Chapter 11: Behind My Back

The next morning, Ji Feiyang took me to his office. Apparently, he’d feel better with me under his nose. The sooner my burns healed, the sooner I could get back to work.
That wasn’t how I saw it.
All that talk about owing him money, about being Jiajia’s friend—nonsense. He’d probably fallen for me.
With both hands burned, eating by myself was out of the question. He actually volunteered to feed me porridge. Once the bowl was empty, he let out a long breath, as though he’d completed some enormous task.
Between fretting over my ruined hands, another concern came to mind. I needed to call Jiajia before she let my identity slip.
The phone still had only one contact.
“Hey, Ji Feiyang. Give me Jiajia’s number.”
Once it was saved, I got up to make the call somewhere private.
“Where are you going?”
Quick. An excuse.
“The bathroom.”
“I’ll have someone go with you.”
“No need!”
“Can you manage on your own?”
A glance at my carrot-red hands left me uncertain. Honestly, I didn’t know.
He called someone to accompany me. Naturally, she wasn’t coming all the way in.
“No need to bother. Just wait outside.”
Gritting my teeth against the pain, I called Jiajia.
The same recorded message I’d heard so often my ears were sick of it.
Not answering my calls. She really had gone too far.
Back in the office, Ji Feiyang had his head bent over some documents. I picked up the phone and secretly sent Jiajia a text.
Then came the wait.
No reply. My message might as well have disappeared into the sea.
Still, not replying didn’t mean she hadn’t read it. If she had, surely she wouldn’t dare reveal who I was.
That eased my mind a little.
Seeing how bored I was, Ji Feiyang put on a movie for me. Most of the day slipped past.
Then his phone rang.
“All right. Just a moment.”
He headed for the door.
“I’ll be out for a bit. Don’t wander off.”
I ignored him.
He’d barely left when I really did need the bathroom.
Out in the corridor, a woman’s voice reached me.
“How could we blame you? Yijun’s the one causing you trouble.”
Tong Xueyou.
A sharp breath caught in my throat.
Holding perfectly still for a moment, I then crept toward the voices. In another corridor stood Tong Xueyou, Big Brother and Ji Feiyang.
“Yes. We’re grateful you’ve been looking after her.”
Ji Feiyang sighed.
“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have suggested this in the first place. I thought, since she’d been so pampered, cutting off her money and giving her a taste of hardship would send her straight home. I didn’t expect her to hold out this long.”
“Yijun’s always been stubborn,” Tong Xueyou said. “Once she sets her mind on something, she won’t stop until she gets it.”
“What now?” Ji Feiyang asked. “Taking her home ourselves would make all this feel like a waste.”
“Let her stay,” Big Brother said firmly. “She needs to reach the point where she can’t take it anymore and goes home of her own accord. Otherwise, she’ll run away again, and next time something serious might happen.”
Ji Feiyang nodded.
“You’re right. She has to decide to go home herself. Then she won’t be so quick to run away again.”
“That’s true, but Mom and Dad are very worried about the burns. Feiyang, we’ll have to trouble you to keep a closer eye on her.”
“Looks like I’ve taken on quite a handful,” he joked.
My ears could hardly believe what they were hearing.
So they’d known where I was all along.
No wonder there had been no missing-person notices in the papers or on television. No wonder Ji Feiyang swung between kindness and cruelty.
And there I’d been, thinking he liked me.
Wait.
“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have suggested this…”
Hmph. The whole thing had been his idea!
“Since she burned her hands, I’ve stopped making her work,” he continued. “To prevent any more accidents, I’m keeping her close. Last night, I asked if she wanted to go home. She actually shook her head.”
“She won’t be foolish enough to spend months suffering here. We’ll wait her out. Sooner or later, she won’t be able to stand it.”
Big Brother turned to Tong Xueyou.
“Let’s not worry too much.”
By the time Ji Feiyang returned, my attitude had changed completely.
