Misconceptions

Chapter 7: I'm Fine

"Crap!" JC yelled, angrily throwing his phone to the ground after texting his brother.

"What?! Who was that?! Did someone send you a threat?! I knew this elevator issue was suspicious! The only thing broken in this office is the staff's morals if you ask me!" Zizhen questioned with alarm.

"No, it was nothing like that. I just sent a stupid text in reply to my brother."

"Stupid text?" Zizhen questioned, picking up the phone from the floor and asking, "Can I see it?"

Jiang Cheng nodded, typing his pass code without taking it. Zizhen read it over before commenting,

"That IS stupid. How are you fine when we're stuck in an elevator in enemy territory?!"

"That wasn't the stupid part," Jiang Cheng commented, slightly annoyed, before adding, "and this is NOT enemy territory."

"It is when you refuse to tell your allies that you're being targeted." Zizhen added stubbornly.

"It's times like these when I remember you're young."

"Ceo Jiang." Zizhen pressed causing Jiang Cheng to shake his head,

"The actual stupid part I was referring to was telling Wuxian that I'm fine and answering in three seconds, but not because of what you're thinking. By saying I'm fine that quickly I may as well have told him 'I'm in the hospital dying.' "

Zizhen blinked, confused,

"... I don't understand..."

Jiang Cheng sighed, deciding to explain, mostly because Zizhen was trust worthy and he was stuck in an elevator with him and didn't want to lie or listen to the inevitable whining that was likely to come,

"Wei Wuxian asks me how I am all the time. If I'm actually fine then I usually either don't respond, but it says seen, or I tell him something along the lines of f' off or mind your own business. I would never say something like I'm fine unless I'm too stressed or distracted to pay attention. That's what he looks for and I just gave it to him!"

Zizhen paused for a second and then commented,

"I really want to be supportive and here for you right now, but seeing as I don't want to spend my day in an elevator because you don't want to 'inconvenience' anyone or show weakness or whatever, I'm having a very hard time doing so."

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes before suddenly remembering something. Panicking a little, he felt around him and then looked down, spotting the briefcase, that was half of the reason to be there at the office in the first place, on the other side of the elevator.

"Oh no! No, no, no, no! Damn it!" Jiang Cheng said, gently setting the briefcase in a better angle and looking inside of it to make sure everything was okay.

He cursed, angry at himself for dropping it in order to tuck his head forward and avoid a worse injury. Although he knew his brain was more important than the contents of a briefcase, he still felt it was regrettable and felt guilty that he hadn't even realized it until now.

Closing the briefcase, Jiang Cheng thought it best to leave the case where it was and grab it on the way out so as not to disturb the contents of the briefcase any further.

Zizhen felt sorry for his boss, but also found the timing of the elevator stopping to be too convenient. He was afraid that the Lan Employee bullying had reached new levels and if that was the case it was going to be difficult to get help without breaking his employer's trust,

"I hate to say so, but I really think this has to do with Ceo Lan's employees." He said directly.

Jiang Cheng shook his head not wanting to believe that,

"We can't assume that without proof," he said, trying not to be biased against them in case it truly was a mechanical malfunction, "we were warned that the elevators were broken. Perhaps we're being punished for not believing them when they told us the truth."

"Then why did we see Lan employees come out of this elevator just fine in minute ago? Why didn't they themselves look nervous coming off of it? Why weren't there out of order signs anywhere?" Zizhen questioned, "If it's not them, then this is an astronomically coincidentally timed technological issue."

Jiang Cheng frowned, while he was trying to give the Lan employee's the benefit of the doubt, the timing was a bit off, even by his own estimation.

But rather than focusing on the negatives and assigning blame, Jiang Cheng decided to consider the solutions to their current predicament. Since they weren't in any immediate danger he didn't want to be rescued by one of his supporters, who would then likely tell all of the other supporters and bring about much drama, particularly to his weekend.

It was already bad enough that his brother was likely on to him. If he didn't escape with Zizhen soon Wei Wuxian would likely find him and 'rescue him,' which would embarrass JC, reinforce Wuxian's superiority over him to their parents, and possibly eventually lead back to how he got quietly locked into an elevator in the first place defeating the purpose of him reigning in his temper this whole time. So, a little ingenuity was looking pretty good to him about now.

Jiang Cheng looked up at the top of the elevator, debating whether he should try to climb out of it to avoid his brother coming to the rescue again and all of the shenanigans, hijinks, and drama that was bound to follow such an event.

Zizhen followed his line of sight, guessed what he was considering, and put a quick shut down to that,

"Ceo Jiang this is not a movie! You try to go up there something terrible could happen to you. If you so much as think about even attempting to touch that hatch I will call Jin Ling so quick your ancestors will get the message. "

Jiang Cheng wisely decided to reconsider.