The CEO Who Hates Me

They arrived in the City at morning and made a stop to eat breakfast.

Arya was feeling a little bit shy to look directly at Ryu while feeding him so she avoided making an eye contact as much as possible.

Ryu on the other hand, was amused as he watched the timid movements of Arya.

"Chen will brief you later about everything you need to know in the office." Ryu said while he sipped his coffee.

"Office?" Arya asked with a creased forehead and a little bit confused. Arya was taken aback. She thought she will just stay at his house.

"Yes, you will be my personal assistant so familiarize yourself well to handle everything that revolves around me." Ryu added.

"Alright," she answered smiling. It would be great for her to assist Ryu and she felt even excited thinking they will be together during work. Just the thought of it brought butterflies in her stomach.

Ryu stared at Arya who kept on smiling since she woke up. Those smiles lifted his heart up and were completing his day already.

"You should smile often like that. You look inspired and you are very gorgeous." Ryu said without taking his eyes from her.

Arya blushed hard with Ryu's praising words.

"I'm considering giving you more punishments because of that." Ryu added teasingly as he chuckled.

This time, Arya stared at his bright and breezy face.

'He is back.' She thought to herself joyfully. This was the Ryu she knew, a man who often smiled and teased her.

"Yeah, do what you want to do. Just make sure you won't be cold like before. It's just not you. I know you are still mad at me or probably hate me but I hope you won't let that negativity empower who you really are." Arya voiced out loud her inner thoughts unconsciously.

Ryu knew Arya was a candid person from the start. She often spoke what's going inside her head. He grinned inside, thinking about until when he should drag the teasing punishments.

Maybe not until he heard the words from Arya's lips, words he's been waiting to hear during the time they've been together.

Looking intently at Arya, Ryu raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why? How was I before?"

"You are jolly like this and always smiling." Arya answered smiling.

"Do you like to see more of that?" Ryu asked still looking intently at her.

Arya nodded.

"I guess, you have to work hard for it. Work hard on being my slave to bring back the old me." She heard Ryu spoke seriously.

Arya sighed and pouted her lips. She knew Ryu was messing up with her and nonetheless, she was accepting that challenge.

"Okay, let me slap your face a hundred times to wake you up and bring the old you." She said jokingly before laughing and winked at Ryu.

Then she added, "Just remember you ask for it so no blaming later if I become a clingy slave."

'Nope, I won't. I'll be anticipating that instead.' Ryu thought while grinning silently.

-----

"Did Ryu agree to do the blind date?" Elder Master Ken asked his daughter-in-law during breakfast.

"Yes father. We will schedule it within this week." Cecile answered politely.

"Good, I hope this time you got someone better compare with that Go Family." Elder Master Ken said plainly.

He heard Cecile's long sighed.

His daughter-in-law had suffered so much. He only came to know of her past because he got suspicious on her continuous match making with Go's daughter to Ryu so he looked into it to see if there were something going on behind it.

He knew Cecile was a rational woman and loved his son so much. Like Karl, she did not push Ryu to do things out from his will.

He looked at Cecile with his concerned eyes. He found out everything just recently and he admired Cecile for being a strong and a great woman despite of that.

"I hope this will be the last Cecile. Don't make me remind you that you are now part of this family. If someone in my family is bullied whether it's about the past, present and future life or anything at all, just tell it to this old man and I will take care of it." Elder Master said in a scolding tone.

Then he looked at his son who was silently eating and said sharply, "You bastard when will you learn to take care of your family? Your wife was bullied and you do nothing but slack off!"

Karl just sighed and looked at his wife sighing then said, "Father, my wife kept it from me either. If she had told me about it earlier, I could have done something."

Cecile looked straight to her husband's face and said, "Sorry, I don't want to be a burden."

Karl sighed and said, "You don't want to be a burden but you are pushing our son instead. Besides, that's not a burden to begin with. And in case it's a burden you should tell it to me so I can lift that burden up from you. Cecile, I am your husband"

"I'm sorry," Cecile slightly bowed her head because she knew that she was at fault. Her past was something she can't be proud of and Senior Go knew about it.

She was threatened by Senior Go that if she will not let their daughter be married to her son, he will spill-out everything and it will definitely affect the good image of Ken Family.

If her past spread-out, the Ken Family will be in a scandal and she can't bear that, to be the cause of the humiliation at Ken's Family.

She looked at Karl, they've been married for years and she was still hesitant to tell him everything about her past. Maybe because their marriage was just an arranged one and until now she can't tell whether he loved her for real or merely was just fulfilling his obligations at her as his wife.