My Boss Always Flirts With Me - Chapter 57

Chapter 57: The Decision

Fang Ci didn’t need to pack much; he could buy toiletries and other daily necessities locally. He spent an hour packing his suitcase before going to the bathroom to wash up. He Chi listened to the sound of the water in the bathroom and made a call to Yuan Cheng.

“Yes, there is such a thing. I was just about to call you to confirm.”

He Chi was silent. Yuan Cheng quickly asked, “Do we need to switch people? If the first and second-in-command aren’t going, maybe we can transfer someone from the R&D department.”

He Chi didn’t speak for a few seconds, then said, “No, it’s fine for now.”

Yuan Cheng agreed.

He Chi hung up the phone and recalled their time together today. He repeatedly checked if he had done anything inappropriate to make Fang Ci unhappy. He also reviewed Fang Ci’s behavior and confirmed that nothing was out of the ordinary. The agreement incident seemed to be just a small interlude.

Fang Ci was an easy person to read. All his emotions were on his face. Even if an hour passed between the morning and afternoon, He Chi could tell if he was unhappy. At the company, when he occasionally passed by the AP department’s cubicles, he could tell with just a glance. For example, if Fang Ci was smiling when he greeted him, it meant he had a good day. If he was staring glumly at the computer, it meant he had encountered a difficult problem, perhaps challenged by another department or unable to finalize a plan.

Fang Ci hadn’t been in the workplace for long and hadn’t yet learned to hide his emotions. As a leader or a partner, this personality was great—sincere, warm, and refreshingly simple. With a little care, you could see right through him.

So when Fang Ci suddenly suggested going on a business trip, He Chi didn’t question it because he seemed so calm. He even joked, asking if He Chi would miss him and what he would do if he got a tan. He Chi wasn’t sure, so just in case, he made a confirming call, and based on Yuan Cheng’s response, there was no issue.

Perhaps he was just overthinking it. It was just a routine task, just like his own business trips.

The bathroom door opened, and Fang Ci walked into the living room, drying his hair. He stopped far away from He Chi and asked, “Why didn’t you turn on the light?”

He Chi realized he had forgotten to turn on the light. He put his phone back in his pocket and said, “It’s cold in the living room. Let’s go back to the bedroom.”

Water was still dripping from Fang Ci’s hair, dampening his shoulders. He turned and wiped it away, heading back to the bathroom to get the hairdryer.

After he had dried his hair for a moment, He Chi took the hairdryer from him. He stood behind him, cupping his hands over his ears, and helped him blow-dry his hair.

The fog on the mirror slowly dissipated. Fang Ci looked at him through the glass. He Chi was a head taller than him, and his hands were large. When he ran his fingers through Fang Ci’s hair, they could cup the back of his head. When he looked down, he seemed a bit serious, but his long eyelashes made him look especially gentle.

“What are you looking at?”

He didn’t ask what he was looking at, but where he was looking. He was so focused that He Chi knew he was looking at him again.

“Your eyelashes,” Fang Ci replied. “Teacher He, your eyes are very beautiful.”

He Chi turned off the hairdryer. “Not as beautiful as yours.”

Fang Ci smiled.

In the mirror, He Chi touched his head. Fang Ci turned around, leaned against the sink, and with a curve in his eyes, asked, “Is it dry, Teacher He?”

He Chi touched it again. “About 70 to 80 percent. Don’t lie down right away.”

“Okay.”

It must have been the warm light in the bathroom. The skin he touched was still radiating heat, and his eyes seemed to hold the sun. He Chi’s hand slid to the side of his face. Fang Ci looked at him, then suddenly tilted his head and kissed his palm. His breath spread through every pore, creating a ripple.

Why was he so well-behaved? He Chi sighed in his heart. His body seemed to have a will of its own, already unconsciously moving closer and wrapping him in his arms.

Fang Ci’s lower back was against the sink. He looked up at He Chi. He had heard that if you look into someone’s eyes for fifteen seconds, you’ll fall in love with them. He wondered if it was true.

They stood together quietly, not speaking, just intently looking into each other’s eyes, for much longer than fifteen seconds. Fang Ci smiled and was the first to move. “Teacher He, you should go wash up.”

He Chi didn’t move.

Fang Ci was puzzled. “Your hair isn’t dry. Should you wash it again?”

There was no cause-and-effect relationship, no logic at all. Fang Ci opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but the man in front of him had already bent down and sealed his lips with his own.

He Chi was still wearing his bathrobe, with only one tie around his waist. It came undone with a gentle pull. He Chi’s hand moved downwards. All the water from Fang Ci’s body transferred to He Chi’s shirt.

Finger marks were left on the glass door of the bathroom.

As their fingers intertwined, He Chi felt that today’s Fang Ci had a little more passion. At certain moments, he was more uninhibited than usual.

