Take My Breath Away

"Whoa! Listen to you! Your wife doesn't take her job seriously and now you're making it my fault and threatening to fire me? Who do you think you are? My boss? The president of our company? Well, fine! Fire me, then. But do it quickly. Because if you don't, Blair will be cleaning out her desk tomorrow!" the manager retorted.

No one had ever talked back to Wesley like this. With a sneer he hung up and dialed another number.

"Yeah, it's me. I need a favor. There's a corporation called Sailboat Company. Get the translation department manager fired, and replace her with Blair Jing."

So by the time Blair's alarm went off and she opened her bleary eyes, she was now the translation department manager. She didn't even know.

The minute she turned on her phone, she found it was flooded with congratulatory messages.

If she was sleepy before, now she was wide awake. Round-eyed, she read each message. 'What's going on? Am I still sleeping? Is this a dream?' she thought to herself.

She stretched, yawned, and still felt sleepy. So she decided to get some more sleep. Then Wesley burst into her room, waking her up. "Time to get up. Lunch is ready."

Blair ignored him and grabbed her phone. Those congratulatory messages were still there, and there were more on top of that. So it wasn't a dream!

It was true! She sat up abruptly and looked at Wesley. "I just got promoted!"

"Congratulations!" he said calmly.

She was too shocked to notice anything unusual about his tone. He didn't seem excited or surprised at all. "Did Orion do this?" she muttered, her eyes still fixed on the messages.

Wesley was disappointed. 'I did everything and Orion gets all the credit.'

He took a new outfit from the closet and said, "Eat first. Then I'll drop you off."

"What's for lunch?" asked Blair absent-mindedly.

"Rice."

"So who cooked?"

"I did."

She raised her head in surprise. "You?" 'Is it edible?' she wondered.

Wesley noticed the suspicious look on her face. "Don't believe me?"

"That's not what I meant," she explained hastily as she got off the bed. But her legs were too weak to support her.

"Ah!" she cried, falling to the floor.

Luckily Wesley was quick enough to catch her by the waist. "Be careful!"

Blair flushed with embarrassment, gnawing at her lip. "It's all your fault!"

He wasn't about to debate with her. "Yeah, my bad." He planted a loving kiss on her cheek.

Blair shook a little, pushed him away and ran into the bathroom to get ready.

Wesley did cook lunch all by himself. Four dishes and a soup. It looked nummy.

But the taste... It was barely edible. Tough in the wrong areas, soft in others. The taste was a little like cardboard.

He picked up some diced beef for her and said, "You need to put on some weight. A good gust of wind could blow you away."

"Okay." She kept eating. But she wasn't very hungry. She was full, but he was still ladling chicken soup for her.

"I'm stuffed," she said. It felt like old times. He had once been determined to feed her and have her put on a few pounds. Now things had come full circle.

She was relieved to see that he had dished up only a third of the bowl. "Just a little more," he insisted.

Even though she was already too full, Blair still nodded. She knew that he was stubborn and didn't feel it was worth fighting over.

After lunch, she wanted to leave. Wesley grabbed her arm and said, "Let me show you something."

"But I need to get to the office. Something big happened. I have to go." She had never intended to be a department manager. The position involved too many people and too many headaches.

Wesley nodded. "I'll drive you." It could wait until after work. It was not urgent anyway.

The car stopped in front of the office. Wesley opened the door for her. Blair got out and strode quickly towards the entrance of the building. But she could still feel Wesley's eyes on her. She slowed down and turned around. "Go home."

"I will. You go ahead." Wesley still stood there, watching her.

Blair nodded and turned around. He didn't drive off till she walked into the building.

He went to Blair's dorm, packed her things and took them to his apartment.

When Blair walked in, the newly fired manager was clearing her desk. Someone tipped her off as soon as Blair showed up. The former manager dropped what she was holding and stopped Blair in her tracks.

Blair greeted her as usual. "Hi, Rebecca."

Rebecca's eyes were red, her mascara was running. She seemed to have been crying. The look she cast Blair was resentful. "When did you get married, anyway? Who is your husband? How did he get me fired?" Rebecca Qin demanded.

She couldn't figure out who she ticked off, or how Blair's husband pulled it off. The board of directors had issued a company-wide announcement concerning her dismissal. She hadn't even had a chance to explain or defend herself.

But Blair was confused. 'My husband? Is she talking about Wesley?'

He was the only one that laid claim to that title. 'So, was it Wesley?'

"Don't be ridiculous! What are you talking about?" Blair said. Wesley had nothing to do with their company. He wasn't employed there. How could he have done something like getting her boss fired? That was impossible, even for him, right?

The employees gathered around them, watching the rare moment of office drama. Since she was already fired, Rebecca Qin didn't care what anyone thought. She started arguing with Blair. "Oh, stop pretending you don't know! You violated company policy. I have the right to say 'no' to any time off. Why did he decide to fire me? Tell me!"

Rebecca Qin had been employed there for over ten years. She had earned her position. But now, out of the blue, she was fired by Blair's husband, someone who wasn't even part of the company. That was too much for her to accept.

Blair thought she needed to talk to Wesley about this. She took her phone from her purse and called him.

When his phone rang, Wesley was just pulling into the complex where her dorm was. He could guess why she was calling.

"Hi, honey," he answered. Blair blushed at the way he addressed her.

"Hi yourself. I have to ask you something."

"Sure," he said.

She looked at Rebecca. "Did you know my manager was fired?"

"Yes."

"Did you do it?"

"Yeah," Wesley admitted.

Blair gasped and bowed her head. She wore the new pair of shoes Wesley had bought for her. "Why would you do that?" she asked in a low voice. "What did she do to you?"

"Why do you care? She giving you a hard time?" Wesley asked.

"No, just curious."

"Well, don't be. If she has a problem with it, she can give me a call."

Blair was out of sorts over what he said. How could she possibly not wonder about this? Her boss, her...whatever he was. "Don't do this. I don't want to be a manager. Could you give her job back?"

She thought since Wesley could get Rebecca fired, he must have a way to stop this.