Chapter 2: Hide-and-Seek

It’s okay. It’s really okay.

Now that Huo Xianchi had been cured and his selective memories were gone, he would probably hate me enough to want nothing to do with me. There was no way he would uncover this earth-shattering secret.

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to keep a calm, professional expression before stepping into the CEO’s office.

To my surprise, Huo Sui was there too.

The moment he saw me walk in, his lips pressed into a thin line. Something complicated flickered through his eyes, as though he wanted to ask me something, but in the end, he silently swallowed the question.

“What is it?”

Huo Xianchi’s voice was cool and indifferent.

His gaze swept over me, casual and faintly bored, carrying the familiar arrogance of someone who had never needed to care about anyone else.

This was the real Huo Xianchi—the rational, cold, detached, calculating man.

Nothing like that deranged second personality…

The one who had once looked at me with a feverish intensity so hot it felt as though he could burn me to ashes.

“Mr. Huo, I wanted to ask about my resignation request in the system. Why was it rejected?”

“Rejected?”

Huo Sui turned slightly, looking at his younger brother with confusion.

“Xianchi, aren’t resignations from senior secretaries supposed to come to you for approval?”

An invisible current seemed to crackle between the two Huo brothers.

One was watching closely, testing whether his younger brother was truly stable.

The other was staring at me as though I were a data file that needed to be dissected and analyzed.

Huo Xianchi looked me over from head to toe.

His gaze eventually lingered on the flat shoes I was wearing.

“Is this the woman I’ve heard I was ‘keeping’ on the side?”

He asked Huo Sui so casually that it almost sounded like he was discussing the weather.

“No!”

Huo Sui and I practically shouted the answer at the same time.

But the man who had started the whole thing merely leaned back against his desk, crossing his long legs as he narrowed his eyes at me.

“What are you so nervous about? People outside have been spreading rumors that I keep a woman hidden somewhere. It made me curious as hell.”

A faint smile touched his lips.

“Unfortunately, I don’t remember anything about it.”

His long, slender fingers tapped rhythmically against the wooden desk.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Each sound echoed through the silent office, somehow making the atmosphere feel more suffocating.

Then, without warning, he laughed softly.

“Shen Tangyuan?”

He pronounced my name slowly, one syllable at a time.

“You must be the one who knows best, right? Tell me…”

His eyes locked onto mine.

“Who exactly was I hiding away?”

The moment I heard him say “Tangyuan” with that familiar tone, my heart jolted.

My entire body froze.

How long had it been since I’d heard him call me by that intimate nickname?

Fortunately, Huo Sui stepped in before the silence could stretch any further.

“I’ll have Xianchi approve your resignation later. Go to HR and start the handover process first.”

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief and turned to leave.

Then—

“Who said I agreed to let her go?”

Huo Xianchi’s voice came from behind me, cold as winter ice.

My feet stopped instantly, as if they had been nailed to the floor.

He looked at me, the corner of his mouth curling into an irritated, mocking smile.

“I’ve heard there was a woman bold enough to drive me into this state.”

As he spoke, he leisurely rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt.

A jagged, ugly scar was revealed beneath the lights, partially hidden by the expensive watch on his wrist.

It was a wound he had inflicted on himself during one of his past episodes.

And the deeper reason behind it…

Had, in fact, been directly connected to me.

“Xianchi, enough. Let her go.”

Huo Sui’s voice was low, carrying a clear warning.

But Huo Xianchi merely gave a derisive scoff.

His eyes traveled over me again, this time filled with undisguised judgment and disdain.

“My taste…”

His brows lifted slightly.

“Was it really this bad?”

I lowered my eyes and gave him the polite, professional smile expected of a senior secretary.

Yes, Mr. Huo.

Your taste was never bad.

And the woman you’re calling “this bad”…

Is standing right in front of you.

“Shen Tangyuan.”

His voice suddenly dropped, the pressure in it making the air feel impossibly heavy.

“Forget about resigning. Instead of thinking about how to run away, you should be thinking about how to work with my brother to deceive me.”

I froze and looked up.

His eyes were cold and razor-sharp, so deep and emotionless that I couldn’t find even the slightest trace of warmth in them.

“You’re lying.”

His lips curved into a chilling smile.

“Whenever you feel guilty or you’re hiding something, you bite your lip without realizing it. Your hands clench into fists, too.”

He stared straight into my eyes.

“When did you become someone else’s accomplice and start putting on an act in front of me?”

His voice was icy.

“Shen Tangyuan… you’re screwed.”

He had used that same cold tone the last time he told me I was “screwed.”

That was when I’d made the stupid mistake of falling for another man.

