CHAPTER 11

Lay knocked on Hana's door and came in as soon as he got the go signal.

He smiled at the girl behind the cluttered desk; Hana gave him a bright smile and told him to take his seat. It's been two days since Kris gave orders and it has also been two days since Lay spent time with Hana for his assignment. So far, she was doing great and he had began to doubt if she even needed him.

“You seem to do fine on your own, Hana-ssi” he gives her a smile. Hana was stacking some folders back to their respective drawers; she emitted a nervous laugh and turned to Lay “I really think it's because you're guiding me through, sir”

Lay sighed at her insistance and asks “How is everything falling through?”

Hana returns to her leather chair, taking out a blue folder and hands it over to him. Lay takes the folder and opens it, inside were papers containing details for the party such as the picture samples for the invitations, photos of places to possibly hold the party and other ideas. Lay's brow raised at one theme listed.

“Monte Carlo?” Hana smiles and nods her head “The place itself is the playground of the rich and famous such as yourself, sir”

Lay laughs at her remark. “So, what theme did you choose out of all of these, Ms. Kim?” Hana blinks her eyes and rubs the back of her neck “Um... is that supposed to be my job, sir?” she asks, seriously clueless about it. Lay nods his head “I'm just here to guide you accordingly, Ms. Kim; Kris put you in charge, not me... but... you know Hana, this 'Monte Carlo' idea is really not bad”

Hana smiles “Then Monte Carlo it is”

Xiumin.

“Mr. Kim, don't you think this is too much?” Lee Soo Man asked, sitting on the other end of the table. I let out a sigh and lean back on the leather seat “You haven't paid us last time and we want our money back”

He runs a hand through his growing gray hair and looks at the piece of paper in hand “Can't you take it out of our stocks?” he asks. I frowned at his question. A female enters the meeting room and sets down a glass of water infront of me then infront of the old man sitting across me on the long table. “Mr. Lee, your stocks no longer exist”

The horrified look on his face makes me crack a smile. Ah, the joy of seeing someone's face when they realize they're bankrupt. Priceless. I take a sip of the water and get up from my chair, walking to the large glass window and look at the beautiful view of the city. “If you don't give us the amount stated by tomorrow morning, make sure to find a good hiding spot” I grab my phone from the glass table and head for the door. However, as I was about to turn the knob, Soo Man called out to me “Xiumin-ssi...”

I turn back around to smile at him “Yes?”

“I'll be frank with you... this company is going down” No . It's a candidate for ground zero. I give him a chuckle and pocket one of my hands, the other still holding onto the door knob “That's why Mr. Huang is preparing the termination contracts for Kris to sign, Mr. Lee” his head hangs low and I let out a breath of sympathy “It was nice doing business with you, Mr. Lee; please be noted that if you can't hand over the four billion won tomorrow, we'll be taking the building instead... Have a nice day, sir” I bow and leave.

As soon as I was out of the door, I take out my phone and dial Kris's number. Another company down. Sigh. How sad... not. A couple of rings pass but still no answer. That's strange. I redial again but still received the same results. I wonder what's going on with him. I call Hana's number and it didn't even take two rings for her to pick up “Hello?”

“Hana-ssi” I smile and go down spiral staircase of the building “Is Kris in a meeting?”

“Oh, Xiumin-ssi; no, Mr. Wu has been in his office since this morning and has never left, why?” I raise a brow as I stop. Okay, that's strange.

“Are you sure? I've been trying to contact him but he's not answering” I hear shuffling sounds on the other line then Hana's little scream and the sound of the phone like it was dropped. “Are you okay?” the phone gets picked up and Hana laughs “Sorry about that sir, I slipped. Um, I'll go check on Mr. Wu and tell him you called”

Clumsy girl. Cute. “Okay, thanks Hana” I hang up and pocket my phone. I made my way past the reception table and out of the building's glass doors; it was a beautiful day today, too bad I have to spend it running around, in and out of Wu Enterprise. Maybe I should ask Kris for a three day vacation. I smile at the thought and open the door to the driver's seat. Yeah.

“Minseok-oppa!” I turn my head to the side and my eyes widen in surprise. “Stephanie, what are you doing here?”

