"Are you leaving?"
Yulia asked with a hint of regret when she saw the man holding his car keys in his hand.
"Unfortunately my friend has been looking for me, urgently trying to communicate with me so I have to
go home now. I'm sorry that I can't accompany you," said the man looking guilty.
Meanwhile, although he was looking sorry, his eyes were looking straight into Yulia's eyes, as if he was
trying to communicate something to her. Yulia bit her lips while wringing her hands and turned to look at
the main villa.
When she thought of Melinda, she really didn't want to go back to the banquet hall at all, because no
one cared about her existence anyway.
"Can... can I go with you?"
Yulia asked after some hesitation. She liked hanging around the man because he gave her a sense of
comfort and always took her seriously. He treated her as if she mattered.
"Are you sure you don't want to go back to the banquet?"
The man gave her a penetrating stare. His eyes seemed to see right through her thoughts at a glance.
She nodded shyly, and said looking aggrieved, "I don't want to stay there at all.
"I'm going out for a drink with a few friends. Are you sure you are okay with that?"
The man suddenly walked up and touched Yulia's head, as if trying to comfort her. Such intimate
behavior as if they were familiar with each other made Yulia blush. Then she threw caution to the wind
and put her arms around the man's waist and said, "Take me away with you, please."
His chest did not disappoint. It was as warm as she had imagined, and he didn't refuse her request.
She was sure that this person really must like her. She couldn't help but give a secret smile marveling
at how lucky she was.
"Alright, let's go," the man said as he tagged Yulia's hand, leading her to the car.
Once Yulia got into the car, he made sure she was comfortable before he fastened her seat belt for her
carefully.
"I don't know anything about you, at least tell me your name for starters."
Yulia had been so happy with all the attention she was receiving; she was in cloud nine, and had even
forgotten to ask for his name. The man smiled exposing his well-lined teeth, fit for a toothpaste advert
and said, "My name is Alan Lu."
"Alan?"
"What?"
Alan Lu looked at Yulia in confusion, while she was giggling and grinning like a Cheshire cat. The car
was soon started and smoothly left the Gu's mansion, gaining power as it cruised down the freeway.
Yulia was not worried that they were not talking to each other. She was very comfortable with the
silence as long as she was sitting beside Alan Lu. She kept smiling the whole time until they reached
their destination.
Several of Alan Lu’s friends were at the bar. As soon as he walked hand in hand with Yulia, they teased
the two of them for a while as if it was not an everyday occurrence for Alan Lu to show up with a girl.
Yulia was still adjusting to meeting so many strangers so she stayed quiet beside Alan Lu.
They started playing dice while Alan Lu drank as fast as he was playing, although he prevented Yulia
from drinking as much. Soon he was too drunk to even hold his head up so he leaned on Yulia, and
took a nap.
Yulia did not mind such intimate behavior and hoped for more.
The rest of his friends continued drinking and watching the show without giving them a single thought
until it was past 1 a.m. before they started leaving one by one, each for their own direction. Before they
left they would look at the two curiously as if just noticing that they were still there.
Yulia was getting drowsy and tired so Yulia took Alan Lu to the nearest hotel and booked the two of
them a room. As soon as they got into the room, they both slumped into the bed at the same time. Yulia
fell on Alan Lu who she had been struggling to hold upright and could barely move. Once it registered
in her mind that she was actually on top of Alan Lu, she gingerly put her hands on his abdomen making
provocative movements, trying to see if she could turn him on despite his drunken stupor.
Alan Lu sharply held his breath and stopped Yulia's hand from moving further.
"Miss Gu, need to take a shower fast."
Yulia knew that Alan Lu was rejecting her offer. He sounded more sober than she had assumed he
was. Her face turned pale from embarrassment, but before she could apologize, she heard Alan Lu
say, "We will have a better chance in the future."
The double meaning of his words was clearly reflected in the soft look that he gave her, and Yulia was
instantly appeased. She had been a little embarrassed by her daring actions, but now she felt better as
if she had gotten a new leash in life.
Yulia wrapped her arms around Alan Lu's waist and said softly, "Please call me Yulia."
"Yulia, please stop, I'm afraid if you continue what you are doing, I won't be able to control myself
anymore." She wanted to say that it didn't matter if he couldn't control himself, but she softened when
she saw the look of desperation in his eyes and how much respect he had for her.
"Okay."
Yulia kissed him lightly on the left cheek, then went back and tucked herself into bed. She always
thought that all men were kind and treated women well just for sex, but Alan Lu was different.
