Chapter 144: Misunderstandings Pt. 4
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"...I promise."
His voice was filled with more emotion as he stressed the last two words. She could almost imagine him sitting at this desk and staring at the wall while trying to show his sincerity to her. This was no easy to position to be on, especially when the one at fault was his best friend. It was nice to note that he was quick to state his apologies and did not jump into defending his best friend without considering her perspective.
She did not expect him to curse or punish his best friend, Zhuang Wei's reaction was expected. If she was in his place maybe she would have done something similar. However, after receiving confirmation from the involved party they should respect their wishes not to investigate further. Of course, she did not know if that conversation ever happened or if Xi Long told him he was fine with her vagueness. Her point of reference were her own friends, who had trusted her enough not to research Xi Long or create a code to track him.
Not that they didn't have the capabilities too - they definitely did. Even as she watched Neo and Zhuang Wei attack each other, she could see that Neo was playing with him as revenge. Warmth filled her heart at the thought of her best friend getting revenge for her no matter how minor.
A sigh left her mouth as she accepted his words, his promise had took out all the remaining anger she had left towards him.
"Alright, I believe you," and she really did. There was enough trust and understanding for her to know that he did not make promises lightly. So when he did, it was something you could depend on.
There were many people who liked to put out false promises or promise in the moment just to make the other calm down. Some of them did not even realize it was a promise, those were just words that came out on a flow or were strategically used to convince the other. These sort of promises were usually selfish and would be dropped at their earliest convenience. It was so common that people at a lower status or disadvantage would just have to swallow their anger and act normally.
It was at that point where she believed that without contracts you could not depend on anyone. She was not so naive to believe that everyone will follow a contract even if it was notarized. There were many times in the past where she saw contracts being disregarded or 'mysteriously disappearing.' So it was saying a lot when she took his words at face value and believed them.
After her comment, saying she believed him there was an audible release of tension. He let out a deep breath that he was probably holding in while waiting for her response. Now that they had reached an agreement it was a lot less tensed and the coldness in her voice decreased.
She couldn't drop the coldness in her voice completely, the situation was still serious but the change was obvious. It was an additional way to let Xi Long know where she stood and the change in her voice was definitely noted by him.
"Okay, let me call him right now and -"
"No that's fine." She quickly cut him off, while she wanted him to have a deep talk with him now was not the time. Neo definitely had his own plans right now and she did not want those to be interrupted.
"What do you mean?"
There was a bit of confusion in his voice as he responded to her. For her to emphasize how wrong it was then to stop him from doing anything about it was contradictory.
"What I mean is that you don't have to worry about it now, I've taken care of the situation." There was a twinge of evilness in her voice as she spoke.
"Haha, what do you have planned? I hope not too mean, I do still need him."
His voice was playful but was also testing the waters, no matter what that was his best friend. He may take her side in this situation to a certain level, harming his best friend was beyond his limits.
"What? Do you think I'm going to hurt him?? If I wanted to, you know I would have done so already. I believed you when you said you didn't do it, now look how much you trust me??"
"Well I know he deserves a least a punch or two, you're privy to that in person. Other than that, I still have to defend him knowing how skilled you are. Can I know how are we getting revenge just for reference purposes? I can adjust my talk with him accordingly."
"Now you're just playing around with your words, I'm not telling you. To be honest, I think he deserves more than a punch or two if we include the gun prank from yesterday. I'm not sure I understand Zhuang Wei's line of thinking."
"....."
There was an awkward pause as Xi Long became silent from her words. She would be surprised if he had a proper explanation for that incident, it was stupid on so many accounts. If she had been in any other location and he was not by her side, Zhuang Wei could have died. He was lucky to test her while having a limiter by her side.
Even if she tried to understand the reasoning, none of them were equivalent to the risk if things had gone wrong.
After a couple of more seconds, there was finally a sound from the receiver as Xi Long gathered his words. "Well....he just cares a lot and may have chosen stupid ways to go about it. His heart is in the right place. For the gun incident, I have already punished him last night."
"Oh yeah? What type of punishment was it, a stern talking to and a time-out?" The sarcasm was dripping from her voice as she responded. There was no way his punishment was anything harsh and she did not expect it to be. Yet, he intentionally spoke with a tone of voice as if it had been something big.
"You tell me what you're about to do and I'll tell you what I've done. Sounds like a fair deal no?"
"Absolutely not."
"What if I throw in a lunch, say on friday?"
"That depends on my mood and my schedule, I'm not exactly free as you."
"Free as me? Yes yes running a multi-billion dollar corporation is quite the easy job."
"Glad you can understand then," she let herself fall into their regular banter for a moment. It was nice to know they were able to jump back so quickly. Their banter only lasted a couple of sentences yet it was seemingly enough for them.
