Boss, Please Go Easy On Me (GL) - Chapter 2
“You said before that I had to buy you a cup of coffee before starting work.”
Yan Xiaomi felt that it was a miracle she could still stand there smiling and playing tai chi with An Yao, even though her legs felt a little weak.
“Is it bitter?” An Yao glanced at the coffee and asked.
“Mhmm.” Yan Xiaomi nodded, “I bought it exactly according to your requirements.”
“What requirements of mine?”
An Yao glanced at her indifferently, then leaned back in her chair and looked at her. She could see that Yan Xiaomi was very nervous, but her feigned composure was quite interesting. An Yao also found it strange. Shouldn’t she be angry and kick her out and tell her to pack her bags and leave? Why was she idle enough to ask such a boring question? She frowned slightly, starting to feel a little irritated.
“CEO An said she wanted bitter coffee, a small cup, and a white straw.”
Yan Xiaomi found it strange why An Yao always requested a white straw, but she didn’t ask. She just did exactly what An Yao asked. So much so that once when the clerk was packing it, they put in a blue straw, and she insisted that they change it for a white one despite how busy they were.
“You remember these things very clearly, so why don’t you remember that work starts at eight in the morning?” An Yao’s voice suddenly rose, “And you dared to hang up on me?” An Yao narrowed her eyes and glanced at her, her tone so cold that Yan Xiaomi felt a chill run down her spine.
“I… I am very sorry for being late for work.” Yan Xiaomi finally couldn’t hold out and lowered her head to admit her mistake, “But I didn’t hang up on you on purpose. My phone fell on the ground and broke.” As she spoke, she took out her phone and carefully handed it to An Yao, “If you don’t believe me, look.”
An Yao looked at the screen, which was shattered into a spiderweb pattern. The phone was so old, yet she hadn’t replaced it. An Yao really didn’t know what she was thinking. For a long time, An Yao said nothing.
Yan Xiaomi was a little flustered. She thought An Yao didn’t believe her, so she pressed the power button again, “It can’t even turn on. I really didn’t hang up on you on purpose.”
“But you were late.” An Yao glanced at her indifferently, seeing that Yan Xiaomi’s forehead was already damp with sweat from nervousness. She was lightly biting her lip, seemingly unsure what to do.
Yan Xiaomi truly didn’t know what to do.
Being late might not be a big sin in others’ eyes, but it was unacceptable to An Yao. On her first day of work, An Yao had said that if she made a mistake, An Yao would not easily forgive her just because of her aunt’s relationship. An Yao was serious, fair, and just to everyone; Yan Xiaomi had no special privileges.
In the office, Yan Xiaomi stood there, frozen as if she had lost her soul. An Yao didn’t interrupt the silence, wanting to hear what she would say. After all, she was someone the Professor had sent over, and tossing her out required a reason.
After about two minutes, Yan Xiaomi couldn’t hold it in anymore. She lowered her head and sincerely addressed An Yao, “CEO An, I will never be late again. Please…” Yan Xiaomi felt a tightness in her chest. She knew deep down that An Yao wouldn’t give her another chance, and she was terribly scared, but she still wanted to try. She took a deep breath, “Please give me one more chance!”
An Yao’s phone suddenly rang. She saw it was Professor Yan calling. She glanced at Yan Xiaomi, and her eyes grew colder.
Yan Xiaomi was at a loss. Had she said something wrong again?
“Teacher,” An Yao’s voice was very gentle, a tenderness that Yan Xiaomi rarely heard.
“An’an, tomorrow is my birthday. If you have time, come over to my house for dinner. It’s just a few family members. When you come over, please bring Xiaomi with you. Her parents are traveling, and they asked me to look after her. I haven’t had a chance to see her yet.” Professor Yan’s voice sounded quite cheerful.
“Okay, I’ll be there.” An Yao looked at Yan Xiaomi, “Xiaomi will come too.”
“That’s great. I’ll prepare a few extra dishes you like. You go back to work now.”
After hanging up, An Yao asked Yan Xiaomi, “What did you just say?”
