woman wearing irish linen shirt

I sat opposite Miss Pender, closer to the exit.It's a bit like smoking secretly in an open-air non-smoking area where there is no one. Although the smell of smoke will soon dissipate, and it is not unforgivable, but because you don't know when you will be discovered, you will feel guilty for violating the rules. Both excitement and excitement can occur in the same person at the same time.

By the way, I hate violations.I'd been lying to her earlier when I said I didn't mind.

The lunch prepared by Miss Pan De was very rich, mostly fresh vegetables, and a small amount of chicken balls were deep-fried, not coated with starch, and drained very cleanly, so there was no soup in the lunch box.I don't know how to cook, so I can't figure out how this is done.The food was prepared in two sets, but the meat dishes on her side were only diced chicken and beef pieces, which looked like they had been boiled in clear water, with very little Thousand Island sauce.

It seems that in normal times, she is really very restrained in her diet.

The lunch break is short.She's still coming, and we didn't talk much while we ate.I returned the lunch box to her, finished clearing the table, and was about to open the door for air.

Then Miss Pender stopped me: "Don't you want to stay here a little longer?"

"Ah, of course." I turned back, "I just want to make sure there's no weird smell in here."

"Do you smell anything?"

"No." I shook my head. What she brought had no smell at all. "Do you wish to keep the door closed?"

"I was just thinking," she blinked, "maybe we could do something secret here."

She looked malicious.I didn't accept the move, walked back and sat down: "Like what?"

Miss Pender's voice was slightly low and suggestive: "Like... you know, something suitable for two people to do secretly behind closed doors."

I cleared my throat, looked at her, calm as water: "Is there anything I can do for you?"

She squinted her eyes, quickly caught my tone of voice that would only appear at work, and said, "You're not as interesting as before."

"Maybe I'm studying." I kept my face.

"I still prefer the uneducated state." Her eyes became dangerous.

I simply sat up straight, and clasped my fingers on the table in front of me: "I haven't thanked you for the lunch you prepared for today. What did we plan to talk about this lunch time?"

She rested her chin on one hand and tilted her head to look at me: "There's nothing important, so can't I have dinner with you?"

"You said it was a 'working lunch.'" I emphasized.

"Maybe it's just what you said." She tapped her cheekbone with her finger, "What we just ate was 'work', and now, we can just talk about 'lunch'."

My eyebrows were raised, noncommittal.It seems that she really just wants to have a meal with me.

Why?For whom?I calculated in my mind, Kevin must already know about the cooperation between me and Ms. Pan De. Is he going to tell the whole company that BCG is trying or has successfully bought me?

She just stared at me for a while and didn't speak.As soon as I felt her gaze, my mind stopped wandering.

I dare not, I can't, and I still have a little reluctance, I can't explain it clearly, and I don't even want to figure out the reason for this reluctance.

At first I didn't look at her, I just looked from one lunch box to another, but soon my eyes passed from the back of each box, and there was no room to avoid.So I lifted my eyelids and made eye contact with hers.

She is not to be outdone.

I raised my eyebrows.

Miss Pender bit her lip and avoided subconsciously.I couldn't help laughing and looked away too.After two days of calm reflection, now I am getting better at dealing with her.

First of all, don't be afraid of her beauty.When she looks at me, I look at her, and when she gets closer, I get closer.Generally speaking, Miss Pan De is gentle, like a paper tiger with teeth and claws—in fact, she doesn't look like a paper tiger. If I have to compare it to an animal, maybe a little lion with a wicked heart is more suitable.

Is the lion cub a cat?

But cats have no bad intentions.Cats are purely a masterpiece of the Creator. They have nothing to do with good or evil, but only make diverse and vivid additions to the definition of beauty.

Miss Pender is bad.

Secondly, we must look for her nature of teasing people.In the face of her pranks, if you can still bear it, then don't give any response; if you can't hide your emotions, you will be bolder than her.The most important thing is not to think too much or to think too much, and it is best to keep your mind still. This is the so-called "walking in the path of others, leaving others with nowhere to go".

Of course, this set of theories is still a bit rough, and it is also the first time for me to practice.

At some point, she looked over again.The more frustrated I became, the braver I became, I still didn't say a word, I just looked at her.

Miss Pender spoke up: "So, no lunch talk?"

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Anything but work."

I looked down at the clasped hands. "Sounds like it's not for us."

