Chapter 241: Leaving Early
 
When he saw that Kieu Ly had returned — her cheeks slightly flushed, possibly from the heat outside — her skin tone looked vibrant, but more importantly, her eyes no longer showed any trace of tiredness. Clearly, she had just received a very good treatment. Seeing that, Toan Phuong was pleased and said to Huong Tra:
” Once in a while, please take my wife out to “explore” like that. You can pick a better service too, cost is not an issue.”
Huong Tra cheekily teased him:
” Alright then. Next time, I’ll take her to get massaged by a young, handsome male therapist with long legs. I’ve never tried it myself, but it sounds like a refreshing experience.”
When it came to being young, handsome, and long-legged, Toan Phuong was confident no staff member could top him. So he had nothing to worry about and immediately replied:
”If my wife agrees, then I agree too.”
Such a reply made Kieu Ly unhappy, and she pouted and asked again:
“Really? If I go, I really will.”
Toan Phuong was confident that Kieu Ly would never actually go to a place like that, which was why he dared to say it so boldly. He didn’t expect her to get upset. So he quickly tried to smooth things over:
“I was just joking. Nothing beats home. When we get back tonight, I’ll give you a massage—guaranteed no male staff can beat me.”
After experiencing the service and having a comfortable nap, Kieu Ly no longer felt tired. She wasn't even afraid of that "tonight" anymore. On the contrary, maybe Toan Phuong was the one who wouldn’t be able to handle it. Physically, they were both exhausted: sleep-deprived all night, working non-stop all afternoon—he probably still hadn’t recovered.
Huong Tra, seeing the couple flirting with each other, felt her hair stand on end. She quietly moved over to the window and looked down at the street:
“The forecast said there’s going to be a big storm today. I wonder when it’ll start raining?”
Toan Phuong checked his watch—it was almost 5 p.m.—so he said to Kieu Ly:
“Let’s head home. Looks like a big storm is coming.”
“It’s not even the end of the workday yet.”
“It’s okay, I’ll finish the rest on my laptop at home. – Then he turned to Huong Tra – You should head out early too, Tra. Once it starts raining hard, the whole city center will be jammed.”
Huong Tra had been waiting for just that. She packed her laptop and put it away in the cabinet. She wasn’t exactly a workaholic—just did her job out of responsibility. Opportunities to cut work like this were blessings she gladly accepted.
This week, Kieu Ly's visit to the office had given the team a day off, then made Toan Phuong leave work half a day, and now even made him head home early in the afternoon. She didn’t know whether she was helping him or disrupting his work rhythm. She blamed herself:
“I feel like I haven’t helped you at all by being here—just caused disruptions to your work.”
“It’s true there’s been some impact, but it’s fine. I’ll make up for it later. What matters is that when I’m with you, I feel happy—unlike when I’m at the office, where I just feel like I exist, not that I’m truly living.”
Hearing those words made Kieu Ly even more certain about what she wanted to do—to change the corporate culture and make employees feel happy and connected at work.
Toan Phuong closed his laptop, picked it up, slung Kieu Ly’s handbag over his shoulder, and with his other hand, held hers as he led her out:
“Let’s go. If we leave a bit early, we can still have dinner with Mom and Dad. Otherwise, they might think I’ve stolen away their precious daughter.”
 As the car left the inner city, dark clouds rolled in, and heavy rain began to pour down. If they had stayed in the city, they might have gotten caught in the thick crowd with no easy way out. The suburban road was quickly flooded, causing many cars to slow down and resulting in minor congestion. In just a short time, the sky had gone completely dark, lightning streaked across the sky, and thunder rumbled loudly. Many motorbikes dared not continue and had to pull over to the roadside to take shelter from the storm.