Chapter 2 Chapter two

After they left, Karen waited another minute before letting out the pent-up air and walking out of the cubicle.Looking in the mirror, she realized that hiding in the toilet for so long had cleared her eyes.After washing her hands, she went to the place where the hand towels were hung, and saw what the two women mentioned just now.A long time ago, a woman (probably Rita) stole Mr. Zhang Tan's photo and hung it on the wall of the women's toilet, with a name tag stuck underneath (probably also stolen).But now the words "poor lovelorn" have been added to the top of the nameplate that says "Tan Aili".

Karen looked at it for a while, then shook her head disdainfully, then she sneered, took out a black magic pen from her purse, crossed out those words, and changed it to "deserved to be dumped". She smiled, this was the first time today, and when she left the bathroom, she was in a much better mood.In fact, it's even good enough for co-workers to pull into the elevator and go upstairs to the Christmas party together. The building owned by the Tan family has a floor dedicated to meetings and negotiations.The floor is not divided into meeting rooms of approximately equal size, but has been luxuriously and somewhat strangely designed and decorated.There is a room with tatami mats, paper doors, and jade decorations, which is used to receive Japanese customers.Another room is pure English country style.Bookish clients can invite them to the library, where thousands of volumes are housed in beautiful walnut bookcases.The chef specially hired by the company has a dedicated kitchen, and another kitchen is dedicated to serving customers who like to make food by themselves.Beaded moccasins and leather coats with horsehair fringe hang in the Santa Fe-style room.

There is also an extremely spacious empty room that can be used for different purposes depending on the occasion. At this moment, there is a giant Christmas tree with what seems to be half a ton of white and silver decorations hanging on it.All employees are looking forward to seeing this tree, which is designed by young rookie designers every year, with different flavors every year, but they are all beautiful.This tree will be the topic of discussion for the next few weeks. Karen personally likes the Christmas tree in the child care center.The tree is no longer than four feet, and most of it is within the reach of the children. The decorations on the tree are made by the children of the employees, such as paper chains and popcorn strings.

She was walking toward the childcare center when she was stopped by three men from the accounting department, who apparently wanted Karen to go with them, and when they found out who she was, they would get out of the way.She had long ago made it clear to her male colleagues at the company that she was off-limits, both during work hours and in more informal settings like today. "Sorry." They muttered and walked away. The childcare center was packed with children because the Tan family, who own the building, were all there. "Even if the Tan family has no other skills, at least they have many children and grandchildren." Ms. Zhan once said this, and everyone except Karen laughed.

They were a nice family, Karen admitted.Her dislike of Ali was not a reason for her to dislike the family.They are very polite to everyone, but they are especially close to family members.Then again, for a big family like theirs with a large population, it is too late to deal with the family members, and I am afraid that they have no time to go out and socialize.Looking at the messy game room now, Karen felt that everyone seemed to have two, because the Tan family had so many twins.Adults, children, and babies, these twins look alike, literally. Including Karen, no one can tell who is who.Eli has a pair of twin brothers, each with offices in the same building, as long as one of them shows up, someone always asks him, "Which one are you?"

Someone put a drink in Karen's hand and said, "Take it easy, baby," but she didn't take a sip.I spent most of the night with Annie in the hospital, and I haven't eaten since last night. She knew that as long as she drank alcohol, she would probably drink it into her head. Standing in the corridor and looking at the playroom, she felt as if she had never seen so many children in her life: nursing, crawling, learning to walk, two were holding a book in their hands, one was chewing on a crayon, A cute little girl with braids hanging down her back, and a pair of beautiful twin boys playing with identical fire trucks.

"Karen, you masochist," she whispered to herself, before walking quickly to the elevator.The elevator downstairs was empty, and as soon as she walked in, a sense of loneliness swept over her body.She originally planned to spend Christmas with Annie and the other couple. Now that they have a newborn baby, they don't want their former sister-in-law to disturb them. Karen walked into the office shared with other secretaries and began to pack her things to go home, but after a second thought, she decided to type out the two letters first.Although it is not urgent, but there is nothing to delay.

