Forced by fate – Destined to be his Wife

“Whatever you’re pissed about, aim it at me. She’s done nothing wrong so what the hell are you going on about?” It made no sense to him and judging by the mess Rhea was in, her hair ruffled, her make up streaked down her face and smudged, he could tell she had been crying so something had set her off. The subtle stench of alcohol from her was similar to his own so was clearly drunk and could explain some of this, but not all.

“This…. THIS!!” She snatched her cell phone from her handbag, dumping it open on the floor, so the contents spilled out and thrust her phone in his face to show him something. Her movements aggressive and hurried. From her angle TangShi could see it was a photograph. The one Linlin took earlier when she forced their faces together and made it look like an impromptu kiss. “Your best friend posted this bullshit right here. What happened to all this being fake and not crossing boundaries which could damage our relationship? What happened to trust? What happened to not being able to stand her, YuZhi?” Rhea screamed at him, almost deafening with a high pitched shrill and threw her cell into his chest when he attempted to take it.

YuZhi blew out his breath and took a moment to reel in his own anger and calm himself. Otherwise, he knew this would escalate and he didn’t have the energy for it. He scooped to pick it up and turned off the screen before holding it back out to her, a quick glance over his shoulder to check TangShi was okay and gritted his teeth at seeing her puffy red face on one side swelling still. She had hit her hard and he was not happy about that at all.

“You talk about trust but storm in here smacking people before asking me what this even is? It’s not what it even looks like and even if it was, we broke up. We agreed not to do this shit. You knew there would be a need for me to convince people that I love her and sometimes, that involves shit like this in public.” YuZhi was trying to keep his voice low and stable, trying so hard not to lose his temper with her but the burning rage of him hitting TangShi was making it hard to hold onto it.

“How can it not be what it looks like? You’re kissing her and your best friend is posting it to his public WeChat account for the world to see!” She yelled at him, slapping the phone out of his hand with spiked fury, so it fell in the floor and kicked it away like a tantrumming child.

TangShi trembled watching this and tried to pull herself together, to help clear up this misunderstanding. She knew she was to blame in this, and he shouldn’t be taking the brunt of it on his own.

“Rhea it’s not what you think. It was Linlin playing around, and she pushed us together. It’s not…” Her voice quivered as she moved forward with upraised palms, hoping she was showing her sincerity.

“Shut the hell up! Don’t talk to me. You backstabbing bitch.” Rhea lurched forward at her, tears streaming once more but YuZhi caught her by the shoulders and harshly shoved her back a step to put her back on her feet where she previously was.

“You touch her again, I swear, Rhea, you’ll see another side to me. And don’t talk to her like that.” It was a real threat, born of fierce protective instinct and anger and intolerance to people bullying TangShi.

“You’re siding with her? Over me!” Rhea bawled at him, a new fresh wave of tears yet her voice was forced out through gritted teeth.

“She hasn’t done anything to defend or side with. You’re blowing something out of proportion that’s nothing and don’t even deny the only reason you’re maintaining a friendship is to keep tabs on me. Don’t talk to her about friendship, Rhea. She doesn’t owe you any loyalty. Besides, she’s telling the truth. It’s not how it looks, and you need to calm down so I can explain.” He was losing his patience; aware people were wandering to the open end of the corridor to see what all the yelling was and caught sight of ZhengLi pulling Linlin back with force to quell her hellcat tendencies at seeing her friend in a scenario. She was battle ready and had a face like thunder which translated to ‘I’m gonna kill me some bitch’.

“Me calm down? What about you? Isn’t this all getting to be a little too regular, hanging out with her, cuddling up? You sure it’s an act, YuZhi? It’s getting hard to tell anymore!” Rhea had been torturing herself with insecure fears for weeks and had gotten drunk tonight when he didn’t answer her calls all day. Something he had started doing lately due to her incessant need for his reassurance, which only made her a hundred times worse. He kept telling her they needed to cool off and stay apart and instead she had begun to desperately cling to him for fear he was slipping away.

“You’re suffocating me and making constant demands. I’m just trying to navigate this, so no one is hurt, and we all can live peacefully. She’s my friend, nothing more. That picture is innocent and you’re blowing it way out of proportion.” He tried for cool and calm again, aware he needed to bring her down from her own hysteria and could feel TangShi behind him cowering. Stuck between them and wishing he could take TangShi by the hand and walk out.

“End it. Be done with this shit and let’s publicly announce we’re back together. That it was all a mistake. Tell your grandfather it’s over, we can’t do this.” She grabbed his arms and clung to him like a drowning woman finding a lifeboat. Sobbing as her heart broke in two and shredded her heart to bits. Blinded by tears and sniffing as her emotions broke free and YuZhi tensed up aware they were attracting an audience and how this looked.

“You’re drunk and being erratic. Go home, sleep this off and we will talk tomorrow, just the two of us. You’re causing a scene and this place isn’t completely safe. You need to sober up.” He was trying hard to make her listen, but she wasn’t having any of it.

