Chapter 4

• She had been pregnant then, although she hid it well. Struggling with everything, Ling wouldn’t let her lie down and admit defeat. She told her that her child needed a mother with a future. If they were to survive, she had to fight to ensure that. Back then, the three of them were penniless, struggling students and vowed to stay by her side and ensure Yue would have a childhood lacking nothing.. None of them had much family to lean on… Meilei didn’t have any at all. So they became one family.
• Another ping on her desktop distracted her from the invasion of the men as they headed off the far end towards Team One’s section in her peripheral view, and she opened it with a click, seeing Chou’s name.
• “I hate to admit it, but that little demon was right…the CEO and his assistant are smokin' hot….I won’t get any work done while they walk around here.”
• Meilei giggled under her breath, leaning up to cast Chou a frown across the top of her monitor and caught her winking in her direction. She shook her head to signal how hopeless Chou was, and as she did, the men in the rearview walked into her line of vision right at the side of Chou’s head. Further back, almost too far to get a clear view but not quite.
• It took a moment for them to become focused as her eyes adjusted to the distraction, and Meilei’s entire body froze with an instant icy chill that sent shards of prickling fear through every nerve ending. It only took one glance, not fully looking their way, to see what she saw, and she knew instantly what it was.
• The sudden consuming of dread and terror in equal doses paralyzing her entire being and dragging time to a standstill.
• She couldn’t move or tear her eyes from the tall, dark-haired figure of a man in his late twenties. Stocky, wearing an expensive tailored dark grey suit and a styled youthful haircut. His side profile chiseled and well groomed with straight black brows, a high nose, and perfectly shaped lips. Handsome and mature yet undeniably familiar. A face that sometimes haunted her dreams as much as the nightmares did. She couldn’t inhale or move and was held hostage by her own body as she tried to navigate the intense reaction. Her lungs compressed, her heart was thundering to explosive levels, and she could barely move.
• Meilei didn’t breathe. She couldn’t. She didn’t dare rip her eyes from what she saw, yet her brain collapsed into a chaotic mess of disbelief and manic panic.
• It couldn’t be….
• He left…
• He went abroad.
• He said he would never return as long as she lived in this world.
• He wouldn’t come here
• He couldn’t be the CEO.
• He told her he never wanted to look at her or share air in the same place again.
• He hated her.
• So why was he standing there being shown the company's layout?
• The company she worked for?
• Meilei sank with a speedy reflex born of utter fear with an instant reaction she didn’t know she was capable of as he turned his head her way. Cowering down behind her screen and trying to swallow hard, inflate her lungs, and failing. Her hands shook, and her heart pounded through her chest, almost exploding right out all over her desk with painful intensity. She stared blankly at her fingers and couldn’t formulate any coherent thought.
• The gripping, tight crush of an impending panic attack started flowing in with a dark vision and dizziness, pulling her mental focus to the fact her ribs were immobile and tightening. She thrust her head between her knees to try and stop it, practically climbing under her desk. Clutching her chest and screwed her eyes tightly to shut out the world and her fear and focus on gaining oxygen. Trying to remember her counselor's steps to get through it without escalation.
• Touch something real… count your fingers, and move your toes.
• Focus. Do not fight it.
• Stay where you are. Don’t try and move.
• Breathe slowly.
• Identify something close to bring reality back, look at it, and focus.
• Tell yourself you are okay.
• It will pass.
• Picture Yue and her happy, smiling face. Everything you find joy and peace in.
• Focus,… focus, and breathe, slow and steady. Count it out.
• Meilei brought it to a simmer but still couldn’t catch her breath. The invading thoughts and fear would not be quiet, and she huddled into a small ball, hoping they wouldn’t venture this way. She didn’t have the strength to get up and run; if he saw her, she had no idea how he would react.
• If he knew she was here, her job and career would be over, but that is not what plagued her now.
• He wouldn’t be able to conceal his hatred if he saw her.
• Something like that between them was not something five years could dampen.
• Five years…. Of hell and hurt and haunted memories.
• Kai Xuchen stood in the middle of the floor while listening to Manager Lee summarise the department's ongoing projects and past successes. Unaware of the cowering figure at the far desk almost thirty feet away. Cool and confident, still as a stone as he listened intently, and his quick eyes scanned the space and employees with little interest. He quickly got his impressions of this department, and everything seemed good. This was the company's star floor, and he had no complaints.
• Meilei wanted the floor to open and swallow her, yet she clutched her knees and pictured Yue in her mind’s eye, growing more distressed as the seconds rolled by.
• Yue’s perfect little face… her pouty little mouth and straight and high nose. The darkest of brown eyes that seemed almost black when she glared at you with indignation. Her obsidian black hair that was practically silken in texture and her confident and bold personality were not born of Meilei….. Her stubborn nature and feisty heart. Her fast temper and hostile streak when she felt wronged.
• The source of her calm was also the source of her panic growing higher.
• If he knew about Yue…if he saw her…..
• He would know
• He would take her.
• Why wouldn’t he?
• Meilei took someone precious from him, and she had no doubt he would take someone precious from her, especially if he found out she belonged to him, too.
• What was she going to do now?