After Qin Tiewei left, Chen Huan sat on his bed clutching Yu Xiansheng—his fat finless rag-fish with its eternally gaping mouth. He stroked the worn fabric like it could calm him down, but his hand still shook as he dialed a number he knew by heart.
"Doufu," Chen Huan's father's warm voice filled the apartment, calling him by his childhood nickname that had never quite gone away.
Chen Huan's lips trembled at the sound.
"Have you decided when you're coming home? Grandma's already excited to see you."
"Ba… I'm going back to work at QinX."
Silence on the other end, then gently: "How come?"
"They want me back, Ba," Chen Huan's grip tightened against the rag-fish, "My boss came down here to look for me."
"The same idiot who wouldn't give you a week off?"
Chen Huan smacked his lips in frustration, like his father should already have all the information. "Not him, ba. President Qin."
"What?"
"I know," Chen Huan chuckled at the shock in his father's voice, most of the anxiety slipping away. "I've only been away three days, and everything is falling apart without me. I feel like a superstar."
"I… I had no idea he 'actually' knew you."
"Me neither. I thought Mr. Liu would just hire someone else after I quit. But the algorithm's too complex. Not that many people can write it. He must've been forced to confess."
"So… Qin Tiewei, golden boy of one of the wealthiest families in the country…."
Chen Huan rubbed his temples. He knew where this was going.
"...Who's going to be the owner of Qinhai someday…"
He rolled his eyes.
"...The brand behind roughly eighty percent of the phones in this nation."
He nodded as if his father could see him.
"Qin Tiewei…
"The founder of QinX, the software startup everyone is raving about… was in that pigsty you call an apartment?"
Chen groaned and threw himself back on the bed. I knew that's where this man was headed. He sat back up. "Ba, I was so mortified, I didn't know when I slammed the door on his face."
"En?" His father's voice carried the exact amount of shock he'd felt.
"I tidied up so fast… honestly, my room's never looked cleaner," his mind drifted to the way Qin Tiewei's eyes had swept every inch of the room with razor-sharp disgust, and a blush crept up his cheek, "he might've also seen… me… through my boxer shorts."
"Aiya!"
"I wanted to die, ba."
His dad's laugh crackled through the line, hearty and amused.
Chen Huan groaned, hitting his face with the rag-fish.
As the laughter died, the man's voice softened. "Are you sure you're ready to go back?"
"Ba… Qin Tiewei knows my name." He smiled wistfully.
"Aiya!" his dad sighed on the other end.
"What?"
"Do you have a crush on him?"
Chen Huan stayed silent. He wanted to deny it. Finally, the words tumbled out. "Ba… It's as if the heavens create rich people from a different mold. His face… It's so… handsome. His eyes… they're… they're dark and intense and they— his accent is so posh," he chuckled, "he smells so… clean… and nice," he exhaled, his voice softening. "He's so beautiful, ba. I don't think anyone's ever seen him and stayed the same."
"Chen Huan. Is he even into—"
"It's my crush, ba. It has nothing to do with him, does it?"
"Son."
"Ba, I'll be okay, I promise. He's straight," he bit his lip, "Even if he weren't, he'd still be miles out of my league."
His father exhaled. "You shouldn't put yourself in close proximity with someone you like, but can't have."
Chen Huan chuckled. "You're worrying as if this is the first time I've had a crush on him."
"It's not?"
"I've worked there for over a year now, ba. It's happened once or twice before. They always fade away just as quickly. This will be just as fleeting as the rest," he bit down on his lips again.
Although his dad said nothing, Chen Huan could hear the words his silence spoke. "I know this time he was face-to-face with me, but it might very well be the last time. There's no logical reason for us to ever share the same space."
Chen Huan's dad stayed silent.
"He said he needed me, ba. I don't have a choice. I can't let him down."
Finally, the man on the other end spoke. "Okay, son."
