Imperfect Desires

Problems have a quirk about them; it's that they always stay with us. And the greatest challenge of life is discovering where the problem lies because 80% of the times the problem lies within ourselves. With our attitude of facing that problem. But no human likes to accept his own mistake. It's human nature; One can't do anything about it.

Problems are like the rocks that try to block the flow of a river but don't forget; Water knows how to find its way. Therefore, our attitude should be like that flowing water that stays calm but still persistent while facing all the obstacles. After all, its the attitude of the water that makes all the difference.

Outgrowing from your problems or even solving those problems only brings you 20% of the success. The rest lies with the lesson that you learned through that period of time.

Right now for Xiu, Dylan was her biggest problem. Neither she could solve this problem nor could she outgrow from it. However, what she could do was find a middle ground. She couldn't let herself be pushed by this problem. After all, her dreams were bigger than the problem named Dylan Qiu.

This morning, Xiu's problem with Dylan was completely different than it had been yesterday. Because today, Dylan decided to ignore her. He had come to office earlier than anyone and had locked himself in his office.

His only call to Xiu was to say, "Cancel all my meetings for today. And don't disturb me. I'm repeating my words, don't let anyone disturb me."

"Noted." Xiu had replied calmly but with a frown that he couldn't see over the phone. After that, Xiu hadn't heard from Dylan at all. It was like he wasn't even present. But from the gloomy vibes that were looming around his office, she could tell that this grumpy Uncle was indeed inside.

That and also because he kept firing up emails to her mailbox with documents that needed revision or the plans that were completely rejected. Xiu couldn't help but agree that even though he was eccentric and grumpy but he was hardworking as people said.

"Why is it so quiet?" Li Qi'er asked after softly knocking on Xiu's office door.

"Sister Li," Xiu gave her a sincere smile as started, "Don't ask. Boss has locked himself in his office."

Li Qi'er looked at the closed door of Dylan's room and chuckled, "Oh, he's in lockdown mode again."

"Lockdown mode?" Xiu repeated in confusion and a bit of curiosity.

Li Qi'er nodded and entered her office. "Don't worry. He'll be fine soon on his own."

"Hopefully." Xiu sighed out. Li Qi'er was about to say something when the landline in her office rang and Dylan asked her to come to his office. "Coming right away, Sir." Then she looked at Li Qi'er who gave her encouraging smile.

Knocking on his office door, she walked inside and found him with his head buried in the documents that had been stacked on his desk.

"You called for me, Sir?" Xiu used her words cautiously, she didn't want to tick him off. Dylan lifted his head and Xiu's eyes widened looking at his face. She took a sharp intake of breath which caught his attention.

"Your expression is exaggerated. I don't look that bad." Dylan replied in annoyance.

But Xiu's opinion didn't match with his at all. His eyes were puffy, rims were slightly reddened and there were dark circles to give him the look of a panda. She bit her cheek to hold her laughter since she found him quite... Cute?

When she couldn't keep it in anymore, Xiu's laughter reverberated in his room. She was laughing pleasantly and even her eyes had gotten wet.

"Whenever you're done with that, let me know. I have all the time in the world," Dylan grumbled sarcastically, holding back his temper. He had promised Darren last night that he won't fire her. But last night was the reason for his condition as well. He had spent the entire night awake with the fear of ghosts lingering around him.

"Sorry. I'm really sorry." Xiu managed to control her laughter but thinking that he had been hiding behind closed doors because of this was really making it difficult for her to control her laughter. However, if only she knew that she was the reason behind his sleep-deprived state. Oh boy, she would have been over the moon. But she was clueless. For now.

Dylan looked at her composing herself within a minute and a crease formed between his brows. He slapped on a tall stack of documents and said, "Take these back to the reference room. And also, find time to slowly deliver all the reference documents to our online database. Sooner the better."

A blue vein throbbed violently at Xiu's temple. He was starting his payback again. Such a petty man!

Xiu exhaled her pent up anger in the form of long breath and angrily picked up the heavy stack of documents. She was about to turn when she heard his voice again, "Have any opinions, Ms. Bai? Or do have any problem with your job?"

Xiu gave him a fake smile as she answered, "How can I dare have any opinions?" Her voice turned into a whisper as she mumbled, "I understand your condition. I'd definitely not go head-on with a sick man."

Dylan narrowed his eyes at her dangerously as he asked, "What did you say?"

And Xiu's reply came as "I think Sir, you're sick today. You should not exhaust your body. Take some rest. Should I send you some tea?"

Her politeness gave him sudden creeps much worse than he had when the ghost stories were running in his mind last night. What suddenly got into her? He didn't know and for some reason, he didn't want to know either.

"I'm not sick. Thanks for your concern. You can get back to work now." He waved her off as if getting rid of her.

Xiu turned on her heels and stormed out of his office not before stopping at the last step and turning her face to say, "Do you know?" He raised his brow inquisitively and she added, "You looked cute a while ago. Not so very much right now!" After closing the wooden door of his office behind her, she snorted, "And you are sick. IN YOUR HEAD!" With that, she raised her leg as if kicking his door.

Then with an angry look, she briskly went towards the reference room.

Xiu was dumbfounded to see the reference room. It was a big room with racks of files stacked on them. Seeing it all, she almost pulled her hair in frustration. He was really doing it on purpose.

However, she had no other option and had to start with this work. As she flipped through one of the files, she was surprised to see the early plan works of the company. All the project that had been done by the Spark International Group were listed, even the ones that they failed to meet.

Suddenly, this room filled with a musky smell didn't seem as bad to her. It looked like a box of opportunities. And Xiu decided to take this opportunity without any regret.