The sudden gentleness felt even more unreal.
It was more like a one-of-a-kind offering specially prepared just for her.
Fang Nianchen stared blankly at Yu Wan. A ray of sunlight climbed onto the glass photo frame at the corner of the desk, and the refracted light happened to shine on her face.
It made her smile appear warm.
Reluctant to let go.
These three words could imply many different meanings. Her instinctive wariness made her lean toward thinking that President Yu was reluctant to let go of such a reliable workforce.
But her defenses weren’t airtight. In an instant, fine bubbles enveloped her once more, making her heart bob up and down.
Fang Nianchen silently met her gaze for a few seconds, watching Yu Wan’s eyes flicker. Suddenly, her chest felt stuffy.
She was reluctant to see her leave, right?
In the end, she was just an ordinary person with all the emotions anyone else had. There was no need to deliberately avoid them or force herself to always assume the worst of people.
She should accept those explanations that seemed absurd but were perfectly reasonable in this moment.
Just like when Group Leader Su had asked if she had any reason to stay in HR, the first person who came to mind was Yu Wan—and only her.
She didn’t know when it started, but Fang Nianchen had begun looking forward faintly to coming to the company, and she knew exactly who was drawing her in: Yu Wan.
Though it was only a few steps away, she couldn’t casually ask Director Yu about work matters, couldn’t care for her as a “good subordinate,” and it was hard to see her so serious and cautious at work.
Distance didn’t necessarily breed beauty—even if it did, it was only highlighted by hardship.
Stripping away the colleague facade, approaching Yu Wan in any other role wouldn’t feel right.
After hearing so many words and thinking so many thoughts, her mind was a mess. The decision she made wasn’t about right or wrong—it just wasn’t one she liked right now.
Suddenly, she felt that if Yu Wan had said something like this earlier, she really wouldn’t have left.
No matter who Yu Wan liked or what role she wanted to have with her—even if it was Fang Nianchen unilaterally falling for her again—the consequences were bearable, weren’t they?
Choosing to like someone was a decision that made her happy.
Just like right now, she was really enjoying the joy that came from hearing Yu Wan say she was reluctant to let her go.
So, looking at her, Fang Nianchen showed the first genuine smile she’d had in days, and a somewhat unusual thought arose.
This time, she wanted to clarify if Senior Yu’s understanding of “reluctant” matched her own.
With a shallow breath, she steeled her resolve and opened her mouth: “Then what do you hope I…”
“Knock knock—”
The office door was knocked on, and the courage she’d barely mustered deflated. Fang Nianchen licked her dry lips, her unfinished words turning into silence.
Do you hope I stay?
It’s okay. I could stay for you.
But these words couldn’t be said to Yu Wan anymore.
Yu Wan glanced at her in confusion and said indifferently, “Come in.”
Zuo Anfeng pushed the door open: “President Yu, the board of directors…”
As he spoke, he spotted Fang Nianchen and paused deliberately, as if there was something inconvenient for her to hear.
Yu Wan understood and turned to instruct Fang Nianchen, “You can head back first.”
In an instant, she was back to being the stern Director Yu.
Fang Nianchen nodded, flashed a smile and greeting at Zuo Anfeng, then retreated and closed the door behind her.
For the first time, the office area was free of people slacking off and wandering around. Aside from the tapping of keyboards and the occasional sound of work calls, there were no discordant noises.
Passing by the intern’s desk, Fang Nianchen glanced over. The faint redness around the girl’s eyes had faded—no trace of crying left.
She continued inside, sat back at her workstation, and slipped the signed application from Yu Wan into a folder.
She thought, there wasn’t much work left. She’d wrap things up over the next few days, then pack her things.
As she thought that, she glanced at her desk and suddenly felt inexplicably irritated.
Today, her desk looked especially cluttered, with three bags casually tossed on it. She recognized the white plastic one—it was the breakfast Xiang Xiaoyun had brought that morning to apologize. But the other two…
“Xiao Yan.” With no other choice—the office was too quiet—Fang Nianchen crept over to Qiao Yan like a thief for the first time, hunching down and poking her arm.
“Holy shit!” Qiao Yan was fully focused on the data on her computer screen. Catching a head leaning over from the corner of her eye, she jolted up from her chair.
The motion was so big that her hand banged against the desk with a loud thud that sounded painful.
“Hiss—” Qiao Yan sucked in a breath from the pain, gritting her teeth as she scolded Fang Nianchen. “Are you trying to scare me to death?!”
“Sorry, sorry…” Fang Nianchen laughed guiltily and appeasingly. “Who knew you’d be so serious.”
“Huh?” Qiao Yan was displeased. “What the hell?”
Get scolded by the boss for slacking, and now her best friend was calling her out for being serious? What kind of world was this!
Fang Nianchen didn’t play along, leaving her without an outlet for her frustration. She asked straightforwardly, “All this stuff on my desk—who sent it?”
“The white bag, I don’t know. The coffee shop one was breakfast that President Yu treated everyone to. You know, same routine as last week to soothe everyone’s hearts. The dim sum was from that little sister for you.” Qiao Yan pointed to the workstation at the far end. “The new girl.”
“Why send it to me?”
