Imperfect Desires

-The next morning-

"What's for breakfast?" Nora came out of her room still in her tweety print pajamas.

"Bread and milk," Xiu answered calmly while she held the butter knife and ignored Nora's unkempt appearance. Because let's face it, Nora could look gorgeous even with her bed head. Xiu, however, thought she looked like a zoo animal with her bird's nest every morning.

"Ai! Don't we have any other option?" She asked and took a seat beside Xiu. Nora wasn't very fond of bread for some reason.

"There is one lazy bum in our house who forgot about groceries-"

"Oh my! Yummy! I love bread and milk. It's the healthiest breakfast ever." Seeing how Xiu was going to strike again with her foul-mouth, Nora cut in. It was better to shut her mouth and eat what was offered. Rather than filling her stomach with Xiu's sharp words early in the morning.

Xiu was pleased to see her expression while she munched on her bread and took a sip of milk. All of sudden, for some reason that stupid scion from last night came to her mind and she said, "Nora, can you help me sign up for a membership in your gym?"

With bread in her mouth, Nora froze and her eyes bulge out as she stared at Xiu trying to see whether the latter was serious or not.

"Are you serious?" Nora asked and saw Xiu nodding. "You hate gyms. What changed?"

Xiu made a sour face and explained, "I met a stupid jerk last night and he called me a kid! Can you believe it, a KID!"

Nora tried to cover her laughter with a cough. "He wasn't lying." Even though Nora said it under her breath, Xiu heard it clearly.

"What did you say?" Xiu's body emanated a cold chill.

"Hehe..." Nora gave an awkward laugh saying, "Don't get me wrong. But baby Xiu'er, even though you have a very good height, your body isn't fit. Isn't that why you always wear those fake glasses? To make yourself look a bit mature and older?"

Xiu wanted to argue but found nothing to argue with. Indeed, Nora was right. Her body was more on the scrawny side than the plump one.

"You just sign me up for the membership. Stop making stupid remarks." Xiu shot up from her seat and picked up her purse. "Wash the dishes before leaving." Saying that Xiu left out the door.

"Good morning, Ms. Bai," the elevator attendant greeted her politely with a smile.

"Good morning, Loulou," Xiu also greeted her and got in the elevator. Xiu changed a lot in five years but she was still polite to those who were polite to her.

Today, however instead of taking the bus, she chose to ride the taxi and reached the office earlier than she was supposed to. Her department wasn't as busy as it looked every morning. She sat down in her cubicle and turned on the PC.

Xiu was labeled as a workaholic by her colleagues for a reason, she always lost count of time and space when she was immersed in her work. She was lost in her own world when she heard someone coughing.

Xiu lifted her eyelids and saw one of her new interns, Bo Jiu was standing beside her with a cheerful smile. Xiu bit the end of her pen between her teeth and twirled her swivel chair to face her.

Bo Jiu placed a coffee cup on her desk along with a paper bag. Then with a flattering smile, she said, "Good morning, Ms. Bai! I heard you love black coffee. So, I got some for you. Also, I thought you might be hungry, so I also brought a croissant for you. Hope you like it."

Xiu's pointed finger tapped the pen that was held between her teeth while her eyes shifted. She picked up the coffee cup and took a sip with a nod. Bo Jiu felt like she was relieved now. After yesterday's blunder, she didn't want this supervisor to turn against her. As her cousin said, all hell will break loose if Bai Xiu's wrong button were pushed.

Xiu languidly stood up from her chair and paced around Bo Jiu's figure in a circle. She stopped before her face and said, "We really can't trust what we see." Xiu's comment made Bo Jiu confused. "You look like a normal person. Then why are you acting like a dumb one?"

Bo Jiu stiffened at the coldness in her voice. "I think while learning about coffee preferences, no one mentioned that I hate brown-nosing people. Flattery is only justified when you don't have talent. Are you trying to tell me that Spark International Group made a mistake by hiring you; an untalented girl?"

Bo Jiu immediately shook her head vigorously. Beads of perspiration could already be seen on her forehead while her face was turning white like a sheet of paper. "I-I didn't mean-" she stammered but couldn't complete her sentence. Xiu held the authority to fire her at any moment, being her direct superior.

But there had been no cases of Bai Xiu firing any intern on her own accord. However, there were plenty of cases where she made sure that those interns write their own resignation letters. Bo Jiu didn't want to be one of them.

"I guess Ms. Bo loves being the errand girl." Xiu supported her elbow on the palm of her other hand. With a thoughtful look, she added, "Attention everyone!" With her voice, the hustling and bustling department became quiet instantly. "Ms. Bo loves doing errands. Call her when you need an errand girl." A few sharp intakes of the breath could be heard. It was no doubt that the Planning Department was one of the busiest departments in the entire company.

Running errands for fifty or so people would certainly leave Bo Jiu in a pitiful state. But nobody came to help her. Who would want to make an enemy with Bai Xiu? No one dared to mess with that Heartless Witch.

Xiu was pleased to find Bo Jiu close to tears but didn't feel a tinge of sympathy as she said, "For now, Ms. Bo, it won't be fair that only I received the privilege of having a coffee brought by you. Please, make sure to gratify and satisfy your other seniors and peers." The smile on Xiu's face was akin to someone poking thorns.

"Yes, Ms. Bai!" But Bo Jiu could only nod her head in agreement and bowed before acting upon her orders.

Xiu sat back in her seat and without even a hue of guilt, she sipped on her coffee. Oddly, this bitter coffee tasted so darn sweet to her today.

Leaning against the glass door of her office, Manager Li saw Xiu and shook her head thinking, 'This girl really has some issue!'

Xiu, on the other hand, would like to correct her with the fact that she doesn't have just any issue, she has issues. Plenty of those. But none that she could voice out.