The young master of the Huo family had always possessed an intense, twisted sense of ownership.

Anything he considered “his” was never allowed to leave.

Not even by a single step.

“Without me, you’d probably have starved to death somewhere in a ditch.”

His eyes were cold enough to make my blood run cold.

“Don’t you dare hide anything from me. Consider this your warning.”

Back then, I had been too choked up to say a single word.

Not because I didn’t have anything to say, but because his gaze had been so cold and contemptuous that it seemed to look down on everything in the world.

“A dirt-poor girl like you should find some other dirt-poor guy and struggle through life with him. Don’t even dream about climbing higher.”

His voice had been merciless.

“Even my bodyguards and drivers are richer than the man you chose.”

He hadn’t been wrong.

Not about a single word.

And I couldn’t be bothered to argue with him.

The result of that particular rebellion?

He cut off my daily allowance of two thousand yuan.

That was when I learned a painful lesson:

Arguing with Huo Xianchi only wasted my breath and got me punished.

Whenever Huo Xianchi said someone was “screwed,” it always came with some bizarre and utterly unreasonable punishment.

Like making me run under the blazing midday sun just to buy him a bottle of water from the convenience store farthest away.

Or making me stay up all night so I could walk his dog with him through the streets.

Or, on one particularly unhinged occasion, inviting me to…

Puncture the tires of my high school homeroom teacher.

Or, like right now—

“Secretary Shen, today I want the strawberry-scented ones. Ultra-thin.”

Because of his ridiculous demands, I had practically become a regular VIP at every adult store in the area.

The employees knew me so well that they had even started offering business advice.

“If you’re buying this much, you should order wholesale. It’ll be cheaper. We’ll package everything discreetly and deliver it straight to you.”

I could only force an awkward smile.

“Thanks, but I’m just buying them for my boss.”

The employee froze.

Then she looked at me with deep sympathy.

“Your boss…”

She hesitated.

“Does he work in that industry?”

I didn’t answer.

I paid as quickly as possible, hailed a cab, and headed straight to Huo Xianchi’s private apartment.

His primary personality might have been just as refined and rational as Huo Sui, but there was one crucial difference.

Huo Sui knew how to restrain himself.

Huo Xianchi didn’t.

There were so many rumors about the young master’s love life that they could probably circle the entire planet several times.

But only I knew the shocking truth.

His first time was actually with him being a complete and utter beginner.

That night, he had been so frustrated that he had nearly cried because he had no idea how to control himself.

And the person who had ended up searching the internet for all sorts of ridiculous information to “guide” him…

Was me.

I arrived fifteen minutes late because traffic was horrendous.

When I knocked on the door, Huo Xianchi opened it barefoot.

He leaned lazily against the doorframe, looking me up and down before glancing at the expensive watch on his wrist.

“By the time you got here, I’d probably be old and gray.”

I was still panting, my face flushed from hurrying.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Huo. Traffic was absolutely terrible.”

“Oh.”

His tone was flat as he tossed out a sarcastic remark.

“Are your legs broken? You didn’t think to get out and walk?”

Then his gaze suddenly stopped at my slightly rounded stomach.

His brows furrowed.

“Did the company cafeteria change chefs lately? How did you gain weight so quickly?”

My entire body went rigid.

The atmosphere in the hallway instantly became unbearably tense.

Then, as if to break the silence, he chuckled.

“Just kidding.”

But the moment his large hand took the bag from me, his expression changed completely.

Danger flickered in his eyes.

“Shen Tangyuan…”

His gaze dropped to the bag.

“Why did you buy XXL?”

I froze.

My heart began pounding wildly.

He had only given me a vague request. Out of habit from those countless wild nights with his second personality, I had instinctively picked the largest size.

“I… you…”

Before I could come up with a remotely convincing explanation, a sweet, coquettish female voice floated out from the bedroom.

“A-Chi, are you going to be busy much longer?”

It was Xi Xi—the rising young actress currently dominating the internet, nicknamed the “Nation’s Wife.”

But after several recent shopping trips on their behalf, I knew perfectly well that she was only putting on a show to fool the media.

“Go home.”

Huo Xianchi’s voice was cold and dismissive.

The spacious apartment was now empty except for the two of us.

The setting sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a warm glow across his impossibly handsome face.

That same face had once looked at me with icy indifference and said very clearly:

“There will never be a future between us.”

I instinctively took a step backward, trying to maintain a safe distance.

He noticed.

The corner of his mouth lifted in a mocking smile, his eyes filled with amusement.

“Don’t tell me…”

His gaze lingered on me.

“You have a secret crush on me?”