The original flight was changed to Sunday evening because of the last-minute personnel change. Fang Ci had to leave earlier. On Sunday, after they had dinner together, He Chi drove him to the airport. He checked his carry-on bag for him and watched him pass through the first gate. Fang Ci didn’t let him go further. He Chi just stood at the gate for a moment, watching him push the luggage cart into the crowd before getting back into the car.

They came together, but he left alone. A faint trace of Fang Ci’s scent lingered in the passenger seat, gradually being carried away by the cool breeze. As he was about to leave the airport road, He Chi’s car slowed down. About ten minutes later, he turned the steering wheel and went back, parking in an empty lot near the terminal building.

He glanced at his watch. There was still an hour before Fang Ci’s flight took off.

He leaned against the car and watched the setting sun, which was casting a golden-red glow.

He should have arrived a little later. Maybe then they could have enjoyed this moment together.

Three weeks was indeed too long. When he got back, he had to tell the CEO’s office to shorten the trip. The department manager shouldn’t have to be on-site at the Southeast Asia production line. It would tire out his little Yuan Yuan.

Inside the terminal, Fang Ci had already passed two security checks and found the boarding gate. The huge glass wall was stained red by the sunset, giving off a halo. The sky before nightfall was truly beautiful.

“Where are you going for your business trip? Southeast Asia?”

“Mhm.”

“I thought your partner wouldn’t let you go.”

“It’s business. There’s no reason for him to refuse.”

Fang Ci sat down on a chair with his phone and chatted with Shen Liu about his itinerary. Shen Liu listened for a while, then said, “Your business trip is that long?”

Fang Ci: “Not really. It’s quite short. Some companies send employees for three to five years.”

Shen Liu fell silent. He knew Fang Ci’s situation very well. To others, these words would just mean that the manager was responsible, but to him, they had a different meaning. He carefully chose his words, but in the end, he just gave up and asked directly, “Fang Ci, are you giving up?”

Fang Ci looked at the planes taking off and landing outside the window and sighed. “I thought about giving up.”

“Every time I develop a new product, I want to get it right in one go. If not, three or five revisions are okay. But if the number of revisions exceeds ten, I get very frustrated and sad, and I start to question whether I’m suited for this job.”

“It’s normal to want to give up, right?”

Shen Liu: “Yeah. I’m the same with software. Forget work, even when we were in school, if we couldn’t write the code, after a while, we’d want to change majors.”

Fang Ci: “That’s why Old Man Qiao always gave us false hope.”

Shen Liu still remembered Old Man Qiao’s special way of motivating them. The questions he asked in every class were as rare as a thousand-year-old event. As long as they solved them, they could change the entire industry and be written into human history. As young and ignorant people, they actually believed him.

It turned out it was all a lie. But people live their lives by hanging on to hope. The only difference is that when they were young, their parents gave them false hope, and when they grew up, their bosses did. The people drawing the map were different.

It was said that without a long-term goal, you would have short-term worries.

“What does this have to do with your business trip?”

Fang Ci: “It does. If you can’t solve it, you run away.”

Shen Liu: “…I don’t believe you. I’ve never seen you change your major.”

Fang Ci chuckled. Essentially, he was a bit stubborn. When it came to emotional matters, he always felt that He Chi was his “hope.” He might be a bit foolish, but he didn’t want to be a complete simpleton.

“Didn’t you tell me to set a deadline?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’ll give it a try.”

Shen Liu was stunned. “What do you mean?”

Fang Ci said, “He Chi has given me the authority to develop the product, but it’s not enough.”

Shen Liu: “?”

Fang Ci: “I want the key.”

Shen Liu was clearly shocked by this theory.

“The most crucial program hasn’t been run, and the database door is locked. He Chi has been bullying me for so long, so I have to collect some interest.”

On the other end of the phone, Shen Liu gasped and said a few words: “Brother, you’re awesome!”

Fang Ci smiled.

“I thought you were going to completely abandon this product?”

Fang Ci: “The sunk cost is too high, and the product performance hasn’t had any major errors. It would be a huge loss to stop it now.”

“Awesome, awesome, awesome!” Shen Liu slapped his thigh. “Damn, if I had your theoretical foundation, I would’ve been married eight hundred years ago.”

“It’s not too late now,” Fang Ci said, amused.

In the distance, the sunset completely disappeared below the horizon, and the announcement for boarding began.

Fang Ci said one last thing to Shen Liu, “Keep this a secret for me. I’ll contact you when I land.”

Shen Liu: “Have a safe trip, Fang Ci.”

“Mhm.” He left the glass wall and walked toward the boarding gate.

In front of the terminal, He Chi looked at his watch again. He looked up, and a plane had just taken off, drawing a white line across the sky and disappearing into the vast sea of clouds.