Two hours later Karen not only finished the work on her own desk, but also finished the work that the other three secretaries had left on the desk. She stretched, picked up the personal letters she had just typed for Tan Aili, one was about his purchase of land in Tokyo, and the other was addressed to his cousin.She walked through the corridor towards Tan Aili's private suite.She knocked on the door as usual before realizing that there was no one else on this floor, so she opened the door herself.It feels a little strange to walk into this forbidden area without seeing the scary Miss Zhan.Like a lion guarding a temple, the woman seemed to regard Tan Aili as her taboo and never let anyone see him unless necessary.

Karen walked lightly around the room, unable to bear the urge to linger a little longer.It was said to have been decorated to Miss Gurd's exquisite taste, with white and silver everywhere, just like that Christmas tree—and it felt just as cold, Karen thought. She carefully placed the letter on Miss Ge's desk, and then she was about to leave. After a second thought, she looked at the double doors leading to "his" office.As far as she knew, no woman in the secretary's office had ever entered that office, and Karen, like everyone else, was very curious about what was behind that door.

Karen knew that the security guard would pass by soon, but she would hear his footsteps in the corridor and the sound of keys shaking. Even if she was caught, she could still be said to have been ordered to send the documents to Mr. Tan's office . She opened the door quietly like a thief and looked inside. "Hi? Is anyone there?" Of course, she knew that if someone responded, she would probably have a heart attack and die suddenly, but she was still very cautious. Looking around, she put the letter on his desk.She had to admit that he had the ability to hire a good designer. The average businessman would never choose such furniture.There's not a single bit of leather or chrome in sight, and the whole office looks like it's been brought over from some old French castle intact.There was carved panelling on the walls, large worn flagstones on the floor, and a large fireplace dominating one wall.The brocade-covered furniture appeared to have been used for some time, and seemed to be extremely comfortable.

