Volume 1, Chapter 42: Here to Apologize Again?

Xie Yanchen's hand paused. "What is she here for?"

Wang Zhengzhen shook his head. "Madam didn't say."

Su Wanning straightened her clothes and smiled. "Could she be here to apologize because she feels she was wrong just now? Oh, dear, people really need to keep their emotions stable. How can someone curse you out one second and come to apologize the next?"

Xie Yanchen narrowed his eyes and finally let out a cold snort. "Make her wait. Tell her I still have unfinished business."

Wang Zhengzhen thought to himself that the boss clearly had nothing to do, so why torture people like this?

However, he was merely a secretary responsible for relaying messages to the president; anything else was beyond his control and not his concern.

"Then, Brother Yanchen, perhaps I should leave first. If Sister sees us together, she might get upset again, and I'm afraid her emotions might spiral out of control once more."

Su Wanning stood up and said with apparent consideration.

Xie Yanchen replied, "There's no need. She already knows about our relationship. Why bother caring about her?"

A flash of cunning light crossed Su Wanning's eyes once again. She pretended to nod submissively, then deliberately knocked over the coffee cup in front of her.

Coffee stains splattered all over her. She panicked, stood up, and tried to wipe her dress with a tissue, but the stains wouldn't come off no matter how hard she tried.

Most concerningly, the coffee cup rolled back and forth along the edge of the desk. Xie Yanchen strode forward and hoisted Su Wanning up with one arm.

*Clatter.*

The coffee cup fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.

Su Wanning shrank back in fright. Looking back, she saw that the coffee cup had landed precisely on the spot where she had been standing just moments before.

Xie Yanchen tapped her nose with a look of mild displeasure. "Are clothes more important than you are?"

Su Wanning stuck out her tongue in embarrassment and coquettishly said, "I wasn't paying attention! But I'm so glad you're here~"

After saying this, she added, "Brother Yanchen, may I go inside and use your restroom? I'd like to change my clothes."

Xie Yanchen nodded. "Go ahead. I'll have Xiao Wang buy a few outfits for you. For now, you can wear my bathrobe."

Meanwhile, Su Wanqing had been waiting in the outer area for a full half-hour. After much consideration, she still felt that as Xie Kexin's father, regardless of whether he wanted to take responsibility or not, Xie Yanchen deserved to know the child's condition. That was why she had come to tell him the truth.

However, she had not expected to wait for so long.

She pressed her lips together, unwilling to wait any longer.

She originally intended to say goodbye to Wang Zhengzhen, but he was nowhere to be seen.

At that moment, as if sensing something, Xie Yanchen opened the door from the inside.

He leaned against the doorframe with his tie loosened, showing not a shred of guilt for making someone wait for so long.

"Come in," he said.

Su Wanqing followed behind him.

As soon as she stepped inside, she was greeted by a rich fragrance of perfume—the exact same scent she had smelled on Su Wanning that morning.

She paid it no mind, however, knowing from her phone call with Xie Yanchen earlier that Su Wanning was already in his office.

Judging by the indentation on the sofa, she could roughly tell where Su Wanning had been sitting. Perhaps driven by a trace of deliberate avoidance, she chose not to sit in the spot the other woman had occupied, opting instead for the sofa on the opposite side.

Xie Yanchen calmly sat back down in his executive chair, crossed his legs, glanced at Su Wanqing, and said, "Scolded me and now you're here to apologize?"

Su Wanqing: ? Who is apologizing to him?

She frowned slightly, intending to ask something, but caught sight of the residual lipstick mark on his lips. Her heart skipped a beat, and she went straight to the point. "Kexin is sick."

Hearing her bring up Xie Kexin yet again, a sudden surge of annoyance rose within Xie Yanchen. He sneered, "If she's sick, go to the hospital. Why are you telling me?"

His attitude was chillingly indifferent, as though Xie Kexin were not his daughter at all, but a total stranger entirely unworthy of concern.

Su Wanqing swallowed her anger, pushed his attitude aside, and continued, "She has a vascular malformation in her brain and needs six months of radiotherapy."

Upon hearing this, Xie Yanchen paused, seemingly weighing the truth and reliability of the statement.

Just then, Su Wanning emerged from behind the door.

She must have just taken a shower, as she was wearing Xie Yanchen's bathrobe, and her damp hair clung loosely to her body.

Acting as though she never expected to run into Su Wanqing here, she froze in surprise. "Oh... Sister Wanqing, don't misunderstand. I just accidentally spilled coffee on myself earlier..."

As she spoke, she tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

Su Wanqing spotted the hickey on her neck instantly.

It wasn't glaringly obvious, but it was unmistakably there.

It made her previous explanation look completely redundant.

Su Wanqing withdrew her gaze, acting as though she had no reaction whatsoever.

She stood up. "I just felt that, regardless of everything else, you are Kexin's father and have the right to know about this. Anyway, I've said what I came to say. I'll be leaving now."

With that, she turned and walked away.

When the elevator arrived, she happened to run into Wang Zhengzhen, who was just returning with newly purchased clothes.

He was carrying bags from several women's clothing brands, even holding a bag containing undergarments.

"Ma... Madam..."

Upon seeing Su Wanqing, Wang Zhengzhen acted as though he had been caught doing something wrong, hurriedly trying to hide the large and small bags behind his back. But there were simply too many items, and no matter how he tried to conceal them, he couldn't hide them completely.

Su Wanqing gave him a faint smile, greeting him as if she had seen nothing at all. "I'll be leaving now, Secretary Wang."

Wang Zhengzhen wanted to say something, but the words died on his lips, and in the end, he uttered only, "Goodbye, Madam."

After the elevator doors closed, Wang Zhengzhen watched as his company president bolted out after her, a look of anxiety and irritation stamped across his face.

He asked, "President Xie, are you looking for Madam? She's already gone downstairs."

Xie Yanchen had no idea why he had chased after her. He had simply seen that scene and watched Su Wanqing display not the slightest reaction, leaving him with an unsettling sense that he could no longer read the person before him.

A faint, lingering intuition told him that Su Wanqing was slowly distancing herself from him.

The moment that thought flashed through his mind, his instinctive reaction was to stop her.

Yet he was a step too late.

And once he realized what he had been trying to do, he felt only a profound sense of humiliation.

He glared at Wang Zhengzhen and stubbornly snapped, "I just came out to check on how long you were taking to buy clothes! Why were you so slow?!"

With that, he snatched the bags of clothes from Wang Zhengzhen's arms and retreated into the office.

Seeing how attentive he was—even buying her undergarments—Su Wanning felt her face flush hot. "Brother Yanchen... how, how did you know my size?"

She looked utterly adorable in her shyness, resembling a sprightly little fawn with blushing cheeks, driving Xie Yanchen wild with desire.

Instantly casting Su Wanqing out of his mind, he stepped forward, flicked Su Wanning's nose, and murmured suggestively, "Is there anything about you that I don't know?"