TangShi walked out of her bedroom and into the open plan living room to finish getting ready before leaving for school. The apartment was eerily quiet and felt empty although she hadn’t heard YuZhi depart for work yet. It was early though, maybe too early for him. The sun was barely up but today she planned on going to breakfast with Linlin before class started.
Dinner last night hadn’t helped her sort out her confusion over YuZhi’s behavior and as he took off after getting home and didn’t return till late, she didn’t see him again. She was feeling all kinds of listless and uptight and unable to relax over this and Linlin was a good mood leveler any day of the week.
TangShi padded into the kitchen in her house slippers and outfit of the day to get a bottle of water and froze when the click of his bedroom door e
Rhea flicked her hair back off her face, trying to control her inner temper and hit redial on her cell for the fifth time. Pacing the empty corridor of the runway hall for the event tonight and aggravated more as seconds ticked by and he still didn’t pick up.She had been trying to call YuZhi for the last two days, after he agreed they would sit down, the three of them, and talk things out. Since she slapped TangShi in the face she had avoided her, raged about the whole situation, cried, hated, and then relented and contacted YuZhi. She knew she had been wrong and even ZhengLi confirmed the whole incident had been innocent and drunken antics and mixed-up phones.She had no idea why now after agreeing, he had gone off the radar again and was blanking her once more. YuZhi was getting too good at doing it. Since this whole stupid arrangement, he had been trying to distance them, keep them apart, and was continuously reminding her the breakup had to be real. She neve
“I’m so full. We ate too much.” TangShi flopped back on the couch, nursing her food baby belly and groaning as Linlin picked up the takeout containers from the coffee table and dumped them in the kitchen.“You could use a little extra fat; you’re so thin lately.” Linlin appraised her with a critical eye. Glad that since moving here to YuZhi’s apartment she seemed less stressed out and unhappy in life and was back to being her fun and sunny friend. The diet that nasty Aunt had forced on her had made her lose weight and it was her job to fatten TangShi back up again. Feeding her anyway she could.The girls had met up after TangShi was finished with school and had gone shopping, before heading here for take out and relaxing with a movie. YuZhi and ZhengLi had been MIA these past few days, something to do with an entertainment center being built in Shanghai and it was causing them endless issues with funding.“What sha
“Thank you, Master Cai. Today’s lesson was enjoyable, and I really learned a lot.” TangShi bowed to her teacher, holding her bag as she was readying to leave and thanked him again for today. Time was passing so fast being in this school and her daily schedule here was a highlight of her life. She had found her love of painting again and her days were passing in relative happiness, compared to before. “You are a good student. Rong was right about your talent and dedication, and I am enjoying seeing your skills grow, Miss. Lei.” “That means a lot, thank you. I am so happy here, that words cannot express it. I bid you a good evening and shall see you bright and early.” TangShi bowed once more, full of the joy of having her respected tutor praise her and carried the rolled-up watercolor with her from yesterday. It was a practice piece while studying light on water, but she was incredibly proud of it and wanted to show YuZhi the piece. He was supportive of her time here a
“Stop fidgeting, you look amazing. Relax.” YuZhi picked up TangShi’s hand in his lap and pulled it to his, glancing up At ZhengLi who was typing into his phone. A bored expression on his face. “Linlin still not replying?” he pushed ZhengLi’s foot with his to attract his attention and got a glare in return.“For a girl who’s neither dating me nor interested in doing so, she gets crazy if I take a date to an event. Even when it’s forced by my parents. It’s not like she’s coming alone. She had a date arranged first.” ZhengLi was frustrated at Linlin’s hot and cold this past couple of weeks. One minute she wanted him, was all over him, and the next she was pushing him away and telling him she had a date with someone else. Not that he was particularly bothered if she was taking someone else, after all they were both free agents and hadn’t even had sex. She drove him crazy but for some reason he cou
TangShi wandered into the apartment ahead of YuZhi, pulling off his suit jacket he had draped on her when leaving the event and dropped it carefully on the counter of the kitchen. YuZhi walked in behind her, throwing his keys and cell on top of it and caught her by the elbow before she got any further.“Hey, you okay?” he pulled her back to face him, scrutinizing her mood and appearance now they were home in decent lighting. The drive back had been quiet and tense as they both got lost in their thoughts and didn’t want to say much in front of the limo driver. He wasn’t a usual driver for YuZhi, so they had kept it for getting home.“I’m fine. Tired, a little rattled, but I’m okay. What about you?” TangShi reached up to touch his shoulder that had taken the brunt of the glass and he shrugged it off, pulling her in against him and gave her a hug. Cradling the back of her head against him and burying his face in the nape of
“Here, Dude. One more to sign and we can call it a day. I’m beat and I feel like I haven’t had a decent night out in a month. I’m having withdrawals.” ZhengLi dumped a folder on his desk before walking off to drag forward a seat from the lounging area and sat down with a sigh. It was already eight pm and he was fed up with work. It’d been a grueling month.“It’s been less than a week. I think you may need an intervention.”“Pftt. You’re as bad as me, well you were until you settled down with the little wife.” ZhengLi poked fun, aware of the fact that work was the main reason that YuZhi had calmed down with nights out, but there had also been a decline in party time since he married TangShi. Even when he didn’t like her all that much, he still went home instead of coming out to play.“Getting married was the start of grandad handing me more responsibility. Don’t overthink it
ZhengLi was glad of the early night and headed off shortly after YuZhi did, mind on plans for tonight as he scrolled his WeChat to check in on Linlin and see if she had uploaded any posts this evening. If he knew she was out and about he would drop on by and see her after too long apart. It had been an endless quiet week without her and try as he wanted to deny it, he was more than aware he had more than average fondness for his little hell cat.ZhengLi, got home and showered in record time. Checking his cell multiple times for a response from his earlier texts to ask her if she wanted to meet up, and her location posts on her profiles but Linlin was still blanking him. He had no idea why she was being this stubborn and if it was because she wanted him to chase her. If it was then it was working. Her lack of response was making him crazy.After drying off and getting dressed into casual but smart attire and a leather bomber jacket he gave up stalking her social media a
“You’re late!!” Aunt RuiZi snapped at TangShi as she wandered into the wedding dress boutique. TangShi distracted by gazing around the walls which were lined with gorgeous designer gowns and her face flushed at the haughty tone.“She’s late because of me. My meeting ran over, and I had her wait for me.” YuZhi strolled in behind her, catching her hand as he caught up and led the way to the center seating area where couches sat in a sunken circle. Aunt RuiZi scowling at his instant defense of her least favorite person and getting his cheeky smile in response. As if that covered all misdemeanors.“We’re sorry.” TangShi cut in, bowing her head, trying to smooth it out before it escalated and tugged YuZhi towards the couch facing Aunt, by the hand and sat down. Sometimes YuZhi reverted to naughty teen and got a kick out of winding up his aunt.They were here to pick outfits for the obligatory bridal photos which w