Chapter 71 - Bury The Hatchet

The moment Dylan's words registered in her mind, Xiu's expression had become comical. She looked like one of those pop-eyed toys from claw machines. It was perfectly funny - at least, for Dylan it was funny.

He saw the shock registering on her face before she could even hide it in any way. A small smile played on his lips but it had a dangerous edge to it. Words had left her but he suddenly had found a whole new world.

"I'm an old Uncle?" He repeated the words she once said to him as he stepped towards her. "I should wear spectacles?" Xiu looked anywhere but at him as she took another step back while he took another towards her. "Right, you're even gonna lend me your spectacles." Xiu choked on air at that reminder, she pushed her spectacles up the bridge of her nose and coughed with a fist before her mouth. "I'm your damn punching bag?"

Xiu had already hit him four times. The first attack was on his foot then the same day, she hit his knee. After that, she made him fall on his buttock in the supermarket and the last one was very recent when she stomped on his foot yet again on Friday night. Come to think of it, poor Dylan was always getting physically assaulted by her.

Under his searching gaze, Xiu's face had went blank. Her brain cogs weren't working fast enough. She stared into his dark ink-black eyes. "Cat got your tongue, Ms. Bai?" he roared seeking an answer from her. 

With an indifferent look, Xiu replied, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Just cut the crap already. I can applaud your acting skills but..." he narrowed his eyes at her and went on, "You can't fool me. I didn't believe you the first time when you said 'I don't know what you're talking about' and neither do I believe it now!"

Xiu took a deep and long breath to compose herself as she thought to herself, 'Ah-Xiu, let's just bite this bullet. He's mad as a hatter. He doesn't look like he'd let it go if I didn't come clean.'

"Sir..." Xiu's voice was strained and squeaky. No matter how strong her mentality was, at the end of the day, Dylan was her boss. She could beat him outside of the office but she had to stay as his E.A in the office. It wouldn't look good if she punched or kicked him here. Although the thought was really enticing.

She could have really done that and slapped a resignation in his face if she was Chen Xiu. But she had learned too many things being Bai Xiu. One of those things was, she wasn't a quitter. Not anymore. She had quit once in life and what she had quitted upon was her own life. She wasn't gonna do that again.

She was glad to announce that she was an emotional-wreck but she was not gonna accept being a quitter. Xiu had teared up that word off of her dictionary. That's why she had been bearing Dylan's unreasonable requests until now. Not because she was an exceptional employee but only because she didn't want to quit.

"Yes, Ms. Bai," Dylan had come to know Xiu at some level. He could see how stubborn she was. There was no way she was gonna accept her mistake so easily. But he was curious to hear her reply. He wanted to see how she was gonna handle this sudden situation.

"Ahem! Ahem!" She cleared her throat and said, "I didn't call you old."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. I meant to call you..." Xiu searched her mind for something reasonable to say. "Vintage. Yes, vintage. I was calling you vintage." Xiu blurted out.

"Vintage?" Xiu nodded at him. "Is there a difference?"

"There is." Xiu's confidence came back as she started explaining her logic, "You see vintage things are priceless, valuable and most difficult to get. For instance," she ransacked her mind again and said, "Wine. A vintage wine is the best. So, I wasn't insulting you back then. I was actually appreciating you."

Dylan pressed his lips together and walked back to his swivel chair. "I still think you meant to call me old. And you just called me Uncle again."

'Get over it already!' Xiu screamed in her mind but a sickly sweet smile stayed on her lips. "Sir, why are you taking it to heart? Haven't you heard old ginger is the spiciest? Besides, me calling you an Uncle was out of respect. Like people calling someone stronger then them as granduncle. I was saying it in that context."

"But you said Uncle. Not granduncle."

"That's because you look so young and handsome. It wouldn't be fair to call you granduncle." Xiu was at the point of buttering him and his inconspicuous smile told her this flattery wasn't going to waste.

Dylan's hand ran along the back of his chair and he said, "What about lending me your spectacles?"

Xiu rolled her eyes at him as his back was facing her now. "That was because... Because you have such pretty eyes." Dylan turned around to see her with a quirked up brow as she nodded and continued, "Yes, yes. Such pretty eyes can get dusty with all this environment pollution. That's why I suggested lending my spectacles. We need to protect such bright gems."

Dylan bit the inside of his bottom lip trying to stifle the laughter that was threatening to escape. Her excuses and on top of that those expressions were giving him a hard time keeping a straight face. "What about me being your punching bag?"

"Erm... About that... Hmmm..." Xiu eyes wandered all around his office as if any excuse will pop out of anywhere and oddly it did. When she heard the wall clock's tic, that's when it clicked. "I get muscle spasms."

"Huh?" Dylan was dumbfounded.

"It's true. I do get muscle spasms. I lose control of my own body. So, you can't blame me for hitting you." Xiu played the part of a damsel in distress who was hiding behind the excuse of mental illness.

Truly, at this point, all that was left for Dylan to do was applaud her on this marvelous performance. He just couldn't believe it himself! He always thought he was the most dramatic person himself. And no one could take that title of dramatic king from him. But seeing Xiu, he literally wanted to bestow his own crown of being the dramatic king to her. 

She deserved it.

To hide one lie, you have to concoct a million others. She just proved that statement in such a way that Dylan couldn't bring himself to stay angry at all. Sigh! It seemed like it was time to bury this hatchet.