CEO's Stand In Lover

Standing Up Against Bullying

“Hey, new intern! Go make me a cup of tea!”

“Wait! Help me print out this document first!”

“Forget that—go get me a coffee!”

Yan Yishan stood frozen, overwhelmed by the chaos in front of her. She had no idea what to do. I’m here to intern, not to be their errand girl! she thought, her heart sinking.

But there wasn’t much she could do to refuse them, right?

“Who should I help first?” she asked hesitantly, her voice shaky.

“Go make the tea first,” a woman demanded arrogantly, her eyes filled with disdain as if she knew she had already won, preying on Yan Yishan’s weakness.

“Okay,” Yan Yishan sighed, turning towards the break room. In the dim light, her frail silhouette busily moved around. Before long, she returned, holding a cup of fragrant tea and a steaming cup of coffee in the other.

“Here’s your tea, Sister Ying. And Xiaoyu, your coffee,” Yan Yishan said softly, handing the cups over.

“I’m not drinking this instant coffee!” Xiaoyu snapped, glaring at Yan Yishan with sharp, impatient eyes. “Go to the café across the street and get me a charcoal-roasted coffee. Now!”

“But...,” Yan Yishan stammered nervously, swallowing hard. “I still have a lot of things to do. Could you just drink this for now? I’ll get the other coffee once I finish my tasks. Is that alright?”

“What?!” Xiaoyu shouted, her voice rising. “How long will that take? I told you to go now!”

Startled by the outburst, Yan Yishan’s eyes welled with tears. She couldn’t hold them back, and the drops fell to the polished floor, glistening under the harsh office lights.

At that moment, Lucy walked in, having come to find Yan Yishan. Her eyes turned cold as ice the second she witnessed the scene unfolding. How dare they bully someone like this? she thought.

Even if they were interns, did that give people the right to treat them like servants?

Lucy strode over, her dark eyes radiating a chilling coldness, sharp like the frost of a thousand-year glacier. Without hesitation, she grabbed the steaming cup of coffee and splashed it all over Xiaoyu.

A piercing scream tore through the air.

“What are you doing?!” Sister Ying rushed to Xiaoyu’s side, hastily pressing a cold cloth to her burnt hand. “If something happens to her, you’ll be held accountable! That was boiling water!”

“Don’t worry. She’ll survive,” Lucy replied, her voice eerily calm, her gaze indifferent. “But there’s a limit to how much you can push someone around. Even though we’re interns, that doesn’t give you the right to order us around like slaves.”

Everyone in the room froze in shock.

This girl… she’s terrifyingly strong! They thought.

“Lucy, why are you here?” Yan Yishan whispered, her voice shaky. “Please stop… I did it voluntarily. No one forced me.”

“Yan Yishan, have some self-respect! You’re being bullied like this, and you’re still tolerating it?” Lucy snapped.

Over the years, Lucy had learned one thing: You don’t endure—you fight back. An overly soft heart will only leave you crushed under others' control and subjected to constant a***e. The only way to avoid being bullied was to grow stronger.

“You burned Xiaoyu’s hand like that—you can leave now!” Sister Ying glared at Lucy. “As for your evaluation, you’ll get a zero. And when the CEO returns, I’ll report everything to him!”

“You sure you have the right to make me leave?” Lucy retorted with a cool smile, her expression freezing the air around them. She was betting—betting that Kevin wouldn’t let her go so easily. If he wanted to keep her at Nan Gong Group, then this department manager wouldn’t have the power to kick her out.

“Of course I do! Do you think a department manager can’t decide the fate of an intern?” Sister Ying snapped, her heavy perfume filling the air, making it almost unbearable. “Now get out!”

“Who dares to tell her to leave?”

A cold, deep voice echoed from the shadows.

All eyes turned towards the source of the voice. Out of the darkness stepped a tall, muscular figure. His handsome face remained expressionless, as cold and unapproachable as a frozen wasteland.

“T-Total...” Sister Ying stuttered, looking at Kevin with fear in her eyes. His cold gaze sent a shiver down her spine, freezing her to the core.

“Were you just telling her to leave?” Kevin asked, stepping closer to Sister Ying. There was a hint of anger in his voice. “You’re just a department manager, and you dare speak to your superior like that? Lucy is my secretary. Do you have the authority to make her leave?”

“I-I’m sorry... I overstepped,” Sister Ying stammered, bowing her head repeatedly in apology. A thin layer of sweat had already formed on her forehead.

“Please don’t blame Sister Ying!” Xiaoyu, who had been standing quietly, finally spoke up, clutching Sister Ying’s arm. “It was Lucy who spilled hot coffee on me first. Sister Ying was just defending me!”

“Silence,” Kevin ordered, his voice low and piercing. The command seemed to pierce through their minds, silencing them. They could only stand there, terrified, as Kevin took Lucy’s hand and led her out of the office. His final words echoed through the air:

“If this ever happens again, there will be consequences.”

The long corridor stretched out before them, silent and still, as if time itself had come to a halt. Lucy allowed Kevin to hold her hand, feeling the warmth of his large palm against hers—so warm, just like the comforting hand of her father when she was a child. That warmth made her feel as though, as long as he was there holding her hand, she wouldn’t need to fear anything.

So this is what it feels like to be protected, she thought, a soft smile curling on her lips.

That smile, illuminated by the sunlight pouring in from the windows, glowed like the radiant smile of an angel—pure and flawless, her dark eyes glimmering like a river of stars, clear and full of light.