YuZhi

   YuZhi sat behind his huge, real walnut wood desk, alone in his spacious, modern, top floor office, which overlooked the curve of the Huangpu River, and was a spectacular sight when the sun set every evening. The oriental Pearl tower in his line of vison and acted as a sundial for times of the day as shadows moved around it against the skyscrapers beside it. He chose this particular side of their foreboding spike tower in the sky to savor this every day and remind him of how small humans were in comparison to the city around him with its ever-changing energy.

   He often worked late and felt it was the most comforting sight, when red sky kissed Lujiazui in such a fiery way and made all the buildings around somehow glow with an ethereal kind of magical light. He loved his city, loved the contrast of old and new, and the history contained within the fiber of this bustling place. It made him feel his most content when stood up here overseeing it all. 

It was at this hour, this setting of the day, and moving to night, that YuZhi often found he did his best thinking. When his mind was clear of the day's hustle and bustle and he could unwind to a slower pace to finish off what he needed to do, and other thoughts were allowed to invade his mind.

   Most of the Leng group employees had left for the day and only some of the higher ups, like YuZhi, still hung on to oversee the smallest details of the empire. He may not yet be the CEO, but his grandfather had been filtering the responsibilities his way for the past three years in readiness for the final take over, and he felt he was more than ready and willing. He just needed to cross this last hurdle, to meet his grandfathers end of life wishes and then YuZhi could have the life he had finally planned. Two more years, then his vows would be lifted.

   "Hey, you busy?" ZhengLi's voice pulled him out of his daydreaming as he stared at the contract in his hand and realized he hadn't taken in the last few paragraphs he had been reading for the last minutes. He sighed, throwing them down in disinterest and looked at his personal assistant's smiling face, always warmed by his best friend's presence. One of the highlights of his life, was having his lifelong friend always by his side and carrying the burdens of the day.

   "Yes, but I need a break. Want a drink?" He nodded to the bar in the corner and ZhengLi moved without answering to pour them both a well-deserved scotch, knowing fine well today had been a long and hard shift for them both. So much was happening this week in terms of the Leng group, and it didn't help that YuZhi had to take a whole day off to attend to his personal commitments. They were in the middle of a takeover and so many details were up in the air that time off was nearly impossible.

   ZhengLi was only too aware of YuZhi's recent life changes and his resistance to his forced marriage, and where he was yesterday. ZhengLi felt sorry for his friend, but knew that some traditions were hard to refuse, especially when it came to old Grandfather Leng. He was just glad his own family held no such power over his future choice of a bride and when the inclination took him, it would be someone he loved. He was form wealth too but as the youngest son of five he wasn’t required to uphold his family business or birth line and had chosen to work with YuZhi instead of joining Yutian Corp with his brothers.

   "Thanks. What's up anyway?" YuZhi took the decanter of thick glass from ZhengLi, swishing the dark liquid inside, and placed it to his lips as he tugged his tie loose to give him a more relaxed look. He was uptight today, carrying tension in his upper body and had been on edge since that damned wedding paper was signed. He didn't want to think about it as every time he did, he got that awful knot in his stomach, and he couldn't shift it away.

   "I have the full PR schedule ready for the public announcements and your wife's assistant brought over the medical notes you asked for. Are you really going to plan out your nights of intimacy to the letter? Kill the passion and make it a sterile union?" ZhengLi chuckled, a little amused by the cold approach YuZhi was taking to this arrangement and then stopped smiling when met with that dark scowl on his friend. ZhengLi was his closest ally, but he even knew when YuZhi's mood turned dark, he should shut up. His bestie had a bad temper sometimes, a brewing sort of sinister, and with his three years of voluntary military service behind him in his younger years, capabilities of beating ZhengLi up. YuZhi wasn't laid back and fun loving as ZhengLi, and he had a line you shouldn't cross.

   "It's an unavoidable act in terms of pregnancy but doesn't mean I have to do it, there are other methods. Rhea is barely able to stomach the fact I have to do it at all, and I don’t want to harm my future with her. I found a clinic that can inseminate." YuZhi scowled; mentioning Rhea's name always brought out the worst kind of mood in the man when this was the topic. ZhengLi had heard two months’ worth of his fuming and venting over his grandfather’s request to marry from the Lei family, and nothing had swayed his mind. Rhea's tears only added to YuZhi's mindset on this and ZhengLi knew it was a sensitive topic.

“Inseminate? …. Are you serio….” His chuckle of disbelief and question was met with a blank look of seriousness, and he shook his head, backing down in disbelief. He never thought YuZhi could still shock him after all these years and yet it seemed he was wrong.

   For some reason, old man had it in his head that a grandchild must come from two of the wealthiest families in Shanghai if the future of Leng was to be secured, and as YuZhi was a doting grandson who worried over the old man's health, he didn't disobey. ZhengLi knew it was nonsense, as this company was soaring to new heights as time passed by and he had faith that YuZhi would be an even more impressive master at the helm. In just three years with him as acting second in command, they had already broken so many records and achieved a profit rise of sixty three percent from last financial year. Grandfather was Set in his ways, and maybe a little broken from the loss of so many from the family these past years, and it had colored his requests when YuZhi came of marrying age.

