Tomorrow Will Still Love You - Chapter 1
At the end of her first day at Huaning Group, Pei Ning received a call from her best friend.
Her friend asked how the new boss was. Was he temperamental? Hard to deal with?
Pei Ning replied that she hadn’t met him.
Her friend was stunned. She asked how that was possible. After all, Pei Ning was the CEO’s assistant.
Pei Ning said simply that the boss was on a business trip.
Ten days later, another call came. Her friend asked if she was working late, if she could help with a project valuation.
Pei Ning told her she hadn’t gone to work that day.
Her friend worried she might be sick.
Pei Ning said no — the boss still hadn’t returned.
By her twenty-fifth day at Huaning Group, the calls had become a routine.
Her friend asked if being an assistant was tiring. Then laughed, saying it must be easier than working on Wall Street.
Pei Ning said she hadn’t even started working yet.
Her friend was speechless. Then burst out laughing. So, she said, you’ve been there almost a month and still haven’t met your CEO?
Pei Ning answered with a soft hum.
Her friend couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore.
Pei Ning sat in the CEO’s spacious, understated office, flipping through a glossy fashion magazine.
The previous assistant had followed the boss on his trip, leaving no time for a proper handover.
With the chairman’s special approval, Pei Ning now worked in the CEO’s office though there was no real work to do.
For nearly a month, her only task had been to read magazines.
Her friend teased her again, asking if she wasn’t embarrassed to take full attendance pay this month.
Pei Ning closed the magazine and asked why she should be.
Her friend challenged her to name one thing she’d done in those twenty-five days.
Pei Ning said she had been waiting for her boss to come back.
Her friend laughed so hard she nearly cried. She joked that the man must have run off with his mistress,
leaving Pei Ning behind to guard an empty office.
Pei Ning didn’t answer. She ended the call, packed her things, and left the office.
Her friend wasn’t done gossiping. She asked how old the CEO was.
Thirty, Pei Ning said.
Her friend thought that was young for a company head. She asked if he was married.
Pei Ning was silent for a few seconds before saying he wasn’t.
Her friend teased her a single, rich CEO. Maybe you’ll be his boss someday, she laughed.
Pei Ning smiled faintly but said nothing.
Her friend didn’t know the whole story. She didn’t know that Huaning’s chairman,
Mr. Ye, was the one who had helped Pei Ning settle down after she returned home.
He’d even arranged for her to live in a high-end apartment near the company, saying it would make her commute easier.
The place was luxuriously furnished and spotless when she moved in. Likely, Mr. Ye had sent someone to clean it beforehand.
That night, after dinner, Pei Ning went to her dressing room to finish unpacking.
When she opened the bottom drawer of the wardrobe, she froze.
Inside was a collection of men’s cufflinks more than a dozen pairs in different metals and designs.
She didn’t touch them. She closed the drawer quietly. Whoever they belonged to might come back for them someday.
After a shower, she turned off the lights and lay in bed, staring at the dark ceiling.
For the past twenty days, this had been the calmest time in six years. No late nights. No endless financial models. No stress.
The phone rang. For a brief moment, she thought it might be her boss at last. But the screen showed another name
Qi Jinzhou. Her former boss.
She smiled faintly as she answered.
Qi Jinzhou’s deep, magnetic voice filled her ear, asking if she was busy.
She said she wasn’t.
He asked if she remembered the EFG Energy merger case.
Of course, she said.
She’d been about to resign at the time. He had tried to keep her by offering her the project a massive international deal
but she had already decided to return home.
He told her the project had been introduced by his mother.
She replied that she remembered Madam Jin and her company.
He said his mother was in his office right now, and she wanted to talk to her for a moment.
Pei Ning asked what about. He said it was related to the project.
He set the phone on speaker and crossed the office.
In the room were three people: Madam Jin, and two other men she had brought for the deal
Ye Xicheng, CEO of Huaning Group, and Xiang Yilin, CEO of Xiang Corporation.
The two men sat opposite each other, silent, composed, their presence cool and distant.
Even now, as the business meeting wound down to casual conversation, neither spoke much.
The air between them was as cold as the Arctic, saved only by Madam Jin’s bright chatter.
Ye Xicheng sat back against the sofa, legs crossed, expression calm as he took a sip of coffee.
The motion of his throat was smooth, unhurried.
When he heard the woman’s voice through the speaker, his hand stilled.
Pei Ning’s soft, steady tone flowed into the room, clear and melodic.
Ye Xicheng’s eyes darkened. He took another sip to hide it.
Across from him, Xiang Yilin’s fingers tightened against the armrest, though his face showed nothing.
Qi Jinzhou sighed silently. His mother had turned on the speakerphone of course she had.
Madam Jin’s voice was warm and teasing as she spoke to Pei Ning, asking why she was being so formal.
Call me Aunt Jin, she said.
Pei Ning agreed softly.
Her voice lingered in the air soft, calm, and heartbreakingly familiar.
Then Madam Jin asked what was going on between her and Jinzhou.
Pei Ning froze, confused.
Qi Jinzhou nearly lunged for the phone, but his mother ignored him.
Madam Jin said she didn’t believe they had only a professional relationship.
Six years working side by side? That never stays purely business.
Pei Ning said gently that there was nothing between them. Just work.
Madam Jin laughed, saying that Jinzhou had said the exact same thing word for word. Perfect harmony.
Across the room, Ye Xicheng’s grip on his cup tightened slightly. Xiang Yilin looked down, his expression unreadable.
Pei Ning tried to keep her tone polite. Aunt Jin, really, it’s not like that.
Madam Jin asked if Jinzhou had broken her heart. If so, she promised she wouldn’t let him off easily.
Pei Ning could only laugh softly, helpless. It wasn’t like that either.
Then Madam Jin asked if she was seeing anyone.
Pei Ning hesitated. Finally, she said she had been in two relationships one in college,
and another after she started working. Both had ended.
Madam Jin sounded intrigued. Anyone I might know? she asked.
Pei Ning said yes.
You know them both.
Madam Jin was surprised. Both of them?
Pei Ning’s voice was calm when she replied.
My first love was Ye Xicheng, the CEO of Huaning Group. My ex-boyfriend was Xiang Yilin, the CEO of Xiang Corporation.
Silence.
Qi Jinzhou froze. Madam Jin blinked, speechless.
Across the room, the two men who had been silent all evening finally looked up.
Their eyes met across the space calm, cold, and filled with the quiet storm of six years that had never truly passed.