Aaron’s POV

“That’s all. End of meeting.” I said and head back to my office.

I look at my watch. It’s 5:45PM. Fifteen more minutes till she end her work. Since now I do not have any work or schedule, I decided to meet her now. I ask Mr Kang to put Mrs Li on the line.

“Sir?”

“Mrs Li, I want everyone in your department to end work now.”

“Yes sir.”

After the call, I told Mr Kang and Miss Chen to end work. Then, I get my things and head to twenty-second floor. When I reach twenty-second floor, Ya Tou is outside the elevator. She looks around before talking to me.

“Ge? What are you doing here?”

“I’m looking for Ying Jie. Is she still here?”

“Yes, she’s still at her desk packing up. Why are you looking for her?” She gives me a sceptical look.

“I’m having dinner with her later. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and find her now.” I said and walks pass her.

“Wait!” She stands in front of me.

“What?”

“How do you know her? Who is she to you? Why are you having dinner with her?”

“She’s coming. I’ll tell you later at home alright?” I say to her when I saw Ying Jie walking towards us. I smile and wave at her. She wave back.

“Oh. Okay. Have a nice dinner then.” Ya Tou said to me and walk into the elevator. I wait for Ying Jie and walk into the elevator with her. We reach the basement, and Ya Tou walk out first.

“Bye Mr Yan, bye Ying Jie!” She says and walks towards her car.

“Bye!”

After saying goodbye to Ya Tou, I bring Ying Jie to my car. I open the door and let her in, then walk to the driver’s seat and get in.

"Where are we going?" She asks.

"Actually, I do not know yet. What would you like to eat?"

"Um... How about food from the night market?"

"Night market?"

She nods, and says "The food there are cheap and delicious. I know you have not eat these kind of food, so maybe you can try it."

"Okay." I say and start driving to the night market.

At the night market, she brings me to eat different food like Crispy Chicken, egg crepe, oyster omelette and pearl milk tea. All are really taste great! I regret that for the past 28 years living in Taipei, I have not eaten all these delicious food. Now we're heading to a dessert shop and have shaved ice.

"Aaron, can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"What position are you taking in the company?"

"Um..." Maybe I should tell her that I'm the CEO.

"I'm the CEO of the company." I look at her for her reaction, but she doesn't seem surprise.

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"I kind of guessed it when Ya Tou bid you goodbye. Your surname is the same as the company's name." Oh, no wonder she doesn't look surprised.

"That also explains why you didn't eat these cheap foods."

"Yeah..." I laugh embarrassingly.

"You know her?"

"Ya Tou? Of course! She's my sister." I answer while eating the mango shaved ice that had just arrived. Wow! It really tastes good!

"Sister? Biological sister?"

"Yea-" Oh I forgot! She doesn't want to disclose her identity. I mentally slap myself. I look at Ying Jie, and she's waiting for me to continue. I guess telling her won't hurt.

"Yeah she is. Don't tell anybody. She doesn't want to disclose her identity."

"Sure. No wonder she calls you Mr Yan just now. But why are you telling me?" She tilts her head sideways and looks at me.

"We're friends, and we should be honest with friends, right?"

After I said that, her expression changes. She looks down sadly. Did I say something wrong?

"What's wrong?" She looks up and shook her head.

"Nothing. You should quickly eat your shaved ice. It's melting." Oh right, the delicious shaved ice! I took my spoon and continue eating.

***

Ying Jie's POV

“All of you can end your work now.” Mrs Li came out of her office and said to all of us.

“What? We still have fifteen more minutes.” Yao Yao exclaim.

“Yes, but today all of you can end work early.” She says and walks back into her office.

“Yay! A fifteen minutes early day off!” Apple says.

“Just fifteen minutes and all of you are so happy?” Ya Tou ask them.

“We hadn’t leave work earlier than 6PM before. This is a first.”

“And both of you are in luck. The first day of work and both of you can end work early.”

“Alright, we go off first now. Bye!” Apple, Yao Yao, Wei Yu and Hong Shi left. Now the level has left only Ya Tou, some other colleagues, and me. I organise all my stuffs first.

“Ying Jie, do you need a ride home?” Ya Tou ask me while dangling her car keys.

“No thank you. I’m meeting a friend for dinner.”

