A thick silence followed her words.

"Ummm… can you hear me?" Maybe it was her phone? She immediately looked at her phone, wondering why Chris wasn't saying anything. "Oh… are you on loudspeaker? Hello?" Maybe her phone is broken? She stared at her phone, confused. Did she say something wrong?

Did he faint on the other line?

"It's noontime." Finally, Chris said something. She nodded. It only meant that Chris was not in Xu Country, right?

"Oh… "And it also meant, he is in the middle of something. "Then… I will call you again." She ended the call without waiting for him to say anything. After a few seconds, she decided to call Xu Je'er to discuss a few projects, just to take her mind off those scheming people.

"So, you will stay longer? What do you mean? Are you going to extend your vacation? Sera, how could you leave me alone here?" Xu Je'er's face looked pale because of the lighting on her phone. Judging from her background, she was still in her office. Her face also seemed to become smaller. She wanted to ask if she was using some filter, but that seemed inappropriate.

"You lost some weight?" she asked.

"Of course! I am managing a company, acting as your secretary, and talking to investors!"

"Oh, then you should double your salary."

"That's not my point. I'm not complaining. However, as my partner, you have the responsibility to come here and help me out. I don't know stuff about cybersecurity and our clientele is increasing every day. I don't think I would be able to handle them." Xu Je'er frowned and shifted her attention to the documents in front of her. "You know… the fact that Mr. Quinn invested in our company put a lot of pressure on me. I can't just… I don't know… my dad must have heard about it. Now, they are treating me better."

"Maybe he is planning to have you marry Mr. Quinn?"

"Impossible."

"How so? Can you read your father's mind?"

"Mr. Quinn… is an old man. I already told my father this."

Sera bit her lower lip, trying her best to stop herself from laughing. What would this woman do if she knew that Mr. Quinn is a good-looking young man with oozing sex appeal and excellent talent in bed? Wait… what was she thinking? "I lied."

"Hm?"

"Mr. Quinn is not really an old man. I've never heard of that before. I was just trying to save you from that stupidity that you did in his company."

"Hm?" Xu Je'er lifted her head and looked at her. "I know. I just told my father such nonsense so he would stop. Besides, I made it clear that I don't need a man to take care of me. I can do that to myself."

Sera snorted. "True."

"Uhh… yeah. You are trying to divert the topic. About your extended vacation. I can't give it to you. As the head developer, I need you beside me all the time."

"Then… how about two weeks? Can you give me two more weeks to fix my issues?"

The woman let out a long sigh before she rolled her eyes. "Alright. Two weeks! After that, you are coming back to the office. You know… I am exhausted from answering the phone calls from people that wanted to talk to you. I suggest you buy a phone where you can use for these kinds of phone calls so, they can call you directly."

"Phone calls?"

"People who wanted to work with you are increasing every day. Of course, I know that you are not going to work with them. However, the Tangs are pretty persistent. I hate it."

For a few minutes, Sera listened to her friend's rants before she ended the call. She really needed to take care of her personal business as fast as possible to avoid stuff like this in the future. After all, starting a company was her idea. After ending the call, stood up and went to her room. Then she quickly realized that the bed seemed too big for her.

She couldn't sleep.

She tossed and turned to no avail.

Was she getting used to his presence?

Obviously, she wasn't that naive. She knew that this anxiety was caused by the fact that she wasn't with him.

But how could that be?

She covered herself with the thick sheets as she lay on her back and stared at the ceiling.

The surrounding silence was deafening.

On usual days, she would have loved this silence. But for some reason, she actually felt a little lonely now. What was going on with her?

She thought of Chris and his teasing. She wondered where he was right now. She shook her head, hoping to get rid of the thoughts inside her brain. Of course, it didn't work.

The next thing she knew, it was already two in the morning.

And she was still awake. She knew that a terrible headache would surely come tomorrow morning. Maybe she needed exercise?

Without second thoughts, she jumped out of her bed and started doing yoga before turning to rigorous exercises like running up and down the stairs just to tire herself out. In the end, she ran out of breath and almost fainted from exhaustion. Smiling, she changed her clothes and immediately went back to her comfortable bed. She looked at the time from her phone and sighed when she discovered that it was already four in the morning.

Why was she trying to torture herself to death?

Irritation started to build up inside her. Sera didn't even notice when did she close her eyes. All she knew was feeling all the types of aches in her body when she woke up. A soft curse left her lips as she reached out and looked at her phone. Nine in the morning.

She glanced at the blackout curtains that filtered most of the lights from the outside.

Ahhhh! She felt so lonely!

Was this the consequence of feeling a little attachment to someone?

She had never felt anything like this before! Not even towards Cross. But then again, Cross and she never slept with each other or slept on the same bed. He treated her like a little sister and didn't really spend a lot of time with her. The difference between Chris and Cross is just so huge, it wasn't even worth it to compare the two anymore.

When she heard her stomach grumbling, she forced herself to stand up and change her clothes before going downstairs to get some food. Because of her aching legs, walking down the stairs almost took her two minutes.

"Ah, Sera!" Lawyer Liu's face was dark as he strode next to her. "I received a call from Chris that he is going to send someone to guard you, and this woman arrived early in the morning. Her name is Athena Hill." Lawyer Liu pointed at the woman who was sitting in the living room, casually reading a fashion magazine. Her long beautiful legs were the first thing that Sera noticed.

"Oh." She tilted her head when she realized that the woman didn't even lift her head to acknowledge her presence. "Guard?"

"Yes, and she would be acting as your secretary too."

"Oh." Sera shrugged. She eyed the woman one last time before she went to the kitchen to get something to eat. Clearly, the woman was forced to come here. Maybe she really needed to have this conversation with Chris soon. After heating her sweet and sour pork, fried tofu, and porridge that was leftover from her order yesterday, she sat on the counter and positioned her body towards Miss Hill.

As she started eating, she couldn't stop thinking about Chris's choice of people. How could he assign some random people around her?

Oh… wait. Didn't she tell Lawyer Liu to tell that man to choose a secretary for her?

Well, it seems that she was wrong after all. Chris's judgment was not as good as she thought it would be.

"She didn't even acknowledge me!"

Sera stopped walking when she heard the woman whined. She looked at the woman and realized that she had Bluetooth earphone on her ear. Sera squinted before she lowered her head and started eating the leftover that she had. It seems that she was wrong again.

Chris sent this woman here because of something. After all, Chris isn't that stupid. He knew that this kind of person would irritate Sera. However, she couldn't help but wonder what was Chris' real purpose in sending the woman here. Was he trying to get a reaction from Sera? Make her jealous?

"Lawyer Liu, I wasn't aware that you have some leftover food," Athena said, her voice was cold. "I am hungry."

Lawyer Liu snorted. "Miss Hill… did you think I was your servant?"

When Sera heard the old man's tone, she immediately lifted an eyebrow. However, she pretended not to hear anything and just enjoyed her food.

"Miss Zhang, can you give me some of those leftovers?"

"Hm?" Sera turned her head towards the woman on the sofa.

"I'm hungry."

She was still sitting on the sofa. Did she expect Sera to bring her any food? Sera's lips thinned. This Chris… how dare he schemed against her? "No," she answered.

"Excuse me?"

"I said no Miss Hill. I'm hungry. I am giving you my food."