Falling in love
Su Yao interfered in Su Wenxie's affairs for another half month, even forgetting to prepare for his own birthday party.
Tang Pai, standing beside her, aptly asked, "President Su, how are your birthday banquet plans for this year?"
In previous years, Ge Jin was in charge of the overall direction. After he left, many heavy responsibilities fell on Tang Pai's shoulders. The new assistant still needs to adapt, which has made Tang Pai very busy recently.
Su rubbed her temples and said, "You've been working hard lately. I'll take care of these things myself."
Tang Pai nodded and continued explaining the work arrangements.
Su turned her head. Tang Pai's face was meticulous, and even with full makeup, she couldn't hide her fatigue from work.
“That assistant…” Su Yao hadn’t memorized the person’s name yet, but the person had already been with the company for several months.
Tang Pai gave a proper reminder: "Liu Chengkui."
"Oh, his name is too long, I really can't remember it. Hasn't he started doing the tasks on his own yet?"
For Su Yao, this name was indeed too long, because An Chi, Tang Pai, and Ge Jin were all two-character names, and three-character names were not commonly used by Su Yao in his daily life.
"I've already gotten the hang of it, but I'm still not very familiar with many tasks," Tang Pai reported. Since Ge Jin left, Tang Pai has become more and more like Ge Jin, talking less and doing more.
Su was unsure if everyone who became her assistant would turn out this way, and found it intriguing: "You've become much quieter. Is this how people become when they become assistants?"
Su Yao's eyes were smiling, and Tang Pai didn't know how to respond to Su Yao's question. Actually, she didn't say much, but she just kept her words brief to save time and do more things.
When Tang Pai finished thinking and was about to answer, she saw a fleeting thought in Su Yao's eyes. It was a kind of pain and sorrow, as if everyone was going to leave her. Tang Pai put away her prepared serious answer and changed to a joking tone: "Anyone who works twenty hours a day will be too tired to talk, President Su."
Actually, it's an exaggeration. Tang's workload is increasing every day, but it's not that heavy. Su paused his hand that was signing the contract, picked up his pen again, and wrote down the name "Su Yao". "Thank you for your help during this time. I'll give you a month off during the New Year."
Tang smiled and said, "Okay, thank you in advance, President Su."
Su Yao always keeps her word, but once the company is running smoothly, her role is actually not much different from Su Yao's, so she has to stay, unless this new assistant can replace her.
Besides Tang Pai being anxious about Su Yao's birthday banquet, there was another person who was anxious: An Chi.
This was the first time he had spent Su Yao's birthday with her since returning to China.
Before that, he went back to the apartment he had bought.
Pulling open the bedside table revealed four gifts, all neatly wrapped, tied with ribbons, and accompanied by a letter.
In Western culture, gifts are meant to be wrapped up before being given to the recipient. Anchi was deeply influenced by this concept and even practiced it.
Every year on Su Yao's birthday, even though he wasn't by her side, he would prepare a gift but not send it back to China. At first, it was out of spite, but later it was out of fear of Su Yao's attitude, so he never revealed it. Far away from home, there was still someone else, thinking of Su Yao year after year.
Su finished organizing all the invitations and sent them out, then sent a message to An Chi.
Su Yao: You'll come with me to the birthday party.
An Chi: Okay.
After Su finished all the finishing touches, the day came to an end. Ge Jin, who was enjoying himself somewhere, didn't forget to send Su a message at this time.
Ge Jin: Don't forget to organize the guest list for your birthday, and also organize all the gifts.
Su Yao: Oh my, so you're doing Assistant Ge's job again now?
It seems that Su is determined to make this joke. In her opinion, Ge Jin should be her assistant for life, and they should have a lifelong bond. It's just that she's being petty and narrow-minded.
At a time like this, Ge Jin didn't emphasize to her that she shouldn't joke around, but still sent some precautions and took the time to reply to her joke.
Ge Jin: Tang Pai is not familiar with these things. You always miss some unimportant things and unimportant people. But some people are not important to you, but they have contracts in their hands.
He seems to be worried about Su Yao even after resigning.
Su Yao finally became serious and slowly compared the precautions he had mentioned with Ge Jin's instructions. After confirming that everything was in accordance with Ge Jin's requirements, she went back to the first message she had received and saw that the last message read, "A new assistant has joined the company, President Su."
Once again, the page slid to the bottom, and Su replied sincerely: Thank you, Ge Jin.
After sending the message, Ge Jin didn't reply for a long time, leading Su Yao to think their conversation was over. Just as she was about to pack up and leave the company, the video call came in.
This caught Su completely off guard.
Continuing from the video, Su wanted to carefully examine his background to figure out where he was traveling, but Ge Jin's umbrella really blocked too much of the view.
Ge Jin smiled at her, "The umbrella has already appeared, where else could it be?"
