Chapter 363 - OG 1.4
Long Shen read his schedule of the day and found that he was free for the whole day until late at night because he had another interview at a late night show. Thus, Long Shen decided to watch over Bai Yunyu.
He sat on the sofa, reading some news and checked on his social media until he heard Yunyu groaned.
Long Shen walked to Bai Yunyu and saw the frail man opened his eyes slowly. He blinked few times, and the first thing he saw was his boss, Long Shen.
Bai Yunyu jolted and tried to get up immediately. But his body was too weak, and he fell on the soft hospital bed again. Bai Yunyu's nervousness didn't disappear, though. His chapped lips trembled as Yunyu was so scared.
"M—Mr. Long Shen, I—I'm so sorry for my laziness! I don't know why did I faint so suddenly. I—I shouldn't faint, I know. I—I will try my best in the future. Please don't fire me. You are the only one who is willing to accept me!"
Long Shen saw how scared Bai Yunyu to him. He kept begging for his life with his hoarse voice, so Long Shen wouldn't fire him. Even though he never felt that he was scaring Yunyu, but maybe it was just the whole intimidating aura about him since he rarely smiled except when he was acting or having an interview.
Bai Yunyu looked around and realized that he was in an expensive VIP hospital ward. He paled and tried to get up from the bed.
Long Shen frowned and pushed Yunyu's shoulder back to the bed, "Where are you going?"
"S—Sir, I just fainted because I forgot to eat. I—I am alright now, see?" Yunyu stretched his hand, which accidentally almost pulled the infusion needle out of his hand.
"Careful!" Long Shen said. He pushed Yunyu to the bed again and hold his body. Yunyu was scared to the bone, afraid that he had done something wrong. He was trembling so hard, even Long Shen could feel it.
It invoked the sense of guilt in Long Shen's heart.
'Was I really that harsh on him? Did I scold him too much? He looks terrified when facing me," Long Shen thought.
Yunyu swallowed his saliva as he was really frightened when Long Shen pushed him like this. It was like… as if Long Shen would really kill him for his mistake.
And soon, Yunyu's tears welled on his eyes, and he covered his face with his palm, feeling ashamed that he actually cried in front of his overbearing boss.
"What happened? Why are you crying?" Long Shen asked as he was flustered.
"Please forgive me, Mr. Long Shen. I will not be late again… please don't fire me…" Yunyu cried harder as he was so scared that he would be fired and struggled again to eat and find a place to sleep, just like when he was unemployed. He might be kicked out of his rented apartment soon as well.
Long Shen stared at Bai Yunyu, who cried like a child. He didn't know how to pacify someone because he was hardened in the entertainment industry. He had no experience of helping someone feel better.
Usually, when he saw someone cried, he just asked that person to be kicked out of his proximity. Or he would tell that person to shut up.
But he didn't feel like doing it to Bai Yunyu because this was partly his fault. He was scaring someone that worked so hard, he almost died out of overwork.
[Pupa: Ding! Fatemeter increases to 15%. When I said that your crocodile tears will be the doom of all men in the second world, I really mean it.]
[ ༼ ಢ_ಢ༽ ]
"I won't fire you, don't be scared," Long Shen said. He tried to smile sincerely, but he seldom smiled except for acting. So his smile turned into a malicious grin. And Yunyu cried even harder.
Long Shen panicked. He didn't expect his attempt of showing a sincere smile to only made Yunyu cried harder. Long Shen pulled out his handkerchief and gently wiped the tears on Bai Yunyu's face.
"Don't cry. I won't fire you. But you need to get better soon, so you can return to work," Long Shen said. He kept wiping Yunyu's tears until Yunyu stopped crying. Yunyu stared at Long Shen for a moment and suddenly said, "Mr. Long Shen, please don't touch my face with your handkerchief."
"Huh, why?" Long Shen asked confusedly.
"Because it might dirty your handkerchief. My scar will definitely dirty your handkerchief. I'm afraid you might have to replace it. I know that it's a prized handkerchief from one of your arranged love affair with Miss Kang Xiu."
Long Shen froze when Yunyu actually remembered the woman who got entangled with Long Shen because of an arranged love affair from his agency. Kang Xiu was a new actress from the same company as him, and she was the daughter of one of the chairmen. So she got the privilege to set up a fake dating scandal with Long Shen, a top actor in the country, to boost her career.
Despite being an arranged scandal, Long Shen also had a good feeling for Kang Xiu, albeit not into a romantic level, but she had a good friendship with Kang Xiu because she was a good, professional actress.
"How did you know this?" Long Shen asked.
"Don't you remember? I'm the one who arranged the date, your date location, the three dinner course, and I also prepared the grey tux for you…" Bai Yunyu said. He lowered his gaze and had a thin smile on his face. "You look really handsome in grey, Sir."
Long Shen was stunned with such attentiveness. He never paid any attention to Bai Yunyu. Since he always treated Bai Yunyu as a replaceable assistant whom he could dispose of whenever he was displeased.
It was just… Bai Yunyu almost never displeased him, so he had no reason to fire Yunyu.
"How long have you been working with me?" Long Shen asked.
"Um… almost a year, sir, eleven months to be exact," Yunyu replied. "P—Please, sir, please don't fire me. I really need this job. I don't know where to find another job if you fire me."
"Almost one year?!" Long Shen was surprised. He didn't expect that he actually has an assistant that lasted so long. He still remembered that his longest lasting assistant before Yunyu was only two months.
'Someone could tolerate me for almost a year?' Long Shen was awed by Yunyu's tenacity. He knew that his workaholic nature and cold attitude might scare people off, and he still remembered when he was yelling at Yunyu.
'Now I feel really guilty. I wasted someone who has been working with me tirelessly, and he didn't even ask for a raise for his salary.'
Long Shen stared at Bai Yunyu and said, "Recover soon. You will work again after you recovered. And I will raise your salary next month."
[Pupa: Ding! Fatemeter increases to 20%!]
[Pupa: This is just out of my equation. Your Guilt Tripping no Jutsu works so well.]
[Hehe, told you I'm good at this!]