Bab 21: If it's free, why not?

Han Ye stood up, and by the little tinge of red on his cheeks, it was obvious he felt a little embarrassed as well. He placed his hands into his pockets as he pondered upon what to say next. When he glanced at the maid, she merely bowed and kept her gaze down.

Her body language was saying, "I'm just a normal maid. Please leave me out of this."

Han Ye groaned inwardly but he maintained a calm expression on his face.

"What have I done to deserve this? Director Shenlong, Mr. Luo… I'm President Du's assistant! You guys aren't paying me anything!" thought Han Ye annoyingly. He was wondering if he should charge the two men extra for this.

Callum was supposed to do this, but he had to go on an urgent business trip with DX today. There was a major accident at one of their subsidiary companies that was situated in a city 4 hours away. Apparently, a fire broke out and at the last count, there was at least one death. Usually, it was supposed to be Han Ye who accompanied DX, but DX said that it would be good for Callum to learn how to handle matters without Han Ye along.

Unfortunately, Guang Ying also received an urgent call from his butler, Douglas, this morning at dawn. From what Han Ye knew, Guang Ying's grandfather, who went to another city to visit his friend, had a heart attack the night before.

Even though Butler Douglas said that it was a minor attack, Guang Ying was worried about him. After all, his grandfather was quite advanced in age. Before he left to visit his grandfather, he had told Callum to handle this matter today.

Since the two had matters to attend to, the almighty secretary had to come here to handle the surrogacy-related matter again. Of course, he could just let Xiao Lei take a bus to the hospital, but he was worried that the woman might run off the moment she saw the syringe. Hence, someone had to be with her the whole time.

Han Ye sighed at having his expertise put to waste but he put on a smile and decided to handle it as professionally as possible. After all, he was President Du's secretary and no matter what he had to do, he had to maintain his appearance.

Thus, with a gentle voice, he said, "You were having a nightmare. I'm sorry if my appearance startled you, but you didn't answer my call. In case you're worried, I sent the maid in earlier before I came in."

"I…" Xiao Lei blushed. She was panicking.

"Did I mention anything in my sleep earlier? I didn't give out my identity, did I? Damn it, Xiao Xiao Lei! Stop going around hugging handsome guys!" Xiao Lei groaned inwardly as she scolded herself inside her mind. If she could facepalm herself right now without giving away anything, she would do it.

Xiao Lei glanced at Han Ye who was still looking at her. She then quickly wiped off the tears that were on her cheeks and averted her gaze before she mumbled, "Please get out, Mr. Han! I need to freshen up!"

Han Ye blinked before nodding. "Alright. I'll tell Dr. Phillip that we'd be slightly late."

He then left the bedroom with the maid. While Xiao Lei was freshening up, Han Ye told the maid to get some hot breakfast for her. "And some cucumber slices too…" he said before the maid left the room.

After the maid left, Han Ye saw that Xiao Lei had left her phone next to Alexa. When he picked it up, he saw that the phone was completely out of battery.

"No wonder she didn't hear my calls earlier…"

So, due to his habit of being a dutiful assistant, he charged it for her.

He then went to the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee while he waited for her.

"Tian-Le is coming back tonight. Should I cook? Or eat out?" Han Ye thought while he waited for the water to boil.

Zhen Tian-Le was his and Lu Ziyan's foster brother. After they started fostering him, Han Ye and Lu Ziyan fully took on the responsibilities of being an older brother, and that included giving their youngest brother a good education. They had enrolled Zhen Tian-Le in Imperial Secondary despite the boy's disapproval.

However, with the help of DX's wife, Zhen Kaixin, who Tian-Le regarded highly, they managed to get the teenager to attend the prestigious school. Because there was no one to hang out with Zhen Tian-Le during the weekdays, the two men arranged for him to stay at Imperial Secondary's dormitory during schooldays. And on holidays and public holidays, the boy would come home to hang out with his two foster brothers.

Han Ye tried to make a rough plan of what they should do this weekend. Occasionally, he would look at the bedroom's door in case Xiao Lei needed his help with anything.

...

Xiao Lei took a quick shower, changed into a clean set of clothes, and fully freshened up. She then came out from the room and went to the living room where Han Ye was sitting. The man was reading the newspaper while sipping his cup of coffee.

Xiao Lei placed her overnight bag that she filled with all the free amenities that she could get from the room on the floor. Among other things, there were also two toothbrushes, a tube of toothpaste, two travel-sized shampoos and two travel-sized shower gel from Hermes, free chocolates that were in the room, and two rolls of toilet papers.

Back when she worked at a motel for a short period of time, she would just take those travel-sized shampoos and shower gels as well as the other free amenities that the guests did not bother to take or use.

Her motto in life was, "If it's free, why not?"

Once Xiao Lei placed the bag down on the floor, she glanced at Han Ye and with an apologetic expression, she murmured, "I'm sorry for showing you such an embarrassing moment, Mr. Han."

Han Ye smiled. He placed down the newspaper and the cup of coffee before he stood up. "Just call me Han Ye is fine, and don't worry about it. I've seen worse. There's some porridge at the table and some cucumber slices for your eyes. I heard from a reliable source that cucumber slices are good for reducing puffy eyes."

Xiao Lei nodded. However, she still stood there, not moving. She had another thing in her mind.

"Is there anything wrong?" asked Han Ye.

She glanced at her feet; there was a guilty expression on her face as if she felt bad for giving them false hope. Taking in a deep breath, she tried her best to calm her racing heart before she said, "Mr… Han Ye, I don't think I want to go on with the surrogacy. I've thought about it overnight and I'd like to change my mind. Can you please tell Director Shenlong and Mr. Luo?"