(Hua's POV)
I stood frozen in the hallway, the HR email still burning in my mind.
Transfer. HQ Operations. Decision by Friday.
The words repeated in my head like an echo I couldn't turn off. My chest felt tight — not from panic, but from something worse. Betrayal.
This wasn't random.
Someone had pulled strings.
And I had a pretty good idea who.
Yiran.
Of course it had to be him. He'd always liked control — even when we were together. Especially when we were together.
The thought made my throat sting. I clenched my jaw, pressing the bridge of my nose until the dizziness faded.
"Something wrong?"
I jumped slightly at the voice.
Yichen stood a few steps away, calm as ever in his dark shirt and rolled sleeves. He must have noticed my expression when I'd left my desk.
I shook my head quickly. "It's nothing..."
He studied me in silence for a few seconds, the kind of look that made me feel both seen and cornered. Then, without another word, he walked away —
I sighed. I knew that look. He wasn't convinced.
By afternoon, the whispers had already spread.
People were talking — too casually, too loudly, pretending it was gossip when it was really curiosity with teeth.
"Did you hear? Hua might be transferred to HQ."
"HQ? That's where Director Yiran works, right?"
"Oh, interesting…"
Every syllable made my skin crawl. I wanted to disappear.
When I walked past the corridor, Zhang Wei, Yichen's assistant, called out to me.
"Director Li wants you to review the event schedule before tomorrow," he said, voice neutral but eyes slightly wary.
"Sure," I replied, forcing a smile.
I could feel his gaze follow me as I returned to my desk.
By the time the sun dipped behind the glass windows, I'd checked the event plan twice. I tried to focus, but every time my inbox blinked, my heart jumped.
Then, around 6:30 p.m., I heard a faint murmur — Yichen's voice.
His office door was slightly open.
I shouldn't have stopped. I knew that.
But I did.
Through the gap, I caught the sound of his low voice, sharper than usual.
"This transfer won't happened. I personaly hired Hua, you can't take her without my approval."
My breath caught.
He was on the phone — with someone from HQ, maybe even Yiran himself. His tone wasn't his usual composed, strategic one; it was colder. Protective.
For a second, I forgot to breathe.
"This transfer won't happened."
The words replayed in my head like a confession he didn't mean to make.
I stepped back before he could notice me and hurried toward the stairwell, my pulse hammering in my ears.
Was he doing this because of the fake marriage… or because of me?
I didn't want to know the answer.
***
At lunch the next day, I sat alone in the cafeteria, stirring my noodles without much appetite. Lin Jing had gone to run an errand, and the empty seat across from me felt heavier than usual.
A shadow fell over my table.
"Hua."
I looked up. One of Yiran's assistants — the tall one who always wore a perfect suit and a fake smile — stood there with a polite bow.
"Director Yiran asked me to remind you," he said, voice low but sharp, "that joining HQ would be an excellent opportunity. You shouldn't resist the transfer. People who refuse these chances tend to regret it."
My chopsticks froze mid-air. His tone wasn't threatening on the surface, but the meaning was crystal clear.
"I'll take that under consideration," I replied coolly.
His lips twitched — not a smile, not really — and he walked away.
I sat there for a long moment, staring at my reflection in the soup.
This was bad.
Not just for me — for Yichen, too. If Yiran was making power moves inside the company, dragging me into it was like throwing gasoline on a fire.
I rubbed my temples, trying to calm down. "Think, Hua. Think."
If I stayed, I'd be a liability to Yichen.
If I left, I'll have to work with the man that broke my heart, Yiran.
Either way, I lost.
The cafeteria was almost empty after the lunch rush. A few employees lingered at the far tables, scrolling through their phones or talking quietly. I sat alone, a half-finished plate of noodles in front of me, appetite long gone.
I was still thinking about what Yiran's assistant had said — "People who refuse these chances tend to regret it."
My stomach twisted.
I didn't even notice when Yichen appeared across from me.
No warning, no footsteps. Just him, sitting down silently with a cup of black coffee.
"You don't have to go if you don't want to," he said, his voice calm but firm.
I froze, chopsticks halfway to my mouth.
Of course he knew. He always did.
"It's not our decision to make," I muttered.
His gaze didn't waver. "I'll find a way."
I laughed softly — but it wasn't amusement. "You can't fix everything, Yichen. You're not—" I paused, eyes flicking to the table. "You're not untouchable."
He leaned forward slightly, elbows on the table, his tone lowering into something quieter. "I don't want you to get hurt again."
The word again hit me harder than I expected.
He wasn't talking about work anymore.
He was talking about Yiran.
I swallowed hard, staring down at my hands. "Then stop making me want to stay with you," I said before I could stop myself.
The silence that followed was unbearable — heavy, fragile, too full of everything neither of us dared to say.
He didn't answer. He just watched me, eyes dark and unreadable.
I stood abruptly, gathering my tray. "I should get back to work."
I didn't wait for his response.
I could feel his gaze on my back all the way to the door.
When I reached my office, Lin Jing wasn't at her desk. I frowned. Her bag was still there, her laptop open.
Weird.
I pushed the door open — and froze.
She was sitting at my desk. My desk.
Her fingers were moving fast over my keyboard.
"Jing?" My voice came out sharper than I meant.
She flinched, eyes wide behind her glasses. "Oh! I was just… sending some updates to Director Yiran. He requested the event files."
"The event files?" I repeated slowly. "You mean the ones Yichen told me were confidential?"
Her silence said everything.
I stepped closer, staring at the screen.
Her email was open — dozens of attachments. My reports. The team's ideas. The sponsorship list.
All sent directly to Yiran's office.
My stomach dropped.
"What the hell are you doing?"
She stood, panicked. "It's standard procedure! HQ always receives copies of internal projects!"
"Don't lie to me."
Her lips trembled, but she didn't answer.
I closed the laptop, breathing hard. "You should go back home."
She hesitated. "Miss Hua, I—"
"Now."
She gathered her things and left, head down. I locked the door behind her and leaned against it, pressing a shaking hand to my mouth.
She wasn't just efficient. She was planted.
An HQ spy.
And suddenly, everything made sense.
The early mornings. The quiet observation. The way she'd asked so many questions about Yichen.
I grabbed my phone, considering whether to call him — but stopped. If this went higher than him, if Yiran was orchestrating this directly, I couldn't drag Yichen down with me.
Not yet.
By the end of the day, I was mentally exhausted. The office lights dimmed, people trickled out, laughter echoing faintly in the hallways.
When I finally packed my things, I almost didn't notice the black car parked outside the building — until the window rolled down.
"Hua."
My whole body went still.
Yiran.
He was leaning back in the driver's seat, sunglasses off, that same infuriatingly confident smile on his lips.
"Get in. We need to talk."
I hesitated. Every instinct screamed no.
But a few people were still outside, watching curiously, whispering.
I couldn't make a scene.
So I forced my feet to move.
The air inside the car smelled like expensive leather.
As soon as the door closed, the sound of the city vanished.
He started the engine.
"Still stubborn as ever," he said with a low chuckle, glancing sideways at me. "Don't be mad at me, Hua. This transfer thing... I'm just making sure you end up where you belong."
My hands clenched on my bag.
"Stop the car."
He ignored me, driving forward, eyes fixed on the road.
The city lights blurred past the window, a dizzying mix of gold and silver.
And for the first time in a long time, I didn't know which scared me more — the man beside me… or the game we were both about to be dragged into.