Chapter 1

"Let's get married."

The half-naked billionaire says it in such commanding tone.

Lisa could still recall exactly what happened half an hour ago-though she throws a tantrum, screaming and stomping up and down like a kid; the man just sits and waits for her to calm down and studies her face for a moment, then pop the question.

It is a hot and dry afternoon; maybe it is because the weather, but actually it is not. The female mind is almost impossible for a man to comprehend; Lisa is fighting with Joseph over nothing.

Joseph is lying down on the comfy couch in the penthouse, mouth half-opening, eyes slightly squinting at the beloved lady in front of him, a kind of smile forming on his lips.

After venting her volcanic rage, she starts to meet his gaze and a slight quiver of happiness runs through her.There are stars in his eyes, she never believes that love is an eternal concept, but at this very moment she is certain about his heart.

Even the best performance of the role in a great romance movie or TV couldn't beat his gaze. She behaves so shamelessly and sits on his lap, she speaks first before emotion wells up inside her.

"Honey, what are you thinking about?"

"The first time to see you. I wonder if I size you up all wrong in the first place."

"Why bring that up again? For God's Sake."

......

Fast forward to five years ago

Lisa had lived nearly twenty-five years in the world; she was beautiful and smart, with a good education and positive disposition seemed to go through the entire predicament; and she just got a job offer of a foreign-funded enterprise which was a large multinational tech firm in Dong City when the summer just came to an end.

It was the first day at work, Lisa was both excited and nervous. After signing an employment agreement mandating that company secrets should be used only for company business, Lisa was sent for a new-staff training.

For newbies, the opportunity for training was becoming one of the most desirable benefits any job could offer, the company put substantial resources to build a well-developed five-day training system for new staff.

Lisa had just reached the training room and had not yet made it to her seat. When she was called by her colleague Ella from the CEO's Office, whom rushed over here in a hurry that she was rather out of breath when she reached the room.

"Lisa? Please come with me." Ella spoke as she was panting with the effort.

On their way to the conference room, Ella told Lisa the whole story form soup to nuts. There would be a visit from a foreign cooperative partner without an appointment today, and Tina was usually responsible for the translation. Unfortunately, she asked for a sick leave today.

Long story short, Lisa had to fill the blank. Ella could not wait for Lisa's reply as she gently prodded Lisa forward to the conference room. It was unexpected and was a bolt from the blue, Lisa was still buffering when Ella scuttled off in front of the conference room’s door, leaving Lisa with a knock.

"Come in." A man spoke in solemn tune.

Lisa pushed the door and entered in only to find out that there were already two businessmen sitting in the room. They build up a reputation as every inch the businessmen, with dark blue suit, white shirt and a tie.

The older one stood up when she walked in, but the other one was still sitting and reading without lifting his head.

"Good morning, Lisa. I hope you still remember me." He reached out his right hand to shake her.

The older man who was talking had just interviewed Lisa face to face several days ago, he was medium and thin about sixty, with his grayish-white mane and smiling face, and he looked fresh and neat in a clean white shirt.

"Of course, Peter, how could someone forget her boss? It is good to see you." Lisa was still trying to catch her breath while shaking his hand.

"There is no time for manners, please help us to save the day." He signed her to sit next to him after sitting back on the chair.

"Wow, first day." She said with an ironic smile, taking over the files from Peter and started to read the materials.

"This is why I want an assistant with knowledge of foreign languages and working experience. By the way, this is Joseph, a senior project manager."

Lisa was so focused on the file that she barely looked up at the other guy. Meanwhile Joseph was also too preoccupied with the document to notice anything else. A few minutes later, Ella led the guests into the conference room.

There were three tall men- with Lisa looked like a hobbit, all suiting up, standing in a row as they were in a spy movie; the image of serious even ruthless assassins came to mind.

"Welcome to Hixcth again, Christian. How was the flight?" Peter stood up first to greet them passionately.

"Terrific, it has been a long time, nice to see you again, Peter." Christian answered back.

It seemed that Peter liked small talk in a meeting before digging into important matters, while Christian was more straightforward. While Peter was sharing the journey with Christian, Joseph and Lisa were introducing themselves to the other two -Ben and Noah. After an exchange of usual pleasantries, they started to have a serious discussion.

