"So, how was the weekend getaway with the CFO?" Cecilia threw a suggestive question as she sat in front of Yue with her lunch tray. Cecilia is Yue's lunch partner, who always come to have lunch with her. Having a friend in the company who used to work for her superior has its advantages. Yue gets to learn how to avoid disaster. 

"Tiring," Yue replied, which made Cecilia chuckle. She looked at Cecilia with an unamused face, "Cecilia...." 

Cecilia stopped laughing, "It's so fun to tease you with suggestive jokes. I'm surprised you haven't crashed yet. The first time I had to accompany him on a weekend meeting, I thought my brain was going to die from all the information I had to take in and schedule his agenda." 

"Oh my god, tell me about it. I thought my brain was squashed in pureè," Yue sighed. Cecilia continued, "but, Mr.Wu made up for it. He's such a sweet person to treat me to dinner." 

"Oh, that's his tradition?" Yue asked, slightly disappointed at the fact that she was not the only one who get the special treatment. 

Cecilia nodded, "yeah, that's why he's infamous in the company for being such a sweet superior. He has such a clean record, to be honest." 

"Really?"

"Mmmmmm," Cecilia replied as she ate a spoonful of rice and her voice decreased into a whisper, "quite a few of top guys here had been involved with their personal assistants and I'll put it short, things did not end well for them."

Yue realized that it must be why Yifan had been unusually uptight and strict when it comes to personal relationship with other people. She had her doubts that her boss is extremely ambitious but this solidified the fact that he would do anything to get far in life. 

~~~

"Yue," her boss's familiar voice appeared from the other end of the intercom, "can you please come into my room for a minute?" Yue frowned and replied that she would be there immediately. When she arrived in his room, Yifan was in his usual stance - a furrow between his two eyebrows and narrowed eyes while scanning through sheets of paper. As usual, he is not wary of her presence. 

"Ahem~" Yue cleared , which startled him. "Oh yes, you're here," Yifan exclaimed and put down the paper he was reading, "Yue, are you good with people?" 

'Huh?' She pondered, "Ermm... Mr.Wu, I am not entirely sure what you mean by that." 

"Are you good at processing and retaining large amount of data within a short period of time?" he bombarded her with another question. 

'This man is seriously so weird...' Yue thought to herself before replying, "I believe so, Mr.Wu. At least I can try. Is there something you want me to do?" 

"Good!" his face lit up as he bent down to pull out something from his work drawer, "This." He put on a huge book on his desk with a thud. "Is a book of all the important people, with their faces and short profiles written at the bottom." Yue tilted her head to the side in curiosity.

"What would you like me to do with it, Mr.Wu?" Yue questioned, her eyes slightly narrowed in confusion. 

"I want you to study this," he jerked his chin forward. 

"Are you serious?!" Yue retorted with an informal tone with a slightly raised voice, "Mr.Wu," she added his name at the end to camouflage her lack of professionalism. Yifan didn't seem to notice as he stared at her and nodded, "yeah."

"For what?" she walked forward to retrieve the picture book and flipped through it. Familiar faces she recognized on newspaper appeared one after another - politicians, high profile celebrities, philanthropists, etc.

"Well," Yifan picked up his pen and resumed his usual work of signing away the papers and putting them into the OUT basket, "there's a gala ball next week. Isn't there?" Yue frowned and thought back on his schedule. There is indeed an out of office hour event invitation schedules for next weekend. She nodded.

"It's a best time to socialize and mingle with other people and expand my network," he signed the paper. Yue retorted, "I still do not see why I should remember this, sir." Yifan sighed, "You are going to accompany me to the ball."

Her face crumpled into terror, "Me? But I didn't get an invi-" Yifan cut her off, "Which is why you are going to RSVP that invitation with a plus one. You are my plus one." 

Yue's heart skipped a beat. A gala ball is somewhere she has never been to and attending the ball as her boss' plus one is something she had never imagined in her life. 

He continued, "Those people are going to be at a ball and I cannot fit in my schedule to remember all these names. There are about 200+ people I believe. About 100 people are important for me and I have highlighted the ones I need to remember." 

"Why did you not remember it then?" Yue reponded, slightly irritated at the fact that she has to remember faces and facts in a short period of time.

"Oh, I can," he replied nonchalantly, "I just cannot remember the facts to make small talks with them, which is where you come in. Remember all the faces and facts, also their relationships. Then you will accompany me to the ball, as my plus one, and help me out."

"Would I be getting OT wage for this?" she tested her boss' limit.

"No, because this is more of a personal event. How does lunch sound?"

"Food is always good with me," she replied, "I'll RSVP and get going with the book. Is there anything you need me to attend to, Mr.Wu?" 

"No, not really. You're dismissed," he replied without peeling his eyes away from the papers. 

Yue left the room but before she left her boss' office she cheekily joked, "If you give me lunch at company, you are so dead and I'll screw up your schedule so that you don't even get the time to breathe." Yifan looked up with an alarmed face at the mention of the word 'schedule' and started laughing. He nodded, "you won't be disappointed." 

~~~

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrgh," Yue rolled on her carpet in frustration as she browsed through the book. She does not know how did her boss get his hands on such a book but something tells her that it's a confidential document. The people, their facts and the relationship charts are very detailed and well-researched. She wouldn't be surprised if it's a personal book of her boss, Wu Yifan, due to its thoroughness. 

"Yue," Anna handed her the tray of cookies, "why are you studying so hard? The last time I saw you studying this hard was when you were studying for your crisis management module." 

"I wish it was as easy," Yue slammed the book shut, "this is next level . Can you believe that I have to remember all these? In two weeks?" 

Anna nodded, "I can because it's your boss." 

Yue laid on her back and closed her eyes as she chewed the cookies her bestfriend handed. Her mobile bleeped. 

Yue, it's Mr.Wu. Your boss. 

Her mobile displayed his name and his picture that she copied from the company website, the contact name was Boss Wu. She giggled at the awkward sounding message.  

[Yue]Mr.Wu?

[Boss] I just realized that I didn't tell you the details about the event this weekend. 

[Yue] What do you mean? 

[Boss] Your outfit. 

Yue's face twitched. 'Why does he care so mucha bout my outfit?' 

[Yue] What about my outfit, sir? 

[Boss] I've asked my personal stylist to contact you soon. So, he'll contact you very soon. Don't worry. You don't have to pay a cent. Everything is covered. 

[Yue] But, why, sir? I can wear something nice from my wardrobe. 

[Boss] You can but I cannot stand it when someone's outfit who is attending the ball with me is not colour coordinated with mine.

Yue rolled her eyes. 

[Yue] As you wish. Mr.Wu. I'll talk to your stylist then. Good day. 

'There,' she sent the last message with a frown, quite unhappy with the fact that her clothes are going to be dictated by her boss. 

"Wu Yifan, why are you such a puzzling being?" she thought to herself as she opened the book once more. 

~~~