13 Winter's Coming

"Will you stay here tonight...?"

Qiu Yue could feel his warm breath tickled her ear as he spoke.

Her heart beat a little faster, was he asking.... for....?

"Un.."

She said softly, nodding. Qiu Yue wasn't sure what sort of expression she should make, she was nervous yet excited. She had never been with anyone, she had simply never had the time.

The next morning Qiu Yue woke up in the break room. The corners of her eyes crinkled as she yawned.

The night had been very long.

"Ah Yue, sorry we went at it for so long... I should have been more prudent."

Huo Zi Feng who had been making her coffee said and handed a warm mug to her. He sat down next to her and intertwined their fingers and held her smaller hand in his.

'Yeah we went at it alright... all night long, we kept working.'

Qiu Yue honestly felt so grumpy. It was her own fault for expecting anything. When she thought back to what he said yesterday she just wanted to hit someone.

"I know you really want this project to be launched as soon as possible so let's do it together."

That sounds nice... but not what she had expected. Her smile froze.

'Wait, what now.'

'I was thinking more along the lines of having our first night together.'

Huo Zi Feng who thought that she froze because she had been nervous about something and had misunderstood him earlier clarified.

"I know you didn't want to hurry our relationship, so I will control myself and wait for you."

He looked so serious and Qiu Yue knew he meant everything he had said.

That really wasn't what she had meant, yeah sure that was what she had wanted then. But now, she already accepted their relationship. And since this was the case then she wanted to take it forward.

But now how?

Qiu Yue wanted to smash her head into the table. The perfect shoujo Otome moment had been interrupted.

Fine. Work it was. She'd work so fast there'd be no more work left. Then she could make her move.

Why not now? Well sure she wanted to, but her skin wasn't that thick. She'd have to manipulate the situation so that - she wouldn't be as embarrassed.

She didn't have any experience okay? (个_个)

She cursed herself in the mind.

'What did you expect? He's a righteous male lead till he finally gets a taste of things.'

Yao Yan's voice echoed in her head so suddenly that her own flew out of her hand worrying Huo Zi Feng, perhaps she needed to sleep?

'Why are you awake?'

Qiu Yue shot back at Yao Yan.

'Why are you awake?'

Qiu Yue clicked her tongue.

'I'm working. But a better question is who are you working?'

Yao Yan looked at the hand that lay around her waist and the long black hair that cascaded around the fair feminine shoulders hugging her.

'What are you on about?'

'Humph. So there's no connection between you and Zhou Jia being late for work yesterday?'

Qiu Yue thought, narrowing her eyes slightly.

'If you really have to know it's this really hot guy I met at a bar. We were talking about sizes and I dared him to-'

"STOP. fine. I'll know soon enough~'

Yao Yan could try to hide it but Qiu Yue knew she would find out soon enough. This system seemed aloof but sometimes Qiu Yue got an inexplicable feeling from her.

As Huo Zi Feng gently caressed her hand tracing circles in her palm her focus shifted back to the world and she yawned again.

"I need to change and then we need to leave for the Huo Mansion."

Qiu Yue said leaning onto Huo Zi Feng's shoulder.

"Okay. I'll take you to your place and get a set of my clothes sent there too. Is that okay?"

"Hmmm."

Qiu Yue hummed in consent. Right now she felt so comfortable she could fall asleep any moment.

Huo Zi Feng could see her eyes slowly start to close but she shook herself awake before she fell asleep.

They made a quick stop to Qiu Yue's house where she got showered and changed while Huo Zi Feng got his clothes and small wooden box wrapped with a piece of twine and a branch of mistletoe.

Huo Zi Feng's regular driver really felt that he not done his job properly recently. Young Master seemed to have decided to drive on his own. Young kids these days... he could only shake his head.

"You know... I can't drive."

Qiu Yue laughed sheepishly as she settled into the shotgun seat.

"Oh?"

"I'm not good with moving things that require steering or peddling. Tend to crash them."

"Well, I'll be your chauffeur anytime you want."

Huo Zi Feng said smiling, then he continued casually giving her a cursory look.

"But I haven't heard of you having any accidents... did you hide it from your parents?"

Let alone parents, Huo Zi Feng had done a complete check of everything she had done till now just for security back before they had met, there had been no report of a car accident, or even any other accident with a vehicle.

Qiu Yue's brain froze. Her stupid mouth!

'Yao Yan.'

'What does one do in these situations?'

She called out to Yao Yan in her mind.

'I have no idea stupid host. I've never got in such a situation.'

'I'm. Not. Stupid.'

'Right smart girl, if you don't answer soon you'll be outed.'

"It's uh... a secret."

'Way to go!'

ᕕ( ಠ‿ಠ)ᕗ

'Shut up!'

Though even Qiu Yue knew that was the worst thing she could have possibly said.

"Hmm... you should get some sleep, I'll wake you up when we reach."

Huo Zi Feng smiled gently at her.

Maybe he bought it, Qiu Yue thought. There were no signs he was unbelieving.

Huo Zi Feng had caught on, he'd have been stupid not to but for some reason, he felt as though the reason wasn't a foreign concept, if he reached out and thought about it, he could grasp it. For now, though, it seemed to evade him, so he decided to leave it in the back of his head for now.

Qiu Yue had fallen asleep on the way so when they reached Huo Zi Feng gently woke her up.

The visit was very comfortable as Qiu Yue's body was very familiar with the surroundings and had spent some of her happiest childhood moments here so it was a lot more relaxed.

The Huo grandparents were also a very sweet pair, they were very fond of Qiu Yue from the beginning. They loved the sweet and kind kid who had cheered Huo Zi Feng and kept him company in the years he had started to become closed off.

Seeing these two kids so close and happy really made them feel that they had made the right decision.

