Chapter 608 - Traitorous Thoughts
Iris tilted her head to the side as she looked at Jin Chonglin. "Liwei won't get mad at me for something like that."
"Yeah. Big Bro gets mad at ME. Never at you, his beloved wife," Jin Chonglin replied. There was a little whine in his voice which everyone in the office detected except for Iris who still retained some of her denseness. On top of the subtle whining, his manager Lin Dong also detected a bit of envy and loneliness.
Iris didn't notice any of these, instead muttering, "Liwei gets mad at me sometimes."
"Oh?" Jin Chonglin's eyes lit up, burying his hidden feelings behind a teasing expression. "What kind of naughty things did you do for that wife-doting brother of mine to get mad at you, Sister Xiulan?"
She opened her mouth and was about to answer but decided to shut up instead, refusing to say anything no matter how many times Jin Chonglin teased her. Guilt pricked her as she remembered all the times when she locked herself in her computer rooms, both in Gold Heights penthouse and Dragon Palace mansion, where she became absorbed with hacking, making Jin Liwei and everyone in their household constantly worried about her.
Jin Liwei had been very angry at her on those occasions but his anger didn't last long because she always managed to soften him up. Indeed, he rarely got mad at her and if he did, it didn't last long.
The guilty feeling disappeared and was overpowered by her love for Jin Liwei. Her thoughts became filled with him to the point that she had forgotten that she was in a meeting with Jin Chonglin and their managers at the moment. She felt warm all over and couldn't wait to see Jin Liwei again at home tonight. She had intended on correcting Jin Chonglin's repeated comments about her being Jin Liwei's wife because they hadn't married yet, so technically she was still Jin Liwei's fiancée, not his wife. Not yet, at least. However, she had forgotten all about it as thoughts of her darling filled her mind.
Jin Chonglin scowled when he saw the love-filled expression on her face.
'So stupid,' he thought, even as envy and loneliness threatened to overwhelm him deep inside. It was so obvious how in love Iris and his older brother were of each other. His brother was truly a lucky man to find such a beautiful and extraordinary woman as his wife. 'Stop it,' he mentally scolded himself and forcefully stopped himself from harbouring desirous thoughts about his brother's woman.
"The two of you, stop getting distracted!" Lin Dong scolded them."Yes, especially you, Iris. You're very behind in your promotional work," Tang Yiyi added in a stern voice. "We have many things to cover during this meeting and we don't have much time until we all need to leave and head for your first guest appearance later."
Iris' back straightened and her expression immediately turned serious. "My apologies, Mr. Lin, Elder Sister Yiyi. Please continue the meeting."
Jin Chonglin also did the same thing and forced his expression to look serious but struggled to pay attention, especially since he kept on getting distracted by the sweet scent of his brother's woman near him. Endless guilt ate at him as he tried to fight his traitorous thoughts.
Then all of a sudden, an image of an annoying and bossy woman popped in his mind.
'Hey, Mr. Indecisive Diva! Stop acting like a pussy and get back to work! Focus and stop dilly-dallying!' Chen Fei barked in his head.
"Fuck," he muttered and then growled, "Stay out of my fucking mind."
Everyone looked at him like he had gone insane. And perhaps he really was going insane. That woman, Chen Fei, was so annoying that she would pop up inside his head now and then without any warning to annoy him.
He would even have nightmares about her sometimes where she always rejected his ideas for his men's product line for Orchidia Beauty and pushed the launch date sooner than planned without any advance notice. These nightmares frightened him so much that he would wake up in the middle of the night shivering in the cold and sweating buckets. Then he would jump off the bed to jot down ideas for his men's line instead of returning to sleep just so his nightmares about her wouldn't come true in real life.
In a way, these nightmares benefitted him because they were forcing him to come up with more creative ideas while at the same time decreasing the moments he felt indecisive about his choices for his men's line. In turn, it lessened Chen Fei's nagging, giving Jin Chonglin a respite but still didn't decrease his opinion that she was a bossy and annoying woman.
"Are you alright?" Iris asked him."Huh? What? Yes. Yes, of course. I'm alright," he replied, clearly still distracted.
"Hello? Man, we're in a meeting! Get your head back in the game! We have lots of work to do now that Iris is back," Lin Dong told him in exasperation.
"Ehehe."
Tang Yiyi glared at the giggling Dom who immediately shut up but not before waggling his eyebrows at the distracted Jin Chonglin. Dom could feel it in his bones that Jin Chonglin was thinking about a woman—two women to be exact—based on his changing expressions.
The first woman was already taken and off-limits, as evident from Jin Chonglin's regretful expression that he always tried so hard to hide. The woman in question was dense to Jin Chonglin's feelings but most of the others, including Dom, could sense it. Dom had a feeling that his sir boss also knew about Jin Chonglin's feelings, hence why Jin Liwei was sometimes so mean to his younger brother.
The second woman was—ehehe. Dom knew who it was based on Jin Chonglin's irritated look. There was only one woman who Dom knew could make the male superstar look like he ate something sour. That was another headstrong and stubborn woman. She and Jin Chonglin were so preoccupied by their mutual "dislike" of each other that they were failing to realize the growing attraction between them.
"Ehehehe."
"Dominic Chua!"
Once again, Dom shut up after being scolded by Tang Yiyi.
Back to Jin Chonglin, it took a few more seconds but he was finally able to focus in the meeting. He might be a ladies' man—not denying that fact—but when it came to work, he was always serious and gave his all. Their meeting commenced in no time with no further distractions.After the meeting, all of them left Bright Summit and headed to their first work together since the bomb incident. It was a quick guest appearance on a popular variety show.
Jin Chonglin didn't realize yet that his own efforts at killing his own traitorous feelings for his brother's woman were ineffective but a single thought about a certain bossy and annoying woman completely redirected his thoughts.
"This prince's latest idea for my men's line is flawless. Let's see if you still have any room to complain. Hmph," he muttered under his breath while on the road with Lin Dong and his assistants in his executive van.
"What did you say?" Lin Dong asked.
"Nothing."
And they drove on while Jin Chonglin stewed in irritation about a certain bossy woman.
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