   "You're not exactly giving the girl a fighting chance." ZhengLi sympathized for TangShi, having seen her briefly when Xiaosu, the little cute house girl, jumped out of the car to hand over papers at noon. ZhengLi smiled at the memory of that tiny, curvy, little bundle of joy, and often thought if she wasn't one of YuZhi's house servants, he would have had some fun with her. He was a hot-blooded male after all.

   "And?" YuZhi snorted, cradling his drink and went back to staring idly at his paperwork without really taking it in. He wasn't in the mood to work anymore, yet he had no will to go home either. He didn't want to go spend time in his space where she now invaded. And Rhea wouldn't be coming over anymore as she did, now they had to play a certain way for the public.

  "She's pretty, seems quiet, and ..."

  "Scheming? Cold? Calculative and spoiled?" YuZhi finished, reciting all the things he had gained from meeting with the Lei father these past months. He had figured that a man like Lei with his list of unpleasant traits would surely have passed them down to a daughter who sweet talked her father into arranging a wedding. He had no stomach for women like this and had seen way too many who had tried to seduce him over the years, to get a chance at being the next Young Miss of the Leng family.

   "I can see that you already decided she wasn't worth giving a chance to." ZhengLi sighed and perched his butt on the edge of the desk, pulling his tie loose, then completely off before shrugging his jacket from his broad shoulders and tossing it on a nearby chair. As specimen of masculinity, these two shared many good traits and people often thought them cousins. As teens both had equal female followers although YuZhi became famous with his position in Leng Group while ZhengLi tried to stay out of the spotlight so his life could remain free.

   "Why should I? I already chose my wife, and she's just a stop gap to fulfil a role. I don't need to do anything except endure her and ignore her." YuZhi grimaced and then finished his drink in one gulp, savoring the burn as the alcohol made its way down his throat.

   "Sometimes I miss the old YuZhi..... the guy who had a little warmth." ZhengLi joked but his words were half true. The fact is that eight years back, YuZhi stopped being the boy who had been carefree and happy. The laid back and loving younger son of Leng. His father died so tragically and revealed such a heartbreaking secret that had affected YuZhi on so many levels. Then his mother's death followed because she couldn't bear to live the lie anymore, although the public only thought she had a severe sickness and not that she had taken her own life.

   Leng family had so many skeletons in their closet in the past half decade and YuZhi was shouldering the responsibility of so much. It had worn him down, pushed the joy and care from his heart and created this cool and often heartless man. ZhengLi often wished things had turned out so differently, and maybe if one little incident back then had played out better, he might have had that glimmer of happiness to help him through. One night, a girl he was instantly smitten with, might have been the crossroads to a different outcome.

   "Rhea seems to like her." ZhengLi added as though that fact would sway YuZhi in some way and only met a frown, an unhappy look of 'who cares.' Infuriating as that was.

   "Do you have something other than my new burden to talk about, or was that the whole point of coming in here to bother me?" YuZhi glared at him, his irritation rising. Normally ZhengLi's hanging out with him was a mood lifter, but not today.

   ZhengLi burst out laughing, heartily, at the pinched expression of his bro, and the sudden stiffness of his posture despite his loosened and slightly rumpled clothes.

   "I came to hang out with my bestie, and to drink. You're so sulky tonight, my boy. Why don't we get drunk and you finally go home and feel a woman the right way. You have a willing new toy that doesn’t need a clinic to intervene on your behalf." ZhengLi knew he was pushing the boundary with his bold remark, but he didn't care. YuZhi could go on acting like Rhea was his whole world, but ZhengLi knew he had never once told Rhea he loved her, and he could never understand why. If he did, why couldn’t he tell her he did? She had laid it all out there for him, heart and soul, and yet, YuZhi had never uttered those three little words.

   "I'm sure I can hold off until I get my girlfriend back." YuZhi ignored the obvious attempt at goading him and got up to fetch himself a second drink. He could tell ZhengLi was in one of those moods, where he pushed his buttons for the fun of it and he had no desire to bite. He was tired.

   "Come on, at least admit to me of all people, that you find her sexy. Attractive? That a part of you isn't glad that old man gave you such a beauty. I mean, I wouldn't say no to her.... she's certainly got that whole natural thing going on." ZhengLi had always been more casual when it came to sex and women, much like YuZhi used to be. He wasn't a womanizer, but he appreciated pretty girls and had dated, with sex, before. ZhengLi saw the marriage pictures and was pretty surprised that YuZhi’s new bride was extremely beautiful in her own way. Something soft yet familiar about her.

   YuZhi stood stock still, his posture emanating a power of threat and warning without even trying as he poured himself a drink and ignored his friend completely. His sex life was his business, and he didn't want to discuss it.

