Chapter 24 Game
“Click.”
The sound of the door lock turning was like a heavy hammer, hitting Su Yan's heart. He could almost hear the sound of his blood rushing back, and the hand holding the USB drive was instantly soaked with cold sweat.
It’s over!
In a split second, his instinct for survival overwhelmed everything else. He shoved the USB drive into the small thigh pocket of his jeans. At the same time, his other hand quickly grabbed the water bottle next to him and pretended to fill it. With his back to the door, his shoulders trembled almost imperceptibly at the "sudden interruption."
The door was pushed open.
Su Yan forced himself to turn around slowly, with a hint of displeasure and surprise at being disturbed on his face, and even a little panic mixed in just right - this was in line with his "guilty conscience" personality at the moment.
However, when he saw who was standing at the door, his genuine surprise replaced his pretense.
The person standing at the door was not Assistant Zhou, nor any secretary, but Huo Shen himself.
Why is he here? Isn't the meeting supposed to last all afternoon?
Huo Shen leaned against the door frame, as if he had just come out of a tense meeting. There was a trace of fatigue between his brows, but his eyes were still as sharp as an eagle. He looked at Su Yan, his eyes sliding from his pale face to his slightly trembling fingers holding the water cup.
"Are you hiding here and lazing around?" Huo Shen asked. His tone didn't reveal his emotions, but the invisible sense of oppression made the air in the small tea room become thin.
Su Yan's heart was about to jump out of his throat. He tried to make his voice sound normal, even with a hint of grievance of being caught: "I... I'm just thirsty. Get me a glass of water. Are you... is your meeting over?"
"Break in the middle." Huo Shen answered briefly. His eyes swept across the place where Su Yan had just stood, and then fell back on his face, as if looking for some flaw. "I see you're not at your seat."
He actually came to see him on purpose? This realization made Su Yan even more uneasy.
"I'll be back right away." Su Yan lowered his head and tried to squeeze out from the gap between him and the door frame.
Just as he passed by Huo Shen, Huo Shen suddenly stretched out his hand, blocking his way. His arm was across his chest, so close that he could smell the faint scent of tobacco and the cold aftertaste of perfume on Huo Shen.
"Are you in such a hurry to leave?" Huo Shen lowered his head, leaned close to his ear, and lowered his voice with a hint of dangerous inquiry, "Did you... do something wrong?"
A warm breath brushed against Su Yan's ear, and the hairs on his body stood on end. He could feel the hard outline of the USB drive in his pocket, burning his skin like a branding iron.
"No!" he blurted out, his voice a little sharp due to nervousness. He immediately realized that he had overreacted and hurried to make amends, with a little cry in his voice, "I just... I'm a little afraid of you. During the negotiation just now, my brother..." He skillfully pulled Su Chen out as a shield again.
Huo Shen stared at his red eyes and was silent for a moment. He then slowly lowered the arm that was holding him back.
Su Yan just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Huo Shen say without any emotion: "There is a family dinner tonight, please prepare it."
Family dinner? With whom? Su Yan was stunned. It was a well-known fact that Huo Shen had almost no family.
Huo Shen didn't seem to intend to explain. He gave Su Yan a last deep look, his eyes complex and indecipherable, as if he had seen through all his clumsy disguises, but didn't intend to expose them for the time being.
"Get back to work." He left this sentence, turned around and left the tea room first.
Su Yan leaned against the cold wall, his legs weak and his back drenched in sweat. The brief battle of just a few seconds had drained all his strength.
Huo Shen must have noticed something. But why didn't he expose it? What was that "family dinner"?
And that USB drive... the contents inside cast a huge shadow over him. Assistant Zhou and Su Chen... what was going on between them?
At this moment, Su Yan felt like a small boat in the center of a storm, surrounded by surging waves, and his only lifeline might lead him to an even deeper abyss. Was that tiny USB stick a lifesaver, or the final straw? He had to make a decision quickly.
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