V sat on the sidelines of his own conflict looking very much amused as he watched the man he unleashed go after everyone in the room.

Xiao Yi stood face to face with Xu Chen Hua’s father, an older man with slightly graying hair that had a deceivingly kind-looking face. V’s father-in-law had the image one would think of when they think ‘kind history teacher’.

Albeit, no one would be able to deny how his face twisted, red with embarrassment as Xiao Yi breaded him with calm, yet cold icy blue eyes.

“I shouldn’t only blame her, but you as well. Who do you think you are to demand to meet me with your position in this company? You hold a tiny percentage of shares and you think you’re entitled to meet me, question my decisions, and challenge the place of CEO… Hilarious.”

Xu Chen Hua was about to step in when he continued with a low laugh.

“And, the best part is, if he had to step down… Guess who’d have the largest decision-making power? Not you, that’s for certain. I’ll give you a little hint. It’s me. If V is forced to step down, you need to choose a new CEO - wouldn’t you need the opinion of me, seeing as I own more than all of you combined?”

Throughout his rants, Xiao Yi was severely questioning both the minds and judgment of the shareholders who had decided to stick with V’s father-in-law, whom he still did not know nor need to know the name of.

Most of those present were business owners who decided to invest with their own money or had ownership of shares transferred by another person. Nonetheless, none of them looked stupid enough to be led around by a crooked old man with a leash in his hand.

Although Xiao Yi wasn’t sure about the percentage of their shares combined, he was certain that they couldn’t amount to his shares. Simply for the reason that he had 25% himself, V had 51%, that only left 24% for the rest to split.

Add on to the fact that V had split some shares early on for his trusted subordinates such as heads of the company, his assistant, and his family… 17%.

17% is a good chunk of the company, but not enough to go against the majority shareholders who held onto more votes.

After thinking about it, Xiao Yi finally realized what this was about as he glanced at the white faces of those involved, focusing on Xu Chen Hua who was glancing at the papers in V’s hands.

His mouth twitched. ‘What a disgusting bitch.’

Prenuptial agreement.

The puzzle pieces seemed to be connecting in her brain as her face gradually fell.

Xiao Yi’s eyebrow rose just the slightest bit as he taunted. “I did hear something about divorce… You wanted to get the investors to distrust him enough to corner him, get him to step down from his seat, and divorce him. Perhaps, get a few shares, gift them to your father, buy out these shareholders and gain the majority, and kick him out completely, right?”

Xiao Yi leaned down slightly, yet he didn’t lower his voice. “What did your agreement say… I believe this company and its assets were off limits, anything he bought before your wedding, anything he bought with solely his money… Thank you for showing your true colors so early on, though, I don’t want a niece or nephew with a mother like you.”

Without waiting for a reply, his gaze turned to the others present who scurried back as he smirked. "And you... are you all idiots? Did you have a collective accident where you all hit your head on something? It's not a very pleasant group bonding experience but I suppose..."

Hours passed since the confrontation and the two men sat on the balcony of one of V’s apartments, just watching as the sun set. They couldn’t go back to V’s home, as the divorce process had yet to be started and neither of them wanted to be around Xu Chen Hua who was likely to try crawling back to V.

Although it was silent, it was comfortable. Xiao Yi wasn’t one to talk, and V needed time to piece together his feelings on his broken life whilst not being alone.

After three hours of silence, Xiao Yi broke. He sighed as his fingers reached into the pocket of the black sweatpants he threw on almost immediately after they walked through the door, matched with a slim black sweater, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

In his opinion, if there was a time to smoke… It was now. They’d both had a stressful day, Xiao Yi had to face off against shareholders and even ended up buying most of the shares back, ending at 34% ownership. V, well, he was betrayed by both his wife and father-in-law.

‘Such scum.’

Without asking, he placed the cigarette between his teeth and passed the box to the other man, followed by the lighter after he lit his.

Still, neither talked as they went through one cigarette, then two.

Xiao Yi was about to finish off the second when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He glanced down, one hand reaching for his phone and the other flicking the cigarette into the disposable cup-turned ashtray.

[Nightmare]: I’ll be busy the next few days but we should do that again sometime.

His hand, which was reaching back toward his face paused for a moment and a slight smile twitched at the edge of his mouth before he typed back.

[Sleepy]: Sure.