“Come home with me or I’m coming home it you. I want to sleep beside you tonight! I miss you, I miss us.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

TangShi had a physical reaction to her words and the way she was wrapping herself around YuZhi, turning her face away as her heart constricted in pain. She knew this was because of her own stupid feelings for YuZhi, and even though she genuinely liked Rhea before this. In this moment though she resented her presence and wanted her to leave. Resented the way Rhea just wanted to toss TangShi away like she was a worthless rag and no part of YuZhi’s life.

“No. I agreed to his deal. I’m not doing that to TangShi either. Imagine the shame this would cause her and her family. The press would go crazy, and she would be labelled a home wrecker. It’s just drama, Rhea. It would damage Leng Groups reputation too and my grandfather would hate you more.” The fact she couldn’t see that made him irritated and unable to sympathize with her like this.

“I don’t care. You’re supposed to love me. So prove it.”

“Stop it. I’m not doing this. If you’re not leaving, we are. I won’t do this tonight.” YuZhi caught hold of her hands and tugged them off his clothes, pushing her back to stand her on her feet so anyone lingering wouldn’t have an opportunity to take pictures. He turned to wave at ZhengLi in the distance and motioned a call sign with his hand, implying he should call her a driver, and then turned back catching a quick glimpse of TangShi stood solemnly by the bathroom door.

TangShi’s face was pale, her expression nervous with wide eyes and yet she stood silently and patiently out of the way so as not to make this worse. YuZhi immediately wanted to scoop her up and hug her, especially with the painful imprint of Rheas hand on her delicate face. She was killing him by looking vulnerable and wounded, without even trying.

“ZhengLi will make sure you get home. Go sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow.” YuZhi commanded her with a tone he reserved for dealing with employees who were making him angry. Motioning for TangShi to follow him. She did so at speed and skirted around Rhea in a wide berth to make sure she wouldn’t reach her a second time, afraid of angering her further. YuZhi lingered close to Rhea until TangShi passed him too, in case he had to intervene, and then followed her out the door without looking back.

“You walk away, and we really are done, YuZhi Leng! You hear me? You leave now, with her, and go screw a future with me. I’m not playing.” Rhea screamed after them, desperation taking over and killing her sanity, shrew like in her screaming. She picked up her bag and the spilled contents of makeup, keys, money and phone and threw them after him in a childish tantrum.

“I’m not biting. Go home.” YuZhi turned and shrugged her way, aware she had always been a spoiled diva type. Pushing open the door with one hand and holding it so TangShi at his side could leave. He made sure not to touch her or do anything to provoke Rhea further and then followed TangShi outside and let it go. He knew he shouldn’t just abandon her when she was like this, but he had no alternative. He wasn’t about to leave TangShi alone to get home and staying would make things worse.

“Are you really leaving her there?” TangShi asked with a trembling voice, her whole body shaking with adrenalin at what just happened. She was shellshocked and emotional, like she had just encountered something traumatic.

She shivered and then flinched away in guilt when YuZhi automatically slipped off his jacket to put on her and glanced back at the club in case Rhea followed them.

“Uh uh. She won’t like it.” She shook her head and pushed it away cautiously. Rattled by Rhea’s behavior and intimidated that she might erupt again if she saw. It had been harmless and innocent tonight, but now she felt like she behaved in the worst way and caused all of this.

“Yes, and I didn’t ask for her opinion on who I give my jacket to. It’s cold, and you need it.” YuZhi ignored her gesture and forcefully put the jacket around her before tugging her forward to close the buttons so she couldn’t shrug it off again. “She’s drunk and being unreasonable. If I stay, it will erupt, and I can’t deal with her like that. I’ll say things I don’t mean like she has just done.”

He knew Rhea was spitting venom to make him react how she wanted and could brush it off. She had always been a control freak in her own way, and this was her emotional blackmail to get him to toe the line. She had used similar over the years when they fought, and it no longer worked. He also knew her temper and what she was like drunk, that staying was the worst case scenario. He pulled out his cell and text ZhengLi to make sure he would see her home, worried that she might refuse to let him once YuZhi was gone.

“I’ll get us a car.” He muttered to the bewildered looking TangShi and opened the app to do that while waiting on ZhengLi’s reply, glad to see there was an uber a minute away and their wait would be minimal. The best thing for both of them right now was to go home and get out of sight.

ZhengLi responded with assurance and told them to leave. That he had Rhea in a seat and was calming her down with some honey water and Kleenex, but that Linlin had stormed off to the bar in a rage and was refusing to sit with her. He didn’t tell TangShi though as she would want to go back in to retrieve her friend and the situation would erupt again.

“Let’s go home and sleep. It’s going to be okay. I’ll talk to her tomorrow, and she’ll apologize to you for this. You didn’t do anything to warrant this so stop stressing over it.” He reached out and gently stroked her face, in two minds about calling Cheng to come out with an ice pack when the taxi rounded the street and pulled into the carpark. He hesitated, looked at her face and then the car and decided he could better tend to it at home.