The office was a hive of whispers.
Li Na felt them before she heard them, the way employees' conversations cut short when she entered the building, the sideways glances that lingered a little too long. The Director's new wife had become the company's most dangerous topic.
"Did you hear? She was abandoned at her own wedding."
"And now she's Mrs. Yen? Overnight?"
"Convenient, isn't it? From jilted bride to CEO's wife."
Their voices dropped when she passed, but the sting of their words clung like smoke.
In the elevator, she stood tall, refusing to shrink. She would not give them the satisfaction of seeing her break. Still, the humiliation burned hotter with every murmured word.
When the doors opened onto the executive floor, Gao Jie was waiting. The assistant's face was carefully neutral, but his eyes betrayed suspicion. "Mrs. Yen," he greeted, the title carrying the faintest edge. "The Director is in a meeting."
She nodded, brushing past him, her heels sharp against the polished floor.
Inside the boardroom, Yen Rui's voice was steady, commanding, as he addressed the directors. But when his eyes caught hers through the glass, something shifted, brief, subtle. A flicker of acknowledgment.
After the meeting, she waited. He joined her in his office, removing his jacket, unbothered by the weight of stares outside.
"They're talking about me," she said quietly, her voice laced with anger.
"They always will," he replied, pouring himself tea as if nothing mattered. "Power breeds curiosity. Curiosity breeds gossip. It is inevitable."
Her fists clenched. "They think I trapped you. That this marriage was some desperate grab for status."
Yen Rui finally looked at her, his gaze steady. "And does their opinion matter?"
"Yes," she snapped. "Because it matters to me."
Silence hung between them. Then, slowly, his lips curved but not in mockery, but in something sharper, more deliberate.
"Then let them talk," he said, his tone low, certain. "The louder their whispers, the stronger the truth we show them must be."
She stared at him, unsure whether to feel comforted or unsettled. He spoke as if reputation was another contract to be negotiated, another battle to be won.
Yet when he moved past her, his sleeve brushed her arm intentionally, steady and her breath faltered.
Outside, the rumors spread like wildfire. But inside, in the cold heart of the Director's office, the whispers no longer felt quite as loud.
Because for the first time, Li Na wondered if they weren't entirely wrong or if the marriage she had thought was empty paper and ink was already becoming something far more dangerous.