With her last comment she had a small smile on her face and it dropped as she spoke the next one.
"On a serious note, I understand he's your best friend. I don't think I have to say this but because he is your close friend and I know that he cares about you, I'm not planning anything too mean. However, I am not a forgiving person to let things slide one after the other. I understand his perspective and his reasoning for at least the tracker but it is a major violation of privacy. Anything that threatens me cannot be let go so easily, if this was anyone else they would not have gotten a call before karma had come their way."
"I..-"
"Let me finish. I may have a lot of things hidden but I think it is obvious I am not one to speak lightly nor am I someone to be taken lightly. While we were at dinner, I thought that that was showcased enough but apparently not. I can understand him to an extent but out of respect for you he should have left it alone. A significant portion of this is also your fault for not making this even more clear if he did not naturally understand. I have friends as well, just as you have and I know that they would trust my judgement enough to not do anything past a preliminary search. So how I take care of this situation is what is due to him, no harm will come physically and it won't be anything detrimental. Past that, I have no guarantee and no further explanation. Trust me if you want, if you don't I can't help that. Do we have an understanding?"
She made a long speech and knew that he would need some time to process the words. Her righteous and serious tone was on the tyrant side of things. Yet, if you really thought about what she said nothing was outrightly wrong.
It was just the issue of one of the parties being his childhood best friend who did it for his benefit. On the other side, was a female that he had started to build a romantic relationship with and had been wronged. Her side was more understandable since they came from similar walks of life, no matter what he knew that threatening someone's identity and safety was bottom line. Especially when they held identities that needed to remain hidden.
With no response on the line even after a long period of time, she repeated it into the mic.
"Do we have an understanding?"
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"...I promise."
His voice was filled with more emotion as he stressed the last two words. She could almost imagine him sitting at this desk and staring at the wall while trying to show his sincerity to her. This was no easy to position to be on, especially when the one at fault was his best friend. It was nice to note that he was quick to state his apologies and did not jump into defending his best friend without considering her perspective.
She did not expect him to curse or punish his best friend, Zhuang Wei's reaction was expected. If she was in his place maybe she would have done something similar. However, after receiving confirmation from the involved party they should respect their wishes not to investigate further. Of course, she did not know if that conversation ever happened or if Xi Long told him he was fine with her vagueness. Her point of reference were her own friends, who had trusted her enough not to research Xi Long or create a code to track him.
Not that they didn't have the capabilities too - they definitely did. Even as she watched Neo and Zhuang Wei attack each other, she could see that Neo was playing with him as revenge. Warmth filled her heart at the thought of her best friend getting revenge for her no matter how minor.
A sigh left her mouth as she accepted his words, his promise had took out all the remaining anger she had left towards him.
"Alright, I believe you," and she really did. There was enough trust and understanding for her to know that he did not make promises lightly. So when he did, it was something you could depend on.
There were many people who liked to put out false promises or promise in the moment just to make the other calm down. Some of them did not even realize it was a promise, those were just words that came out on a flow or were strategically used to convince the other. These sort of promises were usually selfish and would be dropped at their earliest convenience. It was so common that people at a lower status or disadvantage would just have to swallow their anger and act normally.
It was at that point where she believed that without contracts you could not depend on anyone. She was not so naive to believe that everyone will follow a contract even if it was notarized. There were many times in the past where she saw contracts being disregarded or 'mysteriously disappearing.' So it was saying a lot when she took his words at face value and believed them.
After her comment, saying she believed him there was an audible release of tension. He let out a deep breath that he was probably holding in while waiting for her response. Now that they had reached an agreement it was a lot less tensed and the coldness in her voice decreased.
She couldn't drop the coldness in her voice completely, the situation was still serious but the change was obvious. It was an additional way to let Xi Long know where she stood and the change in her voice was definitely noted by him.
"Okay, let me call him right now and -"
"No that's fine." She quickly cut him off, while she wanted him to have a deep talk with him now was not the time. Neo definitely had his own plans right now and she did not want those to be interrupted.
"What do you mean?"
There was a bit of confusion in his voice as he responded to her. For her to emphasize how wrong it was then to stop him from doing anything about it was contradictory.
"What I mean is that you don't have to worry about it now, I've taken care of the situation." There was a twinge of evilness in her voice as she spoke.
"Haha, what do you have planned? I hope not too mean, I do still need him."
His voice was playful but was also testing the waters, no matter what that was his best friend. He may take her side in this situation to a certain level, harming his best friend was beyond his limits.
"What? Do you think I'm going to hurt him?? If I wanted to, you know I would have done so already. I believed you when you said you didn't do it, now look how much you trust me??"
"Well I know he deserves a least a punch or two, you're privy to that in person. Other than that, I still have to defend him knowing how skilled you are. Can I know how are we getting revenge just for reference purposes? I can adjust my talk with him accordingly."
