・・・☆・ Fifty Two ・・・☆・

Yingyue's days at work had not really gotten better, no matter how many hours she would stay in the office, the extra days she was picking up, or how polite she was to her fellow colleagues. She wanted to cry about it but knew she couldn't, not really. She was supposed to be the next CEO of the Jiang Enterprise leader in advertisement and publishing not some young twenty something year old these old men could push about. She didn't need to sleep to the top or act in a certain way to gain the respect of creepy old men. She was a power a force to be reckoned with and they would just have to deal with it. 

"Mrs Jiang, good morning, you seem like you are in a rush." Came the snooty voice of Mr Xia a rather cranky man from the printing department. He was never nice to Yingyue just as polite as society required when in a public setting. He was short and stout with greying hair that flopped down haphazardly over his slightly crooked silver frames. His voice sounded like he smoked 20 a day for the last fifty years of his life and he smelt like cabbage. Yingyue had to halt her movement, which was only to her office to pick up the packs she needed for her next meeting, in order to talk to the old man knowing he would react negatively if she did not stop to speak to him.

"Oh yes sir, I am indeed in a little bit of a rush, have a very important meeting the chairman has asked me to sit in on. Setting up a contract with a new client." Yingyue attempted to remain as professional as possible and not brush him off in order to head to her office. 

"Really dressed in that manner, what is the client an adult company?" Yingyue felt her eyes widen at his words, had he really suggested what she thought he had. Her hands clenched together as she retained from cursing him out in the middle of the hallway. Especially considering his last comment had caused a couple of bystanders to stop and watch the conversation go down. Wondering how the daughter of the CEO was going to handle the entire situation. 

"I shall take your words into consideration Sir, but I do not have time to change the meeting is very shortly." Yingyue tried to remain diplomatic but she was in a current headspace where she wasn't sure whether she wanted to cry or deck the man. She just had to focus on the fact that whatever she did would impact the entire companies opinion on her.

"I'm surprised your husband even lets you out of the house in something like that. He must be embarrassed to call you his wife." It would appear Mr Xia was not finished with trying to tear the young woman down as he attempted to go for the only thing he could think of that would cause her more emotional distress. Struggling to keep her composure Yingyue knew that she had to leave the conversation now before her reputation was completely tarnished.

"I will be sure to pass on the insight when I get home this evening. Now if you don't mind, I have to get those files." Yingyue did not allow for him to respond before she had made the rest of her journey to her office. Shutting the door behind her she made her way to the desk slumping down in her chair her head going to rest in her hands. Wondering what she had done wrong to get this kind of attention and treatment. 

She had never tried to show she was better than the others, rather the opposite. Yingyue knew she had a lot to learn about the company, she had purposely tried to get to know as many of the employees in the different departments and what their job entailed. Just so she knew what happened at both the bottom and the top of the company. She had been kind to everyone thus far ensuring to remain using the formal words and treating those who were at presently higher than her as exactly that. But she really didn't have time to dwell on it, not to even check her outfit over to see if she could even begin to see where he got his idea from about it not being appropriate. 

After all she was sure she had seen one of the female receptionists top undone so far you could see her bra. Yet she supposed that was useful to the creepy old men who worked in the company. Yingyue a decently successful, wealthy woman was probably a threat to them, especially considering her position to be the next CEO. They must have also felt a little threatened because they knew they couldn't tempt her through offering extra services being performed for their favour. Because Yingyue was fiercely loyal. But even thinking things such as this didn't really help the emotional blow that one conversation had on her. 

Yingyue just wanted Ximen, she wanted her husband more than anything in that moment. 

・・・☆・

5pm rolled around much, much slower than Yingyue wanted it to. She was sure she was counting the clock from about 2:15pm and every five minutes that passed felt like five hours. When her meeting had finished she immediately pulled on a much larger jumper to sit in her room. This jumper was not her own and it went almost down to the bottom of her skirt as she was determined that nobody would be able to see anything that would even slightly suggest she had a figure. She avoided leaving her office unless it was absolutely necessary, like that one time she really had to go to the bathroom. But she was avoiding speaking to anyone especially Mr Xia. 

At exactly 5:02pm a knock rang out on her office door. Yingyue was not really willing to answer the door, she was now technically off the clock and only packing away her belongings. But she knew that if she didn't answer the door she would also continue to ruin her reputation as she had been doing all day as apparent to the stares she had gathered. Taking two breaths before announcing her door was technically open, she waited in anticipation to see who was coming into her office. 

Looking up at them prepared to see some sort of old man with one too many opinions Yingyue was surprised. For stood just in front of her desk wearing a cheeky grin and with his arms crossed was her husband. He looked dapper in a green and blue striped shirt with one of his largest grey jackets. She wanted to question why he wore such jacket he had talked about getting rid of it the other day because it was ridiculously large on him. Though she wasn't really going to question it right now, she was more shocked by the fact that he had come to collect her from work. He had made the effort to travel across the city to collect her, but she was unsure why. Not that she was against him coming but this was his first time inside the company building and she had to wonder just how he had gotten past security and in considering he did not have an access card. 

"Hey beautiful." Were his first words to her and Yingyue was happy that the blinds to her room had been closed earlier as she rushed around the desk to launch herself at him. It was not the most professional way to act but at that very moment she didn't think about that. She thought about the man who must have taken a taxi across town to see her. 

"Not that I'm opposing to you being here, but Xi why are you here?" Yingyue was perplexed she was almost 100% certain she had not asked him to come and collect her. Like more than 100% certain and wondered if he could just tell she needed him. 

"I could tell when you messaged me earlier that you were having a rough day. Decided I could help make it better by meeting you here. Got the boys coming over later hoping they can distract you with stories of their terrible love lives." Ximen's words were enough to bring tears to her eyes, he really did think of her at all times. 

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" Leaning into his touch Yingyue finally felt a bit more at peace, she could go past the unnecessary words of her co workers and she could just focus on the now. 

"It should be I questioning that. Come on Yeye, let's get you home." 

Surprisingly the rest of F4 were sat waiting on Yingyue and Ximen to return from the Jiang Enterprise offices. They had stretched their way out over the front porch of the house relaxed and rather calm waiting for the homeowners to return. Yingyue could hear them joking about as she walked to the front door, Lei being the current and most frequent victim to the jokes and jesters. 

"Why are you three sat outside? Meizuo you have a key." Ximen chided his friends though was only met with three matching grins. 

"We thought we would welcome you home by the front door."Meizuo tried to explain but he was cut off before he could continue.

"I picked Meizuo up and he forgot the spare key so he made us sit on the porch and wait." Lei interrupted finally getting a bit of a power over the other boys. It wasn't often the softest spoken member of F4 could hold anything over the other boys and Yingyue could only send him a small smile before going to unlock the front door and let them inside.