Chapter 8
Hearing this, the four of us all wore troubled expressions. The company's year-end bonuses were always generous, so losing them would be a significant loss. As for the performance review... it wasn't a problem for me, since I'd never thought about quitting voluntarily, but for the others, it was quite a headache.
Although the company benefits were good, most people wouldn't think of changing jobs. But not wanting to and being unable to are two different things. What if the company ran into trouble? What if a better opportunity came along? Missing out because of a poor performance review would be a losing proposition.
The moment I got off work that day, I left the company—not because I'd finished all the documents on my desk, but because my coworker from the same team forcibly dragged me out. Oh, my coworker from the same team was the short-haired woman from this morning. This time I finally remembered her name.
She brought me to the coffee shop next to the company and ordered me a Blue Mountain coffee without even asking my opinion.
"Yi-yi, this time I'm counting on you completely!" She spoke very seriously.
"Let's work together on this..." I stirred my coffee. Honestly, it smelled pretty good, but I had no interest in actually taking a sip. Although it had been three years since I'd last had coffee, I still remembered that bitter taste. Besides, Shangguan wouldn't let me drink this. In his words, too much coffee leads to addiction—he's the one who drinks it happily every day!
"We should work together, but I still need to rely on you. I'm completely hopeless when it comes to planning. I can handle the details at best—you'll have to take charge of the overall direction!"
"That's not really my strong suit either, you know. This is the first time I'm responsible for something like this." Ever since I joined the company, I'd been assigned unimportant tasks. Like entering order forms into the computer, or organizing materials together—doing these things might be convenient when needed, but even if I didn't do them, it probably wouldn't affect the big picture.
I mean, I studied Chinese literature. Working at a company that sells electronics was already outside my field. Was anyone really expecting me to develop high-tech products or design online games?
"Oh come on, you're a guy. Guys need to step up at a time like this! Besides, even if you've never eaten pork, you've surely seen a pig walk. You guys are always more familiar with online games than us girls!"
"But I've never played games before."
"Liar!" Yang Xin said, her face full of disbelief.
"Truthfully." Except for games like Mario, I had never played any games involving computers or electronics.
Yang Xin eyed me suspiciously. I widened my eyes, trying my best to appear sincere. Finally, it seemed like she believed me. She nodded, but before I could breathe a sigh of relief, she added: "Then go play some now. Learn while you play and work on the plan at the same time!"
"Hey!"
I was about to protest when she suddenly smiled slightly. "Yi-yi, I know you've always been a good person, so obedient and cute."
Being called cute by two different girls within three days—even I was getting a bit overwhelmed.
"I'm a guy, okay? Don't use words like 'cute' and 'obedient' to describe me!"
Yang Xin smiled even harder, not the slight smile from before, but as if she'd heard some hilarious joke.
"Okay, okay, but you really are cute."
I stood there with a dark expression, my eyes rolling internally. Was everyone treating me like a fool? Would I really乖乖 listen just because someone called me cute twice? If they really thought I was cute, they wouldn't be pushing all the work onto me. Don't people go out of their way to protect cute things? Besides, "cute" was definitely not a compliment to me!
"So, Yi-yi, I'm counting on you! Just because you're a guy, you have to work even harder!"
"I'm not saying I won't work hard, but I can't be responsible for everything alone. What if something goes wrong?"
"Okay, okay, even if something goes wrong, we won't blame you, okay?" Just as she said this, her phone beeped, signaling an incoming text. She checked it, and a smile appeared on her lips.
"Alright then, it's settled. I have a date, so I'll see you tomorrow!" She grabbed her purse, stood up, took two steps, then suddenly came back. "Oh, I almost forgot—your tie is very nice."
With that, she kissed my cheek and turned to leave.
She walked away in a carefree manner, while I stood there stunned. Poor me—twenty-four years old and this was the first time a girl had ever kissed me. Even though it was just my cheek, it was still a historic first.
I touched my cheek, my brow slightly furrowed, sitting there trying to feel something, anything—but there was nothing special. No excitement, no flutter, no joy. It felt less like something than when I touched my left hand with my right hand.
I let out a soft sigh, called the waiter to settle the bill, then walked out with a somewhat melancholy feeling. My first time... and just like that, it was gone. Thinking about it... something felt off.