Karen was attracted to a bookcase full of books against one wall, and framed photographs on one of the floors.She looked at it carefully, thinking that a computer might be needed to figure out how many children were in the photo.In the silver frame at the end is a young man with a bunch of fish in his hand.Obviously he was from the Tan family, but Karen hadn't seen him.She picked up the frame curiously and looked at it carefully. "Have you seen enough?" The thick baritone voice made Karen jump up in fright, the photo frame fell on the slate, and the glass immediately shattered. "I'm… sorry," she stammered. "I didn't know anyone was here." She stooped to pick up the photo, looking up into the deep eyes of the six-foot tall Tan Aili. "I'll pay for the damage," she said nervously, trying to pick up the shards of glass. He didn't say a word, just stared at her angrily with his head down and his eyebrows broken. She tried her best to pick up the shards of glass in her hands, and got up to hand them to him, but he didn't take them, so she just put them at the end of the bookshelf. "I don't think the photo was damaged," she said. "I, um, is that your brother? I don't believe I've seen him." Tan Aili's eyes widened when she heard her say that, and Karen suddenly became afraid of him.There were only the two of them on this floor, and all she knew of him personally was that many women refused to marry him.Was it because of his despicable prenuptial agreement or something else?Maybe it's because he has a violent temper? "I have to go." She whispered, then turned and ran out of his office. Karen didn't stop until she pressed the down button in the elevator.At this moment, all she wanted was to hide and go home, to return to the familiar environment to bury her embarrassment.To be caught breaking into the boss's office like a teenage girl!How could she do such a stupid thing? The elevator doors opened, and it was packed with people going to the party upstairs, and despite Karen's loud protests, they dragged her into the elevator and took her back to the venue. The first thing Karen sees is a waiter with a tray of champagne, and she pours two glasses at once.Now she felt much better and could calm her weary nerves.Yes, she was caught breaking into the boss's office, so what?Worse things can happen to a person.After three drinks, she had managed to convince herself that nothing had happened at all. Now there was a woman standing in front of her with a beeping little boy in her arms, carrying a large diaper bag and trying desperately to open a pushchair. "Can I help?" Karen asked. "Oh, may I trouble you?" the woman replied, letting go of the stroller, obviously thinking that Karen was going to help her with this. But Karen took the baby from her arms and held on tight. "He usually doesn't like strangers, but he likes you." The woman smiled. "Would you mind babysiting him for a while? I want to get something to eat." Karen hugged the boy tightly, and the boy would rub his milk-scented head against her shoulder. She whispered, "I will always take care of him." When Boren heard this, his face turned pale with shock.She snatched the baby from Karen's arms and hurried away. A few minutes ago Karen thought she had never been so embarrassed in her life, but now it was worse than getting caught breaking into the office. "What's the matter with you?" Karen hissed to himself, then strode towards the elevator.She was going home now, and never set foot outside the house again for the rest of her life. As soon as she stepped into the elevator, she remembered that she had left her purse and coat in her office on the ninth floor.If it wasn't for the zero temperature outside and the car keys in her wallet, she would probably be fine, but now she has to go back and get her things.She leaned her head back against the wall, knowing that she had too much to drink, and she knew that she would not be able to keep her job after Christmas.As long as Aili Tan told his terrible secretary, Miss Ge, that he had caught an unknown woman in the office--Karen was sure that the great and busy Aili Tan had never looked at someone of her low status-she would definitely be killed. expulsion. On the elevator wall is a copper plate listing the names of all the Tams who work in the building.It seems that Rita's new comrade-in-arms is not idle, there is a piece of paper with Tan Aili's name on it, which reads "Fantastic and Charming Tan Aili".Karen smiled and took out a pen from her pocket, and changed it to "Nervous and arrogant are really weak". I don't know if it was because of drinking or getting angry, but when the elevator stopped, she already felt much better.But she didn't want to meet Mr. Tan again.She blocked the door with her hand, and looked carefully up and down the corridor to see if anyone was nearby.no one.She tiptoed across the carpeted corridor to the secretary's room, tried not to make any noise, picked up the coat on the back of the chair and the wallet in the drawer.Before she left, she went to Miss Zhan's drawer to get the shorthand.That would give her a job to pass the time during the Christmas holidays. "Are you rummaging through other people's things again?" Karen rested her hand on the drawer handle, and she knew who it was without looking up.Tan Aili.If she hadn't drunk so much, she would have politely excused herself, but since she was convinced she was going to be fired anyway, she didn't