Her Just Des(s)erts

"Young Master is in a good mood today."

Lin Zixun looked up from his news app and grinned at the matronly housekeeper who was bustling about his dining room.

"How did Auntie Xi guess?"

She shot him a fond smile. "Young Master has been whistling ever since waking up, it's a wonder you even managed to finish breakfast."

He chuckled. "Is that so? I hadn't noticed." It was an irritating habit that he had, according to his friends and one very irate Tian Sunyou, who found it impossible to work with background noise, apparently. This made him possibly the only employee in the world to ever wish that his boss were less, well, pleased with life. Lin Zixun had never caught himself in the act but if Auntie Xi said that he'd been whistling since getting out of bed, then dinner with the young mistress yesterday must have made him even happier than he'd thought.

He tucked his arms behind his head and reclined back into his comfortable dining chair, the faintest of dimples forming at the corners of his mouth as he thought about the way Su Qiao had bristled like an indignant cat after she'd realised that he had complete control over the flow of the conversation and that she wouldn't be able to wrestle it back from him.

It had been a pleasant surprise to him that she'd even tried, to be honest. The Su Qiao he remembered watching from afar had been all too willing to submit to his young brother's demands, putting a dampener on her feisty personality to tame herself into a semblance that would match Lin Zizhou's ridiculous expectations.

But she'd seemed content to do so for Lin Zizhou and he hadn't planned to interfere with what he thought was the happiness she had chosen for herself.

Now that she'd called off her engagement though, the playing field was even once more. Lin Zizhou might be a complete moron but even if he didn't care for Su Qiao the way he should have, Lin Zixun didn't believe he couldn't see the value of his alliance to the Su Family. It was the reason why his brother hadn't announced their breakup to their grandfather yet; he was scared of the repercussions. Their good relatives wouldn't let such an opportunity to take a dig at Lin Zizhou go by.

And neither would Lin Zixun. The girl he liked was single once more and if she just so happened to be his brother's ex, well, his brother could deal.

[Although,] he thought with a tad of amused rue, [it seems like it's going to take a while to win the young mistress over.]

Su Qiao had shed the demureness she had reserved for Lin Zizhou to reveal the true colours within. Lin Zixun had heard rumours within the circles about the real story behind the Su Family's damaged garage. Truth be told, they didn't put him off. Quite the contrary, in fact. But it made him think about what Mo Chen had said, about how Su Qiao's enemies came from within, from the family that had always appeared to dote on her. In which case, Lin Zixun had to take her away from that toxic environment, offer her a safe space to sharpen her claws until she was strong enough to retaliate on her own.

Because she didn't give him the sense that she wanted to rely on him for anything. His little girl had grown up into a fierce young woman when he hadn't been looking and Lin Zixun wouldn't want it any other way. He was more than happy to support any of her ideas and meet any of her requests, except for one.

Fake dating? Ms Su had clearly underestimated him if she thought he would agree to such a poor deal.

"Young Master…could it be that you're so cheerful today because of a special lady?" Auntie Xi's curious voice interrupted Lin Zixun's thoughts.

His grin widened. "Perhaps," was his noncommittal response. Auntie Xi had assisted around the house since he was a little boy and was like a surrogate parent to him because his father and mother had been too busy with their respective lives. As such, he trusted her not to go around providing information about him to the rest of the family but also didn't want to give her false hopes before Su Qiao confirmed anything. She was one of the precious few people in his life that he actually cared about disappointing and he knew that she wanted nothing more than for him to settle down in a stable relationship.

In the words of her constant nagging, "Young Master goes out too much and is always busy, you need someone to set roots down with you. Only then will you learn to rest."

Lin Zixun understood her point. He didn't disagree with it either. It was just that there hadn't been anyone suitable to come home to.

Until now.

"Auntie Xi, what baking ingredients do we have?" he asked on a whim. It had been ages since he'd dragged his unfortunate secretary to that series of private baking classes that he suspected Tian Sunyou still had PTSD about. But personally, Lin Zixun had benefited a lot from it.