I close the door to the car and stand there at the sidewalk as she approaches me. She looked like she was in pretty bad shape; I heard her mom died and I heard she came to the office but Kris seemed to have not given even a pinch of care. Stephanie smiles at me “How are you, Minseok-oppa?”

I frown “The question here is how are you? God Stephanie, you look awful!” there were dark circles under her eyes and it's even darker than Tao's  and she looked pretty stressed out and not to mention dead tired. She gave me a soft smile and I sighed before reaching for the passenger seat door and opened it “Get in” I tell her.

“N-no, it's okay oppa. I just wanted to ask you something” I eye her up and down. She really looks awful. Kris seriously needs to get punched. “Just get in the car first and we'll talk” I tell her and she complies after hesitating for a few seconds.

I took her to a restaurant for lunch where we both talked.

She told me that she went to the office some days ago and showed me the still intact check that Kris gave her. She didn't go into details of their conversation but judging from how she looks and speaks, I can't help but feel sorry for her. Kris was cold, colder than the arctic, yes but I didn't expect him to still be cold even after hearing what Stephanie was going through.

“Minseok-oppa, can I ask you a favor?” I lean back on my seat and sigh before nodding my head with a small smile “Sure Stephanie”

She gives me a smile then slides the check towards me; I raise a brow at her “Please return that to Yi Fan...”

“Why?” she gives me a weak smile and looks down on her lap “I wouldn't know what to do with that a-and besides, I'll just look for a job and I still have some money left in me” Damn Kris. What the hell is wrong with you? I hang my head low and close my eyes to think for a moment.

After a few minutes of silence, I look up at her “Here's the deal...”

“Minsek-oppa, please -” I hold up a hand to stop her from speaking and she closes as I continue “I won't give this to Yi Fan but I'll let someone handle things for you; someone will settle you down with the amount in this check then you can look for a job; okay?”

She looks at me with hesitating eyes but eventually gave in. I give her a smile “Think of this as business, Stephanie”

A small smile curves on her lips and she gives me a nod. I take the check and put it inside the pocket of my jacket before emitting a small laugh and tell her “You know, as cute as I may seem, I take business very seriously”

Hana.

I leave the mess in my office and made my way up to Kris's office. I called in several times both on his office phone and personal phone after Xiumin hung up on me but no one was answering and I was beginning to wonder what had happened to him.

Ding. I step out of the elevator and head straight for the door at the end of the hall; I knocked softly the first time and called out to Mr. Wu but when I received no answer, I knocked again. “Mr. Wu, it's Hana” I continuously knock but came to no avail.

Leaving me with no choice, I grab the door knob and push the door open, only to be surprised when I saw him leaned forward on his table, looking like he was asleep. “Mr. Wu?” I call out to him but he doesn't respond. I close the door behind me and walk over to his desk; his laptop was opened to the side and it showed an open document of the screen.

Speech was the only word typed on it. I looked at his figure that let out quiet steady breaths. He's asleep. Papers were sprawled all over his desk and he was just laying on top of them, some of them have even fallen onto the floor. Letting out a sigh, I gently shook him awake but he only let out a groan and went on with his slumber.

“Aigo... you'll hurt your neck” I shake my hands for a moment hesitating if I should do it; with a deep breath, I poke his arm and when he didn't show me any signs of waking up, I adjust the back seat of his chair for it to recline and grabbed a pillow from the couch on the side then grabbed him by the shoulders, carefully as to not to wake him up, and made him lie back, adjusting the pillow on the back of his head.

I found a foot rest from under his table and placed his feet on top of it. There... atleast he looks more comfortable.

I glance at my watch and realized it was lunch time already. I shouldn't wake him up... I know. I snap my fingers at the idea. I walk over to the glass window behind his desk and press the button on the wall that rolled down the blinds automatically, dimming the room. Afterwards, I exit his office and go down to buy lunch.

I really should stack my office with emergency food. I sigh at the thought as I ride down the elevator.

Kris.

Yawn. I stretch my arms over my head but only to be surprised when I realized that the office was dimmed down and that I was lying back when I should be sprawled on my table. There's also a pillow on the back of my head and my chair has been reclined. What the hell?

I look at my table and see the files have been organized accordingly, there was also a box of food, a can of cola and a bottle of water and my laptop had been closed. I place a hand on top of the box and it was still warm which means it has been placed here for only over a minute or so. Sigh. I bring my hands to my face and wipe it off before opening the box of food as I felt hunger settle in.

