Chapter Text
As always, the office party was a success. Everyone who worked for and with Yixing turned up to celebrate another major milestone. However, this time was a little different.
“Can I have your attention for a minute?” Yixing gently tapped a champagne glass with a fork. A hush fell over the room as all eyes turned to him. When it was reasonably quiet, he continued. “Thank you all for your hard work and dedication. Without your sacrifices, we wouldn’t have gotten this far. Serving a thousand clients is insane, yet we did it!” Applause filled the room.
He scanned the room until he found you near the drink table, watching him with a soft smile that warmed his heart. “While I’d like to take credit for keeping things in order and running smoothly, no one would believe me.” The crowd chuckled knowingly. “So, with the insistence of everyone here at Zhang Advertising, I’d like to present our first annual employee of the year award,” he extended his hand in your direction, “to you, _____. Could you come up here, please?”
You nearly dropped your glass of wine. The way everyone looked at you fondly, obviously in on this. How did he keep it from you? Yixing usually couldn’t do anything without your input or help. Sure, he wasn’t completely helpless, but he had the hardest time keeping secrets from you. Someone took your glass from you and gentle hands guided you to the front of the room where he waited. When you were within reach, he slung an arm around your shoulders and pulled you close.
“Without you, we likely would have gone out of business months ago. You came in, all business and sunshine, and helped turn this ship around. We cannot appreciate you and all that you’ve done enough.”
You shook your head. “It’s what you hired me to do! An assistant does their best to keep things from falling apart.”
“Mm, yeah, but you pulled off six-day work weeks with countless hours of overtime. You made sure every project met our standards and exceeded client expectations. You protected our reputation while keeping the morale up. We all agree that you make this place worth working for. I personally can’t imagine anyone else being able to bring the passion, diligence, and competence you have with you every day you show up.”
You bowed your head, unable to deny the truth in his words. You considered the company and its employees to be family and treated it as such.
“So,” he reached behind you and picked up a gift bag, “we want you to have this.”
You took the bag with a murmured thanks and peeked inside. There were several gift cards for shopping, spas, and food. You easily knew who helped pick out each card based on what conversations you remembered having.
“Also, there’s this.” You looked up to find Yixing handing you a key.
“What’s this for?” You took it and eyed it. It didn’t look familiar and had no telling markings.
“Well, I thought my Vice President should have her own office.”
Your neck snapped when you turned to look at him. “Your what?”
“I think it’s time you got the promotion you deserve. I—no, we—would be honored to have you be the Vice President of Zhang Advertising.” He patted your shoulders. “It’s the least we could do after all you’ve done for us.”
You blinked back tears, overcome with emotion and barely able to speak. Nonetheless, you nodded.
He pulled you into a hug as the room erupted with applause and cheers. “Here’s to another year, yeah?”