“Oh? Then I go off first. Bye!” She said and walk towards the elevator. I start packing my bag, putting all the stuffs I need into my bag. After packing my bag, I head towards the elevator. When I am heading to the elevator, I saw Aaron, and Ya Tou. They are talking to each other. Perhaps they knew each other too. Then Ya Tou walk into the elevator and Aaron waits for me to get into the elevator before he does.

We reach the basement level, which is the carpark, which I never been here before. Of course! I do not have a car, how can I come here. Ya Tou walk out of the elevator first.

“Bye Mr Yan, bye Ying Jie!” She says. Mr Yan? Aaron? Yan as in the same name as the company? Don’t tell me…

 I bid goodbye to her too. Aaron then brings me to his car, and he opens the door to the passenger seat for me.

We went to the night market for our dinner. Since I know he hadn’t tried this kind of food before, I decided to bring him here and try it out. I introduce him to different Taiwan delicacies, and it’s great that he’s enjoying it. Weird, but he have been living in Taipei for so long, and had not tried all these food. Then we head to our last stop, the dessert shop, to have shaved ice. While we’re eating, I ask him what job position he’s taking in the company, since I do not know yet. When he told me he’s a CEO, I’m not that surprised. Maybe it is because I kind of guessed it earlier. No wonder I have a weird interview yesterday. I thought. The company has been established for fifty-nine years, so maybe because he’s been rich all life long, I guess that he must have not tried all these food. While we’re talking, I realise that Ya Tou was his sister, biological sister. Ya Tou doesn’t want to disclose her identity, but why is he telling me? I ask him.

"We're friends, and we should be honest with friends, right?" He says. Honest. Yes. We’re friends, we should be honest with each other, but I can’t. I can’t be honest with him about my illness.

"What's wrong?" He asks. He must have seen my expression. I quickly shook of the sad thoughts.

"Nothing. You should quickly eat your shaved ice. It's melting." I say when I saw his shaved ice melting. He looks at his shaved ice and start eating. He really enjoys eating these foods. Perhaps I can bring him eat these kind of food often, if he don’t mind.

***

Aaron’s POV

We’re now heading to my car. I haven’t had the opportunity to tell her about the apartment just now. I decided to bring her straight to the apartment.

I park my car at the basement parking lot below Skye High Condominium block 2.

“Why are we here?” Ying Jie asks.                                                                                                                                    

“Your new apartment.”

“My new apartment?”

“Yes. Come.”

We walk into the elevator and goes up to the ninth floor. There are only 2 apartments on a level, apartment #17 and #18. We walk to apartment #18 and enter the door code. I open the door and let her in first.

“Look around.” I say to her. She tour around the apartment. There’s a big living room when you walk in and a balcony just beside it. Then there’s a see through kitchen and dining area. There’s a hallway, which leads to 3 bedrooms and a study room. I actually thought of buying a penthouse, but I’m afraid that she would not want to live in such a big apartment.

“So?” I ask after touring. We sit down on the couch at the living room.

“I like it. It’s a nice apartment. It’s near the company too. Who is the owner?”

“Me.”

“You? So you are staying here?” She asks with her eyes wide open.

“No, no. I’m staying at another house.” I assure her. I do not want her to think that I wanted her to live with me or something.

“Oh, of course. Are you renting the apartment to me? How much is the rent?”

“No not rent. We’re friends right? You said you are looking for an apartment, so this will be your new apartment then. No rent.”

“Thank you, but I can’t stay here without paying rents. I’ll feel bad.”

“What’s there to feel bad for? We’re friends. Just stay here.”

“I’ll stay here, if you accept my rents.” She says. Sigh. If I don’t accept her rents, she would not stay here. But I do not need her rents. Then, I thought of something.

“Why not you take it as you are taking care of this apartment for me? No need rents.” I say. She opens wanting to say something, but close it. Then she opens again.

“Okay… Do you need me to do anything else? Like cooking? Or help you buy anything? You can order me to do anything.” Order her?! Okay she shocked me.

“I- I mean, you didn’t accept my rents, so if you need any help in anything, you can always call me.”

“When I need help.” I say.

“So can I move in tomorrow?”

“Of course!” I smile at her.

***

Ying Jie’s POV

I woke up early today to pack all my belongings. I’m moving in to Aaron’s apartment today. I look at the time on my phone. It’s 7:24AM. I’ve got 1 hour to move my things to the apartment, and then I will have another 1 hour to get ready and go for work.

