2 Fake Smiles

Min Yi walked out of the elevator and all the eyes were on her. She moved graciously while giving soft nods as greetings to the employees. She had a gentle smile on her face.

She stopped at the door in front of an office and greeted the secretary. 'CEO Lin Chao Xiang' was embedded in the door and then she nocked.

"Come in." Said a man with a deep voice. She opened the door, walked inside and closed it behind her. She then stepped forward.

"Father. I was told that you wanted to see me." She sat with her legs crossed on the couch at the front of his desk. She pulled out her phone, placed one of her hands on her knees, and started looking at her Instagram feed. Se tried to ignore her father's calls but had to visit him since he used her mother as a way to contact her.

The man who looked like he was in his mid 50's was wearing a two-piece dark blue suit. His hair was black as the night and her eyes were light brown. Wearing a gold ring on his index finger, he was taking a look at the papers in front of him.

"Your video was chosen by Saphire Entertainment, so you are one of the finalists for the contest." Said her father without looking away from the papers. "However, you still have a final submission and you'll have to go in personally." He said with a cold tone in his voice.

"Did you do something to make me win?" She said without looking up and with a disinterested tone.

"No." He said and this time he looked up. "I didn't have to because they were already in love with you after watching your videos." He put the folder on the table and placed his hands together crossing his fingers, and the looked at her.

He continued, "I'll send you the date on a message later, someone will pick you up." Looking annoyed, since she was using her phone while talking to him.

"Is that all?" Min Yi replied with her head stuck to her phone.

"No, that's not the only reason I called you here." His voice changed to an imposing demeanor. "I want you to stop going to clubs and concentrate on your career." He waited, but she didn't respond.

'My career... he says.'

"Min Yi." He said with a somber tone on his voice and a blue vein could be seen emerging on his temples. She was startled by the change of his tone for a moment and looked in his direction.

"Pay attention to me when I'm talking." The temperature in the room dropped. He was so cold towards her that she often asked herself if he really was her father.

"Why can't I-"

She was immediately interrupted by her father. "You're going to stop going to those clubs. You're the daughter of the CEO of Sky Blue Inc and you must act like it. Do not embarrass me in public." He said with a look full of hatred and disgust.

"You may go now." He waved her hands to tell her to get out. He picked up a different folder this time and continued to read them.

"I'll take my leave then." Min Yi stood up with a frown on his face, took her purse, and walked towards the door. But just when she was about to open the door, she heard her father talk again.

"By the way, I might contact you in a few weeks regarding a different business matter." He said while still looking at the papers in his hands.

Min Yi clenched her hands tightly, her knuckles became lighter. She waited a few seconds to relax and opened the door. She walked out of the office with a gentle smile on her face as if nothing happened, while closing the door behind her.

On her way out she got a glimpse of someone, she didn't want to see so she continued to walk forward without looking in that direction. When she was almost a the door of the elevator she heard someone call her name so she stopped and turned around.

"Min Yi," Said the woman lifting her chin up and putting a hand on her waist.

"Mei Xi," Min Yi replied by moving her legs on an imposing standing position and crossing her arms together.

"So I heard that uncle almost disowned you the other day." A smirk showed on her face, trying to mock her.

"I'm glad he didn't, since I know there's someone always wanting to take what is mine. Like flies flying around a piece of cake." Min Yi replies with a smile. "Some people just don't know their place. But since they are just insects, I can crush them to death." She continued with a beautiful smile on her lips.

"W- what?" Mei Xi frowned and clenched her fits.

Min Yi gave her a wicked smile and turned around to push the button of the elevator. "Since I don't want to hear your ugly chicken like voice any longer. I'll take my leave." She walked into the elevator.

'C- chicken like voice? This worthless bitch.'

"You think you're all high and mighty just because you gained a bit of fam-"

"Mei Xi, you have a wrinkle right here on your forehead." She gestured. "If you keep getting mad like this you're going to look like an old hag even though you're just twenty-three." She left out a smirk.

"What did you just say?!" Mei Xi asked almost screaming.

"Not that there would be any difference though."

She pressed the button to the first floor. As the elevator door was closing, Mei Xi looked like she was going to explode by just looking at the shameless smirk on Min Yi's face.

Ting. The door closed.

Mei Xi's face looked so distorted that her assistant who was present to the whole conversation had to step in. She looked like she was inches away from killing someone.

"Miss Mei, I think you should be careful with your expressions." She whispered and pointed with her eyes at the employees that were looking on their way. "Everyone is looking at you."

Mei Xi realizing this, faked a smile and turned around. Walking forward to continue what she was doing.

'Min Yi, you may have his favor for now. But just wait, I'll make you suffer and take everything from you just like you did to me.'

—

Min Yi left out a sigh and pulled up her phone from her purse. Even after hearing her father complaining, she was not going to stop partying. The truth was that she was scared of him nut that didn't stop her to get on his nerves. She typed a message and sent it to a group chat.

