1

“Honestly, when you’re doing it with a guy for the first time… it literally feels like dying, coming back to life, and then dying all over again.”

“It was just so embarrassing. Neither of us even dared to move!”

On the night of their high school graduation party, Chloe Bishop overheard a group of female classmates huddled in a corner, whispering about losing their virginity. Her face instantly flushed bright red. Her fingers curled tightly around a hotel key card.

Her boyfriend had given her the card through her younger half-sister.

She wasn't naive. She knew exactly what it meant.

That night, to build up her courage, she drank until she was thoroughly tipsy before stumbling up to Room 909 and pushing the door open.

The moment she stepped inside, a large, warm hand clamped around her wrist and yanked her onto the king-sized bed.

She remembered how impossibly broad and powerful that hand had felt—how effortlessly a single palm pinned both of her wrists above her head. It was completely unlike Liam, whose lean, youthful frame was all she had ever known.

In the haze of the night, his broad shoulders, sculpted back, and raw, overwhelming force left her breathless, unable to even wrap her arms around him. Every touch, every movement blew right past her innocent, inexperienced imagination.

Only one thought echoed through her mind:

Those girls lied to me.

The whole “dying and coming back to life” part was real enough, but what did they mean neither of them dared to move? This man wasn't hesitant at all—he was ruthless!

Dazed, drunk, and completely exhausted, a random line she had read somewhere floated into her mind: Raw strength is the line that separates a boy from a man.

When she woke up the next morning, she didn’t find a boy. She found a man—a fully grown, breathtakingly handsome, imperious man with broad shoulders and endlessly long legs.

Panicking, she gathered her clothes and fled.

It was only later that day that the cruel truth unravelled: her half-sister had set her up. Her boyfriend broke up with her on the spot, and under the combined manipulation of her stepmother and half-sister, her own father disowned her, throwing her out into the cold.

Five years flew by in the blink of an eye.

Chloe Bishop returned to the country with her five-year-old twins. But she never expected that on her very first job interview, she would run into a man who looked like the spitting image of her eldest twin, Adrian.

Sitting in the CEO’s office, the man possessed the kind of breathtaking, timeless looks that could stop traffic. His features were deep and carved, and his eyes were dark and icy as a frozen mountain lake—sharp enough to see straight through a person’s soul with a single glance.

“You’re a fashion designer by trade,” the man said smoothly. “Why are you applying to be my executive secretary?”

Even sitting back casually, he exuded the aura of an absolute monarch, heavy and suffocatingly intense.

Chloe had heard that Xavier Grayson, the head of the powerful Grayson Corporation, was surprisingly young for his position. But seeing him in the flesh was still a shock. Who could have imagined that the ruler of the city's—and the entire nation's—business world would be a man this young, and this devastatingly handsome?

What unsettled her most, though, was his face. He looked too much like Adrian.

No—to be precise, Adrian looked like a miniature version of him.

She desperately tried to recall the face of the man from five years ago, but her memory was a blank. As panic began to set in, she suddenly remembered a piece of gossip she’d overheard from the female staff while waiting downstairs for her interview: word on the street was that the CEO suffered from a hidden medical issue.

Right, a medical issue. That meant he couldn't be the man from that night.

Because if there was one thing she distinctly remembered about that night... it was that the man was more than capable.

Chloe let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Xavier Grayson lifted his head. The moment his gaze locked onto her clear, resilient eyes, his heart unexpectedly skipped a beat.

For some reason, that look in her eyes felt strangely familiar… as if he had seen it somewhere before.

Before Chloe could answer, the man’s younger brother, Samuel Grayson, hurriedly cut in.

“Big Brother, just because her degree is in design doesn't mean she can't be a great secretary! Besides, those actual secretarial majors we hired before were totally useless anyway! Degree doesn't matter!”

He leaned in, his voice taking on a desperate, almost tearful tone. “The main thing is, she’s already a mother of two! She definitely won't harbor any inappropriate feelings for you! The new executive secretary we poached from America won't be back for another two weeks anyway. Just make do with her for half a month, okay?”

Samuel Grayson was practically begging.

Over the years, he had lost count of how many secretaries he’d hired for his older brother. And every single one had been fired for the exact same reason—trying to hit on the boss.

He spent every month tearing his hair out trying to find new candidates. When he saw Chloe applying for a designer role today and realized she was already a mother, he decided to bring her up on a whim just to test the waters.

To be honest, Chloe didn't really want to be a secretary either; she wanted to work in her actual field.

However… the money was simply too good to pass up.

Sixty thousand Dollars for just half a month. With two hungry little mouths to feed at home, why on earth would she say no?

Xavier Grayson retracted his gaze from her face and let out a low, deep, “Mm.”

Hearing his brother actually agree, Samuel Grayson almost broke down in tears of relief.

Meanwhile, the corner of Chloe’s mouth twitched.

What does he mean, 'make do with her'? I'm a human being, not an appliance! She had graduated from a top-tier university and won awards in international young designer competitions, thank you very much!

“Come on, follow me out,” Samuel said.

“Alright.” Chloe immediately plastered on a professional, polished smile and followed him out of the main office.

“This will be your workspace.”

Samuel Grayson led her to the executive secretary’s room. It was located right outside Xavier Grayson’s office, close enough that she could rush in the second he called. Directing her gaze straight ahead, she noticed a floor-to-ceiling glass wall, though the blinds inside were drawn shut, hiding the main office from view.

“Samuel, if I may ask, what are my general day-to-day duties?” Chloe asked attentively.

Since her background was in design, she had zero experience handling executive secretarial work.

“Honestly? As long as you don't get fired by my brother and survive these two weeks until the new secretary arrives, you’ve done your job!”

The corner of Chloe’s mouth twitched again. Was the word “survive” really necessary?

She could already picture how chaotic the next half month was going to be.

“Once the new secretary arrives, can I transfer back to the Design Department?” she double-checked.

Samuel Grayson nodded without a second thought. “Of course! I’ll personally fast-track you back into Design!”

Chloe nodded, her resolve hardening. “Understood.”

For the sake of the paycheck, she could endure anything!

Samuel Grayson called over a senior staff member to walk her through the daily workflow. It didn't take long for Chloe to realize that every single item on her task list revolved entirely around Xavier Grayson.

And the man was insanely high-maintenance.

“Every morning at ten and every afternoon at two, prepare a fresh cup of coffee for President Grayson. No sugar, no cream, and the temperature needs to be kept at exactly seventy degrees Celsius.”

Chloe jotted every detail down in her notebook, secretly rolling her eyes at the coffee temperature requirement.

What a nightmare of a boss.

“President Grayson dislikes being disturbed. If a name isn't explicitly on the daily schedule, no one is allowed to see him.”

“If President Grayson works late and needs to stay overnight at the office, you must call the restaurant in advance to order his dinner...”

“Um...” Chloe raised her hand, breaking in carefully. “Excuse me, but if my shift ends, how am I supposed to know whether President Grayson is staying overnight at the office?”

The staff member gave her a look reserved for the hopelessly dense. “If President Grayson hasn't clocked out, do you honestly think you get to leave early?”

Chloe: “...”

“Got it.” It seemed overtime was going to be her new best friend for the next two weeks.

After rattling off a dozens-long list of rules, the staff member gave her one final, stern warning.

“Most importantly, President Grayson dislikes women. Please make sure to maintain a distance of at least one meter from him at all times.”

“Understood.” Chloe nodded in comprehension.

It all makes sense now, she thought to herself sympathetically. He's a big-shot CEO with a secret medical condition... Since he can't get it up, he must feel insecure and resent women altogether! How tragic.