“You ask me, who do I ask? Isn’t it because your ladyship has a heart of gold and helped her out?” Qiao Yan’s guess wasn’t baseless. In her memory, Fang Nianchen didn’t actively mingle, but if anyone came asking for help, her face was thinner than rice paper—she’d agree every time.
And she had another quirk: she never remembered the favors she did, so when people came to thank her, she’d innocently ask why.
Just like now.
Qiao Yan teased, “Stop emitting that charm of yours with nowhere to go. Gonna attract another string of little sisters?”
Fang Nianchen suddenly shot her a glare.
Where was a string coming from? And she wasn’t emitting any charm!
“So what’s in the white bag?” Qiao Yan valued fairness. After clearing up her confusion, she tossed her own question back.
“It’s from Xiang Xiaoyun. She thought I was mad and brought it as an apology.” Fang Nianchen gave a rough summary— the story was a bit long and complicated to explain.
She glanced at Qiao Yan and added, “Stop. Don’t ask.”
Qiao Yan had just taken a breath to bombard her with questions, but this choked her up, nearly making her cough on her own saliva. “Wait… what’s going on between you two?”
She’d long felt that Xiang Xiaoyun’s curiosity about Fang Nianchen was beyond normal. They chatted every day, but Xiang Xiaoyun couldn’t go three sentences without bringing her up. She pried in detail—Fang Nianchen’s birthday, zodiac, preferences—and when interested, made Qiao Yan recount her past glorious deeds.
Qiao Yan knew Fang Nianchen’s personality inside out: she always said half and hid half. She hadn’t told Xiang Xiaoyun she liked girls.
But now it felt off. Could someone be interested in another for no reason?
“What’s going on with what?” Playing riddles, Fang Nianchen was even more confused about what she meant.
“Isn’t she a bit too concerned about you? Just ordinary colleagues, but she asks me about you all the time. Has she got a crush?”
Fang Nianchen looked at her speechlessly, wanting her to stop wild-guessing, but the words at her lips turned into: “I’m not made of gold. What if she’s just gossipy?”
She didn’t have billions in assets to make everyone like her.
“What if she really does like you?” Qiao Yan crossed her arms over her chest, pretending to ponder. “Worthy of investigation.”
After all, she’d seen in high school just how likable Fang Nianchen was.
“Don’t bother investigating. Wrong gauge for your meter.” Fang Nianchen glanced at her computer when she had a chance and spotted the issue at once.
“Huh?” Qiao Yan’s eyes widened. She clasped her hands together devoutly. “Thank you, Boss Fang, for saving my dog life!”
She’d remembered the requirement wrong and would’ve kept messing up. Rework was minor; getting hauled in by President Yu for a scolding would be death.
Grateful, Qiao Yan scooted back to her computer to fix it and dropped the Xiang Xiaoyun topic, allowing Fang Nianchen to finally extricate herself.
Zuo Anfeng stayed in the director’s office for a long time before coming out. Fang Nianchen didn’t plan to bring up the interrupted words to Yu Wan anymore—there was no way to recapture that atmosphere for courage.
But she’d opened up a bit now and didn’t want to draw such clear lines with Yu Wan anymore.
Like or not like—keeping things as they were was fine. That was her final choice.
Lunch break hadn’t arrived yet, but during a mid-morning break, Fang Nianchen ran into the intern who’d sent her the dim sum at the restroom door.
By normal college graduation age, she was a year older than Fang Nianchen.
But by company seniority, Fang Nianchen had joined half a year earlier.
Unsure of the proper address for a moment, Fang Nianchen just stood there: “Hello?”
Afraid of startling her, she tried to smile.
“Huh?!” Clearly not expecting to run into Fang Nianchen here, the girl widened her eyes and even stepped back. “W-what’s up?”
She was quite flustered, her gaze deliberately avoiding Fang Nianchen as it darted to the ground nearby.
“This morning, you brought me some food. Could I trouble you to ask why?” Fang Nianchen patiently explained. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean anything else. I just feel like I haven’t really helped you with anything, so accepting your kindness like this doesn’t feel right.”
She truly couldn’t remember having any contact with this girl. Of course, maybe her recent condition wasn’t great, and she’d forgotten.
It was still that tear-incontinent girl from the morning, who seemed overly introverted. Her voice was soft and halting: “Last week… you helped explain to others that I’m new and don’t know a lot of things.”
“Everyone was so busy, I couldn’t find where to deliver the materials, and you took me there.”
The connections between her words were tenuous. If it weren’t for personal experience, it would be hard to piece them together.
Fang Nianchen racked her brains for a moment and finally recalled what she’d done.
Normally, she wouldn’t pay attention to other people’s business. It was just that the girl’s bewildered and uneasy look had made her glance a few more times.
It was just a coincidence.
When Fang Nianchen first joined HR, she hadn’t been tormented by the newbie phase.
For her, HR work was simple, and with Qiao Yan willing to guide her, her starting phase was very smooth. Now she handled it with ease, without any trouble in between.
But the people in HR weren’t exactly easy to get along with. Apart from Qiao Yan and Xiang Xiaoyun, the others maintained a lukewarm colleague relationship—that was the norm.
The adult world was full of indifference. She’d thought everyone could adapt as quickly as she did.