[Hey, what r u guys up to tonight? *wink face emoji*]

[My Queen!!! *crown emoji*]

[We're up to whatever u wanna do, love.]

[Let's go to The Red Room tonight. Party starts at nine.]

[*thumbs up emoji*]

[Count me in.]

[*rising hands emoji*]

Min Yi smiled. As the notifications on her phone continued to come, the elevator stopped on the first floor and she went back to her car, and drove heading to her favorite hair salon to get a new haircut. The next stop would be the Emerald Mall to buy some clothes since she was famous for never using the same outfit twice. She knew that The Red Room would be full of people since she said she was going to be there, so she had to look stunning to not dissappoint them.

—

At the end of his last meeting Luther stood up from his chair and adjusted his jacket. He picked up his phone to see the time '5:00 PM'. He walked to the door and opened it.

"Let's stop at the Emerald Mall for a quick inspection." He said with a nonchalant tone. Jun Xie walked behind him and started making calls.

"The Young Master is making a stop at the Emerald Mall, have the driver ready at the entrance."

And with that he closed the door behind him and followed his boss.

On the way to the mall, Luther grabbed his phone to text someone. He wasn't a social person so only a few people knew his number, the only way to get a meeting with him was through his secretary; Jun Xie, and sometimes they'll have to wait months to be able to see him. That's how important and busy Luther was.

[How's she doing today?] Luther texted.

[She's a lot better today sir. She ate all her meals and started painting again.] They responded, and the corners of Luther's lips went upwards slightly.

[But sir, she keeps asking to see her husband.]

He frowned. [Keep me updated if something happens.]

[Yes, sir.]

He blocked the phone screen and put it in his pocket, it looked like he wasn't in a good mood since he walked out of his grandfather's office.

Jun Xie, looking at his reaction thought that it must be news about Mrs. De Rossi. His mother. 'He's in a really bad mood today.' He thought, feeling pity for any employees that dares to not be competent in their jobs today.

They arrived at the mall and everyone greeted him by bowing at the entrance. He started visiting the stores on the first floor. Since everything looked good and the customers were content he continued to the 3rd floor. Everyone would stop to look at him or whisper to the person next to them, they couldn't stop talking about Luther and his looks.

Luther arrived on the third floor. Only Jun Xie knew that his visit for today was also due to a complaint from a VIP customer on their website, it was about the customer service. Jun Xie reviews all the messages left in the platform and sends the bad ones to Luther. He ignores some of them if they complain about something minor, like the water not being to their taste.

However, the review was due to one of the employees being condescending to customers depending on what they were wearing. It seemed the VIP went in wearing simple clothes and the employee looked down on her. The store sells clothes from the most famous brands so it was obvious that the clients who would be in there were wealthy.

He walked along with Jun Xie and two more bodyguards a few more steps behind for his safety. The waited outside the door to guard them. Luther started to look around the store and everything seemed to be fine, until something fell making a loud shattering noise and he could see a girl on the floor trying to pick up pieces, with her bare hands. A woman walked to the back of the store.

Luther glanced at Jun Xie and he nodded as if he understood immediately. He approached the girl and bend down.

"Miss, you're going to get hurt if you keep doing this,"

The girl was nervous and even more so when she looked up and saw Luther standing there with a frown on his face. This is the first time that she sees him in person, but who wouldn't know who he was while working on one of his properties.

They have a team who's in charge of cleaning so there's no need for an actual employee in the store to do it. Jun Xie called the cleaning team to the third floor so they could clean the mess in the store. Fortunately, it looked like nothing fell on the clothes and it was just water.

A few minutes later a woman came out from the back looking at her phone. "Hua Lin, I hope you've already cleaned up the mess. Why are you so dumb?" She then went to pick the papers on the register table.

"You better not be on my wrong side if you want to keep your job." She sneered.

Jun Xie had a cold sweat running on his back and looked at his boss. He was pissed. The woman then looked up and almost passed out when she saw who was in front of her. Trying to fake a smile and looking at Hua Lin, who was standing next to Jun Xie, she tried to get out of the situation.

"Young Master, it's an honor to have you here." She bowed but Luther ignored her. She could feel the cold atmosphere, and she trembled in fear. The store was full and they were excited to see what would happen next. Everyone knew that Luther had a really bad personality, he didn't like it when people didn't follow orders or rules properly.

Luther looked down at the woman and then he turned to look at the girl.

"What happened?" He asked with a cold tone on his voice and a frown.

"Well..." Her eyes started to gather tears due to fear, she didn't want to lose her job.

"Speak." He commanded. She looked down and started explaining the situation.

"Y-yes, sir." She said in a low voice, that it almost sounded like a whisper. "A regular customer approached me for some advice regarding an outfit she intended to wear for a party tonight. We were talking, but someone bumped into me, and a glass of water that I was holding fell to the ground," She explained and looked up to look at the Manager.