   "You can't lie to me, brother. I know you think she's hot. I saw her, remember? She's totally your type. She kind of reminds me of that girl back in ..." ZhengLi hinted at where his thoughts had already strayed but didn't finish because YuZhi spun on him, his expression under a furrowed brow, an instant dark mask of sinister, warning, and even ZhengLi knew to stop midsentence.

   "Don't. We don't ever talk about her in relation to this woman. That girl, she stays in the past, and there's no similarity. Miles apart. I told you a long time ago, I was done looking for her, and I won't talk about it again. I have Rhea. That's the end of it." The snarl, the venom of his tone, and the killing intent made ZhengLi sigh.

   "And you say you forgot her, yet you act like this when I bring her up? It's been eight years, so why do you get so mad? It was one night that didn’t go beyond cuddling up and making out!" ZhengLi was maybe bold enough to push him, but not stupid enough to be close enough to get beaten for it. He swiped his glass and moved to the other side of the room to lounge on the long leather sofa, pretending he needed to sit, while really, he was moving out of the firing zone.

   "Why are we even talking about her? This has nothing to do with now... she's gone. Everything that night was probably a lie, and she's never been seen again. Maybe I imagined it, and her. Maybe I was drunk and hallucinated and she was really ugly and old. I looked and no girl named Alice was registered at any of the hotels there. So she even lied about her name." YuZhi had this conversation so many times in the first year after the masked ball, and he didn't want to rehash old wounds. 

Truth be told, the thought of that girl gave him a stabbing pain of regret in his heart, even all this time later. He didn’t want to think about how she had made him feel that night, and how she had lingered in his thoughts all those years after when he failed to meet her on that bridge.

   "Then I must be sharing your hallucinations, because I saw her too, and masked, she was still cute. I also saw the two of you running off into the sunset together. I must also be infected by your madness." ZhengLi smirked, amused by this, and knowing that despite YuZhi's roaring temper, there was a part of him that still pondered what ever happened to her. I mean he did spend a year looking, and then another year after, trying to let go. ZhengLi had never forgotten, and he found it interesting that his new wife held some similarities to the girl he remembered from the past, even if the stories didn't match up.

   And they didn't, because it was the first thing he checked when he saw the photo two months ago of this TangShi Lei. He had felt hope, possibility, even though he liked Rhea, and then lost it when he saw she was a beloved daughter of Lei Enterprises. Not some poor unloved semi orphan whose father tossed her away, as that girl had told YuZhi. TangShi didn’t seem to have an alternate English name either which would have explained the ‘Alice’.

   "Can you stop. I've things to do and I want to call Rhea and wish her goodnight before I have to go home. Everything is messy now that old man insists I share my bed with her..." He grumbled, finally stalking back to his seat and slumped down in such a disheartened way. His head was starting to ache, and his mood was only going to be sourer from this hour on.

   "She has a name you know. Quite a nice one, it means sunshine or something....." ZhengLi teased, knowing that was a lie to vex him and got the cocked brow and glare sent right back.

   "Funny, as I heard it was a boy's name and probably doesn't mean anything of the sort. Maybe her father expected a son and was too lazy to give her an appealing name." YuZhi dismissed his friend with a hand gesture and went back to staring at his desk before lifting his expensive shoe clad foot and propping it on the shiny surface. He acted like he didn't care but ZhengLi knew he was just being moody. Acting out like a prepubescent child.

   "According to her file, her birthname isn't TangShi anyway, but that her father uses the name he bestowed on and not what was registered at birth, so I guess that's why. Did you not see when she signed the marriage license what name she used; I can get it for you if you don't believe me. After all you made me take everything and file them for you in the safe!" ZhengLi shrugged, finding his friends combative attitude towards an innocent girl somewhat irritating and decided to no longer play. He figured YuZhi would cool down in the next weeks as he got used to this new role as husband and maybe his hostility to the poor woman would improve. ZhengLi wasn't a bad guy, and he didn't like seeing people treated badly, especially not by his best friend.

   YuZhi really didn't care either way, but it did pique his interest to wonder what other name this girl might have. Maybe it was even uglier and was the reason she didn't use it. Imagine if her name was worse, and she hid it in shame for being graced with something unlovable. The thought amused him, as petty as it was, and on some sadistic level he smirked his friend's way.

   "What is it?" he inquired, only half interested. Hoping it was something he could tease her with if he ever felt like.

   ZhengLi paused for a moment, a new tinge of light in his eyes as he laid himself out casually, stretching himself taller and getting comfy. A sense of smug moving over him that the name he read, actually was pretty ironic.

   "It's MingYun." ZhengLi smiled wider, a little happy that he knew this would annoy YuZhi, the translation of the word not lost on him and YuZhi stared back in disbelief. He snorted at his friends' stupid joke, shrugged like he was a total liar and turned away with a dismissive wave.

   "Asshole. You're not even close to funny."

YuZhi didn't believe for one second that his new burden, the un-joy of his life, the changer of all his plans, the thorn in his side, was actually called Destiny...