To the Dong Building

DongTe had a nice motorcycle parking bay that Yiren appreciated. She had left her parked bike in first gear before descending vigilantly. Then she locked her fork lock and walked from the parking lot, heading towards the entrance.

It will be fine, Yiren.

She couldn't stop thinking of how she was going to face Dong Xu and how she was going to break the ice to him. 'Hi, I received your contract in my dream and I would like to discuss with you further on all the things involved.'

It sounded so preposterous. How would Dong Xu even respond? Would he think she was bluffing? Or would he dismiss her as being insane?

Still, it was a contract from him to her, even if she couldn't explain how it got to her logically!

Her mind was in circles, thinking how she should even commence the conversation. Over everything, she was skittish about how she would face Dong Xu. Although only a few hours had gone by since she last saw him, she was undecided how she should explain to him why she had left him out of the blue. She wasn't great at all with excuses and even a simple alibi for her lateness that she required to escape Professor Chang's penetrating eyes proved such an impediment to her.

But Dong Xu, to her, was a preeminent chore compared to Chang Mingde. Being a CEO, he had to be dauntless and intelligent. She remembered all those articles she had read online about Dong Xu and how he seemed like a mystery to all those around him. Except for Guan Ziming and Lin Xiao. Those were probably his only friends. She had to be thankful to him for being the key to finding out what she needed from Lin Xiao.

Yiren cleared her throat and approached the security desk. The regulations of the Dong Building were printed in clear black and white large lettering in dual language on a large signboard on the wall.

She put on her most amiable smile and faced the male guard. Taking out her identity card, she composedly surrendered it to the guard, who gestured towards a hard book. She then wrote in the book her name and contact number. The guard nodded and asked her where she wanted to go.

"I would like to meet your Mr. Dong Xu."

He directed her towards the front desk on the second floor after taking her temperature with an infrared temperature gun and seeing that it was within acceptable range. Yiren bowed respectfully and departed the security area, taking a flight of stairs to the next floor.

There, things weren't as easy-going as they were at the security post. A bespectacled slim lady with brightly painted fingernails was lazing around on the job, presumably checking her followers online. Whatever she was up to, Yiren couldn't care any further to probe into the personal affairs of someone she didn't know. From the looks of it, this woman had to be the front-desk receptionist and she couldn't miss out on her manners.

She bowed and greeted the lady, causing her to put down her phone momentarily. The lady, who seemed to be in her mid-thirties, didn't seem very pleased. Perhaps because Yiren didn't appear as a dignified guest. She was dressed very normally, even if she was wearing the fanciful lace dress from earlier. One look and the lady could tell easily.

"What can I do for you, Miss?"

Her words weren't boorish, and neither was she looking down on Yiren, but Yiren felt the woman just didn't deem her an imperative client or customer.

"I would like to meet your Mr Dong Xu," she repeated what she said to the security guard earlier. Her words made the woman glance up at her, still with that 'she isn't an important guest' feeling. Her eyes seemed to scream 'who the heck are you?'. Yiren couldn't blame her, she was probably a senior there and thus had the right to act high and mighty.

"Miss, do you have an appointment?"

She bit on her lower lip nervously, shaking her head like she had done something wrong. Anyway, she was mentally prepared. She had long heard of those CEOs who were like hot shots in terms of how swamped they were with work, and any meeting would require pre-booking a proper appointment with them. But she was just an undergraduate with no business with DongTe. She had come early to the office to wait for him after all, knowing he must be busy as the CEO of DongTe.

"Then I'm afraid Mr Dong will see no one without an appointment."

"I can wait here for him. That's no problem," she quickly responded.

"If you insist on waiting here, I can't stop you. But I've made it clear. Our CEO does not see anyone without an appointment," the woman furrowed her brow and went back to surfing on her phone.

Yiren couldn't help thinking how unprofessional the woman was, but considering how she was just a nobody, she couldn't blame the woman.

It wasn't the first time she had faced such judgmental views. Whenever she went to a company to do surveys for her university, most people treated her with such unimportance. Hence, she had grown somewhat used to it.

To say it didn't affect her was a lie. The pain of being treated that way would only get more painful as time went by. She bore with it.

Hours passed, but there was no sign of Dong Xu. She wasn't aware how she passed the time, watching the employees on that floor laugh and joke among themselves as they went on with their work. They proved so joyous that it gave hope to Yiren that once she graduated, she would have a job that accounted for a stable income and a happy and healthy relationship with colleagues.

Of course, it still depended highly on luck. Many graduates out there were still unemployed. Yiren hoped she wasn't one of them and neither would she allow it. She would take charge of her future. Unlike Lan Ning, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, she had to depend on herself to take charge of her life and her future. "Time and tide wait for no man" was one of her favourite motivational quotes.

Sitting motionless on the waiting couch that was initially comfortable soon became unbearable for her. She got up a few times to ease her aching back, watching the woman pretend to have not seen her and get ready to knock off work, half an hour before the designated working hours, at five-thirty in the afternoon. She had waited for three hours and thirty minutes in the waiting area in the lobby!

Since there was no sign of Dong Xu, Yiren waited a while longer. After all, what was the harm in waiting for another thirty minutes, since she had spent the entire afternoon waiting for Dong Xu?

Waiting was the most exhausting thing ever in her life, she told herself cynically. But this was something she had no control over. Maybe Dong Xu was indeed preoccupied with his work and his clients. And as the boss, he could do whatever he wished. Even work at his own leisure, even if it meant odd hours. One after another, the happy employees gradually left, laughing with glee as they departed the building.

Hours later, she felt debilitated and very famished.