care. "Sorry for breaking into your office. I was sure you must have gone out and proposed." She tried her best to look arrogant and inviolable, trying to stride past him. "You don't like me very much, do you?" She turned and looked straight into his eyes, those deep, thickly browed eyes that would make all the women in the office melt with desire.Those eyes didn't do much for Karen, because she kept seeing the tears of the women he'd dumped. "I typed your last three prenuptial agreements. I know your true face." He looked confused. "I thought it was Miss Ge—" "Could she risk breaking her fingernails on the keyboard? It's unlikely!" Karen said, then swept past him and walked towards the elevator. But Tan Aili grabbed her arm. For a moment, fear ran through her body.What did she really know about this man?There was no one else on this floor except the two of them, and if she screamed, no one would hear her. Seeing her eyes, he froze and let go of her arm. "Mrs. Luo, I can assure you that I have absolutely no intention of hurting you." "How do you know who I am?" He looked at her with a smile. "After you left, I made a few calls to find out about you." "You're spying on me?" she asked, terrified. "Just curious. Just like you were curious about my office." Karen took another step toward the elevator, but was caught by him again. "Wait a minute, Mrs. Luo, I want to offer you a job during the Christmas holidays." Karen was desperately pressing the elevator button, and he stood very close, looking down at her. "What job? Married to you?" "In a way, yes," he replied, looking her up and down. Karen pushes the button so hard, it's strange that she doesn't poke the button into the wall. "Mrs. Luo, I'm not eating your tofu, I'm offering you a job. A legal job, you can get a salary, and it's a pretty good salary." Karen continued pressing the buttons and checking to see how many floors the elevator had reached.Both elevators stopped at the floor where the party was being held. "I found out that you were working overtime the last two Christmases. No one else would. I also found out that you are the iceberg beauty in the company. Once a man leaned next to you and asked you for a date, and it turned out You stapled his tie to the desk." Karen blushed and did not look at him. "Mrs. Luo," he said stiffly, as if the words were very difficult for him to say. "No matter what you think of me, I believe you will never hear that I have behaved improperly towards women who were employed by me. I want to offer you a job. It is an unusual job, yes, but Absolutely no malice. If I did anything to make you feel less innocent, then I apologize." He turned and walked away. Karen watched helplessly as an elevator went straight down from the twelfth floor to the first floor without stopping at the ninth floor.She turned her head unwillingly to look at his leaving back.Suddenly, the empty home appeared before her, with almost nothing under the tiny Christmas tree.No matter how disapproving she may be of Tan Aili's way of treating women in private, he has always treated his employees with respect.Even if a female colleague tried her best to lure him into a trap, he never fell for it.Two years ago, a secretary claimed that Tan Aili took advantage of her, but she only aroused ridicule from everyone, and she changed jobs and left three weeks later. Karen took a deep breath and ran after her. "Okay, I'll just listen to you." Ten minutes later, she was sitting comfortably in Tan Aili's beautiful office. There was a fire in the fireplace, and the light from the fire reflected on the table piled up with delicious food and champagne, which was very pleasant.At first Karen wanted to resist the temptation, but the thought of telling Anne that she had shared lobster and champagne with the boss made her eat it. While Karen was eating, Tan Aili spoke. "I think you've heard about Lisa." "The one with the red hair?" "Well, the one with the red hair." He poured wine for her. "In two days' time, on December 24th, Lisa and I were due to go to Virginia for the wedding of a good friend of mine. It was a grand wedding, with over six hundred guests from all over the world. Come from all over the world to watch the ceremony.” He looked at her without saying a word, and didn't speak for a while. "So?" she asked. "What do you want me to do? Type a prenuptial agreement for your friend?" Ali spread foie gras on a biscuit and handed it to her. "Now I don't have a fiancée." Karen took a sip of her drink, then reached for the biscuit. "Excuse my ignorance, I don't see what this has to do with me." "You should be able to wear that dress." Probably because her mind was a little unclear after drinking, it took her a while to understand, and she laughed. "You want me to pretend to be your fiancée, to be a bridesmaid for a woman I've never met, and she's never met me?" "That's right." "How many bottles of this champagne did you drink?" Ali smiled. "I'm not drunk, and I'm serious. Want to know more details?" Karen's mind told her it was time to go home and leave this madman alone, but who was waiting for her at home?She doesn't even have a cat that only needs her. "I am listening." "I don't know if you've heard, three years ago I..." He hesitated for a moment, blinking his eyelashes, she thought he looked quite attractive. "Three years ago I was dumped at my own wedding by the woman I was going to spend my life with." Karen drank her