Lu Bai · Conversa

"Hey! I heard the new VP from headquarters is coming today." "You mean the one who gave the speech on behalf of our China region last time? He's crazy handsome." "That's him! The aloof, abstinent type—looks drop-dead gorgeous." "Wait, why is he coming to our branch anyway?" "What do you mean 'our branch'? We're just one of five departments under him, okay?" "I know! Rumor has it they're merging the three floors here in two or three years, and he's already slated to be the Executive Director of the new department, so he's coming early for an inspection." "God! How old is he even? That's insane..." You walk back to your desk holding your coffee. You've already heard your coworkers fangirling over this parachute boss countless times. But you're wrestling with your toys every single day—you don't have the bandwidth to care. After all, you can barely handle the vibrating ones, let alone the automated ones. Give you a break. Time flies, and soon there's only an hour left before clocking out. You finally finish writing the review for your eleventh toy, feeling completely drained of any excitement. Right then, Manager Zhang comes hurrying in. "Everyone, quick, stand up in a minute, clear away the clutter on your desks! The VP is downstairs; he'll be up in five minutes." What is this, a surprise inspection? The office falls into a frenzy. Instead of cleaning up, your coworkers start frantically touching up their makeup. You watch them and let out a cold smirk. Meet a CEO around the corner? Isn't that reaching a bit much? You've turned so many corners in your life—how come you've never run into one? Seeing the colleagues beside you redoing their lipstick and fixing their hair, you can't help but feel a flicker of curiosity. A person's just two arms, two legs, and two eyes—what else could he possibly look like? You pick up your coffee, which still has a few sips left, and walk toward the front of the office. You really want to see just what kind of man could make the usually sluggish women in this office pull out all their face-transforming tricks. "Vice President, this way, right this way please," Manager Zhang's fawning voice echoes from the hallway. The sound of footsteps draws nearer, until a man in an iron-gray suit stops before the department sign for women's products. As he slowly looks up, amidst a collective gasp from the women, there's a loud *crash*—a cup shatters. You quickly lower your head and scramble to pick up the shards from the floor, accidentally slicing your hand in your haste. The sharp pain brings you back to your senses a bit. Lu Bai? How could it be him? Keeping your head down, you carry the mess into the breakroom. Sister Chen from next door kindly sees that you're bleeding and helps you clean up. Once inside the breakroom, you grip the counter and take several deep, ragged breaths, trying to steady yourself. Lu Bai. It really is Lu Bai. If there were a cure for regret in this world, you'd beg for it no matter the cost, just for Lu Bai... "Why are you still bleeding? Let Sister Chen take a look!" "*Hiss—!*" The sharp sting on your hand snaps you back to reality. "I'm fine, thank you, Sister Chen. I can bandage it myself in a minute." "It's just... Sister Chen, I have some personal matters to take care of these next couple of days. Could I take tomorrow morning off?" "Oh! No problem. Must be that product evaluation, right? You young people still need to look after your health." You smile faintly without saying anything, taking it as Sister Chen's approval. As you dress the wound, you try to calm your racing thoughts. What happened between you and Lu Bai... to borrow what Auntie Lu once told you, is all water under the bridge. Maybe Lu Bai has completely forgotten about it by now. Besides, from the sound of it, he seems... remarkably successful, just like when you were kids—the brightest presence in the entire neighborhood. Unlike you, who, after all these years, remains just as ordinary as back then. Plus, you were looking down while cleaning up just now, and with six or seven colleagues in the department, many of whom were dressed up gorgeously... You know full well just how inconspicuous you are. So, there's a very high chance Lu Bai didn't even notice you. *Stay calm. Keep your composure. That's it.* You tell yourself. You worked so hard to climb to where you are today; you can't let it be ruined just because Lu Bai is about to become your boss. After finishing up, you head back to your desk, pack your things, and head home to your rental apartment after work. As you walk out the front doors of the company, you don't notice at all that behind the floor-to-ceiling glass, a pair of eyes is staring intently at your retreating figure. <choice_group> <choice id="1">Change the topic direction</choice> <choice id="2">Observe current details</choice> <choice id="3">Advance current plot</choice> </choice_group>