Jiang Yue had officially decided that boardrooms were dangerous places, it was even more tense than how her nerves felt like a wreck, yesterday when he picked her up from the cafe, the whole car ride home was too tense for her, the silence almost melted her ..
Not because of falling chandeliers or exploding coffee machines (although, knowing her luck, those were still possibilities), but because of him.
Li Zhenkai sat at the head of the long mahogany table like a king presiding over his court. His tailored black suit was immaculate, his sharp gaze unyielding. And the air in the room was so heavy, Jiang Yue swore she could see the poor rival executive at the far end of the table sweating for his life.
"You thought I wouldn't find out?"
Li Zhenkai's voice was calm. Too calm.
The kind of calm that meant someone's career was about to be publicly buried.
The rival stammered. "C–CEO Li, this is a misunderstanding, I—"
"Silence."
Li Zhenkai slid a file across the table. It opened perfectly in front of the man, revealing pages of evidence. Numbers. Email trails. Contracts. Every single piece of proof of his betrayal.
Jiang Yue, sitting discreetly in her "assistant chair" (a.k.a. her lucky three-meter radius), nearly choked on her water.
He was terrifying.
And… kind of hot.
She quickly slapped herself mentally. Focus, Jiang Yue. Survival, not swooning.
The rival executive turned pale as a ghost. "I… I can explain—"
"No explanation needed," Li Zhenkai said with an ice-cold smile that didn't reach his eyes. "You're finished. Xu Jianyu are you done?"
One of the men seated to his right—a tall, broad-shouldered man in an expensive gray suit—looked up from his papers.
Xu Jianyu, legal counsel. Calm, sharp-eyed, and exuding "older brother who will scold you and also bail you out of jail" energy.
"Already drafting the lawsuit," Xu Jianyu said flatly.
The rival executive looked like he might faint.
Li Zhenkai turned to another man lounging casually in his chair, a mischievous grin tugging at his lips.
Fang Zixuan. Charming, flirtatious, and irritatingly good looking, the kind of man who looked like he'd rather be on a yacht than in a boardroom.
"Want me to leak it to the press?" Fang asked, swirling his coffee lazily. "I know a reporter who'd love this story."
"Not yet," Li Zhenkai replied.
Finally, the third man silent, sharp eyed, Qin Yunze,rested his chin on one hand. He didn't speak, he was like a total different guy from yesterday cafe incident but the faint smirk tugging at his lips was enough to make the rival executive visibly sweat harder.
The three of them, Jiang Yue realized, were like wolves circling their prey. And Li Zhenkai was the alpha.
---
As Jiang Yue watched the scene unfold, the system in her head pinged:
[Luck Boost Active: Fatality Risk 38%.]
[Affinity: +2.]
But then
Li Zhenkai's eyes flicked toward her.
Just for a second.
And suddenly—
[Affinity: -1.]
Jiang Yue's heart dropped.
Wait… what?!
She stared at the floating stat screen only she could see. It dipped again the moment Fang Zixuan leaned over and whispered something teasing in her direction.
Li Zhenkai's jaw tightened imperceptibly.
Affinity dropped another point.
Oh no.
Her brain scrambled for a logical explanation. He must be mad at me!
That was the only explanation!
It couldn't possibly be jealousy. No, that was absurd. This was Iceberg CEO. He didn't feel things. He probably didn't even know what the word "jealousy" meant.
"Jiang Yue," Li Zhenkai's voice cut through her panic.
She jolted. "Y-Yes, boss?"
"Take notes," he said, perfectly composed.
She nodded so fast her hair almost smacked her in the face.
Meanwhile, Fang Zixuan leaned toward Qin Yunze and murmured, "He's glaring every time she talks to someone else. Should we tell her?"
Qin Yunze smirked. "No. This is entertaining."
Even Xu Jianyu cracked a rare smile. "Let him suffer a little."
"Security," Li Zhenkai said, standing smoothly.
Two guards appeared like ghosts.
"Remove him."
The rival executive was dragged out of the room, defeated and broken.
Li Zhenkai adjusted his cufflinks with calm precision and sat back down. "Next agenda item."
If Jiang Yue hadn't been attached to her chair by sheer self-preservation instinct, she might have applauded.
Instead, she wrote down in her notes:
Li Zhenkai: Scary. But also hot. Stop thinking about this.
The system pinged.
> [New Objective: Survive CEO Crush.]
Jiang Yue groaned quietly.
After the Meeting as the boardroom cleared, Fang Zixuan strolled up to her, flashing a grin. "Hey, lucky girl. You survived another meeting without fainting. Congratulations."
She scowled. "I'm not lucky. I'm cursed."
"Semantics," Fang said cheerfully.
Xu Jianyu gave her a once-over, his expression calm but slightly suspicious, like he couldn't quite figure her out yet. "You're different," he said bluntly.
Jiang Yue blinked. "Different how?"
"Less useless than I expected," he said.
"…Thanks?"
Qin Yunze, of course, just stood there looking quietly amused at the entire exchange.
And then Li Zhenkai's sharp voice cut through the chatter.
"Jiang Yue."
She flinched. "Y-Yes, boss?"
"Three meters," he reminded her.
Right. The contract. The stupid, humiliating contract.
She shuffled back into range, and like clockwork
[Luck Boost Restored.]
Jiang Yue sighed, Survival was exhausting and complicated.
Especially when the Iceberg CEO who terrified the entire boardroom also somehow made her heartbeat do backflips