Time is Money

Lai stared at him, mouth slightly parted.

"You want me to work for you?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow as she was in disbelief of what he was asking her.

He nodded.

"As your PA?"

He nodded again.

'Is this man being serious? Why would I work for him when we barely know each other?' she thought, pressing her lips together.

She sighed and looked at him dead in the eyes.

"Why?" she asked him, "I mean, we don't know each other."

The man leaned forward, placing his hands on the table, and rested his head on his hands.

"Really? So, you don't remember me?" he asked her with a subtle frown on his face.

She remained silent. Of course, she remembered him. How could she forget the day they met? It was a melodramatic meeting.

"Well, I remember you quite well. Although it took me a while to remember and find you," he told her.

"Find me?" her hazelnut eyes widened, "How did you find me?"

He gave her an ambiguous smile.

"I have my ways. Anyway, that night," he began, "I couldn't really remember what happened. I just remembered that I entered a place, a woman helped and saved me, called the ambulance, and paid for the hospital bills."

"Ah," he heard her say, "So you do remember what happened that night."

"And you left without seeing me once I was moved out of the ER," she heard him add.

She rubbed the nape of her neck.

"Sorry about that, but I had my reasons," she sighed, "But I only left once I was told that you were free from danger."

He leaned back and smiled.

"I can't believe you still work here," he told her, scanning the café.

"What's wrong with me working here?" she asked coldly, almost raising her voice, catching him by surprise.

She thought he was looking down on her just because she worked at a café.

However, that was not the case.

"No, no," he said, placing his arms out with his palms facing her in a defensive manner, "Please don't get me wrong. I didn't mean it negatively."

She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, placing the contract on the table and crossing her arms.

"Then what did you mean?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I meant since you still work here, it was easier for me to find you once I remembered your face," he replied, placing his hands on the table, "Although remembering your face was a mission since I was unconscious that day and barely saw my surroundings."

She uncrossed her arms.

"I see," she stared at the contract, "Why do you want me to work for you? In fact, who in the world are you?"

He stretched his hand out to her.

"Where are my manners? My name is Bai Ying, the founder and CEO of Nero Inc.," he told her, moving his outstretched hand up and down for her to shake.

She stared at his hand and, after a minute, shook it. She had heard of Nero Inc. from her mother.

It was a multinational electronics and information technology company.

She had no idea the man she had saved two years ago was the CEO of that company. And now, what's this?

He wants her to work for him? Was she dreaming? She had to be dreaming, right?

"And you are...?" she heard him ask her.

She looked at him.

"My name is Lai Xiulan," she said.

He nodded and gave her a radiant smile.

"So," he leaned forward, "how about it? Do you want to work for me as my PA?"

She grabbed the contract and began to skim through it. It was a reasonable contract. The company had many employee benefits.

'The pay,' she thought as she skipped to the salary section.

Her eyes widened, and she almost gasped at the amount.

'$5000 a month!? Just to be his PA?'

She looked up from the contract at Mr. Ying.

"Your salary is negotiable," she heard him say as if he knew what page she was on, "So that wage on the contract is just the starting wage. I can increase it by $2000 or more, but let's discuss that later."

He did not care about how much she would want to earn every month as long as she was by his side.

She gasped at his statement, almost choking on her own saliva. This salary was more than what she made here at the café.

If she earned this kind of money every month, she would be able to pay off her father's debt faster and financially help her mother more.

Mr. Ying watched her look back at the contract.

She placed the contract down, telling herself not to get too ahead of herself and lose her rationality because she saw too many zeros.

Zeros that were far beyond how much she currently earned. She had to think this through as it may be a good opportunity. After a while, she let out a long sigh.

"I just have one question about your offer," she told Mr. Ying.

He nodded and crossed his arms, furrowing his brow.

"Why me?" he heard her ask him, "I don't exactly have the qualifications to be part of such a big company. I didn't go to college and-"

She paused when he placed his palm in the air to silence her, not wanting to hear her undermine herself just because she didn't have a degree to her name or the required qualifications.

To him, she was the perfect candidate. He needed to have her next to him. In a serious tone, he leaned back and spoke the four words Lai didn't know she would hear from a stranger she had saved years ago.

"I just need you."

Her hazelnut eyes slowly widened as his words sunk in, almost piercing her heart and causing it to race.

'He must be crazy,' she thought.

She bit her lip and stared at the contract, her gaze fixed on it as she tried to calm her racing heart.

"Could you give me some time to think about it?" she asked him.

He smiled and stood up, grabbing his suit jacket and putting it back on. Placing his hand inside his suit jacket's pocket, he took out his business card and gave it to her.

"Of course. Here's my business card," he said, "I'll give you a week to think about it. When you're ready to give me your answer, call me on that number."

He pointed at the number printed on the bottom of the business card. She stood up, placed the contract in its brown folder, and nodded.

"Well, I won't waste any more of your time since I asked for five minutes," he told her, "My apologies if I exceeded it. I'll be waiting for your call."

With that, she watched as the owner of Nero Incorporated left the café.

She stood where she was for about a minute, her mind trying to process and make sense of the situation she had just encountered.

"Is this the 'trusting fate' situation Wen was talking about?" she mumbled to herself, her eyes staring at the business card in her hand.