“Huh?” Yan Xiaomi was stunned, “Uh, I said…” Her voice gradually faded, and she looked at An Yao with some hesitation, “CEO An, can you please not fire me?”
An Yao was silent for a while, until the drum in Yan Xiaomi’s heart was about to break before she nodded, “Sure.”
“Really?” Yan Xiaomi immediately beamed.
“Fake.”
“Huh?” She wilted.
“If you want me to keep you, I can,” An Yao said, folding her arms and looking at her, “But there are conditions.”
“Any condition is fine. Even if it means climbing mountains of knives, descending into seas of fire, traveling across the country, murdering, or setting things on fire for you, I won’t hesitate.” Yan Xiaomi put on a look of facing death without fear.
An Yao was amused by her, “Am I that bad? Murder and arson?”
Seeing An Yao smile, Yan Xiaomi also relaxed a lot, “I… I was just nervous and wanted to show my determination to work for you.”
Yan Xiaomi smiled and scratched her short hair. The scratching made her hair messy and sticking up, making her look endearingly clumsy.
“The conditions are simple: don’t ever be late again,” seeing that tuft of hair on her head, An Yao couldn’t help but smile and point, “Also, tomorrow, come with me to your aunt’s house, and don’t talk nonsense. Understand?”
Yan Xiaomi pulled at her hair, looking a little embarrassed. Hearing what An Yao said, she immediately nodded vigorously, “Mhmm, understand, understand, understand.”
An Yao checked the time. It was past 9:30. She considered that there should still be enough time to buy a birthday gift now.
She gathered the documents on her desk and stood up.
Yan Xiaomi immediately stepped back, “CEO An, do you have any instructions?”
“Stop calling me ‘CEO An,’ I’m not old.”
To Yan Xiaomi, the twenty-six-year-old An Yao was not just not old; she was a goddess-level figure at a perfect age. An Yao did have a strange temper; when she was cold, she was terrifying, but when she was gentle, people couldn’t take their eyes off her. She was beautiful, with a grand kind of beauty, like a silent, resting snow mountain that occasionally reflected dazzling, gentle light when the sun shone on it, but was mostly still and ice-cold.
Sometimes Yan Xiaomi wondered what kind of person would melt An Yao, this ice mountain.
“What are you spacing out for?” An Yao picked up the coffee from the desk, took a sip, and asked her.
“Oh, nothing, nothing. You…” Yan Xiaomi paused and immediately corrected herself, “CEO An, are you going out now?”
“Your aunt’s birthday is tomorrow. Aren’t you going to buy a gift?”
An Yao walked ahead, holding the coffee.
“Oh, right, it’s Auntie’s birthday tomorrow!” Yan Xiaomi belatedly realized and immediately followed An Yao out the door.
The two went to a large shopping mall. It was the scorching heat of June, and An Yao didn’t know what to buy. She looked at clothes and shoes in the mall for a long time but didn’t choose anything.
Before getting to know An Yao, Yan Xiaomi had no idea her aunt had such a close student. An Yao even knew her aunt’s style of dressing, what colors she liked, and her high-heel size…
An Yao and her aunt must have a really good relationship. That made sense; if the relationship wasn’t good, An Yao wouldn’t have agreed to let her be her assistant.
“It’s been a while since I picked out a gift. I don’t know what to buy.” An Yao looked troubled and turned to Yan Xiaomi, “What do you think I should give?”
“Huh?” Yan Xiaomi immediately snapped back to attention, “I think…” Her voice gradually lowered, “Auntie doesn’t lack anything. I don’t know what to give either.”
Yan Xiaomi felt a bit awkward. She wasn’t good at picking gifts either. She had thought about buying a gift for her male crush for a long time, but before she could give it, he already had a girlfriend. Since then, Yan Xiaomi stopped worrying about gifts because she didn’t have to buy them. For friends, she always gave flowers—yellow roses, yellow roses, yellow roses.
That’s right, she could give flowers.
“Auntie quite likes flowers,” Yan Xiaomi suddenly said.
An Yao froze for a moment, and the look in her eyes became colder, “You don’t know that Teacher is allergic to flower pollen?”