Someone knock on the door. I walk to the door and open it. It was Aaron, and he’s with another man I don’t know.

“Hi!”

“Hi. Why are you here? And how do you know this is my room?”

“Err… I checked with the staff, and I’m helping you to move. You ready?” I thought hotel staff is not supposed to disclose any customer’s information? But he’s a CEO of a big company, so perhaps he can do anything.

“’I’ve just done packing. I go grab my luggage and we can go check out now.” I say. Then I get my luggage and walk out.

“Come, give me the luggage.” He says and holds out his hand, waiting for me to pass him my luggage.

“Oh no, I can manage.”

He just pulls my hands from the luggage and takes it. “I’ll help.” I look up at him, and he gives me an ‘I insist’ look. I guess I can’t reject his help.

“Thank you.”

“Can you give me the key?” He asks and holds out the other hand.

“Here.” I pass it to him. Then he passes it to the man who is following us.

We walk into the elevator. The man with him presses ‘G’, which is the lobby, and ‘B1’, which is the parking lot. When we reach the lobby level, the man walks out. I am about to walk out too, but Aaron holds on to my arm and stops me.

“Mr Kang will help you check out.”

“Mr Kang?”

“My PA.” Oh, so the man, Mr Kang, is his PA.

We head to his car, and still with his good manners, he opens the car door for me. He walks to the trunk to put my luggage, and then he takes his seat and drives to Skye High.

We reach the apartment, and he helps me to bring my luggage to my room. I look at the time on my phone. It’s 8:02AM. I still have 1 hour and 30 minutes. I decided to cook some breakfast. I walk into the kitchen and open the refrigerator. Wow. The refrigerator has lots of ingredients. Did he stock it? I thought. I took out some eggs and put them beside the stove. Then I look for bread in the shelves. I take out 2 piece of bread and put it in the toaster, and then I take out a bowl and chopstick to beat the eggs. I decided to make scrambled eggs and toast, since it does not need to take up a lot of time. While beating the eggs, Aaron came.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m making scrambled eggs and toast. You let me stay in such a great apartment, and you do not accept my rents, so I guess I can make you breakfast to show you my gratitude.”

“Okay. Do you need any help?”

“Oh, no. You just need to sit down and wait for the food.” I say and smile at him. He smiles back, and then walks to the living room.

“It’s really good!” He says while eating the breakfast I prepared.

“Thank you.”

“You really are a good cook.”

“It’s a simple dish.”

“But it’s really delicious. I’ve eaten breakfast like this at home, but yours is really delicious. Can I come here often to eat the things you cook?”

“Sure. Anytime. Just request and I’ll make it.”

After breakfast, Aaron wanted to help me with the dishes. Knowing that he must not have been doing the dishes in his whole life, I told him not to. He gives me a sulky look. Whoa! A CEO with sulky look. I can’t bear people giving me sulky faces, so I just let him help me.

After doing the dishes, I change my clothes and get ready for work. I walk out of my room and head to the living room. He’s there waiting for me. Oh no. I do not want to go to work with him. He’s the CEO, though he’s my friend, I do not want anybody to know that I know the CEO, and also not wanting them to think that maybe I gotten this job because of him, though it is true. I think sadly.

“Let’s go.” He says and opens the door.

“Wait!” He turns and looks at me.

“Um… Can I go to work myself? You do not need to drive me.” He frowns. “Why?” I look at him nervously. I do not know how to tell him.

“Is it because I’m the CEO?” He asks. I nod.

“We are friends. Sometimes friends drive friends to work. It is not a big deal. Don’t think that way.”

“But-”

“No. Don’t treat me as a CEO. Come, let’s go.” He says and holds the door for me. Sigh. I guess he is quite persistent. I walk out of the apartment, and we head to his car.

“Here’s the code for the apartment. You can change them if you want.” He passes the paper to me when we reach the company basement.

We walk into the elevator. When the door opens at first floor, many people are outside waiting to come in. For a few seconds, they did not come in. Maybe it’s because Aaron’s here. Then I hear them greet him, and they started to walk in.  Aaron and I was push to the back of the elevator. I stumble, and I feel someone grabbing on my waist. My heart suddenly beats fast. I look back, and it’s Aaron.

“Careful.” He says, and then takes his arm off my waist. Many people are looking at us.

“T…Thank you.”