Defying Expectations

Lucas returned to Ezekiel's office with a sad expression on his face, drawing giggles from the other secretaries that surrounded the office including the rooftop's receptionist who found his demeanor amusing.

Trailing behind, Ezekiel wore a tired expression.

There was something in the two of them that the ladies found funny enough to create a meme about the two of them.

Ezekiel collapsed into his chair with a groan before he closed his eyes and breathed out heavily.

Seeing his frustrated expression, Lucas wanted to apologize once again, but before he could do that, the man raised his finger, stopping the young man from talking further.

"Not another apology, I've had enough of it already."

Ezekiel leaned forward to his desk, opened his computer and quietly began working. Seeing this, Lucas took it as a sign to be quiet and sat at his desk.

Lucas opened his computer as well and clicked on the company site to check his email in case he might have received any.

And just as he thought, he had received an email from Rex with the subject, "Meet me by the Garden".

Curious, the young man opened the email and scanned through the letter's body. He then looked over to Ezekiel to see what the man was doing and saw him staring at him.

Lucas flinched in surprise as he closed off his computer in shock.

"Jeezus, don't scare me like that! You almost gave me a heart attack."

Ezekiel hummed in response before looking away and returned to his computer.

Lucas found it creepy and slowly opened up his laptop without prying his eyes from Ezekiel's direction before quietly responding back to Rex's email.

Moments later, while Ezekiel was going through his calendar, checking every possible meeting that he could've missed, he received an email from Rex with the subject, "Entrance, now."

The man's eyes widened and he immediately stood up from his seat before bolting out of their small office.

Left alone, Lucas could only watch him with curious eyes while he received another response from Rex.

'Done.'

Lucas couldn't help but blush as he waited for the office door to open.

After a minute, the door opened, revealing the ever-handsome CEO, wearing spectacles that perfectly suited his aura.

Lucas's cheeks reddened as he closed his laptop down and looked at the CEO by the door.

"Yes, Mr. Lin. Do you need anything?"

A chuckle escaped from Rex's lips as he entered the office, his arms folded, accentuating his biceps that outlined through his clothes. 

This was the first time Lucas had seen Rex's body up close.

The young man never thought that despite being lean in stature, Rex could be muscular as well.

Rex watched as Lucas's face turned from sassy to downright being flirty and scoffed a little when he saw a tiny drool on the young man's face as he leaned by Ezekiel's table.

"Enjoying the view?"

Lucas snapped back to reality as he tried not to shriek from shock before looking back at the CEO.

"Yes, sorry?"

Rex chuckled before grabbing a chair from behind the counter and sitting right in front of Lucas.

"You were too busy looking at me to notice you have a slight drool on your lips."

By reflex, Lucas put his hand on his lips and wiped his lips, feeling the wetness from his drool as mentioned by the CEO.

Rex laughed deeply as Lucas's cheeks brightened even more with embarrassment.

From the tone of his voice to casually flexing his body, Lucas knew that Rex was teasing him and he had fallen right into his trap.

"Shut up. I can't help it. You're hot."

Rex stopped laughing as he stared at the mysterious man before him. Lucas was as sassy as he was cute and found him interesting and unique.

Unlike those ladies whom he had met during the blind date phase that his parents had arranged for him up against his will.

His parents had insisted on these dates, telling him that the purpose of such dates was to strengthen allies and bond with other socialites, something that could be of use in the future.

He had to learn it the hard way when he realized that it was his marriage they were talking about and not business.

He began refusing the dates, leaving those poor women alone at the tables during the dates or skipping the parties his parents attended.

Eventually, they stopped and moved on from that phase, the constant questions about marriage did not stop.

Even Ezekiel had enough and suggested the CEO just buy a wife from a far-off place and get married.

To such an idea Rex only chuckled and brushed the topic from the back of his mind. No one needed to know who, which, or how would he be able to find a wife.

'In time.'

Was what he always told himself. However, after meeting Lucas, something shifted, though he wasn't sure what.

Moments of comfortable silence passed between them until the door burst open with Ezekiel, sweating from forehead and out of breath, entered.

"Ming… Southside… meeting room 1…"

Rex raised an eyebrow as Ezekiel continued to trail his words out. He sighed, stood up from the chair and looked at Lucas with a smile.

"Why don't you join us for the meeting?"

Lucas perked up and looked at Ezekiel as if asking him for permission if he could tag along.

Ezekiel could only nod as he wheezed out a deep sigh from having to run too much for the whole day.

"Come now. Fix yourself, Mr. Wang."

Lucas closed his laptop again and followed behind Rex and Ezekiel, carrying a ticker note and a pen.

_____

"The stock's value for the previous product jumped from two percent to five percent after Ms. Fa Mei Mei accidentally promoted it on a video-sharing platform.

With her nationwide influence and millions of devoted fans, she has struck a deal with the company's PR team for a year's supply of the product as compensation. However, it seems Mr. Ming isn't taking them seriously."

The information raised an eyebrow, especially on Rex's side.

He thought that it would be good PR marketing since the people of Metro loved Fa Mei Mei so much that they would be willing to buy the product.

"May I ask why?"

The presenter gulped, knowing very well that this would be asked by either the other members of the meeting or Rex himself.

He was sweating bullets knowing that he couldn't mess this up.

Knowing how their boss would be infuriated if the deal went downhill, he needed to answer these questions as properly as possible.

"Mr. Ming hates using celebrities for PR marketing, Sir."

Rex looked at the man, thinking that he was telling a joke.

But seeing the presenter's serious face, Rex's expression shifted. He hated these kinds of scenarios.

He sighed, adjusted his tie and swayed his hand, gesturing to the presenter to continue his report on the recent product demand increase in the market.

The meeting ended with Rex's unmasked annoyance with the Ming company's CEO. Even Ezekiel was visibly sweating during the whole ordeal.

On the other hand, Lucas was left to wonder why Ming Southside's CEO never showed up for the meeting with Rex and instead, sent out these representatives who barely knew anything about the product that they were selling.