26 Zhang Wei.

"So, how did you both meet each other?" Mrs. Jiang asked immediately after the waiter excused himself after serving them.

Ann looked at Grace to see if she had something to say, but Grace simply shook her head.

"We met at her aunt's restaurant," Ann finally said.

"Really? Is it like a five-star restaurant?" Mrs. Jiang asked, looking at Ann curiously.

"Not at all. More like a shack," Grace said with a chuckle which earned her a glare from Ann.

Mrs. Jiang looked at her with interest, her last sentence was an in-house family joke, and there was no way she would have known it unless Grace told her about it.

"I'm curious to know how long you both have known each other. You must have made quite an impression for Grace to have employed you after refusing to have a personal assistant for so long," Mrs. Jiang said, looking directly at Grace.

"Sorry, Mother, We have to start heading back to the office now," Ann quickly said, interrupting Mrs. Jiang.

"Oh! So quick? You haven't even eaten much yet," She said, looking at Ann.

"I just remembered I need to attend to something, and we have to plan for Ann's welcome party," Ann said, rising up from her seat in a manner that showed Mrs. Jiang that she was done with the conversation and lunch.

"You're attending a staff's welcome party?" Mrs. Jiang asked with a disapproving frown.

"Why? You have a problem with it?" Ann asked, walking away without waiting for an answer.

"I'm not usually this disrespectful to my mother," Grace said under her breath.

"Would you rather I return there and tell her you're Grace and I am Ann and have her lock us up in a psychiatric hospital?" Ann asked with a cocked brow.

As Mrs. Jiang watched them leave, she decided it was time to revisit the topic with her husband. They had to take Grace to the hospital for better medical reevaluation of her mental health and then check out the nature of the relationship between Grace and Ann. Grace couldn't possibly be a lesbian, could she?

Mrs. Jiang left her food untouched and drove closely behind them as they left the restaurant.

"Madam is following us," The driver informed them.

"What?!" Grace exclaimed before looking at the mirror. True to the driver's words, her mother was following behind.

"Sorry, ma'am, you asked me to remind you to call the chairman concerning Zoe's presence at the office," Grace said, trying to pass the message across to Ann without revealing anything to the driver.

"Yes, you're right," Ann said and quickly took out her phone to call Chairman Jiang. She quickly explained the situation of things to Chairman Jiang.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it," He assured her before disconnecting the call. He just remembered he needed to place a call across to Zoe.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ten."

"Eleven."

"Twelve."

"Thirteen."

"Fourt.." They all roared in laughter when Zoe collapsed on the floor before she did up to 15 press-ups.

She had to bite her lower lip to keep herself from crying. Maybe coming here had been a very bad idea. She should have just listened to her mother and joined the company. At least no one would have dared to ask her to do something like this at the company.

Or maybe she could have joined the dance academy for females if dancing had been so important to her. Why had she decided to humiliate herself by coming here and taking such risks?

"You can't spend all day doing just press-ups," The dance instructor told her, and as though suddenly touched by a deity, he asked her to stand up.

"This should be the first and last time you're ever late to my class Jiang Zane. I'll forgive you just this once," He said before arranging them in groups and starting the training.

Zoe watched every step keenly and replicated the moves perfectly, and before long, the dance instructor asked her to be at the front so the others could follow her lead.

After about two hours of intense training, the dance instructor asked them to take a brief break again.

Zoe observed how the others had formed their own cliques, leaving her out. She shrugged it off and sat on the ground as she opened her backpack to take out the snacks she had gotten from the departmental store earlier.

She glanced up when she noticed that someone was staring at her, and it was the same guy she had bumped into in the elevator earlier on.

She couldn't make out what he was discussing with the dance instructor, but she needed no one to tell her the conversation was about her. Had he discovered something about her? Was it possible he recognized her from somewhere or was he just suspicious of her? She wondered.

The sound of her ringtone distracted her, and she quickly excused herself to receive her call. It was her father, and she didn't want him to hear anything that would make him suspicious of her.

"How're you enjoying your first day at the academy, pumpkin?" Chairman Jiang asked the moment Zoe received the call.

"It's exciting. You won't believe I was actually positioned in front to lead the other guys," Zoe said in excitement.

"Guys?" Chairman Jiang asked with a slight frown.

"Oh! That's what we use around here. Like guys means the other girls. Not like guys, guys," Zoe corrected hurriedly.

"Oh, I see. I actually called to ask for something. Do you remember the direction to the area your sister took you to meet her personal assistant?" He asked calmly.

"Vaguely. But sis's driver can take you there," Zoe said thoughtfully.

"Oh yeah. That's right. Alright then, have fun, pumpkin," Chairman Jiang said before hanging up.

Zoe turned to see the young man standing behind her and staring at her with interest. Her eyes widened in surprise as she wondered how long he had been standing there and how much he must have heard.

"I learned your name is Jiang Zane," Zhang Wei said, still looking at her with his blue eyes, which looked like the color of clear skies.

"Yes, sir," She said, bowing her head in confusion. Who was he, and why was he showing interest in her? Was he always so interested in all the guys at the academy?

"Have we met somewhere before?" He asked, looking at her intently when she refused to look into his eyes.

"Yes, sir. At the elevator," Zoe reminded him.

"No, not that. Before today, have we ever crossed paths?" He asked again.

"Not at all, sir," She said, shaking her head.

"Are you, by chance, related to Chairman Jiang?" He asked curiously.

She shook her head vigorously in denial before it crossed her mind that Grace might eventually visit her there someday, which might make her a liar. "Kind of," She said without looking at him.

"I see," He said before walking away from her.

Zoe sighed in relief before rushing in to join the others.

Zhang Wei turned back to look at Zoe as she hurried off. Something about the young man seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place his fingers on it.

He didn't like being left hanging, and knowing himself; he was going to dig into the young man's life until he was able to remember where he had met him before. This was probably a result of his obsessive-compulsive disorder.