"I don't want you to go. Stay with me instead." Hoy said to Joreen quietly before pulling her into a hug.

Joreen only froze for a second before her body began to relax in his embrace, having been used to this by now. But she wasn't sure how she was supposed to control her heart which was always beating erratically whenever he was present or doing things like this.

​​

He slowly pulled away from the hug to look at her face waiting for her answer, "Hmm?"

Joreen wanted to agree to it. She really wanted to forget about everything and stay with him but that was not possible. She was a big girl now and had to be responsible. She couldn't just cancel the plans and tell her manager she was no longer interested, it didn't work like that in the entertainment industry and Hoy being the CEO, knew that quite well.

Hoy was still waiting for her answer. He took her hand in his and looked into her large round eyes. "I'll buy you ice cream." He bargained.

Of course he would! She laughed. So much for bribing her.

"Just hang out with me, hmm? I'll play with you."

"Or... you want me to play with you?" She asked in amusement. "Would you cancel your meeting for me?" She asked him.

"I would." He answered without hesitating.

"Aren't you so sweet?" She cooed.

"But I can't..." She said while biting her lower lip.

He tried to pull his hand away from hers but she quickly held onto him when she noticed. Was he throwing a tantrum right now?

"You are the boss, CEO Li Hoy. I'm... well.. far from being a boss here." She shrugged.

"I do not call the shots."

"That's why I'm calling the shots." He retorted stubbornly.

"You are spoiling me." She smiled sweetly at him before standing on her tip toes to kiss his cheek.

"I have to go now before my manager calls again."

He relunctantly let go of her. "Call me every chance you get. I want to be sure you are safe."

"I will." She promised before turning to leave but Hoy didn't let her until he dropped a loving kiss on her forehead.

The peck would have graduated to something more when their eyes locked, if her manager hadn't chosen to call her just at that moment.

"Ugly bastard." Hoy muttered to himself as he watched Joreen hurrying out of his office.

He was probably going to find her another manager soon because that guy was beginning to annoy the hell out of him. Why was he always wanting to do a good job?

Just like that, his mood turned even worse than he had been the entire day and the one who suffered it the most was Mr Ping.

When it was evening, Mr Ping did not think twice before he checked out of work and went to prepare for his date. His gossipy younger brother had overheard him talking on the phone about his date and told his parents about it. His mother especially have been calling him nonstop when he was at work out of excitement and he was beginning to consider turning off his phone or blacklisting her number until the day was over but now, he had to return home and face them. If only he wasn't too lazy to handle all his stuffs alone after returning from a stressful work day, he would have moved out a long time ago.

After his mother wished him goodluck, his brother came to also say the same and told him he was also heading out. It was suspicious of his brother to start making conversations with him, he only did that when he wanted something but when his brother left his room without asking for anything, he guessed he was probably becoming more mature. Thankfully, it seemed his younger brother's little crush on Luo Joreen was over.

Mr. Ping finally met her.

His date looked even prettier than she looked the last time he saw her. Because of work, they hadn't been able to meet.

They talked about a lot of stuffs about their families, school, hobbies, work, et cetera. When they were done with their meals, he opted to pay but she refused, arguing that she owed him this meal after what happened between them during the trip. But as a gentleman, he refused. There was no way he was going to let her pay. After the back and forth banter, she finally allowed him do it but promised she was going to pay the next time they went out. He felt smug for winning this round... until it was time to pay and he couldn't find his card inside his wallet.

The frown on his face as he continuously pat down his body made it obvious to both the waiter and the lady sitting across him that there was a problem. Did he drop it inside the car? But he remembered vividly that it was inside his wallet. He never took it out of there for any reason. So what happened?

The cash inside his wallet was not enough to pay for their meal which was unnecessarily expensive by the way so he was stuck.

His date paid the bills.

If he wasn't already embarrassed when he couldn't find it, he was when she offered to pay while smiling at him.

His card wasn't inside his car either. He tried to think about where he must have dropped it until he received several debit alerts from his phone.

It was his younger brother!

Rage filled him. It was that little rat who did it. He knew his brother was acting weird when he came inside his room earlier.

He had been stupid to let his guard down and allow that little rat steal from him.

He had put a tracker on his younger brother's phone a while ago because he was fond of getting into trouble so their parents had suggested for him to do it secretly. He hadn't used it since he put it there until today.

He opened it and checked for the location before running an image scan. He realised his brother was currently in a basketball court which was only a fifteen minutes drive from where he was.

Perfect!

He started the car and zoomed off.