Gu Cheng looked down at his phone for the third time in as many minutes, a frown evident on his face. Around him, department heads glanced at each other fearfully. A distracted CEO was not something they were familiar with. Normally, he headed every meeting decisively.

The middle-aged acting department head cleared his throat and finished his report on the current projects being funded by the company. He waited for a response, but the room stayed quiet for some time. The man glanced around at the other heads, asking them what was going on with his eyes. There were a few subtle head shakes and they all sat patiently and waited. Just when he opened his mouth to get his boss' attention a loud vibration drew everyone's eyes to the phone in front of CEO Gu. Strong fingers picked it up and pressed accept.

"What department did she pick? Well, then, have someone else approach her. What do you mean she threatened you?"

A deep chuckle rang out from the head of the table. Everyone stared at the normally stone faced man in front of them as he covered his mouth and cleared his throat. "A stun gun,I see. No, leave it be and come back to the office immediately. I will deal with it myself."

With the sound of silk against leather, the imposing man hung up the phone and stood up. The rest of the managers hastened to stand as well. "Send me reports on any other issues that were not mentioned here." He announced and left the room directly.

He could not tell if he was angry or not by Mo Ye's call. Who was this woman to turn down such a golden opportunity? He bristled at the implied insult that his company was not good enough for her. The elevator arrived, two women already inside, nodding at him respectfully as he walked in. But then for the girl to threaten his assistant in broad daylight...he rubbed his mouth, unsure of why he wanted to smile at the thought. That was something that he wished he had seen. No blame could be put on Mo Ye. He was an exemplary personal assistant, but he did not have a military background and was probably quite startled by the threat. His fingers ran along his lips, and he found himself thinking of soft lips under his own.

Gu Cheng cleared his throat, ignoring the little secretary who jumped on the other side of the elevator before glancing back with a blush on her cheeks. Too many times in the last few days, he found himself thinking of that violent kiss. Never in his life had he wanted that. If she had not been in the room, he was still confident that he would have been fine, even if somebody else came along. However, the moment that she passed the bed to get to the door it was like somebody else took over his body and he did not care one bit that she said she was dirty and in need of a shower.

When the elevator stopped at floor 40, the jumpy woman and the other with her hurried out, leaving him alone to brood for the rest of the trip to the top floor. With both his assistant and secretary out on business, the floor was devoid of people. He walked past the empty desk in front of his office door, glancing down at the neatly arranged surface. Everything where it should be, ink pens lined up precisely next to Liu Wen's steno pad. Neat and orderly, exactly how he liked his life. As soon as this woman and her situation were dealt with, he could go back to having his life just as tidy as that desk.

After some consideration, Gu Cheng had decided to offer her a chance at fame instead of giving her money as compensation. Giving money, she would know who he was, and that could keep the little thread connecting them strong instead of severing it as he wanted. He didn't need another woman chasing after him for his money or his name. Sending someone to bring her into the company could just be seen as good luck for her, and the likelihood that she would recognize him even if she saw him on the elevator one day was very low. It had been so dark in the hotel room.

But he wanted to keep this specific recruitment quiet. That was why he sent the two employees closest to him to handle it. If other artists thought that she was getting special treatment, she would have a hard time from the moment she walked through the door. It was none of anyone else's business. They did not need to know that he was just repaying a debt. She would still have to earn her roles and jobs by her own ability. She would just have an easier time getting in the door.

Twenty minutes later, Gu Cheng was standing at his window overlooking the city as Mo Ye and Liu Wen walked into his office.

Mo Ye began by immediately apologizing, a scowl on his face after his defeat."I am sorry, boss, there was not even a trace of interest in the offers on her face. She turned down the modeling, voice, and acting departments one after the other. We were considering what to do next but decided to call and update you first."

"She has the card, she will likely call later today when she has had a chance to think about it," Gu Cheng replied, turning away from the city scene and sitting down in his chair. Before he could continue, Liu Wen stepped forward nervously.

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"Sir," she started before clearing her throat and trying again. "She was polite enough at the end to take the card I gave her, but after I got back in the car, I saw her throw it away without looking at it. She did not even give Senior Mo a chance to give his card. She was very suspicious of us when we tried to push."

"Did she see the two of you together? Perhaps she felt intimidated," he argued, leaning back against the smooth leather.

Mo Ye spoke up, an embarrassed look on his face. "She did not see us together at all. I approached her an hour later as she arrived at the beach. She asked me if she was being filmed by someone for a prank show. She was very confident in her replies. I believe she really has no interest in our offers."