Luther then looked at the other woman, and then his eyes moved to the employee tag that she had on the left of her chest. 'Yun Lan' was her name. She knew he was asking for her version of the story.

"I was just passing by and she dropped the glass on the floor on her own." She sneakily glared at Hua Lin for a moment as she spoke.

"..."

"She's always making mistakes, breaking and dropping everything she gets a hold on. That's why I was scolding her, Young Master." Yun Lan looked back at him but was startled when she saw his cold stare. "I-I was just doing my job, as a Manager. That's why I made that comment before." She looked down nervously.

"I see," Luthor said and looked at some of the employees. They were startled and looked down. "So what you're saying is that I should fire her due to all the mistakes she's made since is affecting the store. Am I right?"

"Yes! Exactly, that's what I meant." She started getting confident thinking that Luther was on her side.

'What a fool.' Jun Xie blurted inwards since he knew that Luther already knows everything. Jun Xie visited the store a few days ago and talked to the employees, the manager was at lunch so he couldn't wait for her. They told him that a new employee was hired and she was getting a lot of attention from the clients, because the girl knew how to provide advice on which colors and clothes were more flattering depending on their body types and skin tones. Every customer that came in was requesting Hua Lin to walk with them while they chose their outfits.

The manager was not happy about this and started to bully the girl. She also made comments about her appearance. Jun Xie looked at her for a moment and found her pretty with her long light brown wavy hair in a ponytail, dark brown almond eyes and pink lips. She wasn't a supermodel like beauty, but she was indeed pretty. The manager was just jealous.

He sent all the information to his boss before going to the store. Even with all the rumors saying how cold and indifferent Luther was which was true, Jun Xie knew he was also fair and understanding, so he was sure that Luther would make a good judgment of this situation.

Luther gestured with his hand and Jun Xie brought out a folder and handed it to him, it had Yun Lan's name on the front. He started reading the content.

"On May 10th, an elder came to this store to buy a wedding gift for his daughter, and was treated rather poorly due to the clothes he was wearing." He paused to look at Yun Lan and she was shocked, she looked like a kid getting caught by her parents while doing something bad.

He continued. "And I quoted: She said that I won't be able to afford any of the items that I was looking at and looked at me up and down, and I was ignored." Luther then turn the pages and started reading another one, he cleared his throat.

"On June 2nd, another customer said that she came here after work wearing simple clothes and did not like the treatment she received at this store." He stopped and looked coldly a Yun Lan. "Should I continue?"

She shook her head and he smirked slightly.

''I'm going to use the same logic that you said to me before."

He closed the folder and handed it back to Jun Xie.

"Since it looks like this a recurrent behavior on your part, I don't think we need you on this store anymore. You're fired." He turned around to leave.

"W-what?!" Yun Lan shouted. "Please Young Master, give another opportunity, this is a misunderstanding. I can't lose this job."

She grabbed his arm while crying to stop him from leaving. Luther hated when people touched him without permission so he yanked his arm away from her, and she stumbled falling to the ground on her butt. She was still crying on the floor, covering her face and she looked like a mess.

'This is so annoying.' Luther thought while rolling his eyes.

Everyone in the room started to murmur between each other and outside of the store more people were gathering together trying to see what was going on inside, but they were being held by his bodyguards.

To save his face a little and not look so aggressive he leaned down and it looked like he was going to help her get up.

"If you keep making a scene, I will also hand the evidence that I have of you stealing items from the store to the police."

She stopped crying and looked up with a horrified expression. She was even more shocked when she saw that he had a wicked smile on his face.

'He's so scary.' She thought mortified.

She got up shaking and he handed a handkerchief to her.

"Take it." He said with a cold face and then he turned around. Everyone was still shocked about the situation but they were impressed and were calling him a gentleman. Luther looked at Hua Lin.

"Miss Hua Lin,"

"Y-yes?" She looked at him timidly.

"You've been promoted." Luther then looked at Jun Xie like and walked outside, with his bodyguards following behind him.

Jun Xie stayed behind and told Yun Lan to leave the store which she did rather quickly. She tried to hide her face on her way out since some of the girls that were standing tried to record her face.

Jun Xie then turned to Hua Lin to give her a quick advice. "The Boss gave you an opportunity here, don't waste it, and don't make any mistakes. I will be supervising you to make sure everything is going smoothly."

He lifted his hand for a handshake, she was stunned for a few seconds, but she held his hand and said thank you to him. He turned around and left the store to find his boss.

The moment he walked out, all the employees went to Hua Lin to congratulate her, while the customers inside were still talking about how handsome and manly Luther was. Hua Lin was speechless since she couldn't process everything that happened yet, but she was glad that she didn't lose her job, and that she even got a promotion.

'Maybe this will be my year.' She thought.