Chapter 13
At the Chen Group office, everyone had been walking on eggshells since the morning.
By the time noon arrived, not a single person had left their desk for lunch. The meeting that had started early in the morning had continued far longer than anyone expected, stretching hour after hour without a sign of ending.
And the reason was simple.
Xavier Chen was in a terrible mood.
The atmosphere inside the conference room was suffocating. Every executive sitting around the long table was careful with every word they spoke, every document they placed in front of him, and every question they dared to ask.
No one wanted to be the person who pushed him too far.
The employees outside the meeting room had already noticed the unusual tension. Even the most confident managers were moving quietly, lowering their voices whenever they passed by Xavier’s office.
Everyone knew one thing about their CEO.
When Xavier Chen was unhappy, the entire building felt it.
Inside the conference room, the executives continued presenting their reports, doing their best to focus despite the intimidating presence sitting at the head of the table.
One of the senior executives smiled as he finished presenting the quarterly report, unable to hide the satisfaction in his voice.
“Mr. Chen, the results have exceeded every projection we made. The strategic direction you chose for the project turned out to be exactly right.”
Another executive immediately nodded in agreement, eager to build on the success.
“The shareholders are extremely pleased. Our market value has increased significantly, and this is the strongest quarterly sales performance Chen Group has recorded in years. The board couldn't be happier.”
A murmur of approval spread around the conference table.
Several shareholders exchanged impressed glances before looking toward Xavier with unconcealed admiration.
Every major decision he had made over the past several months had paid off.
The company's shares had climbed to an all-time high, profits had shattered expectations, and Chen Group had further cemented its position at the top of the industry.
Ordinarily, a meeting like this would have ended with congratulations.
Instead, an uneasy silence lingered over the room.
Because the man responsible for all of it looked anything but pleased.
Xavier sat at the head of the table, his posture relaxed yet somehow more intimidating than if he had been visibly angry.
One hand rested against the leather armrest of his chair while the fingers of the other tapped the polished tabletop in a slow, impatient rhythm.
His expression remained cold, but there was something simmering beneath the surface—a tension that everyone in the room could feel.
The praise seemed to bounce off him without leaving the slightest impression.
If anything, each compliment only made the atmosphere heavier.
The next executive stood and began presenting the financial breakdown, carefully explaining the revenue projections for the upcoming quarter. He had barely reached the third slide before Xavier's voice cut across the room.
“Stop.”
The single word froze the presentation.
The executive immediately fell silent, his hand still hovering over the remote as every pair of eyes shifted toward Xavier.
Xavier didn't raise his voice.
He simply stared at the chart projected onto the screen, his gaze so sharp that it made the man presenting instinctively question every number he had prepared.
“What exactly is this?” Xavier asked.
The executive swallowed.
“Sir... it's the revised market forecast.”
“I can read the title.”
His voice remained calm, almost indifferent, yet it somehow made the temperature in the room drop several degrees.
“What I asked was who approved these assumptions.”
The man hesitated.
“I... I did.”
Xavier leaned back in his chair, studying him for a long moment before letting out a quiet, humorless laugh.
“So you're telling me you looked at these numbers, believed they were acceptable, and still thought they were worthy of putting in front of me?”
“No, Mr. Chen—I mean... yes... I—”
“Redo it.”
The executive's face turned pale.
“Yes, sir.”
As the meeting continued, the interruptions became more frequent.
Sometimes Xavier stopped someone halfway through a sentence.
Sometimes he questioned figures that seemed perfectly reasonable to everyone else.
Other times he would suddenly slam his palm against the conference table, the sharp crack echoing through the room and making several executives visibly jump.
Each outburst left the atmosphere tighter than before.
No one knew what they had done wrong.
No one knew what had put him in such a foul mood.
They only knew that nothing seemed good enough.
Outside the conference room, the tension was just as noticeable. Employees walked through the executive floor with lowered voices, instinctively avoiding the closed doors as though getting too close might draw unwanted attention.
