Chapter 439: Inching towards the end

“No!” Nana protested. “Jinhai, you are over-reacting. I cannot give up on my surprise. I am really close to completing it anyway.”

Jinhai squinted his gaze. “Nana…”

Nana quickly pecked his cheek and said, “Husband, please. It’s not dangerous. I-I am learning it for the first time. That’s why there are these cuts. But trust me. I am fine.”

She circled her finger on his shirt. “Please?”

Jinhai kept on boring his gaze on her. Then he let out a sigh. “Alright. But only on the condition that you will take a guard with you.”

She tried to protest, but he raised his hand. “No buts on this. Don’t worry. I will not ask or force the guard to spill out anything about your surprise. I just want him there for your safety.”

Well, if that was the case, then she didn’t mind.

“Okay!”

Jinhai pinched her cheek. “You always make me worry so much.”

“I do not!” She pouted.

“Now, I am curious what surprise you have that…” He held her hands and raised them near his lips. He kissed her injured fingers one by one with gentle pecks. “…that are making your delicate hands hurt so much.”

Nana smiled. “This is nothing. I hope you like it, and if you did, then it’s all worth it.”

Jinhai leaned and nuzzled his nose in her neck. “I will like anything you give me. It’s from you. How can I not like it?”

“So cheesy.”

“You make me.”

“Idiot. Now I have to go.”

He frowned. “Where?”

“To prepare your surprise.” She grinned.

“Alright. But don’t forget to take a guard with you.”

“Yes, sir!”

—

Two days later, Xin was called in the CEO’s office.

Mr. Su smiled as Xin stood in front of them. “Assistant Xin. You must have got the reports, right? What do you have to say about it?”

He stood silent.

Mr. Su threw the file on the table. “Do you know that your so-called tested software has wiped out all the information of client’s? We are getting calls after calls from them! They are so furious at us that they want to pull this off!”

Mr. Long said, “The software failed, Assistant Xin. There was a major virus that entered through a bug, and that corrupted all the files and compromised the data. Is this the security and confidence you showed in the technology that could outsmart outsourcing?

Despite all our voices against it, you went ahead with it, changing the quotation price on your own. We had a little trust in you that you have worked under Liu Jinhai, so you know what you are doing. But what is this!”

Mr. Tan shook his head. “This is a serious error. What happened to all that testing? If it was working, then how did any virus enter? That’s it. We have no other option but to let this deal go. At this point, even if we try to convince them, it is a waste of time. They will get more furious, thinking that we are giving excuses and empty promises.”

Mr. Chao nodded. “I second that thought. Xin will admit that it is his fault and the software was not ready. He caused such a huge blunder in making the wrong decision.”

Mr. Su said, “I hope you remember what you said, Assistant Xin. We have no option but to fire you. This was the outcome decided if anything went wrong.”

Amidst all the accusations, Xin was calm. “Somebody has tampered with the software. You can check with the team when we conducted a series of tests for its functioning. We had no problems at that time. Somebody is plotting against us.”

“All excuses, Xin! Who would plot against us? You want us to make us lose our face because you are resentful that Liu Jinhai is not the CEO anymore,” Mr. Su angrily said.

“But we are not taking any responsibility for this. Whether it worked before or not doesn’t matter, you were at fault, and as promised, you will take the responsibility. No matter how much you beg, we cannot keep you anymore.”

Mr. Long said, “Please leave, Assistant Xin. I will draft your termination letter. Complete all your formalities with the HR.”

“But Sir-“

“Enough!”

Xin said nothing more and quietly left the office.

The culprits inside the office cheered. “We finally got rid of Xin. Heh! That didn’t take much effort.”

“Now, we don’t have any dog of that Liu Jinhai to spy on us! As planned, the deal goes to Pei Yuan.”

“Let’s all give this good news to him. We waited so long for this.”

“Cheers!”

—

The following days, there was once again an uproar in the media that Liu Corps was losing deals to Moon Corps. Mr. Long and his allies were careful enough not to dive Liu Corps in too many losses, or Liu Hai, who was keeping a watch on them, could easily overthrow them at any moment. After all, Mr. Long was given the CEO’s seat to help the company recover from its losses. If there was no progress, then what face would they show?

So, Liu Corp’s reputation was still intact, but it was also slowly getting eroded without nobody’s notice. The media also started to pester Nana for her take on all this. She was getting calls every day, and it made her so frustrated that she had to switch her phone off.

She sighed and sat on the bed. She felt tired of all this.

“Baaabaaa.”

Jian was reaching out to her with his chubby hands. She smiled and picked him in her arms. Nian was sleeping in the crib.

Jian latched onto her chest and softly touched her chin. He giggled as if assuring her that everything would be alright.

Nana chuckled in response. “I know. I don’t know what your Dada is planning since he is not taking any action, but I trust him. He must definitely be working on a solution too. Dada is really patient, huh? It’s almost a month now. Our anniversary is just two days away.”

“Baaaaa.”

Nana wondered if she kept her phone switched off for far too long. She didn’t want to miss any call from her instructor, who was teaching her the special art for her surprise, especially now since it was so close of getting done.

She laid Jian by her side and opened her phone to check. There were some missed calls from Serena, probably worried about the media harassing her. One call was from Meiling from Natsukashi.

And then there were a few calls from Pei Yuan.

She stared at it for a few seconds. In the past few days, not only were things happening in Liu Corps, but Pei Yuan would frequently meet Nana at Natsukashi too.

Since now she knew that he could be possibly behind everything that had happened, she was extra cautious around him. Sometimes, he tried to probe in the matters concerning Tang Ning, Tang Feng, and the man who kidnapped the twins in the mall and if they were caught or not.

These questions only strengthened her suspicions that he was trying to know what happened. And many times, he would subtly point out how Jinhai was failing at everything he was doing, majorly in business. She remained neutral and didn’t comment much on it.

Her phone buzzed again and saw that it was Pei Yuan’s number again. She pursed her lips.

What does he want now?

Nana thought for a moment and pressed the green button.

“Hello, Nana.”

“Hello. What is it, Pei Yuan?”

His voice sounded concerned. “I hope you are alright. I heard how the media is harassing you with texts and calls. So, I thought to check on you.”

“I am fine. Jinhai is handling it.”

He sighed. “It’s okay. You don’t have to lie to me. I can already sense the strain in your voice. I don’t think what Liu Jinhai is doing is working at all. Things are messing up even more. I am worried about you. I cannot see you in so much stress. I can imagine how difficult your life is right now by living with him.”

“It’s not what you are thinking…”

“Until when you would stand by his side, Nana?”

Nana said nothing. She wanted to know where he was going with this.

Pei Yuan’s hesitant voice came through the other end. “Nana. I…I was wondering if we can meet today. There is something important I want to tell you.”

She was silent.

“Um, I…I don’t think it’s possible today.”

“Please don’t refuse. It is really important. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have asked you.”

She was quiet for a moment before she said, “Okay. Tell me the address.”

She heard him sigh in relief. “Great! Thank you so much. I will message you the address in a minute.”

She cut the call and thought about it.

What is he planning?

Then she widened her eyes.

Wait. He is not planning to confess, right? His voice sounded nervous for some odd reason. Is he really going to do that?

Nana picked up her phone and dialed a number. It got picked up immediately.

“Jinhai. I have something to tell you.”