Code of Affection

Chapter 4: The Stable Girl, The CEO and confessions

Nothing caused more chaos at ZhiGuang Tech than the words:

“Company Retreat.”

It began with a casual email from HR, but within twenty minutes, the entire dev floor was in complete meltdown.

“Retreat? As in… nature? Outdoors?” Ryan Lin clutched his monitor like it might shield him from trees.

“Guys, it’s a luxury countryside villa with team-building activities,” Ban Shan said, trying to sound excited.

Jayden Wu muttered, “If they make me hold hands and sing corporate chants, I’m quitting.”

“Shhh,” Caleb hissed, “Don’t say that in front of Big Boss.”

At that exact moment, Isaac Qiu walked by.

And said, without even looking up from his tablet,

“There’s no chanting. But there will be a riding course. Participation is expected.”

Emily, seated quietly at her desk, sipped her tea.

Horseback riding?

That… was unexpected.

***

The villa was stunning—rolling green hills, polished wood cabins, and stables that looked more expensive than a startup’s annual budget.

The team arrived in vans. Most were excited. Some were horrified.

Emily, on the other hand, felt strangely at home.

As the others huddled in fear near the fence, watching the horses being led out, she stood quietly by the paddock, her eyes softening.

The moment she saw the gray mare, she whispered,

“Just like Star Queen…”

“Who’s Star Queen?” Noah asked beside her.

She blinked, caught off guard. “My horse."

Jayden overheard. “Wait—you can ride?”

Emily shrugged modestly. “A little.”

Ten minutes later, a trainer was giving safety instructions. Isaac stood a few feet away from the group, arms folded, unreadable as always.

“You’ll be paired for basic saddle work,” the trainer announced. “Don’t worry—there will be helpers.”

“But what if I die?” Ryan asked sincerely.

“You won’t,” Emily said flatly.

Then came the twist.

“Mr. Qiu will be riding as well,” the trainer announced.

Everyone turned to Isaac in collective disbelief.

“He’s actually participating?” Caleb whispered. “He usually avoids anything involving humans.”

The trainer continued, “And Miss Xi, would you assist him for the basics? He asked for you personally.”

Silence.

Emily blinked. “Wait… what?”

Jayden’s jaw dropped. “Big Boss wants someone to teach him?”

Ryan faintly whispered, “Has hell frozen over?”

Emily turned slowly toward Isaac, who looked perfectly calm—almost bored.

“You ride?” he asked.

She nodded slowly. “Since I was ten.”

He nodded once. “Then teach me.”

In the arena, Isaac wasn’t a terrible rider. In fact, he was… okay.

Rigid. Over-controlled. Predictable.

“Loosen your grip,” Emily said gently, riding beside him. “The horse can feel your tension.”

He adjusted.

“Try to relax. Let her lead sometimes.”

“People follow me, not the other way around,” he muttered.

Emily laughed. “Well, your horse doesn’t care about your résumé.”

Isaac looked at her.

She hadn’t laughed like that around him before.

It was light. Bright. Unfiltered.

And it made something stir in his chest—something he hadn’t felt in years.

***

From the fence, the team watched in stunned silence.

“They look like a K-drama couple,” Ryan said, awestruck.

“I feel like I’m watching an alternate universe,” Jayden whispered.

“Is this... character development?” Caleb asked.

Noah crossed his arms and muttered, “This is how it starts. Stable flirting. Saddle bonding. Trotting into romance.”

***

As the session ended, Isaac handed the reins to a stable helper and turned toward Emily.

“Thank you,” he said simply.

“You’re welcome,” she said, brushing dust from her pants. “You were… not terrible.”

“High praise,” he said dryly.

Emily chuckled again. “Still stiff, though.”

“I’ve been told,” he said. Then added, “I don’t usually let people correct me.”

“I noticed,” she replied.

They stood there, in the golden afternoon light, the wind gentle between them, the others slowly dispersing.

Then Isaac did something no one expected.

He offered her a bottle of water.

She blinked.

Not a commanding order.

Not a one-sided demand.

Just... water.

From him.

“Thanks,” she said, smiling.

He looked at her for one heartbeat too long before he nodded and walked away.

***

Later that night, back at the villa, Emily laid on the guest bed, staring at the wooden ceiling, her thoughts racing faster than any horse.

Why did he ask for me?

Why does he keep watching me?

Why did it feel... so easy today?

She rolled to her side and muttered to the ceiling:

“…Does horseback riding count as a date if he paid for everything?”

From the hallway, the faint sounds of laughter and team karaoke echoed.

But in Room 108, everything was quiet except for one thought looping in her mind:

He’s not the man I thought he was.

And yet, she still didn’t know who he truly was.

Not yet.

***

It was supposed to be a vacation—but being the only girl on the company retreat was beginning to feel like being the odd semicolon in a clean line of code.

The sun hung low over the resort grounds, casting soft gold across the green hills and polished decks. The others had scattered—some toward the basketball court, some prepping the barbecue—and Emily found herself sitting alone at the resort café, nursing a glass of iced lemon tea.

She watched from a distance as the guys joked and bantered, fitting in easily. She didn’t blame them. She was the newcomer, the anomaly.

