A Single Red Rose

"I love you."

Right after saying that, Lu Chenjun left the warehouse, leaving Elena in shock. That was not what she was expecting.

Although she could guess that Lu Chenjun was lying and only trying to make her feel better, she still felt a tingly sense of happiness when he said those three words.

It seemed as if the anger she had felt from the news article had never existed. Her whole body felt much lighter as she stood up to go film her next scene.

As she was waiting for the cameraman to set up, she suddenly remembered that tomorrow was May 20*.

As of now, she was still Lu Chenjun's girlfriend. Shouldn't she prepare something for him? As she was thinking about what she could do, the director called her over.

He quickly reviewed the scene with her and they started filming.

---

Elena moved her chopsticks around in her bowl, not focused on eating.

Auntie Qin realized this and asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Elena immediately looked up but saw that Lu Chenjun was sitting right in front of her, picking at his rice.

She shook her head, "Nothing. The food is really good today."

Auntie Qin smiled and put a piece of meat in Elena's bowl. Elena had convinced Lu Chenjun to let Auntie Qin eat with them. He didn't really care, but this meant that Auntie Qin had to make more food. She was fine with that, as cooking was easy for her.

Lu Chenjun had climbed onto bed early tonight as a way to make up for his absence yesterday. Elena was already laying down on the bed.

She was used to having Lu Chenjun by her side when sleeping, so she didn't sleep well last night.

They closed the lights at 11 P.M., and Elena obediently crawled into Lu Chenjun's arms.

Lu Chenjun felt kind of awkward as he didn't know if it counted as lying when he said "I love you." He hoped that Elena had completely forgotten about it, and wouldn't ask him any unnecessary questions.

Just as he was about to fall asleep, Elena opened her mouth.

"What are you going to do tomorrow?"

Lu Chenjun looked down at the person lying against his chest.

"Go to work."

"Do you have any important meetings tomorrow?"

"I have one in the morning? Why?"

Elena smiled at his answer and closed her eyes, "Nothing."

Lu Chenjun frowned. When did she learn to become mysterious?

Seeing that Elena had fallen asleep, Lu Chenjun also put aside his confusion and closed his eyes.

The next morning, Elena woke up really early and didn't wake Lu Chenjun up. For a second, she thought about setting another alarm, afraid that Lu Chenjun would be late.

However, she quickly erased the thought from her mind when she remembered the times in the past when she had been late since Lu Chenjun had driven his car away without her.

Plus, he was the boss. No one could say anything even if he was late.

She got ready and went down to eat breakfast. Auntie Qin was still making breakfast when she arrived in the dining room.

She sat down patiently, swinging her car keys around in her hand. Fang Shi was really fast in completing any task. He had bought her a completely new car in one day, and it was already ready to drive.

After eating breakfast, she quickly entered her car and drove to the filming location. She had five scenes to film, and they were one after another. She was going to try and finish them quickly, allowing her to return home during lunchtime.

Her plan worked out pretty well. She was able to pass each scene in under five takes, and with all the breaks, they finished in a little over three hours.

Elena quietly walked over to the director and asked him if she could leave early. Director Xin was very happy with Elena's performance that day, so he let her go.

Just as Elena was about to leave the building, Zhang Bing walked up to her. He smiled, both his hands behind his back.

Elena returned his smile and tried to walk around him.

"Yinghui!"

Elena turned around, what did he want?

"Hello, Zhang Bing. Is there anything I could help you with?"

Zhang Bing looked a little awkward as his weight shifted from one leg over to the other.

"You know today is 5/20 right?"

Elena couldn't hide her smile as she remembered her amazing idea, "Yes."

Zhang Bing's face flushed with embarrassment as he said, "Earlier today, one of my fans gave me a bouquet of roses. There are too many, so I'm planning on giving one rose to everyone in the set. Here's yours."

As he spoke, he brought one of his hands forward, holding a single red rose.

Elena was shocked for a moment. She had never received a red rose on 5/20 before. She happily took the rose over and smiled at Zhang Bing.

"Thank you!"

She quickly walked away, hoping to avoid any further awkwardness. Zhang Bing watched as Elena entered her car, and he walked back into the room.

In his own private changing room, there was only a desk, a chair, some makeup piled on top of the desk, and his bag.

Zhang Bing thought about what he told Elena earlier about giving a rose to everyone in the set.

'That doesn't count as lying, right?'

---

Elena returned home and changed into comfortable clothes. She wiped off her makeup and happily skipped downstairs.

She hadn't eaten lunch yet, and Auntie Qin quickly made her a bowl of noodles. She gobbled the food down and checked her watch. It was 1:30 already.

She put on an apron and entered the kitchen. Elena searched through her phone, looking for a recipe she could create. She didn't want to ask Auntie Qin for help, as she remembered that Lu Chenjun liked her cooking a lot.

She was going to cook him the perfect meal for 5/20. After about 10 minutes of scrolling, she stopped at a recipe for a beef steak.

They had all of the ingredients, so she didn't really have to worry about that.

Before she started cooking, she sent a message to Lu Chenjun.

'Chenjun, today is 5/20. Remember to come back on time for dinner. I have a surprise for you!'

She quickly sent the message and began cooking.

---

Chu Hua was bored sitting alone inside the hotel, so she asked Lu Chenjun if she could come over to his office.

Lu Chenjun had just finished his meeting, allowing his workers 30 minutes to eat lunch. After those 30 minutes, they were to come back and continue getting screamed at by their boss.

Lu Chenjun marched into his office in a terrible mood. His workers obviously didn't know what he wanted and expected from them.

As he opened the door, he saw Chu Hua sitting on the couch. His gaze softened a little as he asked her what she was doing here.

"You probably didn't eat lunch yet. I packed some food from the restaurant in my hotel."

As she said this, she walked over to his desk and put down the bag of food.

Lu Chenjun stared at the food, remembering when Elena used to also come and bring him food she made by herself.

He took a bite of the ribs and furrowed his eyebrows.

Chu Hua noticed this, "Is there something wrong with the food?"

"No." Lu Chenjun quickly ate a few more bites so that Chu Hua wouldn't feel bad, and turned towards his computer.

Chu Hua patiently sat there, watching Lu Chenjun work. After about 15 minutes, Lu Chenjun stood up.

"You can leave if you want. I have to go to my meeting."

Chu Hua also stood up, "I'll wait for you. I can sleep on the couch. How long will you take?"

"I'll try to finish in one hour, but I can't make any promises."

Chu Hua nodded, walking with Lu Chenjun to the door.

"Work hard! I'll be waiting right here."

Lu Chenjun smiled at her encouragement before closing the door behind him, leaving Chu Hua alone in his room.

Chu Hua didn't go to sleep on the couch like she said she would. Instead, she walked around, looking at the books on the bookshelf, or the papers piled on his desk.

She sat down in Lu Chenjun's chair, thinking about how Lu Chenjun would feel every day, having so much power in his hands.

She whirled around in the chair, comfortably leaning her head against the headrest.

Suddenly, she heard a ding sound coming from his table. She stopped rotating and moved in closer to get a look at what just made the sound.

Lu Chenjun had forgotten his phone in his office, and he just received a message.