"Are you in England?" Su asked suspiciously.
"Um."
Su Yao was waiting for him to say his next words, while Ge Jin seemed to be waiting for her to speak as well.
After a long wait, Ge Jin sighed and said, "Su Yao, happy birthday. I've sent the gift back. Remember to sign for it. Also... don't work too hard, take care of yourself, and be happy every day... It seems like birthday wishes are always the same few sentences."
He muttered his last sentence, which Su Yao overheard.
"Couldn't a top student like Assistant Ge think of any other words of blessing?" Su teased him.
"I can't think of anything. I always seem to run out of words when it comes to you." He paused for a moment with his smile, then said, "I wish you a long and healthy life, long enough to live until I'm broke and can't afford to go back to the company, how about that?"
"Okay!" Su agreed without even thinking.
Ge Jin's smile deepened, and he looked up to see something in front of him. "I'm not talking to you anymore, I'm going to the museum today."
Hearing his excited voice, Su suddenly became indignant and said, "Then I wish you spend all your money soon!"
After saying that, Su Yao hung up the video call. Ge Jin stared blankly at the phone screen that had turned into a chat box for a moment, then chuckled. As someone a few years younger than Su Yao, Ge Jin actually felt that he couldn't match the energy of Su Yao, who was in her thirties. Perhaps that was part of her charm that attracted others.
That's just how people are; the more they lack something, the more they want to get it from others.
Some people acquire things through insane jealousy, wanting to destroy them in order to claim that title for themselves. Perhaps this is called imitation, or more seriously, plagiarism. Others, however, love the house and its inhabitants, acquiring what they want, and even the entire person behind it.
For a long time, Ge Jin thought about what he needed, and then he figured it out.
He needed the vibrancy of life in Su Yao; he loved the fresh life force in her, and was willing to fall in love with her as a whole.
But he never thought of changing himself into that kind of person.
For Su Yao, his departure was a mistake, a loss, but for Ge Jin, it was a long-awaited right thing to do. He needed to draw color from the world himself, instead of relying on Su Yao. He hadn't basked in the bright sunshine for a long time. Even though it was raining in England, his black umbrella still emitted a warm, bright yellow light.
Ge Jin entered a small supermarket that also handled parcel delivery. He folded his black umbrella in one hand and took out a delicate package from his breast pocket with the other. "Could you please help me send this package out? Thank you."
"Okay, where would you like to send it, sir?"
Undoubtedly, those around Su Yao were all talented individuals. Ge Jin was giving Su Yao's address in fluent English.
He didn't lie to Su Yao; he was indeed going to a museum today. However, he was more concerned about Su Yao's birthday, so he still wanted to send her a birthday gift. He had calculated the dates, and if he sent it today, it would arrive around Su Yao's birthday.
As Su Yao's birthday approaches, the most nervous person besides Ge Jin is An Chi.
Until the day before Su Yao's birthday, An Chi still hadn't decided what gift to give Su Yao this year.
Completely overwhelmed, he simply called Su Yao and asked, "What do you want for my birthday this year?"
Hearing his words, Su chuckled softly.
"Hmph, as if you prepared any birthday presents for me a few years ago."
An Chi said in a deep voice, "It's prepared."
Su said, "Then just give me the gifts from the past few years."
An Chi: "That's not enough. One a year is enough. We have to send one this year."
Su asked, "You want me to give you anything?"
"Send them all."
Su hesitated for a moment, then said, "Then I'll grant you one wish, An Chi. What is your wish?"
An Chi sighed, "My wish is to be with you, Su Yao. Stop joking. I really don't know what to give you."
"Then... let's be together, An Chi. I'm not kidding, I'm not kidding, I'm not kidding. I'll say it three times because it's important."
After a moment of silence, An Chi said to Su Yao, "I still feel that it's more important for us to be together."
"Then let's be together, Anchi. Let's be together, Anchi. I've already said it once before."
Another silence followed. "Su Yao, I've always thought that bringing up relationships is something only men do, but your attitude makes me unsure when to bring it up. So, I'm wondering, would you like to be with me, Su Yao?"
"I do."
It's not about simply saying "good," nor is it about lacking individual "willingness," but rather "I am willing."
When two people are in love, they should not have any regrets. Love is meant to please oneself, not to make one hesitant and timid.
In the end, Su Yao became the kind of person Tang Pai had told her to be—indifferent to the quality of relationships, only caring about her own feelings.
But this doesn't mean Su Yao wasn't thinking about it. She only dared to bring it up after she was sure Su Wenxie's situation was stable. After all, she knew better than anyone what kind of uproar would happen if word got out that they were together.
But if we're truly afraid of these things, wouldn't that go against our own principles? Su should choose to be together first, and deal with whatever comes her way.
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