The room was quiet as Gu Cheng stared at nothing before speaking. "Return to your work for now." They did not think to question him, leaving as soon as his words were finished.

For two hours, he stared at the documents in front of him, the words blurring together. Finally, he gave up and pushed back from his desk, sliding his keys and phone into his pants pocket. He passed his secretary and banged on his assistant's doorframe. "Both of you, let's go. Take me to where you last saw her."

Nobody spoke a word as they traveled back to the shore. The first sound was a sigh of relief as Mo Ye caught a glimpse of her, affirming that she was still relaxing at the beach. He parked the car in a vacant spot right at the end of the sandy area, not far from where she was walking along a natural, rocky pier out into the water. Both employees quickly got out from the front seats but stayed by the car as their boss walked down the hill and across the sand.

Gu Cheng stopped where the sand was still dry, not interested in getting his shoes wet. It had taken a long time to get used to wearing expensive clothing again. He was far more comfortable in fatigues and boots, though he would not admit it. It had been a while since he ruined a good pair of shoes just because he forgot that he was wearing them and he didn't want to break that streak. He waited until the girl, or woman, turned back around to return to dry land before he started talking.

"Why did you turn down the offers?"

*****

Chiu Leong laughed as he picked up his tumbler of scotch, saluting Gu Cheng standing in front of the chair across from him. "She called you a psycho? Oh, I like her even more now!"

Gu Cheng scowled at him. "It's not that funny. She is incredibly rude."

The two men sat in the living room of Gu Cheng's home at the edge of the city. The sun had set long ago, and after finishing up at their respective jobs, Chiu Leong agreed to meet for a drink and to catch up. There was suspicion in his mind, of course, since invites to the apartment were as rare as an eclipse.

Gu Cheng and his mysophobia were a well-known fact even outside of City C. Chiu Leong had no doubt that it cut down on a lot of negative interactions with others, but it also made being a friend difficult at times. Restaurants and bars were generally out, too many people and too close of quarters. He knew his friend would go to restaurants as part of work at times, but he rarely ate there unless his dishes were made separately. Coming to his apartment was out as well since it meant someone intruding into his space, touching his things. And yet the invite had come via text, shortly after 8pm.

The young doctor took a drink from his tumbler, feeling the alcohol heating his tongue before swallowing. "If it helps, I think she was likely in quite a bit of pain at the time. Forgiveness could easily be given in those circumstances. She is lucky that she fell on something like sand, or else it might have been worse and needed surgery. Even as quickly as I was able to get to her the swelling was already quite bad. I had to wait for the swelling to go down some before I could even put on the cast." He watched as something that looked like guilt crossed his friend's face. "Was it your fault that she fell?"

"She was walking on slippery rocks, if could have happened even if I had not been there." He did not like the feeling that was sitting in his chest. When she started to fall, he had moved before he had a chance to think about it, reaching out to catch her. For perhaps the first time in his life, he had missed what he was aiming for, and someone had been hurt. The guilt sat like a stone behind his sternum.

"Mmm." Chiu Leong watched him closely over his glass. "Your secretary was talking you up to her. She is very loyal, you should give her a raise." His friend raised his head a little too quickly, and Chiu Leong had to hide his smile by taking another drink.

"I did not realize that they were chatting casually. All I told Liu Wen to do was to make sure Miss Joseph was taken care of and to pay the bill." He thought about asking what was said but decided it was odd to be curious and sat down with his glass in hand.

"Honestly, their conversation was a little hard to follow. Miss Liu mentioned how you were intelligent, capable, handsome, the obvious things, and then Miss Joseph called you a trope? I don't understand what was meant by that, but she seemed to question how both you and I could be so accomplished at such a young age."

"We have both worked hard. That is how we are accomplished. What is strange about that?" Gu Cheng scowled. "See, she is rude even when I am not around. I will find some other way to pay her back, I would rather not directly deal with her anymore."

Chiu Leong sighed and placed his glass down on a coaster on the low coffee table. "An apology is paying somebody back? I don't think I have ever seen you so bothered by someone. She told your secretary that her phone was broken. Perhaps you could offer to repair it. If it is important to her, then that might even the scales."

Gu Cheng did not answer, scowling down into his Scotch as though it personally offended him. The two men talked of other things for a while before parting, the night being late and work beginning early. He sent a text to his assistant, not noticing the time, telling him to purchase a new phone and have it delivered to the little clothing shop. The sooner he could get things settled with the woman, the sooner he could get on with his life and forget all about her.