"Now you're just playing around with your words, I'm not telling you. To be honest, I think he deserves more than a punch or two if we include the gun prank from yesterday. I'm not sure I understand Zhuang Wei's line of thinking."
"....."
There was an awkward pause as Xi Long became silent from her words. She would be surprised if he had a proper explanation for that incident, it was stupid on so many accounts. If she had been in any other location and he was not by her side, Zhuang Wei could have died. He was lucky to test her while having a limiter by her side.
Even if she tried to understand the reasoning, none of them were equivalent to the risk if things had gone wrong.
After a couple of more seconds, there was finally a sound from the receiver as Xi Long gathered his words. "Well....he just cares a lot and may have chosen stupid ways to go about it. His heart is in the right place. For the gun incident, I have already punished him last night."
"Oh yeah? What type of punishment was it, a stern talking to and a time-out?" The sarcasm was dripping from her voice as she responded. There was no way his punishment was anything harsh and she did not expect it to be. Yet, he intentionally spoke with a tone of voice as if it had been something big.
"You tell me what you're about to do and I'll tell you what I've done. Sounds like a fair deal no?"
"Absolutely not."
"What if I throw in a lunch, say on friday?"
"That depends on my mood and my schedule, I'm not exactly free as you."
"Free as me? Yes yes running a multi-billion dollar corporation is quite the easy job."
"Glad you can understand then," she let herself fall into their regular banter for a moment. It was nice to know they were able to jump back so quickly. Their banter only lasted a couple of sentences yet it was seemingly enough for them.
With her last comment she had a small smile on her face and it dropped as she spoke the next one.
"On a serious note, I understand he's your best friend. I don't think I have to say this but because he is your close friend and I know that he cares about you, I'm not planning anything too mean. However, I am not a forgiving person to let things slide one after the other. I understand his perspective and his reasoning for at least the tracker but it is a major violation of privacy. Anything that threatens me cannot be let go so easily, if this was anyone else they would not have gotten a call before karma had come their way."
"I..-"
"Let me finish. I may have a lot of things hidden but I think it is obvious I am not one to speak lightly nor am I someone to be taken lightly. While we were at dinner, I thought that that was showcased enough but apparently not. I can understand him to an extent but out of respect for you he should have left it alone. A significant portion of this is also your fault for not making this even more clear if he did not naturally understand. I have friends as well, just as you have and I know that they would trust my judgement enough to not do anything past a preliminary search. So how I take care of this situation is what is due to him, no harm will come physically and it won't be anything detrimental. Past that, I have no guarantee and no further explanation. Trust me if you want, if you don't I can't help that. Do we have an understanding?"
She made a long speech and knew that he would need some time to process the words. Her righteous and serious tone was on the tyrant side of things. Yet, if you really thought about what she said nothing was outrightly wrong.
It was just the issue of one of the parties being his childhood best friend who did it for his benefit. On the other side, was a female that he had started to build a romantic relationship with and had been wronged. Her side was more understandable since they came from similar walks of life, no matter what he knew that threatening someone's identity and safety was bottom line. Especially when they held identities that needed to remain hidden.
With no response on the line even after a long period of time, she repeated it into the mic.
"Do we have an understanding?"
"...I promise." His voice was filled with more emotion as he stressed the last two words. She could almost imagine him sitting at this desk and staring at the wall while trying to show his sincerity to her. This was no easy to position to be on, especially when the one at fault was his best friend. It was nice to note that he was quick to state his apologies and did not jump into defending his best friend without considering her perspective. She did not expect him to curse or punish his best friend, Zhuang Wei's reaction was expected. If she was in his place maybe she would have done something similar. However, after receiving confirmation from the involved party they should respect their wishes not to investigate further. Of course, she did not know if that conversation ever happened or if Xi Long told him he was fine with her vagueness. Her point of reference were her own friends, who had trusted her enough not to research Xi Long or create a code to track him. Not that they didn't have the capabilities too - they definitely did. Even as she watched Neo and Zhuang Wei attack each other, she could see that Neo was playing with him as revenge. Warmth filled her heart at the thought of her best friend getting revenge for her no matter how minor. A sigh left her mouth as she accepted his words, his promise had took out all the remaining anger she had left towards him. "Alright, I believe you," and she really did. There was enough trust and understanding for her to know that he did not make promises lightly. So when he did, it was something you could depend on. There were many people who liked to put out false promises or promise in the moment just to make the other calm down. Some of them did not even realize it was a promise, those were just words that came out on a flow or were strategically used to convince the other. These sort of promises were usually selfish and would be dropped at their earliest convenience. It was so common that people at a lower status or disadvantage would just have to swallow their anger and act normally. It was at that point where she believed that without contracts you