Qiu Yue blinked.Why was he...?
They both looked so cute.
(⑉• •⑉)
For a second she didn"t know what to say or do. She now realized that this was a male lead. Actually no, even beyond that, he was Huo Zi Feng. He was her current boss, well kinda.
She realized that although Zhou Jia hadn"t said his name loudly they had caught a few people"s attention, which was not good.
She put on a smile and abruptly pulled Zhou Jia into the nearest conference room and closed the door behind them to make sure no one could hear them.
"Sister Jia! There could have been a big misunderstanding."
Qiu Yue looked at Zhou Jia frowning.
"Misunderstanding...?"
Zhou Jia asked tilting her head to the side, she wanted to know how Qiu Yue felt about Huo Zi Feng. She didn"t want to push them into an unwanted relationship, that is — if this really was the case. If there were no feelings... that could be arranged for.
Qiu Yue"s lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but instead, nothing came out.
"It"s— I"m sure senior Feng was tired, that"s why he fell asleep there. He"s my boss, I just don"t want any unwanted rumors to spread."
"...I understand."
Zhou Jia smiled at Qiu Yue. Qiu Yue had been thinking about Huo Zi Feng, Zhou Jia found that really sweet. This girl never did anything to harm anyone else.
"But little Yue, I wanted to ask you something."
Zhou Jia paused, glancing at Qiu Yue seemingly looking for an answer, only continuing when Qiu Yue nodded at her with a quizzical expression on her face.
"Do you like CEO Feng?"
Zhou Jia readied herself for the answer, no matter what it was, though she was pretty sure it would be positive.
"Yes of course! He"s very hardworking and so dedicated. It"s amazing how he works so hard for what he wants. And he never stops giving back to people. He always has been a very beautiful person. Even when we were younger and I used to bother him with everything, even then he would tolerate me and help me with anything I wanted."
Qiu Yue smiled as she recalled the original owner"s memories. At that time while the original owner had a crush on him, Huo Zi Feng had only been able to look at her like a younger sister.
So why had this person, who had clearly not hated her, not look for her after her death? There had been no mention of it at all in the book. Perhaps it had left the details out but the original story clearly stated that he had been indifferent to her death. What had happened that his feelings had changed to such an extent? Even if they weren"t lovers, the original owner of her body had never been malicious and had always maintained a pure love for him. Even if he didn"t reciprocate that, he shouldn"t have been indifferent to the death of a girl he considered a younger sister.
As her thoughts drifted away, the smile on Qiu Yue"s face fell as the corners of her lips turned down and her eyes that had been smiling dimmed into sadness.
Zhou Jia"s heart jumped, what had Qiu Yue been thinking about that led to such a change in her mood? Was the CEO involved with someone else?! No no, this couldn"t happen. Zhou Jia could not let her ship sink, she just couldn"t.
"Little Yue... but do you like CEO Feng?"
Zhou Jia asked gently, putting emphasis on the word "like".
Qiu Yue understood what she was asking about, in fact, she had understood the first time but she just didn"t know the answer to that, it was way too soon. They"d literally met a little more than a month ago.
Qiu Yue liked Romeo Juliet but didn"t feel that it was practical, at least she wasn"t going to bet anything on feelings or phenomena such as love at first sight, or perhaps even a thousand sights.
She sighed.
"I can"t answer that—"
"You"re his fiancée if anyone—"
Zhou Jia was unwilling to back down, it didn"t matter if the both of them didn"t see it but she had, Zhou Jia had seen them both and she knew they were actually quite comfortable with each other, fond of each other.
"Sister Jia! That, that betrothal was decided upon by our grandparents. I do not want a promise to stand between his or my happiness. If need be then..."
Qiu Yue trailed off, leaving the sentence incomplete, but its implication was very strong. She just shook her head and left. Once she had exited the conference room she decided to go outside for some air.
Qiu Yue had to admit that she was actually... that she liked Huo Zi Feng quite a lot. But she felt that it was too fast and more importantly, he was a male lead.
He might have been swayed now, but what if when the female lead entered, he fell for her?
Qiu Yue had set some plans in motion for the other two guys, and in the beginning, she felt that perhaps she could find someone for Huo Zi Feng too. She felt that the stepbrother male lead was someone who loved the female lead a lot, it wasn"t fair to take it all away. But she couldn"t, she just couldn"t bring herself to force Huo Zi Feng or lead him around.
