Love Order From CEO: Stay With Me

"Truth or dare?" In the noisy karaoke box, someone in the crowd chose truth.

A man with a crew cut excitedly picked up a card and asked, "Who do you have a crush on? And since when?"

After drinking five bottles of beer in a row, Shelly Gu was feeling so tipsy that she could barely focus on the question. Who was the one she had a crush on? All of a sudden, a name popped into her mind.

"Come on, Shelly, answer the question. Everyone's waiting," the man with the crew cut urged.

"I... I like Harry Li," Shelly Gu slurred, speaking out of liquid courage.

"Wow, you like Harry, huh? You hid it so well. I never knew!"

"Ha, Harry is way out of your league."

"Yeah! Harry looks like a prince.

Shelly will look ugly next to him."

The people in the room began to tease Shelly Gu and crack jokes. The fact that she liked Harry Li was definitely a big piece of gossip.

Unable to bear their comments anymore, Shelly Gu shouted, "Shut up! Next one!"

Her voice cut through the noisy room, causing everyone to fall silent.

With a red face, Shelly Gu lowered her head like a child who had done something wrong.

All of a sudden, she noticed an unfamiliar pair of shoes near the door. She raised her eyes and saw Harry Li standing there, looking at her with a burning gaze. She had no idea how long he had been standing there.

When Harry Li's eyes met hers, he shot her a wicked grin. "Shelly, you like me?

I like you too. In fact, I've liked you since the sixth grade." As he spoke, he walked over to her. Shelly's heart began racing when she heard these words. "I've liked you since the third grade," she murmured and slowly stood up, feeling shy.

Everyone in the room began chanting, "Kiss, kiss, kiss..."

Harry leaned closer. Just when their lips were about to meet, the alarm rang.

The corners of Shelly's lips, which were turned up into a small smile, twitched. She picked up the phone on the bedside table in disgust, opened her eyes, and turned off the alarm. It turned out that the whole thing was just a dream!

She was a little disappointed that she couldn't continue the dream. Over the years, she had dreamed of Harry intermittently. A part of her still longed to be with her childhood crush, so whenever she dreamed of him, she would be happy all day long.

When Shelly was in the third grade, her parents had died in a car accident. After that, her divorced aunt had taken her in and raised her, along with her own daughter. Her aunt's daughter was now in Australia for higher studies. As for Sherry, she had graduated from one of the top universities in the country just two months ago. Her aunt was a strong woman and the CEO of a large enterprise. However, in recent years, corporate espionage had led to her company's downfall. The company had suffered so many losses that it was now on the verge of bankruptcy. Shelly was beautiful. A lot of guys at her university had pursued her, including the heirs of rich tycoons, but Shelly had refused all of them. Ever since the third grade, she had had only one guy in her heart: Harry. Although they had been in the same class since the first grade, they had only become desk mates in the third grade. At that time, Shelly often got bad grades and struggled with solving math problems. Harry, on the other hand, was the representative of the math class. Every day, as soon as class was over, he would be surrounded by all the female students, especially the other class monitors. Back then, Shelly had been particularly afraid of the vice-monitor, a fat girl who looked down on everyone with bad grades and had thus bullied her as well. Anyway, after her parents' car accident, Shelly had realized that she would have to work hard since she was all alone in the world now. So, she began studying harder and finally got into a good high school.

Harry, on the other hand, was born into a family with generational wealth. His family had a lot of businesses and even owned property in Europe and America. But back in the third grade, his wealthy background hadn't been that obvious, of course. Shelly had just thought of him as her desk mate, who would sometimes talk to her and tell her new things. But even then, all the girls in their class had admired Harry very much. Most of their conversations after school would be about Harry⁠—where he had gone for summer vacation, how much money he had in his wallet, and so on. But it was not just his wealth that attracted all these girls to him. Harry had been a genius since he was a child. He had participated in the International Mathematical Olympiad since he was a primary school student. He had also won the first place in several other competitions, including chess, essay writing, and spelling bee. Naturally, he had scored high marks in the primary school public examination and had been accepted into the best junior high school in A City. Shelly, who had scored considerably less marks, had gone on a different path, but ever since then, she had secretly inquired about him and stayed up to date with what he was doing. As expected, Harry had been a first rank student in his high school as well. Then, he had gone to the United States to study and obtained a master's degree from Yale University. After returning home, he had not entered the family business, but instead joined the Hui Pu Group in A City as the manager of the marketing department.

After getting ready, Shelly went to her aunt's study and knocked the door. "Aunt Coco?" she called.

"Come in." Coco Gu's tired voice came from the study.

Shelly opened the door of the study and saw her aunt staring at the documents on the desk with an exhausted expression on her face.

"Aunt Coco, breakfast is ready." Shelly gently set a tray of food on the desk.

Although Coco Gu's face was covered with make-up, her dark circles were still visible. There was no trace of blood on her pale face. It seemed that she had pulled yet another all-nighter.

Ignoring the food in front of her, Coco Gu looked up at Shelly and asked, "Do you remember Jay?"

Shelly had lived in her grandmother's house until she was five years old. Back then, she had often played with Jay Luo, the next door neighbor. He had taken care of her like she was his own sister.

"Yes, I do. But it has been years since I saw him. I have no idea how he is now," Shelly answered with a perplexed look in her eyes. She didn't know why her aunt was suddenly bringing up Jay Luo now.

"Your Uncle Luo invited us to dinner tonight. It's about your engagement with Jay." Her aunt's eyes twinkled, as if this was great news.

Shelly was, of course, taken aback to hear this. Since when had she gotten engaged?

Seeing Shelly remain silent, Coco Gu continued, "This may have come as a surprise to you, but the engagement was decided long ago by your parents. You and Jay were very close when you were young, and your two families decided to let you get engaged after your graduation. Jay is a little older than you, and he's now a manager in the design department of the Hui Pu Group. His annual income is also considerable. You'll be making a mistake if you choose not to marry him."

Shelly had been about to refuse, but after listening to Coco, she swallowed down the words in her throat.

Two years ago, the design of Coco's company had been stolen, causing her business to decline. Ever since then, Coco had been having a hard time trying to make the company stay afloat. However, she refused to lay off any employees, so at this rate, the company would only last another half a year. In any case, she was short of funds. At this time, a suitable business alliance could really help her company.

Thinking of this, Shelly said, "I know, Aunt Coco." Her aunt had single-handedly taken care of her since her parents' death. She didn't have the heart to refuse her.