could not depend on anyone. She was not so naive to believe that everyone will follow a contract even if it was notarized. There were many times in the past where she saw contracts being disregarded or 'mysteriously disappearing.' So it was saying a lot when she took his words at face value and believed them. After her comment, saying she believed him there was an audible release of tension. He let out a deep breath that he was probably holding in while waiting for her response. Now that they had reached an agreement it was a lot less tensed and the coldness in her voice decreased. She couldn't drop the coldness in her voice completely, the situation was still serious but the change was obvious. It was an additional way to let Xi Long know where she stood and the change in her voice was definitely noted by him. "Okay, let me call him right now and -" "No that's fine." She quickly cut him off, while she wanted him to have a deep talk with him now was not the time. Neo definitely had his own plans right now and she did not want those to be interrupted. "What do you mean?" There was a bit of confusion in his voice as he responded to her. For her to emphasize how wrong it was then to stop him from doing anything about it was contradictory. "What I mean is that you don't have to worry about it now, I've taken care of the situation." There was a twinge of evilness in her voice as she spoke. "Haha, what do you have planned? I hope not too mean, I do still need him." His voice was playful but was also testing the waters, no matter what that was his best friend. He may take her side in this situation to a certain level, harming his best friend was beyond his limits. "What? Do you think I'm going to hurt him?? If I wanted to, you know I would have done so already. I believed you when you said you didn't do it, now look how much you trust me??" "Well I know he deserves a least a punch or two, you're privy to that in person. Other than that, I still have to defend him knowing how skilled you are. Can I know how are we getting revenge just for reference purposes? I can adjust my talk with him accordingly." "Now you're just playing around with your words, I'm not telling you. To be honest, I think he deserves more than a punch or two if we include the gun prank from yesterday. I'm not sure I understand Zhuang Wei's line of thinking." "....." There was an awkward pause as Xi Long became silent from her words. She would be surprised if he had a proper explanation for that incident, it was stupid on so many accounts. If she had been in any other location and he was not by her side, Zhuang Wei could have died. He was lucky to test her while having a limiter by her side. Even if she tried to understand the reasoning, none of them were equivalent to the risk if things had gone wrong. After a couple of more seconds, there was finally a sound from the receiver as Xi Long gathered his words. "Well....he just cares a lot and may have chosen stupid ways to go about it. His heart is in the right place. For the gun incident, I have already punished him last night." "Oh yeah? What type of punishment was it, a stern talking to and a time-out?" The sarcasm was dripping from her voice as she responded. There was no way his punishment was anything harsh and she did not expect it to be. Yet, he intentionally spoke with a tone of voice as if it had been something big. "You tell me what you're about to do and I'll tell you what I've done. Sounds like a fair deal no?" "Absolutely not." "What if I throw in a lunch, say on friday?" "That depends on my mood and my schedule, I'm not exactly free as you." "Free as me? Yes yes running a multi-billion dollar corporation is quite the easy job." "Glad you can understand then," she let herself fall into their regular banter for a moment. It was nice to know they were able to jump back so quickly. Their banter only lasted a couple of sentences yet it was seemingly enough for them. With her last comment she had a small smile on her face and it dropped as she spoke the next one. "On a serious note, I understand he's your best friend. I don't think I have to say this but because he is your close friend and I know that he cares about you, I'm not planning anything too mean. However, I am not a forgiving person to let things slide one after the other. I understand his perspective and his reasoning for at least the tracker but it is a major violation of privacy. Anything that threatens me cannot be let go so easily, if this was anyone else they would not have gotten a call before karma had come their way." "I..-" "Let me finish. I may have a lot of things hidden but I think it is obvious I am not one to speak lightly nor am I someone to be taken lightly. While we were at dinner, I thought that that was showcased enough but apparently not. I can understand him to an extent but out of respect for you he should have left it alone. A significant portion of this is also your fault for not making this even more clear if he did not naturally understand. I have friends as well, just as you have and I know that they would trust my judgement enough to not do anything past a preliminary search. So how I take care of this situation is what is due to him, no harm will come physically and it won't be anything detrimental. Past that, I have no guarantee and no further explanation. Trust me if you want, if you don't I can't help that. Do we have an understanding?" She made a long speech and knew that he would need some time to process the words. Her righteous and serious tone was on the tyrant side of things. Yet, if you really thought about what she said nothing was outrightly wrong. It was just the issue of one of the parties being his childhood best friend who did it for his benefit. On the other side, was a female that he had started to build a romantic relationship with and had been wronged. Her side was more understandable since they came from similar walks of life, no matter what he knew that threatening someone's identity and safety was bottom line. Especially when they held identities that needed to remain hidden. With no response on the line even after a long period of time, she repeated it into the mic. "Do we have an understanding?"
