Chapter 404 - Phone Call

Zoey's nose flared; her eyes rolled back not because of pleasure but high blood pressure! She could feel her blood boil as it slowly reached its boiling point. "Xi Matthew, why is my building for sale?!" Her voice thundered, causing quakes in the entire Z Image Building.

The employees outside her office all stopped from their work, turning their head towards the CEO's office. Bearing the same confused eyes, each and everyone of them looked at each other as they shrugged their shoulders. Since they were used to Zoey's temper that could shake the entire building, everyone resumed their duties with the enraged Zoey serving as their background music.

Meanwhile, Ivan suddenly jolted from his sleep upon the deafening voice of Zoey. His defenses were up, looking around vigilantly with his arms up. When he realized they were not being raided nor a sudden supernatural phenomena had occurred, Ivan patted his chest as he looked in her direction in dismay.

"Holy… there's a person napping here." He mumbled which failed to reach her ears. As he shook his head sideways, Ivan plopped down on the couch as he covered his ears. "I want to sleep more…" He complained to himself, but the next minutes wouldn't let him do so.

"Are you insane?! You told me very clearly that you'll sell it to me! How can you do this without saying a word?" Zoey vented, ranting her heart out as she berated the man from the other end of the line. "You could have told me earlier! I will buy it! I will issue a check if that's what you want!" She paced back and forth, biting her thumb nail as her words escaped her lips along with her deep breaths.

"Hmm?" Meanwhile, Matthew languidly propped his chin by the back of his hand, smiling as he slowly placed the phone closer to his ear. "What do you mean 'hmm?', huh? You promised!" She complained, causing the side of his lips to curl up into a wide smirk.

Everyone inside the spacious conference hall didn't move or made the slightest noise. Not that they were trying not to disturb the phone call, but they were too flabbergasted at the sight of this tyrant. Matthew Xi was smiling!

By the looks of it, the cold front that everyone had met since day one had slowly disappeared. The person who was sitting at the end of the table was smiling, his pair of russet eyes glittering in amusement. Earlier that pair of deadly eyes could make one faint from fear as they only had one expression: madness.

But now, that cursed pair of russet eyes were now smiling? Were they hallucinating? This wasn't a mere delusion, right? It wasn't the end of the world, was it? Everyone wondered what natural phenomena had happened into this world as no one would believe what was before their eyes!

While everyone wondered cluelessly, Vivian who was sitting right next to Matthew arched her brows. She could hear a woman's voice as it sounded like she was shouting. Her gaze moved to her son's side profile, the corner of her lips smirking as her eyes narrowed.

"Hmm…" She hummed faintly, nodding her head as her thumb played around her hand accessories. While Matthew was busy, Vivian gestured to the man standing not far away from her: Butler Yi. 

Immediately, Butler Yi approached her. He stopped closed to her chair, leaning down while Vivian tilted her head to his ear. "Yes, Madam." After receiving her orders through a whisper, Butler Yi bowed his head lightly as he retracted his head away and returned to his original post.

"I don't remember promising anything." After she ranted everyone all at once, Matthew opened his mouth as he feigned innocence. He heard her gasp in disbelief, making him bite his lower lips as he restrained himself from bursting out laughing.

"What I do remember saying is for you to convince me…" He paused, leaning his back languidly as if he didn't have an audience watching his every move. "But, it's been two weeks and twelve hours since the last time I heard from you. My interest dwindled." He shrugged, giving her the tone of indifference as if there wasn't a touch of lie in his statement.

It wasn't purely the truth per se, but there was some truth in it; for example, the days and time since he last talked to her. Matthew was too bitter to admit that he had been waiting for her to reach out to him; he even dropped by outside the Z Image Building a few times in these past two weeks.

However, thinking that she should initiate first, Matthew patiently waited for her to talk to him. To his dismay, she seemed so busy with her company that she couldn't even think of other things! How could he accept that?

How could he accept the fact that Zoey's existence was slowly engraved in his mind while it seemed like she never thought of him even for a second! Thus, out of bitterness and unfairness, Matthew decided to put the building for sale. 

He made sure that the news would reach her no matter how busy she was! It worked! Zoey called, albeit fuming mad at the moment. Everyone who feared and held him in the highest regard would be dumbfounded if they found out his petty tricks to get a woman's attention.

"What…?" Zoey's brows twitched along with the side of her lips.

"Hmm?" The side of his lips stretched, raising his brows as he hummed a tune, waiting for whatever argument she was holding to spit. "Hard workers always get rewarded." He shared while she took her precious time to absorb the minimum information he gave her.

"Ughhh!" Zoey grunted, running her fingers through her hair in distress. Who would have thought that Matthew would be this cunning for using the building as a leverage for her attention! It was unfair! He was forcing her to enter his peaceful life! Why would he do this to her?!

"Well? You have a choice…" His words trailed off because she cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

"When's the next date?" Flat and forced, Zoey inquired. 

However, as soon as he discerned the sense of urgency in her voice, Matthew rubbed her chin as he smirked cunningly. "I don't know." He shrugged nonchalantly, hearing some crumpling from the other end of the phone as if Zoey was relieving her stress by destroying the papers on her desk.

"Oh ghad… why are you doing this to me?" Exasperated, Zoey rubbed her palms against her face as she tried to calm down. She needed to think straight because this dilemma needed her head to be clear.

"Is that how you should talk to someone?" His brow raised, perking his chin up as his gaze moved up along. Just then Matthew realized that everyone's eyes were on him -- solely watching him with shocked eyes as if they were watching the world crumble before them.

Yet, Matthew was so entertained with her that he chose to look away. Not that he needed to explain himself to anyone. Unconsciously, his eyes landed on his mother who was studying him from his gesture.

As soon as their eyes met, Matthew grinned as he winked at her. His wink was proud and playful, making Vivian sigh as she rolled her eyes. 'You can't hide this woman from me for a long time, my dearest son.' She commented internally, confident that her son's taunting that was dressed as the wink was a challenge for her to find out… if she could.

"Yes, Mister Landlord, the most handsome one to exist on this planet, I'm sorry for my tone. I'm just excited for our next date~!" Zoey swallowed a mouthful of saliva, clearing her tone. The next second, her tone turned into a sweet note as her lips curled up into the fakest smile that ever existed in this world.

Ivan who was constantly looking at her could not help but cough seeing her fake visage. She was akin to those old merchants trying to sell their ineffective product by their forced, unpleasant smug grin.

"Hmm…" Matthew rubbed his chin, recalling his schedule. However, as he did, he remembered his schedule was tight, hectic which made him secretly a little disappointed. "I'm busy," He said, frowning as he raised his gaze that made everyone shudder.

'What now?!' The people around him wondered, panicking at the gloomy sight of Matthew.

"Me too!" Zoey coughed her agitation and cleared her throat once again. "I mean, I know. How about I visit youm eh? Let's have a picnic inside your office? Or we can have candlelight inside your office!" Zoey proposed, desperate to change his mind before someone offered him a high price that she couldn't outbid at the moment!

"Mhmm, sounds good. Bring me food." Matthew thought about her proposal and he must admit, they were not that bad. The location doesn't really matter because the person was important. Matthew then glanced at her mother before averting his eyes away.

"See you." He said, ending the call without letting her reply. "You," As soon as he was done with his phone call, Matthew immediately resumed his previous affairs.

The moment they heard him, everyone snapped back from their trance. "I'll give you one more chance. Get your act together or clean your desk. That's all. Meeting adjourned." Without further ado, Matthew, for the first time gave someone a second chance which was one of the most historical moments in the company.

With that being said, Matthew didn't waste a second as he stood up from his seat.