Page 16 of Mr. Hotshot CEO
I’m great at appreciating things other people might gloss over, but every five years, it becomes impossible for me to do so. The colors and tastes of life just slip past me.
When I’m not depressed, though, I’m pretty good at it. Julian’s not wrong. Actually, it’s kind of remarkable he figured that out.
I’ve seen him at Chris’s Coffee Shop before, getting a thimbleful of espresso. It’s hard not to notice him, since he’s always wearing these fancy suits that are tailored just perfectly. I don’t know shit about designer suits, but I can still tell they’re expensive.
In addition to his suits, there’s something about him that commands attention. I’m not sure what it is, maybe...
Okay, I do know.
He’s really fucking handsome.
So, yeah. Hot, well-dressed man in his thirties. I’ve noticed him before. I figured he worked in finance on Bay Street, but I hadn’t realized he wasJulian Fong.
His father is well-known in the Chinese community, the great-grandson of a Chinese railway worker, one of the few who managed to bring his family over from Toisan. Due to the prohibitively high head tax and later the exclusion act, this was nearly impossible. Early Chinatown was over ninety percent men, many with families back in China. But Julian’s great-great-grandfather was some kind of business genius, and despite the vast amount of racism he must have faced, he managed to get rich enough to pay that stupid head tax and bring over his wife and children.
Then in the seventies, Julian’s father, Charles Fong, started Fong Investments. The new immigrants from Hong Kong, who were generally wealthier than the earlier Toisanese immigrants and had money to invest, were more apt to trust him with their money than a white man who they worried would screw them over. But his clients were not restricted to Chinese-Canadians.
Charles Fong built a successful company, and he also founded the Toronto Chinese-Canadian Center, which provides social services to the Chinese community, including assistance to new immigrants and a seniors’ home. He had a heart attack a few years ago, which prompted the Fong family to fund a new cardiology wing at East Markham Hospital. I remember hearing he’d handed control of Fong Investments over to his son Julian after the heart attack, but I didn’t know much else about Julian.
Until now.
Actually, I still don’t know much about him, except that he’s a handsome workaholic who has made me a very bizarre proposal.
When he came to talk to me ten minutes ago, I experienced a sliver of nervousness. A strange man was approaching me in a coffee shop at night, and it was a bit weird. But my instincts told me it was okay.
I don’t think my instincts were blinded by his good looks. They usually aren’t.
Now that I know who he is, I’m more comfortable. I might not personally know his family, but still, I know of them.
Julian is looking at me, waiting for my response.
Five thousand dollars.
That’s a lot of money for someone like me, though it’s not a lot for someone like him.
I know exactly what I would do with it. Funny, I was wishing earlier that money would just drop out of the sky and into my hands, and it sort of has. With five thousand dollars, I could pay for Naomi to go to New York City with me, and I’d give her the rest of the money so she could afford any unexpected car repairs and other things that might come up. It would provide her with some financial security.
Whenever I make a decision, I consider what would be best for my mental health, and going to New York with my sister would be very good for my mental health. She’d have fun, too. Plus, she’s the most important person in my life and I want to help her.
Although I’ll have to spend time with Julian Fong to get the money, it shouldn’t be too much of a hardship.
I take another look at him.
No, it wouldn’t be a hardship at all.
Not that he’s interested in me likethat. The man could have nearly any woman he wanted, and I’m rather ordinary. So he’s not really asking me to be his manic pixie dream girl, because those are always love interests. He’s just asking me to teach him how to go for long walks and eat lemon cherry sour cream gelato, without the kissing.
Though I’d enjoy the kissing. It’s been a long time since I’ve kissed someone, and that’s entirely of my own doing. Relationships are not safe for me, as I’ve learned in the past.
It would be nice if I could do the kissing and sex business without a relationship, which is what Naomi did before she met Will. But I find sex very intimate, and I end up falling for the men I sleep with. Casual sex isn’t possible for me.
“So?” Julian lifts his eyebrow, and that simple action causes a pleasant flutter in my stomach.
“Are you serious?” I’m pretty sure he is, though I’m having trouble wrapping my head around it. “Are you well? Do you want me to call someone for you?”
“My brother Vince is at an orgy, my brother Cedric is traveling the world and doing his version ofEat, Pray, Love, and my parents are at a charity gala. So, no, there is no one you can call for me.”
“Your brother is at an orgy? You know this for a fact?”
