Chapter 178 - Not Very Fond Of The Man

Lina turned around and smiled when she saw the little fluff ball who called out to her.

Before she could take a step further, her entire body swayed because of the impact due to the tackle hug she received from the earlier mentioned fluff ball.

"Easy there, boy!" She patted his shoulder when she felt the tight embrace around her back.

'Why can't I have such a cute brother instead of those two monsters!?' She chuckled when Steph shook his head and hugged her tighter.

Reuben who was lost in his thoughts was awakened by the loud shout and turned in its direction only to witness the scene of some youngster hugging his kitten and this made him grit his teeth.

'Who the fuck is this now!?' He scowled as he got down from the car and strode in their direction but before he could reach them, his feet froze.

He watched as another man came forward and yanked the teenager away from Lina.

He was appreciative of this action but that feeling did not last for long after he saw who that man was.

'That's him!' Reuben exclaimed in his mind and glared at the man.

Lina felt her cute little brother being pulled away and looked at the person responsible for this separation.

"Hey, Noah!" She smiled radiantly at the man who was holding Steph by the collar.

Steph tried to struggle out of his elder brother's clutches, only to be held tighter without any chances of escape.

Noah Jin smiled at Lina and then playfully winked at her.

'My Lord, he looks great!' Lina blushed and then spent a good few seconds scanning his clothes and appreciating his fit body.

The formal black pants with a casual plaid shirt paired with black chunky glasses gave him the sweet guy next door vibe.

"Stay still, you brat! Look at all the people watching us!" He sneered at his brother who kept wiggling around in attempts of escaping.

Steph stopped when he heard those words and looked around only to find people staring in their direction.

However, what he did not realize was that the people were not staring at them but at the man standing behind them with a dark face.

Reuben instantly recognized the curly-haired man as the same pest from the airport whom he had seen exchanging contact information with Lina 

He now watched as they were standing there and talking to each other so casually.

He strode forward and after surpassing them, he stopped in front of the woman smiling at the other man.

Lina's smile faded when she felt him draw closer to her position.

She looked up and then raised her brows as though she was wondering why he was still here.

"Yes, Mr. Ming? You need something else from me?" She questioned him defiantly and smirked when she saw his intense glare focused on her face.

There at the entrance of Obsidia Designs stood this small group of people, attracting the attention of everyone who passed by that area.

The reason for this was that each one of them was exceptional in their own right.

Stephen Jin, because he was the lead designer of Obsidia Designs, the clothing department.

Noah Jin, the hot guy who looked similar to the 'Little Devil' of Obsidia.

Reuben Ming, the business tycoon and Emperor of Ming Enterprise.

Finally, the woman who had caused a storm in the tabloids from early this morning.

Lina Yang, the marketing consultant formerly famous for her baking skills and called the 'Fairy' of the department.

Now known as the 'Hidden Heiress' of the Yang family.

People were secretly clicking pictures and uploading them to their social media sites.

Employees tried to take subtle peeks at this group in order to not get into trouble like the last time that an employee was fired for spreading false rumors about Lina.

Unknown to the commotion that their very presence had caused, the four people stood facing each other.

"Kitten, stop being so stubborn. It is not something that I can simply tell you. Business secrets!" He whispered in her ear and tried to reason with her about their tiny quarrel inside the car.

'That is my company! How is that not something that I should be aware of!?' She moved away and glared at him but paused when something struck her mind.

According to everyone else, she was just a consultant in Obsidia but Reuben was aware of one of her other hidden identities.

That Lina Yang, was also LY, the mysterious designer of the jewelry department. 

However, he was not yet aware that she was also the never seen before CEO of Obsidia to whom even Wade, the VP needed to answer.

'I completely forgot that he does not know who the owner of Obsidia is!' She felt like facepalming herself.

Lina halted the sarcastic remark that was about to leave her mouth and simply nodded her head.

'No wonder Ruby was reluctant to reveal the business secret to me! It's because he thinks I'm just a designer here!' She inferred about his reason for refusing to answer her questions.

His morality in this matter gained him a few extra brownie points in her heart.

Though he had done nothing much, Reuben's impression in his Kitten's heart grew by a small percentage. 

Thus his loyalty to his best friends had indirectly helped him get an inch closer to Lina's heart.

Reuben eyed her suspiciously when she so obediently agreed with his explanation.

However, he did not speculate too much about it because he felt the gaze of a certain small fry being focused on them.

Turning around, he stood next to Lina and gave a half-assed nod to the two similar-looking men.

"You seem to be acquainted with my Kitten…" He lazily remarked and then gave them a look over.

Noah Jin raised his eyebrow when he heard the 'MY' that Reuben had purposefully used to let the other guy a chance to back off.

Being a guy himself, he understood what this Emperor was trying to convey but this just made him even more inquisitive about this new dynamic.

His eyes alternated between the man and woman standing next to each other.

He then secretly smirked as he watched Lina whiplash her head towards Reuben.

'Does he have to be so sarcastic and mean!? Noah and Steph are my friends!' She rolled her eyes and patted his shoulder to get his attention.

Feeling her gentle tap on him, Reuben looked sideways at her and his eyes met with her pursed lips.

Gazing at those lips, he noticed her mouthing the word 'behave' and this made him roll his eyes at her.

Lina was amused to see his response and raised her eyebrows as an answer to his action.

"See… I told you that we wouldn't be late. As I had told you, they are still flirting with each other!" A chuckle brought the pair back to their senses.

Turning in that annoying chuckle's direction, Lina saw her assistant Benji walking beside Reuben's assistant Matthew as they slurped on smoothies.

Reuben sneered at his pig of an assistant and shook his head in disappointment. 

He had informed Matthew Kim to come to pick him up at Obsidia so as to not bother Lina after he made sure that she had reached her office safely.

But they had that fight in the car and he had forgotten about his faithful eunuch.

Now witnessing the man ambling so casually, he glared at Mathew and cursed at him in his mind.

Mathew Kim shuddered when he felt the glare and choked on the strawberry banana smoothie that he had just taken a big swig of.

Benji snickered when he saw how weak this other assistant was and did nothing to help him out.

"Who did you say was flirting?" Lina interrogated with a sweet smile on her face which reminded Mathew of the Demon's smile.

The terrified assistant hurriedly shook his head to indicate that he had not said anything at all.

'Emperor! You cannot influence this young woman like that!' Mathew Kim scowled at his boss but immediately looked away when their eyes met.

Mathew had been informed about Reuben's impromptu stay at the Luo's Residence by his ever gossiping mother, Renee Ming.

Hence, he was aware that something big must have happened between these two.

He had been tasked by Renee to send a fresh change of clothes to his boss early in the morning.

After which he had waited in the car for his boss to arrive but was left waiting for a long time.

Many minutes later, he received a text to meet him at Obsidia's headquarters and that there should be no traces of him ever appearing near Luo Residence.

Reuben had not given those orders on a whim but this was his well thought out plan.

If the twins were aware of the fact that Mathew had arrived to pick him up then he would have lost this chance to spend time with Lina.

Reuben had done this in compliance with another one of Aloysius Ming's tips.

'Try to find chances to get her by your side. The more she stays with you, the more she will think of you when you aren't around.' 

This thinking of Aloysius was right in a way because the human heart would soon get attached to things or people it sees every day.

However, whether that attachment stays over longer periods of time or fades away when something new arrives would depend on how they spent their time together.

Right now, Reuben was facing that 'something new' that could affect his time with his Kitten.

'This guy doesn't seem right to me.' He glanced at Noah Jin one more time and came to the conclusion that he was not very fond of the man.