Chapter 4

"That won't be necessary, my precious granddaughter."

Liu Xinyi's brows furrowed in confusion as she wondered what her grandma could be on about.

"Why?"

"Look at this girl. Of course it's because I'm coming on your date with you." Grandma Liu laughed heartily like she didn't understand why Liu Xinyi was struggling to understand this.

Liu Xinyi's eyes widened in disbelief and she coughed. "W-what?!"

Where had it ever been heard in the history of blind dating or finding a partner that one's grandparent went on the date with them?

That would make her a laughingstock, with her unmatchable reputation, it couldn't be heard that she was forced to go on a date arranged by her grandmother and worse of all, the elderly lady chaperoned her.

She would never live that one down and the first person that would come for her would even be her own best friend, cousins and business associates already looking for ways to get back at her for all the times she'd taken a sassy action against them.

She could already picture the looks on their faces if such a thing ever happened. The news would circulate for the longest time.

In fact, Liu Xinyi could already imagine the headlines that would be written on the tabloids.

'Demoness CEO gets escorted to date: her grandmother chaperones!'

'The Asian business market in shock as one of her most eligible bachelorettes is seen being escorted by her grandmother at her date.'

'Grandparents and blind dates: what do they have in common?'

'Maybe famous Demoness CEO isn't so heartless, after all...?'

But Liu Xinyi had never cared much about what the society thought, so she was more embarrassed about her grandmother treating her like a child and chaperoning her on a date than about what the public would have to say about it.

She couldn't imagine her grandmother going on a date with her. That would be ridiculous, to put it mildly.

"Why are you so surprised?" Grandma Liu cut her off in a whining tone.

"I, uhm, I think I heard you wrong, grandma. What did you say?"

"You heard me clearly, my dear. I'm coming along on the date. I'll get a table with my good friend, Mrs Luo. You remember her, right?"

Liu Xinyi thought for a moment. She knew most of the families in the capital and her family had at one point or the other done business with a few but she wasn't quite sure she'd ever came across that name before.

"Hmm...not really." Xinyi shook her head.

"I understand. Her grandson used to pick on you a lot when you were little and you would always hit him on the chest in anger. Aiya, I used to think you two were so cute back then but he had to leave the country with his grandfather for a few years and he eventually grew up abroad so you probably won't remember him anymore."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. You two were so cute back then, like the princess and her prince charming who kept trying to get her attention." Grandma Liu laughed, obviously remembering the scene even though Liu Xinyi couldn't relate to the memories since she had no recollection of them.

As she thought about it though, Liu Xinyi wondered why this Luo Zihan was taken along with his grandfather at the time. Maybe he was a problem child or maybe he had some health challenge that needed desperate care which wasn't available in China at the time.

Liu Xinyi grimaced as her grandmother kept going on and on about the Luo grandson's fondness towards her when they were still children.

If she didn't like him back then, why would she like him now?

She'd always been a straight forward person even from childhood and she never intentionally disliked someone except they did something that truly disgusted her.

No matter how fake someone was, Liu Xinyi would always see through it and let them know she wasn't going to take their crap.

She could already imagine the child from the Luo family from back then to be a two-faced idiot that was only trying to impress her.

Still, Liu Xinyi couldn't remember who this Luo Zihan was. Why didn't she have any recollection of their encounters?

"I understand Grandma, I probably forgot him because he relocated when we were so young. But why are you coming with me?"

"Aish, do you need me to spell it out for you? The last time you went on a date, you splashed the young businessman a cup of water on the face. Or should we talk about the one you stabbed in the thigh when he flirted with you?" Grandma Liu scolded and Xinyi's face clouded with embarrassment, a scowl overtaking her features.

Why hadn't this sly old woman forgotten that incident? It happened several months ago!

"Better still, maybe we should just go ahead to talk about the one that you threw over the table and almost choked to death when he mentioned the sleek idiot you once dated?" Grandma Liu maliciously continued.

Sighing, Xinyi nodded, eager to get back to her work and away from this talk. "I- alright, whatever you say is best. Grandma always knows best. I'll go with your arrangements. I'll see you on Saturday. Love you."

"Silly girl. Wear something bright. I don't want you to chase the handsome young man off by wearing dark clothes like you did the other day on your date with the Zhang family's second son. Bye."

"Yeah, you too grandma."

Liu Xinyi shook her head as she dropped her phone, needing a minute to collect herself. Talking to her grandmother always consumed more energy than what she spent on signing documents.

As she relaxed into her seat, she heaved a soft sigh and tried to wrack her memory, trying to picture a face but no matter how much she tried, she still couldn't remember the childhood friend from the Luo family which her grandmother was talking about.

But how come she couldn't remember him? She had a very good and photographic memory.

She rolled her eyes, wondering if it would be one of those stuckup grandsons of her grandma's friends that would speak nonstop about his achievements and whatnot at their date. That would bore her to death.

At least she would have a tangible reason to stab him in the thigh or pull at his tie or better still, it would be preferable if he could crudely flirt with her so she would have a concrete reason for dumping water on his head.