As much as her head disagreed she was actually quite fond of him. At least enough to say that she wouldn"t orchestrate anything for him.
Make no mistake, she wasn"t in love with him. If she had been she wouldn"t have been so unselfish. While she would rather live in pain if the one she loved, loved another person. Her pride was what had supported her through everything, and she wouldn"t let go of it for anything. But if the person she loved didn"t have anyone, she sure as h.e.l.l wasn"t going to let anyone have the chance. She would also not hide her feelings, mostly not. She believed love was also selfishness, she wasn"t going give up her man to someone else because it was "for the good", no if he loved her, then she"d be selfish and never let go.
So as she felt uncomfortable with the idea of setting him up with someone else, she decided to leave it up to him, if he fell for the female lead, he fell for her. There was nothing she would do.
Why hasn"t she thought of setting Huo Zi Feng up with herself? Well, Qiu Yue didn"t believe that people who were actually nice, not stalkers or just weirdos, could ever like her. To anyone else who could have heard what she was thinking about, they"d be shocked by how confident she could be and yet harbor such thoughts.
As she was in deep thought Qiu Yue never noticed the person who was standing a bit far away but was close enough to see her expressions.
Inside the conference room, Zhou Jia was convinced of two facts.
One was that Qiu Yue definitely liked Huo Zi Feng, and the second was that Huo Zi Feng had a lover. Someone who Zhou Jia didn"t know about, which was crazy because Zhou Jia knew everything in his schedule and even when he wasn"t busy he was working. She couldn"t believe she"d missed him having a girlfriend. She felt angry with Huo Zi Feng for having a girlfriend, who clearly made the pure little Qiu Yue who was in love with him sad. They were even engaged!
So she decided that from then on, she would pa.s.sive-aggressively convey her feelings to her boss.
And so began this very awkward week to the press conference. Qiu Yue had become slightly conscious of Huo Zi Feng, she blamed the picture. Though Qiu Yue was very professional, sometimes when dealing with Huo Zi Feng she would stiffen, but quickly hide it. It didn"t escape the notice of the two people who had their eyes on her.
Huo Zi Feng also appeared to be in deep thought most of these days. Many times he would look at look at Qiu Yue and then he would close his eyes and think.
And then there was Zhou Jia, being true to her word, she was pa.s.sive (not so much) aggressive (100% expert) in letting the CEO know that she was dissatisfied with something.
Huo Zi Feng felt lost, first of all, he knew he felt something for this girl, but he also knew that she didn"t consider the engagement unbreakable, at least her words made that clear. He didn"t like the feeling that settled in his heart when he thought of her with another man.
She was his fiancée!
He knew this was also slightly unreasonable, after all, they hadn"t even met properly for so many years, in fact, he hadn"t ever made an effort to get to know her so it wasn"t that outlandish that she would have a... boyfriend.
But he had never considered getting a girlfriend or even looking for one, he wanted to give the engagement a try and depending on both their feelings he would then see what to do after that.
But right now, even though in the past he had resolved that if Qiu Yue had feelings for another he"d dissolve the engagement, the truth is — he didn"t want to. He really didn"t want to. Rather Huo Zi Feng wanted to find this person to see what he had, that Huo Zi Feng didn"t.
Huo Zi Feng was not going to break the engagement until she asked for it, and he made sure that she wouldn"t be unhappy with him. Otherwise no matter what, no one was going to come in between this engagement.
While this awkward charade continued, at night Huo Zi Feng would still go over and cover Qiu Yue with a blanket. With three days to the conference, today he decided to just look into her notebook to see what she had been working on.
At first he smiled, her handwriting looked very messy but was actually quite easy to understand and she loved using colors and declarations for the text. But his expression soon turned more serious as he read through the plans, he felt that while they mostly seemed simple and matter of fact, the amazing thing was no one had thought about them until now.
Currently, in this world, there were no games that allowed you to actively play with others. While you could add friends they served no other purpose. Her plans introduced the simplest way to increase interaction and compet.i.tion between players, this would further increase motivation and ensure retained player base.
