The CEO Who Hates Me

The CEOs were awakened by a loud song played to work as an alarm for them early in the morning.

"What the heck. Is it morning already?" Bernard exclaimed as he rubbed his eyes.

Ryu and Shawn both got up.

"Morning," Ryu said to Shawn with a smile and still sluggish eyes.

Shawn did not know whether to smile back or keep up with his blank expressionless face. He knew Old Man Skull will be watching his every move inside the house. One wrong move from him might shatter all his plans.

So he chose to maintain his expressionless face and answered with a quick nod. Its better to stay as aloof from the Kens as possible.

Zeus: "Good morning CEOs. You have thirty minutes to fix yourselves and gather at the kitchen for your next challenge."

Meanwhile, from the big room, Denver rushed into the small room and knocked on the door. He was not able to introduce himself to Shawn yesterday because Zeus immediately began with the challenge as soon as Shawn entered the house and they didn't have any chance of talking after that.

Shawn opened the door and was startled to see the man standing condescendingly in front of him, Denver Ming who was staring at him intently.

He recognized Denise's brother as he had seen his photos and videos in Denise's phone, when he spent time with Denise, he has wasted his precious time in knowing her brother instead of snuggling in the blanket with her, and this was the first time he got to meet him closer in person.

"Shawn Lee… Man, I'm pretty sure you know me, don't you? let's just spare the formal introduction, by the way I am here to tell you one thing, Denise is very dear to me and until I am sure she can be happy with you I will not allow you to marry her… I'll be keeping my eyes on you." Said Denver before he made a gesture of -keeping his eyes on him- before he left.

Shawn: "…"

'But we are already married dear brother in law and i'll never let her go...'

Dean and Bernard were both dumbfounded.

"That's harsh," Dean murmured.

"That's just a warning…" Ryu commented simply.

"Well you can't blame him. He's her brother and brothers are always protective and since Denise is their only princess in the family, this amount of possessiveness is a given. That's how family behaves with a prospective suitor." Dean seconded as he shrugged his shoulders.

Then an idea popped out on him and he added, "Too bad we are all boys in the family, we have no sisters. Me and my brothers…"

Bernard creased his forehead and said, "Brothers? Aren't you both only child of your respective parents?"

Dean smiled widely, because of this blabber mouth his plan will succeed for sure. For the first time in his life, he would love to hug a man so tightly for being a gossip monger like Bernard.

"Me yes, but big bro Ryu had an elder brother, so he's not an only child. I heard from my auntie that the child died right the moment she gave birth." Dean said and looked at Ryu.

"Right big bro?"

Ryu nodded. "Yeah… My mom was devastated at that time, she still feels an emptiness in her heart because of this incident, she still goes to his grave and visits my brother regularly even up to this day." Ryu added.

"We only have thirty minutes. I'll use the bathroom first and make it quick." Shawn interrupted with a cold tone as he went inside the bath room quickly.

Dean looked at Ryu and the latter vaguely signaled him to let it go for now and don't push further.

Zeus: "CEOs, twenty five minutes left."

"Are you a stop watch Zeus?" Dean complained as he got his things for a quick shower.

"Zeus can we use the bathroom situated outside of our room?" Dean shouted because his stomach was starting to act on him.

Zeus: "NO! You are only allowed to use restroom and bathroom inside the room after the 30 minutes time frame from fixing yourself."

==

After thirty minutes, the CEO's gathered in the kitchen.

Zeus: "Your roommates will be your teammates for this task. Each group will get ten minutes time to stock all the food items required for a week in the stockroom. Only one person from each group will be allowed to go inside the store and get those goods for your respective group for stocking. You have two minutes to discuss with each-other about the goods you need for a week."

Ryu quickly got the ballpen and paper on the table and said, "Okay let's make a list of what and how much we'll need for a week."

"I don't know how to cook…" Bernard murmured.

"I'm writing now the list we will need and the ingredients. Look at it while I write and tell me what else you wanted me to add! We need to do it faster so tell now…"

Zeus: "CEOs raise your hand for those who doesn't know or not familiar with purchasing of goods and ingredients."

Big Room - Gaby raised his hand

Medium Room - Xian raised his hand

Small Room - Shawn and Bernard raised their hands

Zeus: "Alright, Shawn and Bernard you do rock, paper and scissor now."

The two followed and Bernard won.

"Zeus is very stingy. I'm sure he will let those who raised their hands to do the grocery collection inside the stockroom." Dean murmured.

Zeus: "Gaby, Xian and Shawn - you will be assigned to go inside the stockroom and get the goods your group will need for a week. I will just remind you that whatever you get must be budgeted for your week stay so make sure to get as many as you can, if you dont want you or and your team to starve."

"Here, I put also the quantity we will need for a week…" Ryu said as he handed the list to Shawn.

He heard his big bro Shawn let out a long sigh as he read what's on the list.

"Will they have names of the vegetables inside because I'm not familiar with them." Shawn murmured with a frustrated tone.

"Don't worry big bro, just pick anything you see as many as you can with different varieties and we will do whatever we can do with those goods," Dean added with a smile.

"You two Kens are really weird… Are you just showing off? Like trying to be good to Shawn since you're in front of the camera?" Bernard commented wryly.

"Do you want to be starved flower boy or eat healthy foods? SInce you can't cook, we will make sure to give you the most hated food you've ever tasted your whole life. One more word and you will really love what I'll cook for you later." Dean threatened in a jest.

==

In his room, Old Man SKull was watching the show without fail. He also noticed that the Kens seemed to be acting nice to Shawn.

"Is it because they are in the show and can be seen by people or are they sincere towards Shawn?" he muttered as he got his phone and made a call.

"Have you found that cunning doctor?" he hissed on the other line.

"We've been looking for him for how many years now and you still don't know his whereabouts! Bring him to me dead or alive! I don't care just make sure you find that Goddamn man!" he shouted.

That Bernard Cooper could be right that the Kens were just acting nice and good in front of the camera to show off to the whole world. But he needed to make sure… that everything will end according to his plan...