After taking a shower, Alan Lu sobered up a lot. He hailed a taxi for Yulia and sent her home after
profusely apologizing for his unbecoming behavior.
When Yulia got home, she arrived right on time just as Melinda was taking out the cake that she and
Jonas had made. Nelson was over the moon since they had spent such a long time with him. He had a
big smile permanently plastered on his face.
Yulia stayed there with them burning with the need to ask who Alan Lu really was, but she held back.
Eventually, she went to the dining room early the next morning and asked Nelson who was having
breakfast by himself.
"Alan Lu? Oh, he must be among the group of people who had started their own business in recent
years. He is quite famous in the Information Technology industry although I don't know much about
that. Your brother may be better placed to give you more information about that industry."
Nelson wasn't familiar with what the young people were doing nowadays, but he was still impressed by
their success and their business acumen. Yulia became even more attracted to Alan Lu when she
heard what her grandfather had to say about him. Her grandfather was never easily impressed and a
person who started a business on his own without any external help must be very outstanding.
"Why do you ask, how come you are so interested in this guy?"
Nelson studied Yulia looking confused while Yulia tried to hurriedly avoid making any eye contact with
him. "I heard a few people talking about him last night, and I got curious," she said perfunctorily.
Yulia then continued asking more questions about Alan Lu, interrogating her grandfather as if she was
the FBI, although Nelson wasn't paying much attention. He finally realized she wasn't going to stop
asking so he asked Gavin to collect some useful information for her.
Armed with the information she had collected from Gavin, Yulia went to Aner Electronic Technology
Company. She curiously looked around the company that had a modern electric feeling, giving off the
vibes that it was definitely owned by a young person. She then walked to the front desk going for what
she wanted.
"Hello, I'm Yulia Gu from Soaring Group. I am here to see Alan Lu."
Knowing clearly that she couldn't just walk into people's offices without an appointment, Yulia
introduced herself giving her identity. As soon as she heard who Yulia was, the receptionist
immediately made a call to Alan Lu's office.
"Miss Gu, the boss's office is on the seventh floor, the secretary will be waiting for you as soon as you
step out of the elevator, to show you to his office."
The receptionist gave her very clear directions and it was only after Yulia had left that she stopped and
wondered when their company had anything to do with Soaring Group.
On the seventh floor, a secretary came to receive her with a professional smile.
"Miss Gu, our boss is still in a meeting. Please wait for a moment," said the secretary. Then she
brought a cup of tea for Yulia, who was the only one left in the office at that moment.
Yulia carefully inspected the office with a lot of curiosity. The office was very minimalist, with not too
many colors. It mainly had black and white colors and was instead decorated with many brand names
of various major electronic brands that some she could identify, while others she wasn't very familiar
with. They must have been international brands.
Alan Lu had bloodshot eyes and was gently rubbing the back of his neck as he twisted it left and right
trying to loosen up the kinks as he walked into his office. He always felt exhausted and uncomfortable
after a night out and the subsequent hangover.
"Yulia."
A faint smile slowly spread across his face lighting up the whole room as soon as he saw her. "I'm sorry
for keeping you waiting for so long," said Alan Lu apologetically.
"Ohh don't worry, I hope I didn't disturb you too much by coming to see you with such short notice?"
"No, not really, I'm very happy that you came."
The smile on Yulia's face got bigger. She knew that Alan Lu must really like her for him to dot on her so
much and allow her such liberties.
"How about I show you around the company?"
As Alan Lu spoke, Yulia nodded her head excitedly. Alan Lu's company hadn't gone large scale yet
since it had been developed in the last two years. Most of his employees were in the IT industry and
were young people who looked like technology geeks. As a result, Yulia had a new understanding of
how things worked.
Yulia had a serious crush on Alan Lu, and liked him more, the more time she spent with him. She would
come to Aner Electronic Technology Company anytime she was free and was soon a frequent fixture in
the company. Everyone in the company was familiar with her, and her relationship to their boss
although they weren't very clear on how to classify them.
Alan Lu was a romantic man and Yulia was overwhelmed by his numerous surprises that would come
from time to time and totally fell in love with him.
"Alan, let's have dinner at my house today."
Yulia had grown more and more fond of Alan Lu with every passing time that she spent with him. In her
eyes, Alan Lu was a knowledgeable, talented, and capable person who even owned his own business.
He was perfect for her.
