178 What do I do?

"Basically, you are trying to tell me that no one knows where she is. And you are sitting on your a** assuming that she is here in Beijing. When will you stop making mistakes? Are you happy now? Did you not think that you should have sought help from some sane friends before you planned your grand escapade, you fool," Li Jie shouted at him.

Tang blanched, "are you…you are lying, right? Is this to punish me? Tell me you know where she is. She wants to punish me, right. That's it. That has to be it!"

Li Jie's words held hurt and accusation, "I am not in any mental condition to play games. This has been too much of a shock for me to firstly absorb all that has happened in the past few weeks andsecondly, that none of you guys bothered to inform Deng Chung and me about it."

"Li Jie…it's, uh, I understand your anger and hurt. You are completely justified in feeling the way you did. But I genuinely thought that she was with you or at least was in touch with you and I didn't want to put you in a tough spot by asking you her whereabouts. Never did I imagine that she would pull the Houdini act on all of us. Now I am really worried. I don't know what to do anymore, where to go, how to…" his voice broke over the last few words.

Li Jie softened his tone and told Tang to get a grip on himself. He also advised him that he would need to maintain his composure if he wanted to find Jia Li.

"I shall fly down this weekend. Will come see you at home," Li Jie said.

Tang informed him that he had moved out of the Xie mansion and that he would send the new address to him.

Hyde Park, London

Jia Li walked into the nondescript buildingwith a slight trepidation in her heart. The receptionist looked at her curiously before directing her towards the HR's cabin where she was to get her ID and complete the necessary formalities. During the past two weeks, Camilla, the receptionist had heard enough to understand that their COO seemed really keen on hiring this Oriental woman.

He didn't seem the kind to chase women just because of their beauty. She had reached this conclusion on the basis of the fact that he hadn't even looked at her properly in the past few years, despite of working in the same company. Maybe he preferred the exotic beauties, she thought with a harrumph.

Why else would he hire a woman all the way from North Africa for the role of an executive assistant. She knew this because she doubled up as the concierge desk also for the company and had handled the flight reservations for Jia Li both times.

Camilla refused to believe that there were no suitable candidates available in the entire of Great Britain. But then, this company was known for its eccentric management. As long as she was being handsomely, she didn't really care. But she was curious, very curious to know what was so special about this tiny woman.

"You are finally here. Any issues in processing your papers with the HR team?" Eric asked as Jia Li knocked and entered his cabin.

"G'morning. No issues at all. But I am not very clear on my role her even till this moment. Can you help me understand it in detail please?" she queried.

He was pleased with her sharp focus towards work. She didn't try and ingratiate herself to him nor had she wasted any time on small talk. Both Hui and he were sworn workaholics. Since she was going to work closely with them, it was a plus point to have her temperament match theirs.

"I am sure by now you have done a thorough research on our boss. Hui is a genius and near perfect in every aspect except when it comes to dealing with others. Your work here is a two-step process. First is to understand what his thoughts are on all possible subjects. Secondly, and more importantly, is to convey those thoughts in the most effective way possible to the person or parties, that they are intended for. Basically, your role is that of a translator, the only difference here is that you are not converting one language into another. Instead, you are shaping his raw, maybe rude words into more acceptable way of communication. Do you understand my meaning?" he asked.

Having dealt with Ying Hui directly, she knew exactly what Eric meant. The man definitely needed to work on his social skills. But it seemed that his colleague believed that he was incapable of improving upon those traits and had hired someone to speak on his behalf.