He’d been entrusted with looking after me. How could he dare make me truly suffer?
Besides, this nasty little scheme had been his idea.
He’d see what that got him.
As it happened, I was thirsty.
“Hey, Ji Feiyang. I want water.”
A glare came my way. Probably because I was forever shouting “Hey!” and using his full name without a trace of politeness.
He filled a paper cup and held it out.
My eyes pointed toward my hands.
“Can’t use them.”
He had no choice but to help me drink.
“Open your mouth.”
The temperature was just right.
He really was attentive.
Once I’d finished, he returned to his desk and his work.
“This movie’s awful. I want another one.”
No response. As though he hadn’t heard.
“Ji Feiyang!”
He had to get up.
“What do you want to watch?”
“Change it.”
My finger pointed at a disc at random.
“That one.”
“You’re impossible to please,” he grumbled as he changed the movie.
An inward laugh.
Impossible already? The fun hadn’t even begun.
Just as he was about to sit down, I called out again.
“Not that one! Oh, I got it wrong. The other one.”
“Tang Yijun, make do with this.”
He sat down and went back to work.
“It’s too quiet.”
His chin tipped toward the remote.
“It’s right there. Do it yourself. Surely you can still press a button. Your hands haven’t fallen off.”
“Honestly!”
After a glare, I picked up the remote. A sideways glance at him, a careful movement of my fingers, a sly little smile—
The volume shot up, almost splitting my eardrums.
He strode over and snatched the remote from my hand.
“Tang Yijun!”
A smile was all he got.
“That’s more like it!”
He swallowed his temper, brought over a laptop and put earbuds in my ears.
I jumped.
“Are you trying to make me deaf?”
“Didn’t you say that was more like it?”
No answer to that.
After turning the volume down, I put the earbuds back in and stole a glance at him.
So absorbed in his work.
Fine. I’d keep pestering him. Let’s see how much work he got done then.
“Ji Feiyang, what are you reading?”
“Reports.”
“What reports?”
“The monthly operating reports from each hotel.”
“Oh.”
Leaving my chair, I went over.
“Let me see.”
“Go back to your movie,” he said impatiently.
“Don’t be so stingy. Will one little look kill you?”
My head poked toward the papers.
For a moment, he just looked at me.
“Tang Yijun, can you be quiet? I have a lot to do.”
“I’ll read, you work. It won’t take up any of your time.”
“Fine. Here.”
He actually gave in.
Using my body to push the chair over to his desk, I sat down and pretended to study the report.
His attention had moved to the computer.
“What are you looking at now?” I asked, all innocent curiosity.
A short pause.
“Email.”
Over went my head again.
“How am I supposed to work with you doing this?”
My head withdrew.
Then a plug beneath the desk caught my eye.
Slowly, I shifted closer. My foot crept toward it.
There.
One nudge. Then another.
He glanced at me.
I smiled immediately. Nothing going on here.
Then he turned back to the screen.
“The power’s gone.”
As he bent to check the connection, I hastily offered another smile.
“I kicked it by accident. Just an accident…”
He straightened up.
No glare this time. His gaze was perfectly calm, and so was his voice.
“Tang Yijun, if you deliberately cause trouble again, I’ll throw you straight out of there.”
To our right stood an open window.
We were on the seventh floor.
“I know, I know. As if I’d dare cause trouble. My foot only brushed it.”
“Quite a wandering foot you have.”
“I told you it was an accident. Why won’t you believe me? Did you actually see me do it? Which eye—the left or the right?”
“You really are… I’m serious. Do it again, and out you go. Bored, are you? Would you like me to tie your hands and feet?”
“Honestly.”
My lips pushed into a pout.
The next few days passed peacefully enough in his office. There was still some deliberate pestering, but I didn’t dare go too far. For one thing, my hands made it difficult. For another, he might really tie my feet.
Besides, the burns had made him particularly tolerant. When I wanted a different room, he even gave me one.
Everything else could wait until I’d healed.