"I don't think this is a good idea," Alan Lu said hesitantly.
Their relationship had been developing so fast that they were close to taking the last step since Yulia
was so eager to be officially together with him.
"Alan, I want you to meet my family. Grandpa praised you before when I asked him about you and I am
sure that he will like you."
She wanted to make sure that Alan Lu was acknowledged by her family, so that she could further
develop their relationship with Alan Lu. Yulia didn't bother to hide her real intentions.
"Yulia, I don't think I am good enough for you."
Alan Lu was not confident about himself and whether he was in Yulia's league although she kept
comforting him and assured him that Nelson would like him.
"Well, okay, I will only go with you if you accompany me to buy gifts for your family since I don't know
what Grandpa and the others will like."
After Alan Lu agreed to a compromise, Yulia was so excited that she kept jumping in short fast steps
around him, before giving him a tight hug. She took him to buy gifts happily and informed Gavin that
she would be taking a guest for dinner and it was very important.
Nelson didn't know who the person was, but he still informed Jonas and Melinda to make sure that they
were back home for dinner. Dinner was for entertaining guests. When they saw that it was a man that
Yulia had invited for dinner, they all cordially said hello although they had reserved expressions on their
faces.
"Grandpa, this is my boyfriend."
Yulia introduced Alan Lu to Nelson but Nelson didn't say anything except look at Alan Lu with sharp
eyes. So Alan Lu took his silence as his cue to start talking and give out his gifts.
"Grandpa, I'm sorry to visit you without an appointment. This is a gift I prepared for you. I hope you will
like it."
"Take a seat, please. Gavin, ask the servants to start serving dinner."
Gavin accepted the gift on behalf of Nelson. Alan Lu then bought all the gifts for everyone with great
care. Even Jonas and Melinda received gifts.
Nelson had always wanted Yulia to find a boyfriend. Now that she had gotten one, he didn't say much.
He wasn't opposed to his presence, he just needed to get to know him well before he accepted him for
his granddaughter's boyfriend.
"Aner Electronic Technology Company?" said Nelson aloud.
He felt as if the name was familiar before he remembered that Yulia had previously grilled him about
this man relentlessly until he had to ask Gavin to help her out. It turned out that the young man Yulia
had been interested in, was the man right in front of him. He looked nice, but Nelson needed time to
know exactly how he was.
Jonas generally paid little attention to Yulia, but he was still interested in the man his sister was dating.
The man was an IT guru, and the topics they were talking about were more IT oriented, since it was
also an area of interest for Jonas.
Melinda didn't understand much what they were talking about, so she just ate quietly without bothering
to embarrass herself by contributing to topics that she had no clue and were of no interest to her. She,
however, noticed that Jonas's face was not as animated as usual; if anything; he seemed gloomy and
kept getting annoyed by the minute. She was a little curious to find out what was affecting his mood so
much.
"What's wrong? Don't you like him?"
Melinda asked Jonas after Alan Lu left.
"He should be an expert in the IT industry, but when I asked him some questions on IT, his answers
were all wrong."
What Jonas said shocked Melinda. Didn't he say that he was an expert in the IT field? He shouldn't
perform so badly when asked a few questions by Jonas. Now she understood why there was
something wrong with Jonas's expression earlier.
"Do you think he is lying about his background?"
Jonas didn't reply, but his actions thereafter explained everything. He had asked William to send
someone to investigate Alan Lu secretly.
"Is it appropriate for you to do that?"
Melinda asked. Jonas didn't think that he had done anything wrong. If there was something wrong with
Alan Lu, it would just be more problems for him.
"I will only be at ease once I do my own investigation and everything is clear," answered Jonas, while
still in deep thought.
Melinda didn't say anything. She didn't want to get involved; if anything, she'd better stay away from
Yulia's issues.
However, no matter how secretive William had been, Yulia finally got to hear about it. She heard that
her brother was doubting her beloved man, so Yulia had gone to confront Jonas without
thinking.
Melinda asked. Jonas didn't think that he had done anything wrong. If there was something wrong with
Alan Lu, it would just be more problems for him.
"| will only be at ease once | do my own investigation and everything is clear," answered Jonas, while
still in deep thought.
Melinda didn't say anything. She didn't want to get involved; if anything, she'd better stay away from
Yulia's issues.
However, no matter how secretive William had been, Yulia finally got to hear about it. She heard that
her brother was doubting her beloved man, so Yulia had gone to confront Jonas without
thinking.
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