A knock on her door had her looking back to her door as she began to mentally decide what to do next.

"Come in."

Lina, Xinyi's personal assistant stepped into the office, carrying a few files which were balanced on her left arm.

Like Liu Xinyi, her personal assistant was also a left handed person and she was very efficient in her duties.

She was diligent and rarely interfered in things that weren't related to her, which was one of the reasons Liu Xinyi liked her.

"I just received a text from Matron Liu, instructing me to order a new set of bright clothes for you."

"When did Grandma ask you to do that?" Liu Xinyi asked in surprise.

"About ten minutes ago, just when I was preparing to transfer the files over."

"Alright. Grandma wants to drag me on another date. Just do whatever she says this time around. I'm not interested in arguing with her." Liu Xinyi dismissed Lina and dug her nose into her laptop as Lina dropped the files she'd brought over and excused herself.

Gradually, Liu Xinyi got rid of all distractions and quickly delved into the business mode once again.

By four thirty PM, she called Lina into the office to discuss and review some of the works she needed to send to her dad and uncle.

The two ladies discussed extensively on the pros and cons that involved the new Mall project they wanted to invest in. She loved discussing with Lina before bringing it to the board because Lina had a good foresight and usually her predictions about certain things were always right.

For instance, Lina usually considered several factors before encouraging Liu Xinyi to proceed. She usually considered the internal state of the company bringing the proposal, the relevance of the product to the company, the business plans that was already being set in motion for the project and so on.

Due to these, Liu Xinyi was usually confident in trusting Lina's judgements.

"I think that will be all for tonight. You've done a good job today so go home and rest well."

"You to, ma'am. Have a lovely rest of the evening."

Lina stepped out and tidied up her space for the night while Xinyi walked over to her floor to ceiling window, staring at the busy road afar off. She heaved a sigh and thought about her grandmother's words.

Grandma Liu was right.

She needed to try and get her mind off work to relax sometimes, to try and live instead of just coping herself up in the office all day. Liu Xinyi couldn't even remember the last time she went to an event to socialize.

It was usually to sign a new contract. And she always declined their celebratory invites after every successful deal.

Instead, she would begin to look into the next proposals for more collaborations.

Even with all these thoughts and resolutions, Liu Xinyi still walked back to her desk to review the annual expenditure of a project she had been stuck on since the year before. She believed in settling her scores and crossing all Tees so someone else wouldn't have to clean up what she was supposed to deal with.

The review alone kept her busy for a while till she knew it was time to call it a night because the security were already doing their nightly round check. Checking the time as she yawned in tiredness, Liu Xinyi was surprised to see she'd been working for that long.

It was already past eleven. With this, she quickly packed up her things and picked her blazer and bag, taking the elevator to the garage where her driver was waiting.

Liu Xinyi didn't even have the energy to check her phone for notifications as she was so exhausted from working so late into the night that she even dozed off on the way home.

On getting to her home which was in Roseville garden (one of the most prestigious estates in City A), she dismissed the housekeeper, aunty Yang after getting told that her dinner had been kept in the cooler and then decided to have a quiet evening all to herself.

Liu Xinyi took a relaxing bathe and went to bed but she just couldn't sleep.

She was bothered by something though she didn't know what exactly it was.

There was a nagging feeling at the back of her mind but she couldn't put a finger to what it was.

After tossing and turning though, she finally fell asleep and it was a dreamless slumber.

Liu Xinyi woke up the next morning with a splitting headache. Her temple was burning terribly and her eyes ached.

She groaned at the dryness of her mouth and grudgingly climbed out of bed, trudging to the kitchen where she brought out an icepack to use in massaging her eye bags.

Aunty Yang prepared something light which she quickly ate before taking some pills.

Then she prepared for work.

Liu Xinyi followed this usual life pattern till the weekend. On Saturday morning, she did her exercises and searched online for some good shelter homes nearby, smiling when she saw pictures of some very cute cats she would like to adopt. She wrote down the addresses, sighing in anticipation.

At least her heart could still beat with love for animals even though she had no desire to feel it beating for the opposite gender anymore. Especially in the romantic sense.

After eating some fruits and watching the entertainment news, she took another nap because she felt slightly tired with all the late nights she'd been pulling.

Her attire for the dinner date was delivered by Lisa, her PA and she tried them on. It was a white backless knee length dress with diamonds strung at the neck in a v-pattern. Liu Xinyi shook her head, already frowning as she checked out the piece which she knew would be short on her compared to the other office attires she'd gotten used to but she relaxed a little when she remembered she would only be wearing it for a date.

And the date would probably not last long anyway, considering the fact that this so called Luo grandson usually disturbed her when they were kids.

He would probably still be as annoying as he was in the past so she would easily discard him.

She chuckled, not in the mood to devise any devious plan on her date. After this, she wouldn't even agree to go on any other date even if her grandmother threatened with her life.

Because somehow, Liu Xinyi was very sure that she wouldn't be have to worry even a bit about this man in anyway and she would probably tell her grandmother one lie to get her off her back for the next few months.

She needed a good, well-deserved break from men.