After he explained, she did as he asked and summoned He Peilin, who listened to a similar explanation quietly, his hands folded together. Fei’er had always liked He Peilin; he had a quiet, fatherly kind of aura that had always seemed far more comforting than the Director’s actual father, so sometimes she liked to think that he was the Director’s father in every way but biological. When the Director finished, he nodded a few times and said, “Director, I’m not so young that I don’t know what you’re planning.”

The Director just looked at him for a long moment. Then he said, “Meimei, wait outside.”

“Director—”

“It’s okay, Meimei.”

They waited until she had stepped out and shut the door after her before He Peilin just said, “When you go, let me drive you there. One last time.”

The Director shook his head. “It’s better if you leave earlier, when Meimei leaves.”

“If that is what you truly wish, I will do as you say. But I want to stay longer. I won’t stop you, and I certainly won’t betray you, but I won’t let you do this alone.”

The Director: “…”

“I promised from the beginning that I would always take you where you needed to go. I won’t leave early.”

“Do what you like, Mr. He. I won’t force you to do otherwise.”

The day afterward, Huang Fei’er watched Mr. Liu Xingyu and his friend, a handsome young man with a warm smile, come up to the Director’s office. President Liu now, she corrected in her head—he was President Liu now. Once again, his gaze brushed right over Fei’er and fixed right onto the door that the Director was behind.

“Hi,” said the friend, bowing slightly to Fei’er, and she bowed back. She recognized him now from that night that seemed so long ago—he’d gone into the Director’s office with President Liu to look for a phone while the Director had been out. Fei’er didn’t trust him at all. She didn’t trust anyone that hung around President Liu, whether that be Liu Xingyu or Liu Baiyan. The promotion should have been the Director’s, anyway.

“You’ll have to wait a few more minutes,” Fei’er tells them. “The Director is busy now. You can take a seat in the waiting area and I’ll tell you when he’s free.”

President Liu looked impatient. “Did you tell him that it’s me?”

“Yes sir, and that doesn’t change the fact that he’s busy. Please take a seat in the waiting area.”

President Liu huffed. His companion smiled and put a hand on his arm. “Let’s sit down. He’s probably doing something important.”

“What could he possibly be doing that—”

“Xingyu, just sit down. He won’t be long.”