At that time, young Huo Zi Feng had been torn apart on the inside by his parents' messy relationship and seeing their grandson change like this - he stopped talking, stopped having fun. The problems between his parents were killing his childhood.

The only time they even a ghost of a smile on him was when he met with Qiu Yue and her parents and when he was with Liu Hui.

They were probably the only two people who could have been counted as friends, but even Qiu Yue had started to grow apart from him. Over the years she had stopped talking to him and grew shy. The relationship between them was fading away. So seeing them like this really comforted their hearts.

After ascertaining that things were going well between them, grandma Huo let them go and have a stroll in the garden. It was good for the children to spend time together.

Grandma Huo quietly dipped the tea sitting next to grandpa Huo.

"It's nice to see them happy. Though Qiu Yue seems to be a soft person, she is very nice and humble, she's a sweet child."

Grandma Huo felt that even though Qiu Yue should be a bit more firm, in this world just kindness didn't work, at the end that could be taken care of by Huo Zi Feng. As long as they were both happy it didn't matter.

"Hmm... I wouldn't say that so soon."

Grandpa Huo said chuckling fondly. He really did feel that perhaps people thought of Qiu Yue as too innocent, from what he could ascertain she wasn't that simple. She knew more than she let on.

Grandma Feng was a straightforward person she would attack people straight ahead, it was he was adept at more... guerrilla tactics and it felt as though Qiu Yue was a lot more like him.

But either way, it was obvious that her love for Huo Zi Feng was genuine and that was what mattered.

While the new couple walked around in the garden with a calm serene atmosphere, the same couldn't be said for the office.

Everything there was tense and uncomfortable and the reason for this was completely oblivious to it, Bao FeiYin sat on her desk humming away to herself in a very good mood. She took pride in acting as the victim and turning people her way, so that was what she had done. From the first person she met, she apologized to all of them and then as though taking the blame for Qiu Yue for scolding them she would add that "Qiu Yue is not bad... she's just not used to social settings and talking to people. It was my fault that you guys were scolded."

As expected it made everyone angry and uncomfortable, but not for the reasons she was imagining.

The only thoughts in their heads were, why was this new intern acting as though she knew everything about Miss Yue?

They weren't stupid, each and every one of them had gone to high school and such manipulation was something they were used to and knew to steer clear of. It was very obvious that Bao FeiYin was trying to complain about miss Yue, but they knew better than agree with her. Regardless of everything they respected Qiu Yue, she was polite, nice and very hardworking. Qiu Yue had won them through to her side by her personality and dedication. And even without that Qiu Yue was the person their boss was going to make their Lady boss. So it was blind stupidity to actually listen to this Bao FeiYin.

In fact, they all felt she was stupid, only an intern and she was talking like this? Where did she get the courage to have such a thick face?

The most annoyed though was Liu Hui. Even though Zhou Jia was the direct liaison to Huo Zi Feng, and although Bao FeiYin didn't have much actual work, she ignored Zhou Jia and kept bothering Liu Hui with her 'plans'.

Now normally perhaps Liu Hui wouldn't have dismissed her completely, but what both Bao FeiYin and Qiu Yue hadn't predicted was that Bao FeiYin had similar ideas to help with the new game applications venture of Aries.

So Bao FeiYin's amazing plans seemed to all have been ripped off from Qiu Yue and were of a lower quality in terms of detail and costs. And along with the fact that from the moment she had stepped in Bao FeiYin had been slighting Qiu Yue, Liu Hui felt frustrated.

His best friend had just gotten a confession from this love, and he was being harassed by this girl?

He really wanted to complain to fate.

Zhou Jia was the same but instead of wanting she picked up the phone and called Huo Zi Feng up. She didn't want Qiu Yue to know that someone was trying to bring down her reputation.

Huo Zi Feng stepped aside while Qiu Yue looked around a bit more, for her this was the best time to observe nature and gather inspiration.

"Boss, the new intern, Bao FeiYin is disrupting the work environment and creating conflicts. Especially she seems to be trying to discredit Miss Yue."

Zhou Jia was already irritated at being ignored like this, this was her job dammit, and it was her job to get information to Huo Zi Feng.

Huo Zi Feng frowned. He actually wanted to fire her right away, it wouldn't harm anyone, she was just an intern taken in by recommendation from a relative who wasn't close to them and he couldn't tolerate Bao FeiYin trying to harm Qiu Yue.

But he didn't want to hurt Qiu Yue by letting her know that her own classmate was trying to discredit her.

If Qiu Yue knew this she would just suggest immediately kicking Bao FeiYin out, there was literally no reason not to. As the female lead, who was a total bitch, the faster she was out of the picture, the better.

"Give her a stern warning and inform her that if this is repeated she will not be welcome at Aries anymore."

As he was putting away his cellphone he turned as a sudden strong cold gale of wind shook the trees and Qiu Yue stood holding onto her hair with her hands, her eyes squeezed shut.

"It's gotten really cold."

He said, walking back to her.

"Mhmm, it has. I really love it!~"

Qiu Yue said smiling reaching out to hold Huo Zi Feng's hand.

"Christmas and new year are my favorite times of the year!"

Feeling the cold she hesitated but then laid her head on Huo Zi Feng's chest, snuggling beside him.

"It's beautiful... it's love and happiness... the spirit of peace and goodwill, just the warmth of family and loving others is beautiful. We spend time together..."

Huo Zi Feng felt a smile tug on his lips.

"We don't need a day to do that, from this Christmas onwards, that warmth you love will never fade."

He bent his head down and lightly kissed Qiu Yue, wrapping his jacket around her.

The wrapped gift, he decided, would be saved for Christmas. If his fiancée loved the holiday, then he would make it special for her.