Unexpected Second Chance at Love

Outside in the hallway, Yue Ling walks away from the conference room and head for the elevators. She wasn’t worried about her design team still being inside the room as she knows they will not neglect their work.

As she nears the metal box, the door slides open and a very familiar figure rushes out.

It was her assistant.

"Am I too late? Did I miss the meeting?"

Liu Shan darts out from the elevator but comes to a screeching stop when he realizes someone was in front of him and of all people, that someone just has to be his boss.

His breathing was in a mess, but he stares at her and wipes away the sweat that had gather on his forehead.

"Boss, why are you here and not in the conference room?"

Yue Ling stares back at the disheveled man. She glances down at his outfit and the corners of her lips curls up.

"Well, aren’t you feeling bright today?"

He was wearing an oversized green sweater with baggy gray plaid pants that looked like pajama pants. On his feet were a pair of bright yellow sneakers and he even had on a white beanie to hide his hair.

However, brushing his outfit aside, she shrugs her shoulder at his question and enters the elevator behind him.

"The meeting just ended."

Liu Shan was struck speechless at her answer. His feet were rooted to the floor but seeing that the elevator doors were closing, he jumps in before they closed.

"Sorry, I didn’t mean to be late. I was stuck in traffic."

His excuse sounded reasonable, but Yue Ling already knew why he was late. Before she attended the meeting, she had received a message from Yuanyuan explaining the situation.

She doesn’t what made Liu Shan suddenly get so drunk, but she trusts he must have his reason.

Slightly turning her head to look at him, she couldn’t help but chuckle at his clothes.

"I’m guessing what you have on is another new trend?"

Liu Shan was relieved that she didn’t further question his tardiness. However, seeing her laugh at his outfit, he pursed his lip with flush cheeks.

"Just so you know, it is a new trend. It’s called shining as bright as Liu Shan can possibly be."

He spoke these words with a face full of confidence, but deep down, he was crying with never-ending tears.

After he ran out of Yuanyuan’s house, he had wanted to go home and change. However, when he checked his location on his phone map, he found out that his place was on the opposite side.

Not only that, but De L’amour was also right in the middle of his and Yuanyuan’s house. If he were to go home, he would be even more late to work.

So left with no other choice, he could only grab whatever he had in his trunk. Luckily, everything he had wasn’t as bad as that time when he had to watch Inu. The only sad part was, what he has on is what he usually wears to sleep.

As for the beanie, he needed to wear it because his hair is in a mess and he didn’t have any hair products in his car.

Arriving on the highest floor, the boss and assistant exit the elevator. Yue Ling walks ahead and summarizes the meeting to Liu Shan.

"The list has been sorted out. As for the textile company we are going to work with, I decided on Cloth Co."

Liu Shan arches a brow at her last words. He watches her enter the room on the right where some of their designs are hung on black fixtures and follows in.

"Why Cloth Co.? Can we trust their mysterious owner?"

Yue Ling shrugs a shoulder and walks over to a fixture. She picks a white button-up shirt with blue strips and passes it to Liu Shan.

"The more mysterious the owner is, the more interesting the collaboration will be."

Her answer fell in a carefree tone and she grabs a black pant and a pair of tan oxfords. She hands them to Liu Shan and walks out of the room.

"Change into that then meet me in my office."

Liu Shan held heaviness on his eyelids. He sighs inside and holding the clothes she had picked out, he drags his feet to his office to change.

Yue Ling had only taken a step inside her office when she suddenly remembers something. Walking back out, she enters the same room she was in seconds ago and grabs a shirt.

She heads to Liu Shan office but stops outside the door and knocks.

"Liu Shan, I forgot to give you another item."

"Ah, okay. Come in."

Getting the approval, Yue Ling doesn’t think much and opens the door. However, she was frozen in place when she saw that Liu Shan was shirtless.

His physique was not on par with Lu Tian’s, but it was mature and has the right amount of muscles from daily exercise.

Her face held a dumbfounded expression and she throws the shirt in her hand at him.

"Wear this under."

She doesn’t say anymore and leaves the room before slamming it shut.

"..."

Liu Shan stood with his back to the door and head turned to the side. His eyes were heavier than ever as the shirt, she threw at him just had to land on his head.

He lifts his hand and moves it as he scoffs a sarcastic chuckle.

"Sheesh, how rude."

He didn’t see her reaction, but hearing her tone, she didn’t have to exaggerate. It’s not like this is the first time she’s seen him shirtless. In the past, he would often get injure and she was the one who applied medicine for him.

Yue Ling frantically crosses the threshold of her office and closes the door. She strides over to her desk and plops down in her chair.

"Han Yue Ling, you have committed a sin."

Even if Liu Shan is her assistant, Lu Tian will never forgive her if he were to know that she saw a man half-naked.

She massages her head and brushes all thoughts of what just happened aside. Taking a deep breath, she focuses her attention on her work.

However, as she tries to distract her mind, the image of Liu Shan’s back cross her mind again.

To be more meticulous, the tattoo on his back.

Her entire being couldn’t help but turn soft as a heart-rendering wave washes inside her. She leans back on her chair with a sigh.

Every time she sees that tattoo, she is always reminded of the old Liu Shan.

As one should know, out of all her subordinates, Liu Shan is the only one who has trouble when it comes to marksmanship. However, when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, he overshadows everyone.

That is because when he joined her in Fate, he would often participate in underground fights with those of the underworld. Each fight would be brutal and life-threatening, but he said it was his way of curing his broken heart and any stress on his mind.

After winning his third fight, he decided to get a tattoo. He chose the dragon and tiger as each beast represents yin and yang. It also demonstrates the need for balance and it is a reminder for him to not be overpowered by the side of him that thirst for blood during fights.

As once he was in the cage, he would turn into a bloodthirsty monster and that was also how he obtained the nickname Mad Reaper.

A name that many in the underworld fear, but also a name that is hardly heard. Not because no one knows of it, but because he made sure all traces of Mad Reaper disappeared when Fate left the underworld.

*Knock knock

A knock sounds at the door and interrupts Yue Ling’s thoughts. She looks at the person entering and a very faint smile curls on her lip.

She is glad that Liu Shan, who just had his heartbroken, did not go back to his old ways.