Shang Zhitao rushed into the elevator, hoisted her legs up onto her bag, and shoved her business English textbook down inside. The doors had almost closed when they slid open again, and Luan Nian stepped in, sunglasses on.
She snatched her legs down and straightened up. "Morning, Luke."
"Morning." Luan Nian glanced at her over the top of his sunglasses. Half the English textbook was still sticking out of her bag. So the silly bird needed to squeeze in some English tutoring on her commute now, did she. Shang Zhitao had no idea he was looking at her. She stood there straight backed and quiet, since she knew he wasn't one for small talk, and after her greeting she didn't try again. He always had that serious, closed off face, the kind that made a person careful about what they said.
Still, it surprised her how hard he worked. Last week he'd come in five days straight, and except for one morning spent meeting a client, he'd been at the office early the rest of the time, handling work before anyone else arrived. It was almost frightening, how someone that capable could also be that diligent. She remembered telling him once that anyone who claimed to work purely for money and then blow it all was lying through their teeth. He got in before everyone else and left after everyone else. When exactly was he supposed to find time to spend it?
Shang Zhitao had decided Luan Nian was the type who never meant what he said. Sharp tongued, odd temper, but not actually the flippant sort. She'd never once heard of anyone who came across so cynical also grinding through more than ten hours at the office on a workday.
They stepped off the elevator, him a few paces ahead. Luan Nian had his hands in his pockets, and to her shock, he was the one who spoke first to the cleaning lady. "Morning, Auntie."
The woman didn't look surprised at all. "Morning."
Shang Zhitao's jaw dropped. Luke, who acted like he couldn't care less about other people, actually had manners? She was so busy turning that over in her head that she nearly walked straight into him when he stopped short.
"You come in at this time every day?" he asked suddenly.
"Yes." She blinked, caught off guard. "There's no traffic yet."
He turned and kept walking. She trailed after him. "Is there anything you need done this morning, Luke?"
"Shouldn't you be asking your own manager what to work on?"
"Then why did you ask what time I come in?" she pressed, refusing to let it go.
"Just curious how long you can keep this up."
He said it without a trace of a smile and walked off. She stared after him, suspicious, before finally turning toward her own desk. Once she'd sat down, she glanced over at his office. He was already at his computer.
She thought of something Lumi had once said about him: serious as a person, but he took his work more seriously than anything else. Shang Zhitao thought that was exactly right. He really did take his job seriously, far more than Alex did. Alex worked in marketing and spent half his time messing around, and clients didn't exactly flock to him either, but at least he was easy to get along with, cheerful every day. Not like Luke, always with that stony expression, always finding something to needle people about. It was honestly infuriating.
Still thinking about it, she opened a document and started typing up her plan for the day. She knew there were no shortcuts here, and she had no intention of being the one who got cut, which meant she couldn't give Luke the satisfaction. She remembered how he'd once suggested, flatly, that she should just find another job. Being let go wouldn't be anything to be ashamed of. But proving him right would be.
Somewhere along the way, she'd started feeling a quiet sort of rivalry with him.
Luan Nian, of course, had no idea. He had a major project on his hands, the creative team was short staffed, and getting anywhere with the other departments had gone nowhere. So he asked Alex, "Can you loan me two people, pure execution?"
"What do you mean, pure execution?"
"People who don't need to think. Just handle the materials, follow the process along." He considered it, then added, "Someone sharp would help."
"Lumi and Flora." Alex knew exactly what Luan Nian meant by that, that he was really just saying Shang Zhitao wasn't up to the job, but he wasn't going to let that slide without a fight. "They're already in your department, so they can start right away."
"No."
"No to who?"
"Flora's out."
"Then there's no one else." Alex played it up a little. People at the company had started whispering that Luan Nian might actually deserve the reputation he had, and Alex wasn't about to let it stick. He couldn't just look down on his people like that, and the people under him weren't going to be looked down on either. In the end, Alex was the type to defend his own.
Luan Nian caught exactly what Alex was implying. He didn't need Shang Zhitao. There was no one else worth pulling from his own department either, as far as he was concerned. He glanced over the partition and caught sight of Shang Zhitao standing at her desk, talking to Kitty. Kitty was saying something with a bit of an attitude, and Shang Zhitao just kept nodding along. Kitty, it seemed, was the type to defer to whoever was above her and look down on everyone beside her.
Luan Nian frowned and turned back to Alex. "Fine. Can you find someone else, then? Didn't Tracy already give you headcount?"
"There's no time to hire someone new! Just borrow these two for now. I'll take them back the second you're done."
"Fine. Tell them to pack tonight. They're coming to Guangzhou with us tomorrow."
Shang Zhitao's first business trip came completely out of nowhere. She went home that night to pack, but once she lay down she couldn't sleep at all. It was just a work trip, not a wedding, so why was she this worked up? She sat back up, dug out a map, sketched a rough outline of China on it, and stuck a little flag in Guangzhou. As she did it, she thought, this is where it starts, and there'll be a lot more places after this one.
She stayed awake straight through until dawn, then dragged her luggage out to catch the early flight. The sky over the airport highway was beautiful that morning, soft and hazy with color, the whole world looking gentler than usual.
She got there two hours early, still glowing faintly from the light outside, her cheeks a little flushed from the rush, hair loose over her shoulders. She felt warm, and a little alone. Luan Nian was drinking coffee nearby, and his eyes settled on her hurried figure for a moment. With her black framed glasses on, she looked like a silly little goose. The goose glanced his way, then pretended she hadn't seen him and sat down facing away, putting some distance between them.
Sure.
The acting was terrible.
The back of her neck had gone as red as a ripe mango, and she couldn't shake the feeling that he was still watching her. It was her own guilty conscience making her pretend not to notice him. What else was she supposed to do, walk over and say good morning just to be brushed off? She didn't even realize how stiff her own spine had gone, sitting there like she was waiting for someone to come rescue her. Pathetic, really.
Finally, like an answer to a prayer, Lumi showed up, and Shang Zhitao waved at her with real relief. "Lumi!"
"Hey, you're here early. Huh, isn't that Luke over there?"
"Really? Luke's here too?" Shang Zhitao pretended to look back for the first time, spotting him with his head down over a book, though she'd clearly noticed him long before.
Lumi tugged her along. "Morning, Luke."
"Morning." Luan Nian lifted his head from the book just long enough to catch the look on Shang Zhitao's face, then curled his lips. "You're early too, Flora."
Why was he asking about that again?
Shang Zhitao caught the teasing glint in his eyes and felt her face heat up. "Morning, Luke."
"Why are you blushing?" Lumi asked, completely out of nowhere, and Shang Zhitao jabbed her in the back with a finger to shut her up. Lumi just kept going. "Then why'd you poke me?"
Silence.
Luan Nian laughed. Out loud.
Lumi had worked at the company for two years and had never once heard him laugh like that. She stared at him, startled, and realized the man actually had a good smile, straight white teeth, bright as sunshine, nothing at all like his usual ghost of an expression.
"Coffee?" Luan Nian ignored the way they were both staring at him, stood, and asked.
"Huh?" Shang Zhitao was slow to catch on.
"Yes, please!" Lumi answered fast. Might as well take him up on it while he was offering. "Little Taotao, can you carry it? I just got here and I'm still out of breath!"
Luan Nian had already taken a few steps away when he noticed Shang Zhitao was still standing there. He turned back and tossed out, "Can you walk, or not?"