Out on the court, she could see Caleb Han, Ryan Lin, and Isaac Qiu playing a casual game of basketball. Caleb made an easy shot, Ryan cheered, and Isaac—half-grey shirt, white wife-beater underneath—moved like a shadow cutting through sunlight.

Her eyes stayed there longer than necessary.

Snap out of it, Emily. She looked away, cheeks warm.

***

At the grill, Jayden Wu and KO were turning skewers with laser precision.

“Need help?” Emily asked, stepping into their smoky domain.

Noah Zhang glanced over. “What can you do?”

“Anything,” she said with a confident smile.

Jayden blinked. “You can’t be serious.”

Noah shrugged. “Go and make the salad. Everything’s in the bag.”

Emily nodded, rolled up her sleeves, and headed to the prep table.

Jayden followed, still skeptical, until he saw her slicing cabbage, onions, and carrots with shocking speed and control.

Chop. Chop. Chop.

His jaw dropped. “Okay… wow.”

He gave her an approving thumbs-up. “You're full of surprises, Emily.”

"It's just salad dude." Emily snorted.

***

From the court, Caleb nudged Ryan.

“Look at Jayden,” he whispered. “Man’s swayed.”

Ryan raised a brow, following his gaze.

Jayden was practically glowing beside Emily, grinning at her knife skills like she’d just cured a memory leak.

“I gotta admit,” Ryan said. “She’s not like most girls.”

Caleb’s eyes flicked to Isaac, who’d paused mid-shot, his gaze drifting toward the grill where Emily stood, pushing her glasses up with her shoulder.

“She’s no Vivian,” Ryan said carefully. “She’s nerdy, soft-spoken, not flashy. But she’s… interesting.”

“Monkey,” Caleb warned softly, casting a side glance toward Isaac.

“I mean, it’s not like she has a Black Jade Chronicles account, right?”

“She’s not her.”

“She’ll never be the same as Vivian.”

Isaac’s voice was quiet but resolute. “Exactly.”

Caleb nodded quickly. “Right. Totally right. Our sister-in-law was one in a million.”

***

“Jayden! Stop eating the salad!” Emily’s voice rang across the field.

Noah sighed, barely looking up. “Emily, switch with me.”

“Okay!” she called, removing her glasses before stepping in to handle the skewers.

Jayden stared.

“She’s… actually pretty,” he whispered, blinking like he’d just seen her in HD.

Isaac glanced over again, eyes lingering for half a second too long.

***

Few hours after lunch...

“Emily!” Caleb called from the court. “Come on! We’ll teach you how to play.”

She jogged over with a laugh. Caleb spun the basketball on his finger before handing it to her. “Here, try.”

She aimed, jumped, shot—thunk! Off the rim.

“Not bad!” Caleb said, chuckling. “Again.”

She tried. Missed.

“Watch. Like this.” Caleb moved behind her, adjusting her arms and feet gently into the right position. “Bend your knees—more, more—okay, now shoot.”

Then:

“What’s this?”

Two girls in heels and glittery tops stood by the court fence, arms folded, smirking.

“What’s what?” Caleb asked coolly.

One of the girls—long dark curls, too much perfume—sauntered over, eyeing Emily with contempt.

“You’re wasting your time on that girl,” she said, reaching out to run a painted nail up Caleb’s chest. “I’m worth more.”

He slapped her hand away. “Get your paw off me.”

He stepped between them and pulled Emily back protectively.

Ryan clapped from the side. “My guy.”

The girl scowled. “Ugh. Your taste sucks.”

Caleb didn’t flinch. “Your attitude’s worse.”

They stomped off, defeated.

Caleb handed the ball back to Emily. “Ignore them. People like that don’t get it.”

She nodded, eyes a little wider, heart a little warmer.

He helped her throw again—swish! Right in the hoop.

“YES!” Caleb whooped. They high-fived. Ryan joined them and shouted, “You nailed it, old man!”

***

Across the court, Isaac watched silently.

Then, without warning, he walked away from the game and approached Jayden at the grill.

“I’ve never had decent girls try to draw my attention like that,” Isaac said calmly. “Not even once.”

Jayden blinked. “You serious?”

Isaac said nothing.

Jayden gave him a light slap on the back. “Well, you got backup now.”

***

Later that night, Emily stayed in the villa lounge, curled on a sofa, headphones in, typing lines of code while everyone else went to sleep.

The retreat didn’t change the looming deadlines, and she still had bug fixes to log and clean.

By 2:47 AM, her eyes grew heavy.

She closed the laptop, stretched her back, and dozed off.

At 3:14 AM, a new commit appeared in the server logs under her module.

It didn’t trigger a notification. It didn’t crash anything.

It polished everything.

Cleaner logic. Shorter runtime. Even a rare memory leak patch.

But the last lines were what made her blink when she checked them the next morning:

// you think in loops but you write in hearts.

// —Stardust, 03:14 AM.

Her heart paused.

“Stardust…?”

She opened the commit log.

Anonymous. Masked by admin access.

And only one person had that level of clearance at ZhiGuang.

She turned her head toward the upper floor of the villa, where Isaac’s room was.

Her fingers grazed her lips in thought.

Could that be his way of saying something?