"…baking ingredients?!"

He couldn't fault Auntie Xi for her aghast. No one knew that the acting CEO of Lin Conglomerate had forcibly moulded himself into a baking fiend by signing up for a countless number of lessons with a couple of famous patissiers. He'd kept it quiet, although even if he'd declared it to all and sundry, he was pretty certain they would think he was joking.

But what was he to do? The young mistress had a secret sweet tooth, as he recalled. Wasn't there that silly saying that the way to a man's heart was through his stomach…or something like that? Why would it be any different for women?

——————————

The first thing Mo Chen did when Su Qiao walked into the hub that morning was to sell his friend out.

"Did you accept his ridiculous proposal?" Mo Chen asked. His forehead was furrowed and a hint of irritable tension lent him a pinched look, so much so that if Su Qiao didn't know better, she would think that he were confronting her out of jealousy.

As such, she just cocked her head to a side as she said, "Happy Birthday, Film Emperor Mo, and no, I'm still considering."

His dourness increased. Obvious displeasure was such a rare sight on this polite man's face that Su Qiao found herself intrigued. "What's the matter?" she asked.

Mo Chen wordlessly unlocked his phone and scrolled through a barrage of messages he'd received from Lin Zixun since yesterday night. Su Qiao didn't read their contents but the latest flood appeared like a set of links to…dessert recipes?

CEO Lin and Film Emperor Mo had very similar hobbies to her, it seemed. But she wisely didn't make any comments in the light of Mo Chen's mood.

"You haven't even agreed yet and he's already unbearable," Mo Chen was muttering under his breath. "Someone needs to invent a friendship repository or something, where one can go to discard regrettable acquaintances."

Su Qiao choked back her laughter. She had wondered how two such differing personalities had managed to become good enough friends that Mo Chen would take time out of his ridiculous schedule to come and hang out with her on set at Lin Zixun's behest. Now she was starting to realise that Lin Zixun, wily as he was, might have done something to con the honest Mo Chen into accepting.

"He did at least wish you a Happy Birthday, I hope," she tried. Film Emperor Mo's birthday was one of those dates the entire nation seemed collectively to know about because his rabid fan base went to great lengths to ensure that no one could forget. From billboard features to advertisement panels on the trains, his face had been everywhere in the week leading up to the actual day. For a man whose acting career was founded on his film awards, his good looks had earned him the hype of an idol.

Mo Chen rolled his eyes. "That was his excuse for beginning this nonsensical chat."

They spoke quietly in their corner for a while, until makeup came to collect them and the day's filming started off without a hitch.

The incident with the Bai Meixin's crazy stan meant that the security on set wasn't as tight as it needed to be. Su Qiao was relieved to note that there were guards stationed visibly around today, not just at the entrances but also here and there around the hub. She'd thought that this was arrangement made by the production team but after she'd shared her observations aloud, Mo Chen had turned in the seat next to her to raise a pointed eyebrow, and Su Qiao understood at once.

Lin Zixun again, huh. She had to admit that his sincerity was…touching. After her chat with Peng Lili the night before, Su Qiao had gone back to her room to ponder on her decision some more. She had more or less made up her mind already, even if it felt like she was hovering on the cusp of something incredibly reckless.

But the displays of concern that Lin Zixun had never once bothered telling her about, also helped to convince her that she wasn't about to make the wrong choice. At the very least, Lin Zixun had respect for his business partners.

[Except he wants you as a romantic partner,] an unhelpful voice at the back of her head reminded. She squashed it down before a blush could spread from her cheeks to her ears. The former she could blame on makeup but the latter was harder to explain.

She was so caught up in trying not to think about Lin Zixun that it wasn't until she was on set and about to begin a new day of filming that she finally noticed the tall figure seated next to Director Ma.

All her good mood dissipated in an instant.

Bai Meixin wasn't scheduled to arrive until the afternoon, so what was Lin Zizhou doing here?