Chapter 231 - Address Her As...

'He must be angry that I have clothes in Benji's house and I also have my own room there.' She speculated and nervously played with her fingers.

While she was imagining what she would do to placate his anger after the fight that was yet to happen, she heard him speaking after a long pause.

"That is very convenient, Kitten. A smart move." He nodded at her while rubbing his chin.

"This way you save up on time as it cancels a trip back home before going to the office." He commended her while giving her an appreciative nod.

Lina and Benji looked at him as though the fever had fried his brain circuits last night.

'Where is the 'I can't believe you would do that?', the 'Are you cheating on me?' and the massive fight?' She looked at him with turmoil in her eyes.

The novels she had read all had the scene where the female lead was more comfy and cozy with the second male lead which drove the male lead crazy.

However, no such thing had happened in her case. Instead, she just had to get a level-headed boyfriend who was not even bothered that she stayed in another man's house.

Her eyes clearly displayed the disappointment she felt as she exhaled out loud.

Dumbfounded at his calm and composed behavior, Lina felt strangely irked that he was not bothered about her.

Benji was able to perceive what her novel junkie brain was thinking about and hence he raised his brows at her while rolling his eyes.

'For someone who says that she hates drama, isn't she looking for one right now?' He sneered at her odd and contradictory behavior.

Reuben could not understand why she was staring at him as though he was from another planet but now was not the time to focus on this.

"Don't you have to get to work? You'll be late if you stay here any longer." He reminded her which brought her back to her senses.

Reuben chuckled at her flustered appearance and once again patted her head, feeling the softness of her hair.

'I'll have to make do with just caressing her head until this cold disappears.' He made a compromise with himself.

While he was busy petting her like a kitten that he often called her, Lina was contemplating on how to get to work.

Benji realized what was on her mind since he had spoken to Wade last night and was aware that she did not have her car.

"I know that you came here in a cab last night so I'll just book another to take us to work." He mentioned in a lazy tone which made Lina widen her eyes.

"How?" She interrogated as she had not said a word about her trip with Jackson to her assistant.

Benji rolled his eyes at this clueless woman who had big brothers who could sniff her location out like hounds.

"Master Wade called last night saying that they found your car abandoned on the road and asked whether you reached safely." He repeated the contents of his phone call.

Reuben frowned when he heard this and he leered at Lina, giving a sign that she had some explaining to do.

She alternated her gaze between the two men who had curious expressions on their faces.

"Yes! My car broke down halfway through my journey." She acknowledged the part that Benji was aware of already.

"But I did not come here in a cab because I could not call for one." She muttered as her voice started diminishing with each word she spoke.

They did not interrupt her and stayed silent so that she might finish what she had to say.

"I… I… " She stuttered when she saw their eyes focused on her face.

'They will yell at me if they know what I did.' She assumed and was sure that it would happen the way that she had guessed it would.

"I was given a lift by a man who was passing by the road at that time." She mumbled what took place and then there was silence in the room.

'She did what!?' Both the guys had the same thought as they glared daggers at her.

"How clueless can you be?"

"Kitten, that was very irresponsible of you!"

"You got into a car with a stranger?"

"What if that man had bad intentions, Kitten?"

"Nana! How many times have I told you not to trust people with good looks?" 

Benji and Reuben bombarded her with questions which made her bite her lower lip and bend her head like a child being reprimanded by her teachers in school.

Looking at her cute appearance, Reuben did not have the heart to continue scolding her but there was something that caught his attention.

"What do you mean by trusting looks, Benji?" He questioned the man's earlier words.

Benji first scoffed at Lina who was gesturing with her eyes to not say a word and then turned towards the heir of the Ming family with a smirk on his face.

"Your dear girlfriend here will befriend and trust any person easily as long as their aesthetics match her taste. I'm sure that this stranger was good looking which made her hop into the car with him." He revealed her biggest flaw without any remorse.

Lina gritted her teeth and forced down the urge to strangle this man alive.

Reuben's eerie chuckle brought her back from her murderous thoughts as she nervously turned in his direction.

"It's not what it sounds like, Ruby! Jackson was not a creepy guy, he was very polite when he offered to drop me here and I did not get any bad vibes from him." She hastily explained in her defense.

Reuben did not say a word and kept staring at her panicking face.

"I'll have my driver send you two to Obsidia's HQ." He dictated and then dialed a number on his phone.

Lina did not want to say anything to worsen his mood and gave him an accepting nod.

"We shall have a long talk about this matter later." He added when he saw her sighing in relief.

This made her freeze in her place while Benji rose from his seat to clear the table.

Reuben noticed his actions and hurried to stop him, accidentally calling out his name a little too loudly.

"Leave the oatmeal, I will finish it." He chuckled to hide his awkwardness that he had reacted so strongly.

Lina's jaw dropped that he had such a huge reaction for THIS instead of when she revealed so many things since she came out today.

The 'THIS' that she was talking about was as follows:

A few seconds earlier, when Reuben had noticed a small quantity of the delicious oatmeal remaining in the bowl that Benji was about to discard, he couldn't stop himself.

Thus, he had not realized that he had been a little too enthusiastic about his reaction.

'How could he throw such a good serving of oatmeal away? He sneered at Benji when he was handed the remaining oatmeal.

Since he had already decided that he would skip work, he made up his mind to savor the breakfast and then take a shower in leisure.

Lina was once again miffed when she saw his excitement for the tasteless bowl of oatmeal so she sneered at him before walking away.

Reuben turned around and watched as she got into the elevator and left yet he could not say a word since his mouth was full at the moment.

"Oh my, now you've done it." Benji's whisper made him frown because he did not know what he had done.

"Good luck with that." He pointed at the elevator door and then began walking away as well.

As much as he was confused at what was going on, he did not follow after them since they had to get to work.

"I'll handle this when she gets back." He muttered to himself and then finished his breakfast.

___

When Lina had reached her office by using Reuben's car, the drive notified his boss by sending a text message.

The man back in his apartment looked at his phone as he read the text and then set it aside.

"So they were monitoring my car?" He interrogated in a grim tone which made the room's temperature dwindle.

A tall man in a crisp black suit and shades, much like a bodyguard one would find in movies was standing with his head lowered before the man who was seated on the couch.

"Yes, Master. We have destroyed the camera along with the chip that contained images of Miss Lina entering the car." The man informed with his head bowed.

"Madam… " Reuben spoke a single word with a clear voice.

The head of security, in charge of keeping Reuben's private life away from the prying eyes of the media, Trigger looked up when he heard his boss.

"Address her as Madam from now onwards." He corrected when he saw Trigger's blank face.

Trigger's eyes widened for a split second before he gave an obedient nod.

"Apologies, Master. We have destroyed all the evidence that showed Madam leaving the apartment in your car." He reiterated his earlier sentence.

Reuben nodded in satisfaction and then waved his hand, dismissing his head of security who swiftly exited his apartment.

When Lina had left in his car, Trigger's men had found a paparazzi snooping around the apartment premises in hopes of catching a glimpse of the Emperor.

However, he had attained a better piece of gossip when he captured images of the heiress of the Yang family leaving the apartment in the Emperor's car.

Thankfully, the hidden guards that Reuben had placed around his building to chase away such pesky flies had caught the culprit red-handed.

The camera along with the memory card was destroyed and the cameraman was left off with a warning to never appear in the vicinity of the apartment if he valued his life.

Trigger had come upstairs to inform Reuben of the incident and hastily retreated to inform the others about the news of Lina being their Madam.

'Miss Lina is surely going to become FUTURE MADAM MING!' He exclaimed joyfully as he ran to his colleagues.