It was told that people from Christian’s country were considered industrious but upright and humorless by just about all the other nations, Lisa could not help to feel the same.

At the beginning of the meeting they began pointing out that the design of the new cellphones had some design flaws, there was a strained atmosphere throughout the room that Lisa was afraid that she could not do the translation well.

"The design lacks of unity; it may be affected the manufacturing processes. If we can find defects at this early stage of product design, you know that we would save huge amounts of time and resources." Christian made a direct approach.

"Of course, Joseph is responsible for the design and the program; he had already started on some new designs. Please have a look." Peter retorted, with a vindictive politeness that was quite thrown away upon him.

The updated drawings were projected on the screen, Joseph was watching his laptop which was hooking up to the projector and explaining the new design. Then they discussed about a few adjustments to the design and reached an agreement on the new drawing.

"The new design is much simpler than the old one. Good job!" Christian concluded.

Time swept by unheeded and unnoted, until it was nearly lunchtime. Christian recognized that he was hungry and also a little tired, by then they were interrupted by a knock at the door; Ella opened the door and entered with a small dining car.

"Lunch is ready."

"Let us have a break, would you like to have some coffee, or tea?" Peter hosted the guests personally.

When Ella was laying out the table for lunch, Lisa could sense the tension in the room had drop away. After the table was set with knives and forks, they started enjoying their meal.

"Bon Appetite!" Christian said.

"Lisa, I have a question for you." Half way through their meal, Christian lifted his eyes, looked straight at Lisa and asked a sudden question.

"Yes?" Lisa put her fork down and waited.

"Do you know how to buy clothes?" Christian stuffed some broccoli in his mouth.

What he was saying was beyond Lisa's comprehension, Lisa nodded her head without a word.

"You should buy some clothes for work." Christian continued.

Lisa was quite confused until Joseph burst out laughing, and then she realized what he meant- she almost fell out of the chair. She was casually dressed in a pink T-shirt and jeans without any make-up which were less than formal.

God, please take me right now!

Lisa coughed to cover up her feeling of awkwardness, gathering the nerve to speak again.

"Please allow me to say a few words, it's my fault. Lisa should be training today since it was her first day at work, but I insisted that she could do the job as a temporary replacement for Tina who had to ask for a sick leave today. So she was told to be here in a short notice and showed up un-prepared." Peter paused significantly.

"Although the company regulates that ladies should wear a suit and make-up in a business meeting, you know that most women who were currently employed in the city in our country never wear makeup or suits; but I believe she will be ready if she was notified in advance. Lisa, is that right?" Peter added and looked at Lisa.

"I am really sorry." Lisa made an ass of herself right now-pausing and then forgetting what to do.

Some of life's most embarrassing moments seemed to happen during special occasions. If Lisa recalled several of the most awkward times in her life, this moment was without parallel. She had got virtually zero interest in fashion, so she did not generally wear makeup.

It didn't occur to her that she was given an important task the first day. It happened whether she planed it or not, but it turned out she was just too close to the puzzle to see the picture that was formal.

"I hope next time I see you, you are wearing suitable clothes." Christian continued.

The laughter came from Joseph rang louder, she turned her head to meet Joseph's eyes and there was a soft light in his eyes as he looked at her. Gradually the other features, especially the sensitive full-lipped mouth and the beautiful face grew upon her as she sat silently gazing.

After the Less-than-memorable encounter with Joseph, Lisa decided that she should sign up for work and stayed away from him.

In the afternoon Lisa would like to quickly wrap up this meeting, so she could flee from the room. When the meeting ended, she was told to go to Peter's office. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Joseph coming she took off in the opposite direction.

"Lisa, it is a pleasure to meet you. Joseph." He came over, smiled charmingly and put out his right hand.

Lisa fixed confusing eyes on his hand and kept it there, Joseph spread out his hand again and made a snatch in the air. Lisa hesitated to shake with him.

"By the way, what happened in this room stays in this room. You can rely on me to keep a secret." He leaned over, protested with a teasing smile in a low whisper.

Lisa stood there still, his lips were so close to her hair and his breath tickled her ear. It must be the buildings' air that affected her with feelings almost as disquieting as they were rotting, Lisa was staring at the far away back of Joseph.