Chen Huan smiled. "He also said I should come back tomorrow with my list of demands. What do you think I should ask for?"
"I don't know, son… A salary might be nice. Your weekly allowance is killing me."
"Ba!" Chen Huan pouted. "I'm your son, you have to take care of me no matter what."
"I know, I know. I won't complain again."
"You think they'll give me a weekly salary?"
"Nobody does that, son."
"I'll ask for a weekly salary."
"Well…"
"I also don't want to answer to Mr. Liu anymore. He's an asshole. Took credit for my work. Wouldn't give me time off to mourn my dog. Do you think he'll make me Lead Software Engineer instead of Mr. Liu?"
"Do you want to be the Lead Software Engineer? Managing people—"
"Manage people? I'm not going to 'manage' anyone."
"That's the Lead Software Engineer's work, isn't it?"
"He's supposed to write code, too. But Mr. Liu doesn't do anything. Just delegates work and prances around like he owns the company."
"That…"
"I'll ask to be Lead Software Engineer. But without any administrative duties. Mr. Liu can stay on as Asst. Lead Software Engineer. With all the administrative duties," he paused, "Do you think they'll fire him if I ask?"
"Don't overestimate your own value."
"You're the one underestimating my value, ba. President Qin came to me himself."
"While you're at it… Do you want to request a private jet?"
Chen Huan chuckled. "Don't be unreasonable, ba."
Chen Huan's dad laughed.
Then he spoke, "I have to go now, son. My next class is in fifteen minutes. If I don't get there on time, these insolent students might leave."
"Okay, ba."
"Son. Remember to process your attraction to this man in a healthy way, okay?"
"Okay, ba."
"I love you, son."
"I love you too, ba."
As the call ended, Chen Huan opened his laptop and Baidu-ed Qin Tiewei. The results showed links that had been visited multiple times in the last year.
He clicked on an image and studied Qin Tiewei's face. Everything is so symmetrical. That's why he's so good-looking.
'Process my attraction to him in a healthy way,' he echoed his father's parting words in his head.
With a sigh, he opened a drawer on his nightstand. A small pink dildo and a much bigger green one peeked at him. He moved them aside and reached for a diary, then he started scribbling.
'His eyes fell on me, and I couldn't tell what that look was; disgust or just unbridled hatred. It didn't matter really because in that moment, all I wanted was for him to slam me on the bed and enter me. One hand wrapped around my neck, he would thrust all of his frustration in and out of me, hating me differently. Harder and harder again until we both reached release. And he would look at me. And he would love. I want him to love me so bad that it almost hurts."
He bit his lip as he reread the entry. Healthy enough? With a sigh, he returned the diary to the drawer.
Instead of closing the laptop, he pulled up a video from the internet: Qin Tiewei's appearance on Wang Baifen's podcast from about a month ago.
"Mr. Liu built the algorithm for our flagship app, the Qihe Dating App," Qin Tiewei's voice filled the room. "The algorithm is so good, 9 in 10 people find their life partners on their first match."
Chen Huan hissed. Fucking Mr. Liu. I coded every line of that app's algorithm myself. Normally, this was the part where he slammed the laptop shut in fury. Not today, though.
Qin Tiewei continued speaking on the screen. "Although AI prompt-powered no-code builders already exist, this will be the first of its kind."
"What's its wow-factor?" Wang Baifen asked, her voice unusually chirpy. Chen Huan frowned at it. Just another one of President Qin's victims.
"This builder will follow in the footsteps of our dating app. The goal is simple: one prompt. A single sentence — 'I want an online store.' From that, the app will accurately predict what you want: the niche, the color palette, even the brand name and logo."
"Is that possible?" Wang Baifen's eyes widened in astonishment.
Qin Tiewei smiled. Confident and sure. "With my amazing dev team by my side, everything is possible."
Chen Huan felt a warmth spread in his chest. Since you said you need me, I won't let you lose face, President Qin.