drink down. "Did she find you unwilling to commit to sharing your worldly wealth with her?" Ali sat there dumbfounded, and after a while he smiled what could only be described as a bright smile.Karen couldn't help blinking; he was so charming with his black hair and dark eyes and a faint smile on one cheek.No wonder so many women are swooning over him. "Mrs. Luo, I think you and I can get along well." This sentence made Karen wary.She has to draw the line now. "I'm afraid not, I don't believe your story of a miserable little boy at all. I don't know what happened to your wedding or why the women wouldn't marry you, but I can tell you You promise, I'm definitely not like some other lovesick secretary who thinks you're 'love-broken'. I think you're—" She stopped before giving too much away. He showed a surprised expression. "Do you think I'm 'deserving to be dumped' or 'nervous and incompetent'? Well, at least now I know who the anonymous writer in the company is." Karen was too embarrassed to speak—how did he find out so quickly? He looked at her for a while, and then he put away the expression on his face that was pretending to be small and pitiful, and replaced it with an expression that was honest with his friend. "What happened between Elaine and me at that time is not known to outsiders, but this time the groom is her relative, so she will also attend the wedding. If I show up alone, everyone knows that I was dumped by my fiancée again. It's embarrassing to say anything. In addition, there are problems with the wedding itself, since there are seven best men, but only six bridesmaids, some people will find it strange." "You can spend money to hire one, just hire an actress." "I thought about it, but God knows who it will be? Maybe she will audition for Lady Macbeth at the wedding banquet, maybe she will have secret relationships with more than half of the male guests, you say How embarrassing that is." "Mr. Tan, I believe you must have a list of women who are willing to go anywhere with you and be at your mercy." "That's the trouble. Those are... well, they all like me, and after that... um..." "I see. You worry about how to get rid of them. Of course you can ask them to marry you, which has always been a way to make women give up on you forever." "Look, you're the perfect person. Anyone who sees the way you look at me will know it's over. No one will be surprised when I announce we're done in a week." "What good does that do me?" "I'll pay you, the price is up to you." "Are you going to give me one of the engagement rings you ordered?" She knew it was reckless to say so, but the champagne gave her courage, and the more rude she was to him, the brighter his eyes sparkled. "Bite! Is that what other people say about me?" "Stop pretending to be pitiful in front of me. I typed those prenuptial agreements, remember? I know your true face." "What kind of true face?" "Can't trust people, and probably don't have the capacity to love. You love the idea of ​​getting married, but the fact that you share yourself with another person, especially your money, scares you. Honestly, it seems to me that you don't Do not share anything with anyone." He stared at her for a while, then finally smiled. "You really saw me through. Even though I was so cold and heartless, it was very embarrassing for me to blatantly dump me like Elaine. The wedding cost me thirty-two thousand dollars, and I couldn't get a dime. Come back, and I have to return all the gifts I received." She refused to give him sympathy, and repeated: "What good is it for me? I don't want money, I have it myself." "Yes, the exact number is fifty-two thousand and three eighty-eight cents." Karen nearly choked on the champagne. "How do you—" "My family owns the bank in this building. I figured you probably kept your money here, so I checked the files after you left my office." "You're secretly investigating me again!" "I'm curious. I want to check your background. I'm going to hire you especially because it's a fairly personal job, so I want to know more about you. Besides, I like to know more about women besides appearance. He took a sip of champagne from his glass and looked at her with the eyes of a romantic hero looking at a helpless girl. But Karen was unmoved.The difference between the way other men looked at her and the one she had once looked at her with love was everything. "I understand why women are responsive to your every request." She finished speaking coldly and raised her glass to him. Her keeping her distance made him smile genuinely. "Okay, I can see that you are not impressed by me, so let's talk about business now, Mrs. Luo. I want to hire you as my female companion for three days. Because I want you, you can ask for any price .” Karen drank from her glass.What cup is this, the sixth cup?No matter how many drinks it took, she just felt courageous now. "Even if I agree, what I want is not money." "Okay, I see. So what do you want? A promotion? A secretary? Maybe you want to be a vice president?" "And just sit in a daze in an office with a window every day? No, thanks." Ali blinked, waiting for her to continue.As a result, she didn't make a sound, so he asked: "You want the company's shares? Isn't that right?" She remained silent, and he leaned back in his chair to look at her carefully. "You want what money can't buy, don't you?" "Yes." She said softly. He stared at her for a long time. "Let me guess