“What on earth is wrong with Mr. Chen today?” one manager whispered.
“I've never seen him like this.”
“Did one of the projects fail?”
“How could it? We just posted record numbers.”
“Exactly,” another employee muttered, glancing nervously toward the conference room. “That's what makes it even scarier.”
A few people exchanged uneasy looks before quickly returning to their desks.
Everyone had reached the same conclusion.
If this was Xavier's mood after the most successful quarter in company history, no one wanted to imagine what the next few weeks were going to be like.
Inside the conference room, another presentation came to an abrupt end under Xavier's merciless scrutiny. The oppressive silence stretched for several long seconds before he finally lifted his eyes from the documents in front of him.
His gaze settled on Benjamin, who was standing beside the projector preparing the next presentation.
“Benjamin.”
Benjamin straightened immediately.
“Yes, Mr. Chen?”
Xavier held his gaze for a beat.
“Come here.”
Benjamin had already been on edge for the past several hours.
The moment Xavier called his name, his heart sank.
He quickly set the presentation remote aside and walked toward the head of the conference table, every step feeling heavier than the last. By the time he stopped beside Xavier's chair, he could practically feel the icy pressure radiating from his boss.
"Mr. Chen?"
Benjamin lowered his head respectfully.
Without saying a word, Xavier lifted two fingers and motioned for him to come closer.
Benjamin hesitated for the briefest moment before bending down.
"Closer."
Swallowing nervously, Benjamin leaned in until only the two of them could hear each other.
For a long second, Xavier said nothing. His brows remained tightly furrowed, as though something had been irritating him all morning.
Finally, in a low voice that carried unmistakable impatience, he asked,
"Where's Elise?"
Benjamin blinked.
For a split second, genuine confusion crossed his face.
Then he remembered.
"Mr. Chen..." he replied cautiously. "Have you forgotten? Miss Foster took the day off today. She didn't come to the office."
The words had barely left his mouth when Xavier's expression darkened even further.
His jaw clenched.
An irritated breath escaped through his nose as he leaned back in his chair, looking even more displeased than before.
Benjamin stared at him, completely bewildered.
‘Was... that why he had been in such a terrible mood all morning?’
Before he could think any further, Xavier lazily lifted one hand and flicked his fingers toward the conference room door.
The executives looked at one another for less than a second before realization dawned on every face.
The meeting was over.
Relief washed over the room so quickly that it was almost visible.
Everyone hurriedly gathered their laptops, documents, and tablets, trying to do so as quietly as possible. Chairs scraped softly against the floor as one after another, they slipped toward the exit with restrained urgency, each person eager to escape before Xavier changed his mind.
Within moments, the conference room began to empty.
If anyone had been watching from outside, they would have thought the executives were fleeing a burning building.
No one wanted to stay a second longer.
The meeting had begun early that morning and had stretched well past lunchtime. Hours of relentless questioning, impossible standards, and Xavier's increasingly volatile temper had left everyone mentally exhausted.
By the end, no one had been thinking about quarterly profits anymore.
They had only been thinking about surviving.
As the last executive quietly closed the conference room door behind him, a collective sigh of relief echoed through the executive floor.
"I seriously thought I was going to get fired today," one manager muttered, loosening his tie.
"So did I," another replied, still looking shaken. "I've never seen Mr. Chen in a mood this bad."
"I couldn't even remember my own presentation halfway through."
"I skipped lunch because I thought we'd finish in an hour."
"We've been trapped in there since morning."
The heavy doors clicked shut behind the last person, and an almost eerie silence settled over the room. After hours of presentations, endless criticism, and Xavier's increasingly foul temper, the vast conference room suddenly felt much larger.
Only Xavier and Benjamin remained.
Benjamin stood quietly beside Xavier, waiting for instructions. Having worked for Xavier for years, he knew better than to assume he was free to leave simply because everyone else had.