Then there was the fact that she was adamant about making the games free to play, but including in-game purchases. She wanted there to be two currencies, one which could be gained in-game commonly, while the other could be gained in-game but much more rarely and could also be bought. By giving the players a taste of what they could do with the rare currency, it made them want more of it. While they hadn"t used this as investors felt that giving out games for free was simply earning a loss like a fool, Huo Zi Feng did feel that considering player psychology this was quite viable and would most likely work. And at the same time, they could increase goodwill by making sure people could play for free. Of course, even just by playing the game, the players would increase their income as she planned to advertise products in the game. While it was a rather common method, people hadn"t utilized it in this way.
Qiu Yue was going to be launching an otome game, which in other words could either be called a dating sim or a visual novel. But those were two rather one-dimensional words, in her game she wanted to include voice packs, more side games, and strategic planning by using the theme of s...o...b..z. The game"s setting was such that the player could choose to be a guy or a girl was starting out as manager for stars. They could then take cla.s.ses for whichever courses were needed for their aim star, and then visit the places the stars would frequent on the given map in order to increase friendliness. Once this reached a certain level they could start their story exclusively.
So there was the school map, where the player could choose to where they wanted, like to the music room to learn the basics of music production and etc. Once the basic level of the lesson was completed they could move on to the next. There were five levels: basic, novice, intermediate, advanced, professional. Once one reached professional they could still acc.u.mulate exp but would no longer level up.
Then there was the city map, where the stars would frequent their favorite places based on the character profiles at particular timings.
And if this author describes anymore then she might not be able to make this game anymore, so if it ever comes out please play it!
(￣▽￣)ノ (Shameless advertis.e.m.e.nt)
Huo Zi Feng put down the notebook after he finished reading. There was so much in them, anti-virus systems, song lyrics, movie ideas. How had she thought of so many things?
Actually, Qiu Yue had taken cheating to the next level. Honestly, she was just putting down everything she remembered into notebooks, then she would ask Yao Yan to keep these notebooks in the dimensional pocket.Qiu Yue"s memory wasn"t so good so she would definitely forget, she just wanted to keep a stock of cheats for the next worlds too. Her book of cheats for a t.i.tle.
Suddenly Huo Zi Feng had a surge of motivation, he immediately went to his office and made a list of things that Qiu Yue would need to be able to work by his side, yet independently. He didn"t want to be too obvious, but he felt as though if he let her leave him at the end of her three-month internship he might regret it, and either way he didn"t want her to leave.
Then he started typing up the necessary doc.u.ments in order to ensure that everything would be perfectly ready at the end of her internship. He also decided to invest in her game idea, till now he had been debating whether to do it or not because he hadn"t been too clear on how successful it could be. Afterall to Huo Zi Feng, feelings and business were two different things. But now he was certain the game would do well, thus he decided to aid her in any way possible to make sure she"d stay with him.
On the day of the press conference Qiu Yue stood at the very back as she was just an intern, and more importantly, she didn"t want to catch anyone"s attention. It wasn"t likely for anyone to remember her as the young lady of the Lang family but she didn"t want to take the chance. The original Qiu Yue hadn"t been too big on appearances, in fact, she hardly ever had any pictures taken.
Qiu Yue didn"t think this was bad, she liked that cute original owner who was shy and sweet, and felt bad for how the original owner"s story had ended.
Standing in the back, with a sea of people and flashes between them, Qiu Yue looked up at Huo Zi Feng.
She had to admit he looked so cool standing there, he looked like he belonged there. It was as if the spotlight was made for him.
He reminded her of someone else she had known once upon a time.
Huo Zi Feng shone so brightly, his eyes looking straight at everyone, never shying away from any question.
To Qiu Yue, the Huo Zi Feng who never ran away from anything, was always head on and reached for whatever he wanted, had made a big place in her heart. She could never stop being surprised at how persistent and hardworking he was, he never refused who he was, instead, he accepted it all and worked even harder to become better.
A man chasing his dreams and goals was the most attractive one.
But this wasn"t the main event for Qiu Yue, she had a meeting with potential investors after the press conference.
She could hear her heart beating in her chest, she felt really nervous. As she went aside to pick up a gla.s.s of water she realized her hands were shaking. A sudden wave of sadness took over her, even now this cursed reaction followed her. She had been hoping that by changing bodies she wouldn"t have to deal with this anymore.
