his chest against yours without him even touching you. 

“Relax” he whispers to you in a low voice, “I’m not going to do anything you don’t want me to” 

You shiver as you feel goosebumps rise where his breath hits your neck. You stand there stunned, unable to think of something to respond. You can’t believe the effect he is having on you.

“I’m just playing along until that guy stops looking this way.” He explains still leaning in to whisper in your ear.

You had totally forgotten about him already being too distracted with Sicheng's proximity. You try to relax so as to not let him see how nervous you feel. 

“So why exactly do you hate me?” He continues, still not moving away from you. “I don’t remember ever doing something to piss you off.” 

You stop to think about it. You don’t really know why you hate him, you just know that you do. Actually now that you think about it, you don’t really know much about Sicheng, just that everyone calls him Winwin and that he flirts with anyone in sight. But he hadn't really done anything for you to actually hate him. 

“You know, if you just asked, you would know I have the best numbers on my team. I really am good at my job.” 

You can feel your cheeks grow hot in embarrassment at his words. He knows you’re just jealous. You wonder why he is even taking the time to explain this to you, why does he care what you think?

Almost like he can read your thoughts he finishes with “ I just thought you should know. Better luck next time though!” He winks and reaches for his drink to down the last bit left.

“Well, that guy is gone so I guess you don’t need me anymore.” He tells you. “Unless of course you changed your mind about that dance.” He teases.

You have enough alcohol in your system at this point that you find yourself agreeing, catching him by surprise. He quickly takes your hand and guides you to the dance floor before you can change your mind. 

He takes your hands and rests them on his shoulders. “Keep them here." He tells you. "I’m going to put my hands on your waist now.” 

You simply nod as he rests his hands on your sides and pulls you closer. He is a much better dancer than you had expected. Guiding you to the beat. 

“I’m going to turn you, I want you to go left.” He tells you when you feel the slight push. Your body reacts immediately as you turn and almost instantly feel the pull back, bringing you flush against Sicheng’s chest. 

“Good girl.” He whispers in your ear. You feel your body heat up at his words and the flush in your cheeks get darker. 

He chuckles at your reaction. “Loosen up, enjoy the music.” He says as he presses his hand to the small of your back to pull you closer. After about a minute or so later he whispers, “Thanks for the dance." 

You feel him pull away suddenly and guide you back off the dance floor. 

You feel the need to go to the bathroom from how much alcohol you’ve had so you make your way down the hallway towards the back as you look for the bathrooms. On your way out you see some guy, who clearly has had too much to drink, stumble towards you. You try to avoid him and continue walking but he blocks your path and tries to get closer to you. Just as you are about to push him away, Winwin comes out of nowhere and stands in front, blocking you from view. The guy clearly too drunk to comprehend what is happening just shrugs and continues stumbling down the hall. 

“Can’t stay out of trouble, can you?” He teases. 

“I had it under control.” You tell him, slightly annoyed but still silently thankful he was there. 

“I sure hope so.” He says, nodding towards the lack of people in the hallway as you realize no one would have been there to help had you needed it. “We wouldn’t someone taking advantage of this empty hallway.“  He says as he puts up both arms on either side of your head caging you in against the wall. 

“What are you doing?” You ask nervously looking around for some way out. 

He smirks as he looks down at you and takes a step, closing the distance between you guys. “Relax, I’m not going to do anything you don’t want me to, remember?” He whispers against your lips. 

You gulp as you feel yourself shiver at his words.

"Unless you want me to do something?" he questions with a raise of his eyebrow.

"What? No, of course not!" You stutter out. 

“That’s too bad. I was hoping we could have some fun.” 

He leans in and presses his lips closer to your ear and whispers, “Next time.” Then he winks and walks away, “I’ll see you at work on Monday’ He shouts without looking back. 

You couldn’t wait.