what money can't buy, is it happiness?" Karen shook her head. "Could it be love? Of course you don't want love from someone like me, do you?" His expression was blank. "I'm afraid I can't guess your mind." "a child." Allie spilled champagne on the chest of his shirt when he heard this.As he rubbed, he looked at her with interest. "Oh, Mrs. Luo, this is much better than asking me to pay for it." He wanted to grab her hand, and she immediately grabbed a sharp fish knife in her hand. "Do not touch me." Ai Li leaned back and added more wine to their glasses. "Can you enlighten me, if I don't touch you, how can I give you a child?" "Use a jar." "Ah, I see. You want a test-tube baby." He lowered his voice, and his eyes turned to sympathy. "Your eggs—" "My eggs are completely fine, thank you for your concern." She said angrily. "I don't want to put my eggs in the jar, but I want you to put your... yours... in the jar." "Yes, now I understand." He looked at her as he sipped his wine. "It's just that I don't understand why you came to me? I mean, you don't like me and you don't think I'm a good person. Why would you want me to be your child's father?" "Two reasons. If I'm not looking for you, I'll have to pick a man from the clinic's computer database. That man may be healthy, but what about his relatives? Whatever I think of you, your family is very nice." and, according to the local papers, for generations. Also, I know what you and your relatives look like." "It seems that I am not the only one who is secretly investigating. What about the second reason?" "If it's your child, at least you won't come to me for money in the future." This statement seemed too unbelievable to Ali, and for a long time he just sat there blinking his eyes in bewilderment.Finally he laughed heartily. "Mrs. Luo, I really believe that we will get along very well." He held out his right hand. "Okay, then we've settled for that." Karen let his big warm hand hold her own, and allowed herself to look into his eyes, which were narrowed in laughter. Suddenly she pulled her hand away again. "Shall I make an appointment?" she asked. "My car will pick you up at six tomorrow morning, and we'll take the first flight to New York." "I thought your friend lived in Virginia," she asked suspiciously. "True, but I think we should go to New York and get you some clothes first," he said bluntly, as if she were a poorly clad native found by him, the great white hunter. Karen hid her face behind the glass of champagne so he wouldn't see her expression. "Oh, I see. As far as I can see, you like your fiancée to have her hair done and her clothes sharp." "Aren't all men like this?" "That's the case with men who only look at appearances." "Bite!" Karen blushed. "I apologize. If I'm going to pretend to be your fiancée, I'll have to try and control my tongue." She gave him a hard look. "Should I not have to pretend to spoil you, baby?" "Since none of the women I've been engaged to have done that, I see no reason why you should. Have some more champagne, Mrs. Law." "No, thank you." Karen said and stood up, the soles of her feet managed to keep from slipping.Champagne, firelight, and the dark-haired man with warm eyes are not easy for women to remember the vow of chastity. "I'll see you at the airport tomorrow, but there's really no need to stop in New York." He opened his mouth to speak, but she smiled faintly. "Trust me in the coffin." "Okay," he said, raising his glass. "Tomorrow." Karen left the room, packed her things, and took the elevator downstairs.She felt that she was not stable enough to drive, so she asked the security staff to call a taxi to drive her to a small shopping center south of Denver. "Bonnie?" Karen called tentatively when she saw a woman locking the door in front of the beauty salon.Bonnie's hair couldn't tell whether it was dyed apricot or peach, but it was a very unusual color. "Who is it?" the woman asked, turning around, she didn't show any recognition when she saw Karen. "Don't you remember me?" Bonnie seemed a little puzzled, and finally she smiled happily with a clear and delicate face. "Karen? Is that really you? Those...those..." "Hair," Karen said for her. "You might say it's hair, but it doesn't look like it to me. Look at your face! Did you go off to be a nun? That's why it's all bare?" Karen laughed.After marrying Ray, having Bonnie do her hair and serve as a beauty and beauty consultant was one of her few luxuries.Not only is Bonnie a great hairstylist, she's almost a therapist for her clients—and she's as tight-lipped as a professional therapist is.Everyone knew that anything could be told to Bonnie, and she would never let it out. "Can you do my hair?" Karen asked shyly. "Of course. Call tomorrow morning and—" "No, I have to do it now. I have a flight to catch early tomorrow morning." Bonnie would not accept such an unreasonable request. "I have a husband waiting for me at home who hasn't eaten yet, and I've been standing for nine hours. You should have come earlier." "Can I bribe you with a story? A really good one?" Bonnie seemed a little unimpressed. "How wonderful?" "Do you know my handsome boss? Tan Aili? I will probably give birth to his child. He hasn't touched me, and he won't touch me in the future." Bonnie put the key back in the lock without hesitation. "I reckon you'll have to do your hair most of the night." "What about your husband?" "Let him eat canned food by himself!"