Anytime she had something important coming up she would start to feel anxious, and because of some incidents, this anxiety had increased. While she could control her expression, she couldn"t stop her hands from shaking and she felt very upset. She didn"t want to be weak, this... made her feel weak.
She took a deep breath, first straightened her fingers and then clenched them into a fist. She repeated this action a few times to try and stop them from quivering.
She had to make sure this presentation went nothing short of amazing.
"You"ll do great."
Qiu Yue jumped slightly, startled by the deep voice next to her, she swirled around to see Huo Zi Feng standing next to her. As usual, he wore a serious expression, his eyelashes hanging low and his jawbone was set razor sharp, but his words had always been very sweet.
"Your pitch itself is bound to catch their eye, do not be nervous. If you need a familiar face, I"ll be sitting in the room too. I"ll be right there."
He said as if it was just matter of fact, it wasn"t a rea.s.surance or promise, he said it as though it was fact, that he would always be right there.
Qiu Yue"s heart shook and she didn"t know what to say. She swallowed lightly and then decided to ignore that last part, he was just being very nice.
Qiu Yue nodded at him, her eyes crinkled gratefully as she gave him a light smile.
But soon, when she stood in front of the potential investors about to begin the presentation she started to feel nauseous and light headed.
What had she been thinking? This wasn"t something she could do. She wasn"t meant to be in the spotlight. She wasn"t.
It was then that her eyes that had been fluttering around with fear met his steady ones. Unconsciously she let out a breath she didn"t realize she had been holding. He nodded at her almost imperceptibly. He didn"t try to rea.s.sure her because he had the confidence that she could do it.
Right, she could. There had been a time when she had been able to do anything, she wondered... when had that changed?
Although her heart still beat faster than normal and her palms were sweaty and shaky she took a deep breath and adjusted her voice before she spoke. The first few words were slightly shaky, not too noticeable but slowly her back straightened, her shoulders pulled back and her head held high. Her voice grew stronger, she knew what she was talking about, this was her project, no one knew this better than her. While she spoke her eyes shone with excitement and pa.s.sion for her work.
Coupled with her own presentation and the idea itself she received enough preliminary guarantees from investors to fund the project. All of the people present in that room knew how capable CEO Feng was, and even though her ideas were controversial, he was investing almost half the amount required. This displayed his confidence in the project loud and clear, so they felt that they were making the right choice.
There were, of course, those who felt that ideas were too experimental, or looked down upon her for being a novice as she was young and new, but they didn"t actively voice these opinions, just choosing not to invest. They had no intention of gaining the disapproval of CEO Feng or any other people who were opting to invest.
Qiu Yue wasn"t bothered by these things, she was overjoyed by the fact that they now had enough to actively start their project. With Yao Yan"s and Zhou Jia"s help, she had found people who she felt were perfect for the team. Because her name was not established, all those who joined only did so after looking at her skills and the project itself.
Of course to get those people they had looked through everything. Qiu Yue didn"t want there to be any nasty surprises coming to bite her in the back.
.....
Sitting on the bench on the rooftop, Qiu Yue sighed. The roof was really beautiful with benches and patches of gravel. There was an artificial garden on one corner, while a slew of vending machines sat on the other side of the roof, accessible easily from the elevator or the staircase.
Qiu Yue was sitting on a bench near the mesh wall that surrounded the rooftop, looking at the beautiful view of the whole city painted on the blue evening sky.
Her eyes that were looking at the city were suddenly looking at dark blue cotton shirt fabric. Without lifting her head she turned her eyes to look up at Huo Zi Feng.
He held out a coffee can to her, and when she accepted it with both hands he said down next to her sipping his own coffee.
"...it"s not as good as yours."
She chuckled.
"It better not be, I spent years perfecting that recipe!"
He didn"t say anything looking right at the view of the city.
After perhaps a few minutes he broke the silence.
"Can I ask you something?"
Qiu Yue shot him a curious look, why was he asking her that? Anytime someone asked you that, it was always a question what would be something important, at least to the other person.
She nodded at him.
"Do you perhaps, have a... someone else you want to... marry?"
"What?! No!"
Qiu Yue exclaimed in disbelief. This could also be called important?
Huo Zi Feng felt as though a load had been taken off his heart.
"I"m never getting married."
And then promptly, a sharp barbed arrow went straight through it.