"It's hard to say." She played with the pen I gave her, opened and closed the cap, and said suddenly, "Do you think you can stare at me for more than ten seconds?"

"what?"

"You don't dare." She looked at me with great interest, but she ignored the part of pretending to be deaf and dumb.

"That trick doesn't work for me." I sighed and said.

She raised her eyebrows: "How about trying it?"

"I mean it's useless to bait me..." I didn't know how to say "exciting method", so I thought for a second before responding to her.But Miss Pender turned a deaf ear to me and stared at me provocatively.

"Okay." I spread my hands and looked at the table, "I can't do it."

She stood up and looked down at me: "You didn't even try."

"I don't need to try." I still didn't look at her, "Considering that we still have a lot of cooperation in the future, staring at each other for a long time is an act of increasing hostility..."

Miss Pender came to me.

My voice stopped.She was so close.

"Safe social distance." I reminded her in a low voice.

"Again?" She said in a low voice, half a smile, "The last time you said that, you were pretending. What do you want to pretend today?"

I squinted my eyes: "You like to break the rules, don't you?"

“Let’s just say, I don’t hate that.” She was at eye level and I stood up. “Strategy consulting is all about breaking the rules after all...and I’m good at what I do.”

"what do you want?"

"Depends on what you have to offer." She tilted her head.

I looked at Miss Pender.She looked like she was looking at some small animal.

I straightened my clothes and said, "That's as you wish."

Her way was blocked by me.

ten seconds.

It is said that it only takes tens of seconds for a person's blood to run a complete cycle in the body, and just imagining it makes people feel that their breathing is speeding up.How long does it take to take a full breath?If it is a deep breath, it should be longer, but it is hard to exceed five seconds.

Blood is powered by the heart, but without lungs, they lose the purpose of running.Of these two important organs, who should be stronger?

There are so many turbid things in the air, and there are also wonderful impurities in the blood that are not nutrients, making jokes in the body.The heart and lungs have been tested and eroded inch by inch since birth, and maybe they will fail one day.Did outsiders harm them?Or, compared to a long and lonely life, those dust scattered in the corners of the universe, those unclean things like visitors from space, are the strangers they are waiting for?

I thought it was me who was up and down, I thought it was me who was throbbing.

Now that I think about it, was it me who grabbed my heart and scratched my lungs?

Miss Pender's eyelashes drooped.The distance is too close, her skin and outline are almost blurred, only her eyes are like the night pearls in the curtain, which make people fly to the flame.Her gray-green eyes tell a lot, and once I was brought into the curtain, I found her trembling and patience.At first, I thought she was setting fires everywhere, wishing the world would be in chaos——

I just realized I was wrong.

She burns because of me.

But what I saw seemed false again, because it was no longer testable.Miss Pender's eyes were closed, those strong and restrained emotions were all annihilated in a single thought.Her eyelashes trembled slightly, making me think it was just a dream; but is it real enough now?Her heat is full and spreads out, everything is more blurred, like we are in water mist, she is constantly transpiring, transpiring, overflowing my whole body.

Miss Pender boiled like water.

And I am fire, the cause of trouble.

"You lost." I said.I quietly took a step back, leaving her plenty of space.

Though that might not be what she wants the most.

"I didn't." She opened her eyes again with complicated eyes, "It's been ten seconds."

I didn't speak any more.She also stepped back a little bit, but there was no way to retreat.Miss Pender was almost leaning against the wall, her lips were tightly shut, and she took a slow breath, but it was very well concealed—I hurriedly looked away, and then stepped back a little, bumping my waist against the back of the chair.

The oxygen here seems to be very thin.

The meeting room was quiet for several minutes, but the four eyes never met even once.I don't know if she looked at me, maybe she did, after all Miss Pender was never one to give in; I dared not look back at her.

Now I can answer "what kind of experience is it to play with fire?"

She regained her composure very quickly.Because she was far enough away, her charm and gracefulness that had been blurred in those ten seconds reappeared again, and her control over the situation, her grasp of proportion, was restored in the blink of an eye.But Miss Pan De can no longer easily play with me, the game has subtly shifted, because of my victory, for the first time since we met, we have reached a balance.

"Now I know your trick, about your pretense." She sounded much calmer than herself, "You want to pretend you don't feel anything, do you?"

"I do not understand what you are saying."

"So you really can't feel anything." She took two steps forward, but stopped, "Then don't feel anything."

It seems that I am the one who stays in the Han world.