Cornered by the CEO

She had come to work at 8 AM sharp. As usual. After her first bout of meetings and updates, she dismissed her assistants and came down to the local barista to get her daily drink. She waited for a while in line, much like the others in the shop, and came across some of her employees. The courteous greetings were met with acknowledgment and nothing more.

When she reached the counter for her cup, she was startled. A hand darted out and grabbed it before she could.

"Excuse me, I think that is my latte!" Yun Qian Meng exclaimed as she turned to look at the guy. She was expecting him to realize his mistake by then and place her cup down on the counter.

When she saw who it was, she raised her brow in disbelief. Mo Qingchen was absurdly rude.

"Latte?" he said, sounding bored, but the expression of disgust on his face was evident. "I would never order such a thing," he scoffed.

Qian Meng rolled her eye. "Of course,, you wouldn't. So, give it back to me." She reached her hand out for him to hand it over.

"I think you're mistaken." He held the cup up and out of her reach. With his height, it was impossible for her to take it from Mo Qingchen. "This is my black coffee." Ah, the smugness. The utter cockiness of this man.

Qian Meng was now wide-eyed, staring at the cup in the obnoxious man's hand. "I am not mistaken," she said through gritted teeth.

"You are." The smugness and tight grip on her cup had Qian Meng seeing red.

"It says iced green tea latte with soy milk on the side." She pointed to the description on the cup scribbled by black marker. "Moreover, your black coffee should be hot and my drink should be cold. You shouldn't be mistaken."

Mo Qingchen's eyes squint as he thought of a response. He slowly turned to look at the cup for a moment, pretending to read. "Green tea and soy milk? If you can't handle caffeine or lactose, you should just order milk, or better, water."

Qian Meng gave him a look of exasperation. Mo Qingchen obviously had a lot of time on his hands to be standing here and chatting with her. Unbelievable. "What I drink shouldn't concern you."

"It does. Some of us like unpretentious drinks, you know? And we get to wait in line while the barista makes this overcomplicated crap." He made a face. She felt personally insulted by this. Her choice of drink was without a doubt the best. For someone who had zero taste, he sure knew how to bark.

At least, he handed her the cup. As she made her way towards the tables, she mumbled a quick "Asshole" under her breath.

"I heard that," he called from behind her.

"I meant for you to hear it!" Qian Meng barked, turning her head to the side to see him smirking. She sat on one of the high stools towards the end of the café which overlooked the busy seat.

"Why do I bump into him everywhere," she huffed, throwing her purse on the table.

"Who?" Qian Meng heard someone say from beside her. It was a friendly older lady who she saw often at the café. They had briefly exchanged smiles but this was their first time interacting.

"Over there. In line. The ass in the grey shirt and jeans." That made her stop. Why was he wearing that abomination to work? Was his head in the right place?

The older woman craned her neck and searched the front of the shop. "The guy who looks like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed?" She turned to look at the man in question and confirmed, making the woman grin. "He's good looking," she said offhandedly.

Looking at him again, she contemplated the comment. In a suit, he did look attractive, but his current clothes really made him look... She didn't even have the words for it. "He needs to dress better to qualify." She shrugged, not wanting to admit that he looked good nonetheless.

"Maybe, he's going for the I-don't-have-time-to-think-about-my-clothes look?"

"Probably that. But what good is a pretty face when your personality sucks?" She took a sip of her latte and sighed. If it hadn't been for the asshole, her morning would have been perfect.

When she finished her latte, she promptly got up and leaves. The rest of the day, she sporadically looked through the binoculars and tried to find Mo Qingchen in the opposite building. It took some time for her to locate him, but sure as hell, she did.

Mo Qingchen's office was on the 11th floor compared to her 12th floor. Funnily enough, they were right opposite to one another, him just being a floor up. She didn't have a great view of the room, but she saw him standing in front of the floor to ceiling glass wall and staring off into space.

He spent about fifteen minutes in this position, before slowly strolling away. out of her view. Soon after, her phone chimed with an incoming text. She huffed as she tossed the binocular towards the couch and went to her phone. She opened it to check if it was important.

Her brows scrunched up in confusion as she saw that it was from an unknown number. She opened it promptly and found the following words:

[If you want to keep looking at me, have dinner with me. You can stare at me unashamedly then.]

She wanted to pull her hair out. Mo Qingchen. He had seen her. She huffed and wondered how she would retaliate. Quickly saving the number under 'Poison Mo,' she pulled out her stationaries and started to formulate the reply. 𝗳𝐫𝘦e𝘸𝗲𝚋𝓃𝚘v𝘦𝘭.𝑐𝒐m

Mo Qingchen looked at his phone for the next two hours and received no reply from Yun Qian Meng. He had been busy with work and knew that it was the same for her, but the least she could do was retort.