THERE WAS NOTHING BUT SILENCE IN THE ROOM. None seemed to dare breathe as they felt the tension around the room, and the dark aura oozing from the head of the table made it even more suffocating for the occupants of the large room. The silence seemed to last forever before there was a movement from the man sitting at the head of the table but it only made them tense even further as they felt his gaze falling onto each one of them.

“Gentlemen,” came the calm voice of Kris Wu that finally broke the silence in the room. But everyone knew that he was anything but calm. “How is it possible… for an amateur to hack into our system without any of us noticing?” he asked and was expectedly met with silence. “How is it that a fifteen-year old can bypass into our network firewall and none of my goddamn cyber security team noticed?!”

Again, there was silence. Kris knew that they were afraid to respond to him, and it made him angrier. He despised irresponsible people, especially when those people worked for him, and couldn’t own up to their mistakes especially when it has clearly been pointed out. He disliked being angry too, but Wu Enterprise could have suffered a huge loss if the hacker had been a professional one and was working for any one of his competitors. Luckily, it was just a curious teenager who was eager to explore, and that he hadn’t done any damage aside from releasing wrath to the supposedly professional team working for one of the biggest empires in Asia.

“Did I not hire the best people for this job? What were you guys doing when a kid was playing around with our network?”

He hadn’t screamed, but his voice and the anger it carried echoed around the room. Everyone seemed to cower in their seats and kept their gazes down at the table. After taking a deep breath, Kris turned to the man who was in-charge of the IT department for Wu Enterprise China, making the fifty-year old man tremble at his cold gaze. “How long did it take before your team noticed that someone was messing with our network firewall, Mr. Zhou?” he asked, the coldness in his tone so chilling that the older man trembled in his seat.

“Five minutes, sir.”

“Five minutes,” Kris lamented. “In just one minute, Wu Enterprise could’ve turned into ruins if it had fallen into the wrong hands, Mr. Zhou. What do you think could’ve happen if this was done by a professional?” The question was obviously a rhetorical question, and luckily the old man knew better than to respond and kept his head down. “Now, is the matter taken care of?”

“Y–Yes, Mr. Wu. I assure you; my team will be even more careful from now on. It won’t ever happen again,” the man said with desperation in his eyes. He really wanted the young CEO to believe in him. “Please forgive my men, Mr. Wu. I will take full responsibility for this.”

“Kris,” called a voice and Kris turned his head to the man sitting by his side. “What are you going to do?”

Kris stared at Lu Han, the man he entrusted to look over Wu Enterprise China – his right-hand man – with a hard gaze, not liking that he was being questioned in front of his employees. But at the same time he knew it was Lu Han’s way of telling him not to act rashly and discuss matters with him before making a decision; Kris may be the CEO of Wu Enterprise, but Lu Han was the President of Wu Enterprise China, and the team that had made those mistakes were his men. He knew Kris has the ultimate power, but he wished to protect his employees while he could.

Kris understood his wish despite not having it laid down with words, so he gave him a curt nod and saw the relief in the other’s eyes. “I will let Mr. Lu decide the next course of action,” he announced, staring the man down with his piercing gaze. “See to it that this incident will not repeat again.”

Without another word, Kris stood up from his chair and strutted out of the meeting room with his PA running after him, surprising the rest of the executives who were too shocked by his sudden exit to get up to walk him out, allowing Lu Han to dismiss the meeting while he went to take a breather.

“Stay outside, Jaehyun,” he told his PA who nodded obediently before entering his office.

He headed straight towards the mini refrigerator in the room to grab a bottle of water. He chugged half of it down and let out an exasperated breath as he stood staring out from the floor-to-ceiling windows, taking in the sight of Beijing city from where he stood. It hasn’t been long since he was last in the city but it felt like forever since he last got to see the view of what was once his home.

“Kris.” The man snapped out his thoughts and took another sip of his drink, listening to the familiar footsteps coming closer before it came to a stop beside him. He didn’t have to turn to look at the other’s face to know that Lu Han was anxious for his response. “Kris, say something,” the man pled.

“Did you deal with it?”

Lu Han sighed. “I can’t fire him, Kris. Mr. Zhou has been with us for years,” Lu Han told him. “I understand that you’re angry and someone needs to be held responsible, but as the president, shouldn’t that person be me?”

Kris recapped the bottle in his hand and finally tore his gaze away from the view to look at his right-hand man, taking in his tired eyes and worried frown. Lu Han had been a long time friend and Kris admired him for all that he was, and he respected the man even more for being the leader that he was.

“You didn’t answer my question, Han,” he said. “Did you deal with it?”

“Not in your terms,” the other replied after a short hesitation. “I suspended him for two weeks, and I will have him write a detailed report on the incident. But I will not fire him, Kris. I need him here.”

Kris kept silent and stared at his friend, noting the resilience in his stance that reminded him of someone. “I want a copy of that report sent to me,” he said instead, turning to walk away. He didn’t have to look at Lu Han’s face to know that he was relieved, and the man followed him as he sat on the couch in the office. The two sat in silence for a second before Kris decided to say, “I wouldn’t have done anything without consulting you, Han.”

Lu Han looked at him and nodded. “I know,” he acknowledged. “But I also understood the graveness of the situation. I wasn’t trying to challenge your authority either, but Mr. Zhou has served us well, and I have yet to find potential in others to replace him.”

“I know. I was the one who brought him in when I first started Wu Enterprise, Han. I know better than anyone how much Mr. Zhou have done for us, for this company.”

“Yeah,” Lu Han nodded and sighed. “Okay, enough about that. I’m going to sort things out first. Let’s grab a drink later after work. I’ll get the guys to join us too.” Kris merely hummed in response. As Lu Han got up, he finally realized that a certain male was missing and frowned at him. “Wait, where is Tao?”

“Tao?”

To say that she was surprised to see Kris’ personal bodyguard standing near her car first thing in the morning would be an understatement. He was usually wherever Kris was, considering he was the man’s personal bodyguard and head of security.

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