"Don"t sit," Hua Zhendan commanded in a cold voice.Tan Yao and Xuan Tianyi, who were both about to seat paused.
"Not you," Hua Zhendan said to Tan Yao in a tone that was so gentle it almost made Xuan Tianyi flinch.
Tan Yao, relieved he wasn"t the one Hua Zhendan was talking to, took a seat.
"You," Hua Zhendan tilted his chin at Xuan Tianyi, while he tried to ignore his beating heart. "I asked you to be here by 9 am. What time is it now?"
Xuan Tianyi looked at his wrist.w.a.tch. The time was a couple of minutes before ten. "That... I got lost."
Hua Zhendan raised a brow.
"You were here just yesterday. Tan Yao"s never been here before," Hua Zhendan said, although this wasn"t necessarily true. "How did you get lost and he didn"t?"
"I —"
"Just sit," Hua Zhendan interrupted him before he could get a sentence out.
Taking a seat, Xuan Tianyi bit his tongue. He wondered if it was the case that Hua Zhendan was still p.i.s.sed off about his shameless flirting the previous day.
He knew he was late. Still, he felt as if Hua Zhendan was unnecessarily ruthless to him.
"Did you read the contract I sent you last night?" Hua Zhendan asked.
"I did," Xuan Tianyi replied.
"So?"
Clueless about what Hua Zhendan meant, Xuan Tianyi asked with raised brows, "So...?"
Hua Zhendan frowned. He didn"t understand how Xuan Tianyi could not get what he meant. Conveniently, he added the word "stupid" to the many flaws he thought Xuan Tianyi had. "So, do you have any complaints about it?"
"Oh!" Xuan Tianyi didn"t know he could make a complaint if he didn"t like something stated there. If he knew that, he might"ve "actually" read the contract.
Still, he quickly reckoned that there was no way the contract would be too unfavorable to him. "No, I don"t have any complaints."
"Good," Hua Zhendan threw the blue doc.u.ment with Tianyi"s name at him. "Sign this then."
Xuan Tianyi barely caught it. He flipped the contract to the last page and crested his signature on it.
Hua Zhendan leaned back into his chair, before pus.h.i.+ng himself up. "Welcome to Shenhua Modelling. You two, follow me please."
Tan Yao and Xuan Tianyi complied.
In retrospect, Hua Zhendan didn"t have to do any of these. There was a department that handled hires after all.
The thing was that he wanted to handle Xuan Tianyi"s employment himself. Since he had hired Tan Yao the same way, and since they were signing their contracts on the same day, he felt it would be appropriate if he handled both of their employment.
Now, he was showing them around. Which was also something someone else could do. The problem was he wasn"t ready to say goodbye to Tianyi yet. He liked being so close to him that he only had to stretch out his hand a bit if he wanted to touch him.
Hua Zhendan knew though that it didn"t make sense to long after Xuan Tianyi the way he did. It wasn"t as if Xuan Tianyi would consider dating him. h.e.l.l, he didn"t want to date Xuan Tianyi either. He just liked being this close to him.
Hua Zhendan had been so elated with taking in the feeling of being close to Xuan Tianyi; he didn"t even know when they had entered into the elevator. All he knew was that right now, all three of them were on the third floor of the building.
He started to explain to them, "Shen Rui, my mother, is the owner of Shenhua"s Corporations."
Tan Yao and Xuan Tianyi nodded. They both knew that much.
Hua Zhendan continued, "Shenhua"s Corporations is an umbrella term for the three subsidiaries occupying the eight floors of this building. You"ll find Shenhua"s Productions, on the seventh and eight levels. They produce movies and TV shows.
"On the sixth floor is the Shenhua"s Acting Agency. Actors from the agency can decide to sign exclusively with Shenhua"s Productions or not. Of course, the company always prioritizes actors exclusive to Shenhua"s Acting Agency for movies the company make.
"And on the fifth floor, of course, we have Shenhua"s Modelling Agency, which I head.
"On the fourth floor, there are several studios — some exclusively for music production, others for photo shoots, and others for movie productions.
"And here, on the third floor, we have the gym.
"What you need to keep in mind is that Shenhua"s Corporations is the parent company which has three children, Shenhua"s Modelling Agency, Shenhua"s Acting Agency, and Shenhua"s Productions, which are somehow three separate ent.i.ties on their own."
Tan Yao and Xuan Tianyi nodded.
"As a model, this floor should be your favorite in the building."
Hua Zhendan glanced at Tan Yao, "I don"t think you should have a problem with that."
"I don"t, Hua Zong," Tan Yao smiled coyly.
"I hate it when people call me that," Hua Zhendan said. "Just call me elder brother."
"Elder brother," Tan Yao said, grinning from ear to ear.
"You," Hua Zhendan pointed to Xuan Tianyi.
"Elder brother," Xuan Tianyi said reflexively.
Hua Zhendan"s heart skipped a beat, and he frowned. Hearing Xuan Tianyi calling him elder brother felt so different than when it came from Tan Yao. It felt somewhat soothing.
"I only meant him," Hua Zhendan pointed to Tan Yao. "Don"t call me that."
Xuan Tianyi"s face fell. There was a noticeable difference in the way Hua Zhendan treated both of them.
Hua Zhendan"s chest tightened watching Xuan Tianyi"s face like that. He wanted to reach out and caress his cheeks till he smiled. Then he would probably lean in and kiss his plump red lips. He wanted it so badly. Still, somehow, he didn"t want it.
"It"s okay if you call me Hua Zong."
Xuan Tianyi nodded. His feebleness, melting Hua Zhendan"s heart. It was so hard to believe that under this feeble, pathetic love-needing image, there was a roughish heartbreaker. Hua Zhendan wondered how it was that one person could have two distinctly conflicting personalities at the same time.
With every moment Hua Zhendan stared at Xuan Tianyi, the more he felt he was falling deeper in love with him. And the more it seemed he was falling deeper in love with him, the more he found himself despising Xuan Tianyi. Why wasn"t Xuan Tianyi someone who was a lot easier to love?
"You will most probably need acting cla.s.ses," composing himself, Zhendan continued. "You can get those on the second floor. The corporation organizes it for people interested in learning how to act. Since you"re already a part of the company, you won"t be paying the fees. I —"
Hua Zhendan"s phone rang, interrupting him.
"Excuse me," Hua Zhendan said to them politely before picking up the call. Speaking into the phone, he asked, "h.e.l.lo, miss Zhang."
His secretary"s voice sounded tense at the other end of the line. "Big brother Hua, you need to come immediately."