Chicken, rice, kimchi, vegetables and noodles. A relieved sigh escaped my lips after realizing the absence of fish. I never liked fish for some reason. I took the chop sticks and began to eat quietly.

After a few moments, I reach over to my laptop and opened it up but only to be surprised some more when I found a sticky note: I hope you rested well Mr. Wu; A little advice on writing your speech: let it come from the heart :) P.S. Mr. Kim Minseok called you, you should call him back. Have a nice day, sir!

I swallow the food in my mouth and take out the note. The side of my lips form a small curve; I place down the sticky note aside and resumed eating. Knock. Knock. Sigh. I take a sip of the cola before telling whoever it was to come in.

Speak of the devil. Xiumin popped his head inside with a bright smile “Hey Kris!”

“What do you want?” I keep my eyes on the food, chewing lazily. He sits on the chair infront of me and laughs “Well before anything else, since when did you order take out?” he questions. I look up at him with a lazy stare before turning back to the food. He breathes out a sigh of defeat and proceeds with business “Soo Man's bankrupt”

Good. “Did you tell Tao?” he gives me a nod “Did he pay?” he gives me a shake of his head and I frown. “What did you tell him?”

“I told him we're taking the building” he smiles brightly like a little kid. “and what did he say?” he gave me a shrug “He was speechless”

I took some noodles into my mouth and chewed slowly to drag on some time while I think. Swallow.

“Send an interior designer there tomorrow by ten o'clock if he can't pay and transfer the marketing department and magazine department by next week if that happens” Xiumin gives me a nod. I expected him to stand up afterwards and leave but he didn't. I look up at him and his smile softens.

“I saw Stephanie today...” Ugh, please not now. “Xiumin, I really don't -”

“Come on Kris, don't you have a heart? Hear me out here, will you?” Sigh. “Fine... make it snappy”

He casts me a look of appreciation before reaching into the inside of his jacket and took out a familiar check. Great, she gave it to him? “She wanted me to return this to you but I told her that I'll let someone else handle it for her”

“Who?” I continue eating. “Hana...”

I shoot my head up and look at him with a frown “What?”

“Yeah, I already asked her and she agreed to it; seems like she really likes your sister” he smiles at me. I'm fighting the urge not to grab him by the collar and throw him across the room right now; “Hana's busy with a lot of stuff Xiumin, I thought you knew better than to add to her load of works to do?”

Xiumin laughs and then looks at me in a teasing manner “Is that care and concern I hear in your voice, CEO Wu?”

My eyes widen at him “Yah! Shut up Xiumin! That's not it!”

“Oh ho ho! Then perhaps love?”

… no.

“Yah, Kris there's no use lying to yourself you know and besides, I think it's about time you find yourself a partner and if you ask me, I have no objections whatsoever with Hana, she's down to earth, she's nice, she's caring, a perfect wife! And not only that but -”

“Xiumin...” I'm going to kill you if you don't shut up now. “Yeah?”

I hold up my forefinger and curl it, gesturing him to come forward. He let's out a sigh and stand up, he walks over to my desk and I gesture him closer.

“Closer...” I told him and he looks at me with a funny expression “You're not gonna kiss me, are you?”

“I just have to tell you a secret” his eyes twinkle and he leans in closer.

I grab the bottom of his face and press on his cheeks, opening his mouth and stuffed a piece of chicken inside. Xiumin jumps back in surprise but chews on the chicken with a frown on his face.

“What was that for, Kris?” he pouts after swallowing the chicken “It's good by the way, where'd you buy it?”

I roll my eyes at him “I'm not falling for anyone and especially not for Kim Hana”

“Eh?! But why ever not?” He whines at me in question. Sigh. “Because I'm Kris Wu, deal with it and besides... she's just my PA”

“Aigo ~ if I were you, I won't conclude such things... you might eat your words, you know” I rolled my eyes at him and finish my food “Anything else to add Xiumin?”

He shook his head and sighs “I guess I'll be leaving you now but don't forget that Hana's already agreed and she won't change her mind even if you tell her to”

Yeah. Sure, whatever.

"The ransom for Chapter 12, did you bring it?"

Kekekeke :) <3