Chapter 89 - Meal
"Hmm." Xiu Mei hummed in agreement. She was just about to pick up another piece of the shrimp when she noticed how Lu Chen was deboning the fish in front of her.
She watched him looking so nonchalant as he clumsily separated the small fishbones from the meat as if he wasn’t having difficulty doing it. Her eyes shifted to his expression and on the fish.
...At this rate, would she still have any fish meat to eat?
It looked like he was throwing away the meat instead of just the fishbone.
Is he... going to be okay?
The two of them fell into silence the moment her attention was shifted to what they are both doing.
Lu Chen who was concentrating on removing the fish bones.
Xiu Mei who worriedly watched what he was doing opposite him.
She watched him put a large chunk of the meat on the fishbone plate slowly. A few minutes later, the fish meat-filled lunchbox cover was placed in front of her. Her eyes glued on the small hill of meat and the one on Lu Chen’s side mixed with fish meat.
Xiu Mei frowned a little bit as she tried reading Lu Chen’s expression.
Maybe it was on purpose and what he really wanted was to have more fish for himself?
Since Xiu Mei didn’t make a move on picking up the fish he just served, Lu Chen puzzledly looked at her direction noticing that she was staring at the small plate he set aside that was full of fish bones.
He got even more confused as he guessed why she was looking at it.
Does his wife prefer eating the fish bones part instead of the meat? Is Xiu Mei’s taste like that?
Or maybe he wasn’t aware that fish bones could actually be eaten or is tastier than the meat part?
"Wife?"
Xiu Mei returned to her senses as soon as she heard him. Her eyes darted back to his face and as soon as their eyes met, she got fl.u.s.tered. She instantly looked away and she tried to act normal by picking up some fish meat with her chopsticks.
’Ah, oh?"
Dang it! She almost got caught by the boss drooling over the fishbone pile.
"Is it good?" Lu Chen asked.
She nodded her head almost forcefully.
Forget it, it’s just food. It would look dumb to fight with Lu Chen over a fish.
Think about it, won’t it be embarrassing if people discover that a president and his secretary argue over a piece of fish?
Throughout that meal, Lu Chen kept clipping a lot of food to her bowl so she had to focus on eating her food.
"I’m already full." She saw the Lu Chen wasn’t going to stop clipping her food so with her chopsticks, she halted his actions by blocking his chopsticks that were about to approach her.
"Then finish what’s left on your bowl at least."
"Oh."
Lu Chen finally stopped feeding her and finally ate his own meal. He was quick to finish his lunch when compared to Xiu Mei’s eating speed. Despite that, he still looked elegant and prim when he ate when compared to Xiu Mei whose cheeks almost bulged from stuffing so much food.
Really, her manners are all somehow gone at that time.
Xiu Mei volunteered to clean the table and lunchbox after that. After fixing them all into one side, she was now getting ready to return to her working station when Lu Chen walked up to her side of the couch and stood in front of her. He looked so tall looming over her.
"Can I recharge?" Lu Chen asked with a blank expression.
"Huh?"
Recharge?
She blinked for a couple more times. Does he want to borrow my phone charger? But he charges his phone wirelessly though?
It took her a full five seconds more for the words to completely register in her mind and understand what he was trying to say.
"Ah, you mean you want a hug?"
When she said that, it somehow sounded as if she was talking with a kid trying to guess if what he wanted was a candy or a toy.
Lu Chen just nodded without opening his mouth.
Xiu Mei scratched the back of her head as she contemplated whether she should allow him to hug her at this time. After all, they’re currently in the office and it would be really inappropriate to do that kind of stuff here. Even if it’s the president’s own office.
Also, what if someone suddenly walks in? Then won’t their secret be revealed instantly? That would be a disaster!
She fell into silence and hesitated. Seeing this, Lu Chen sighed. His wife is too conscious of her position at work and even though he didn’t want her to draw a line like this, he still has to respect her decisions.
After all, their relationship is still in the progress of developing to a better stage and even though she already gave permission that he can hug her, at work, he still needs to maintain some appropriate distance according to her requests.
Getting to spend lunch with her is already enough for him now. Then once their relationship turned for the better, he can slowly trick her and lessen their distance at work.
For now, what he did is he ruffled her hair before she left his office.
"I’ll see you later then." Is what he said before turning back and walking back to his table.
Xiu Mei pursed her lips as she watched the sulking Lu Chen go back to his table.
Since they’re at work, if she didn’t maintain distance at all, their relationship as a boss and secretary relationship would just get messed up. She was just being stubborn when she said she wanted to keep her personal and professional life separated.
This time, she really couldn’t allow Lu Chen to do something more than having lunch with her.
She finally left his office and resumed working. After finishing almost half of her stockpile on the table, she looked at the folders that were slowly piling up on her other side.
It was the papers she needed to pass to Lu Chen for signature and since they’re pretty much not that urgent, she originally decided to give t to him tomorrow. But thinking back at Lu Chen’s mood during lunch, she thought that if instead of hugging her she could just constantly show her face to Lu Chen, would his mood get better?
...My god Xiu Mei, that sounded very narcissistic.
She almost slapped herself by thinking like that as she got more embarrassed.
...But what if showing her face would really make him feel better?
"...."
Xiu Mei’s stared for a couple more minutes on the folder before finally reaching a decision.
Fine, as an apology since she denied him his request awhile ago. It’s the least that she could do.
Xiu Mei stood up and marched back to the president’s office with folders in her hands. Knocking twice, she opened the door and walked inside. There, she saw Lu Chen massaging his temples while he looked at the spread-out doc.u.ments in front of him.
Just by seeing that, and remembering his complaint last night, she felt guiltier.
Because she missed a lot of work for the past few weeks, it was her assistant, Lu Shao and Lu Chen who are having the most difficult time.
They are already originally busy at this time of the year and to miss work for weeks, that would mean a lot of work needed to be pushed back and delayed at a later time.
As she continued her train of thoughts, the more she felt bad.
She slowly approached Lu Chen and sensing her presence, the president CEO looked at her with a smile.
"Are you okay?"
She asked, genuinely worried of his health and mood.
"I’m fine." Lu Chen assured his wife seeing her concern in her eyes.
Despite that, Xiu Mei still walked past the table and stood behind Lu Chen’s chair. Puzzled, Lu Chen was just about to turn around when Xiu Mei firmly held the chair to stop it from turning around.
"Close your eyes."
"..."
Lu Chen was tempted to ask what was she trying to do but since he was aiming to be a good and pampering husband, he listened to Mrs.Lu and shut his eyes. A second later, he felt warm fingers touching his head and pressing them harder to massage it.
Realizing her attentions, Lu Chen leaned back relaxedly on his chair as he let her continue what she was doing. It’s a rare opportunity for the wife to take initiative in getting close to him so why would he push her away right?
No one declines a meal that serves herself to him.
If only Xiu Mei could hear his bold thoughts, she would surely get scared and run away from him. After all, a predator whose goal is catching the prey by making her slowly fall into his trap is a scary person, isn’t it?