Grandpa Lu led the group to a nice seafood restaurant. They booked a private room and ate a hearty dinner together.
Long Tengfei tried to invite his second son, Long Jian, to join them but he declined. Long Jian didn't want to eat dinner with his half-siblings, especially since he was in a bad mood because of Iris. In the end, he returned to his hotel room and ate dinner with the COO and the rest of the people from Long Industries. He missed his chance to discover that Iris' real fiancé was Jin Liwei.
After dinner, everyone returned to their respective hotels. The international business conference was in another city which was quite far from their homes. All the delegates, even the Chinese ones, booked hotels near the conference centre. It was more convenient this way.
Long Tengfei, Long Hui and Cao Guang returned to the hotel they booked for their group.
The people from Jin Corporation's group, including Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu, were booked at a hotel which was co-owned by Jin Corporation. Similarly, Iris and the two Professors were staying at another Jin Corporation-co-owned hotel.
Jin Liwei didn't return to his own hotel suite that night. Instead, he stayed with Iris at the other hotel. His company basically owned both hotels, so he had full control of the security. There was no danger of any strangers seeing them staying in one suite together.
Not that he personally minded such an occurrence, but his baby girl wasn't ready to announce their relationship to the whole world yet.
Inside the hotel suite, Jin Liwei finished showering. He stepped out of the bathroom with only the hotel-provided bathrobe on. The large bed was empty.
His baby girl was busy studying her Malaysian and Japanese notes on the study desk at the corner. She was still in her red business outfit. Her suit jacket was draped on the back of the chair behind her. The buttons of her dress shirt was open, revealing the tops of her flesh-coloured lace bra underneath.
They decided not to shower together because they knew that they wouldn't be able to keep their hands off of each other. Both of them needed to make preparations for tomorrow.
But before any of that, he headed over to his baby girl first. Hearing him approach, she turned on the swivel chair and smiled at him. The bedroom's flattering lights enhanced the planes of her face, making her more beautiful and sultry.
The effects were also the same on Jin Liwei. His chiselled face was intensified, making him more attractive to Iris' eyes.
Both of their eyes darkened with desire at the sight of each other.
"You're so beautiful."
"You're so handsome."
They said at the same time. Then they chuckled.
Jin Liwei stopped in front of her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed the side of her face over his hard and flat stomach. She rubbed her cheek against the soft and fluffy cloth of his bathrobe. His hands massaged her head gently and stroked her hair.
They stayed like this for a few minutes, simply enjoying each other's presence. Even though they weren't talking out loud, they could feel each other's happiness at just being together.
Thinking about his thoughts earlier on not minding if they were seen together staying in the same hotel suite, he asked her, "Love, I know that I already asked you this before but I just want to have a clearer idea this time. At what point are we going to publicly announce our relationship? I really want everyone to know that we're together."
"My music career is doing well. If you want, we can announce it now," she told him.
His eyes lit up. However, he could sense that she still wanted to say something more. So he waited.
"But I'd rather not yet," she added. "I now know that you were the most eligible bachelor before you announced at the music awards that you're engaged. There are so many women wanting to be your wife. Some of them are successful businesswomen. In their eyes, I'm just a mere showgirl."
Scowling, he burned those witches who dared call his baby girl a "mere showgirl" in his mind. He pulled her closer against his body.
"I usually don't care about what others think of me, but this time I want people to think that I'm good enough for Jin Liwei, the President-CEO of the number one company in the country," she told him. "I want to at least be on the same level as you or even just close to it in people's eyes."
"You don't have to prove anything to anyone, love. You're already amazing."
"I know. I'm amazing. You're amazing. We're both amazing." She giggled, making him chuckle as well. "But I want a concrete evidence that would leave no room for people to criticize our relationship. Being a Cross Academy student is great and all but at the end of the day, I'm still just a student. If I get kicked out or something like that, I can't use that connection anymore.
"That's why I'm working hard to showcase my interpretation skills in this international business conference. This will allow me start networking on the international level with my own abilities. Then it'll be much easier for me to grow my own companies later on."
"Mmmn…" Jin Liwei nodded.
Although Iris didn't outright reveal her hacker name to Jin Liwei yet, he already had suspicions that she was Drakon. She still occasionally created reports for him about people and companies that he wanted more information on whenever she had time.
When he showed a portion of one of the reports to his tech people, instructing them to follow its example, they looked absolutely shocked.
"President, you were able to hire Drakon?! How?!! That's amazing!!!"
Needless to say, Jin Liwei was also shocked when he heard their words.
"This thorough, detailed, and almost obsessively organized style is exactly like Drakon's! Well, of course, there are others who can also do this but Drakon is the one who comes to mind first. Besides, he's only one of the few who can access this kind of classified information without alerting the authorities if he doesn't want to."
"No, you're wrong. Drakon isn't the one who comes to mind first. It's Fantom. That legendary hacker is the original," another commented.
"But Fantom already disappeared. Many are saying that he's already dead. He hasn't appeared for years now. There are many hackers who emulated his style but only Drakon comes close to his brilliance. There were even speculations before that Fantom and Drakon are the same person, but Drakon is too goal-oriented. It's already proven that Drakon is driven by money while Fantom did whatever the hell he wanted for the sake of amusing himself. That's why he was so scary back then. Nobody ever succeeded in bribing him to work for them."
Jin Liwei sank into deep thought hearing their words. He didn't confirm nor deny it when his tech people thought that the reports were from Drakon.
There were more instances like this when his tech people would describe what Iris did for him—either similar reports or original customized software—as the work of Drakon.
He understood that it was a sensitive matter, especially since the hacker Drakon was currently being hunted as an international criminal. And it wasn't just a matter of trust. It also involved both of their safety. If someone were to learn that she was the hacker Drakon, it would be dangerous not only for the two of them but also for their families as well.
Back to the present, Jin Liwei rubbed the lip Iris just bit with his thumb.
"I understand," he told her.
She smiled at him.
"I can't reveal myself as Planet Monkey's owner yet because it'll invite too many questions at this time. But Orchidia Beauty is different. It aligns with my status as a celebrity which focuses a lot on physical appearance. Once it takes off and begins making profit, let's announce our relationship."
