Chapter 116: Chapter 116
Hating her and himself for all the swirling agony building up inside of him like a pressure that was about to explode and needing her to go away. Cursing himself for grabbing her when it only escalated his inner dark heaviness. TangShi lost her footing as she stumbled backwards and went over her sandal as she crumpled. Reaching out to catch hold of anything to save her.
ZhengLi caught her halfway to the ground with his speedy reflexes, so she didn’t fully sprain her ankle, but it was painful enough to elicit a yelp as she struggled to right herself. YuZhi flinched closing his eyes and pushed it out of his head, ignoring her even if it clawed at his heart.
TangShi’s soul took a beating, and her pride was wounded at how he was being. Seeing this was a mistake and he was so consumed with hatred for her now he couldn’t see anything else. She was afraid of how far he would go to throw her out if she continued to stay here. It was like a sobering slap in the face and woke her up to the reality that she couldn’t go back to what they had. Being here only made it worse.
Despite the throbbing pain in her bone she pulled herself to upright and straight with determination, pasted on a calm expression and sniffed back her agony. The girl who had spent a lifetime of being downtrodden and abused, found that inner ability to pull herself together and display the undaunted and unaffected persona she had spent years perfecting. Clawing at what little self-esteem she could muster and accepting the fact he wasn’t going to ever forgive her or allow her to make up for any of this.
His words stung to the core that their love was dead and did something inside of her to numb it all down. Shock, maybe, a deepening heartache delivered as a final blow. She adjusted her dress carefully with purpose and poise, pulled her bag onto her shoulder, sliding her swelling hand and aching fingers into her dress pocket to hide the evidence of the wounds. Only ZhengLi and YuZhi both saw them and YuZhi glanced away hardening his expression as guilt flooded him.
“I don’t need you to walk me out. I know the way. I can manage. I won’t be back.” Her small quiet voice waivered, strained, and tear ridden, her tone husky and labored but she meant it and she looked him in the eye one last time. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing else I can say except that, and I never wanted to hurt you. Even if you never believe me. I’ll sign the papers and won’t bother you again.” She knew after that she should leave Shanghai for a while once the announcement hit the press, because her life would become a round of invasive reporters trying to get interviews. She knew she wouldn’t be able to cope mentally while nursing a broken heart, having his name thrown at her from all angles.
“We never met. Nothing happened between us, and if we cross paths again, we don’t know each other.” YuZhi sternly listed off his demands, walking to his desk, throwing down his files and yanking his chair out before unbuttoning his jacket to slide it off. His heart hammering in his chest, his throat aching with the way he was choking on his own growing pain and his lungs were struggling to inflate but he couldn’t let her see how much she got to him. He sounded indifferent to her ears and his manner told her he was over her.
“I understand.” TangShi replied with a soft whisper as little droplets rolled down her cheeks, dripping onto her dress and she limped away, flinching at the pain from her left foot with each step she took towards the door. Trying hard to leave with dignity, knowing she had to make the long walk back to the elevator. She held it all in knowing she could break at home, but for now she wanted to leave with a little dignity.
ZhengLi hesitated seeing the difficulty she had walking, softening a little and his compassion getting the better of him. He squeezed the ring in his palm and a sense of regret and heaviness caused him to flicker back to watching her walk out the door and disappear into the hallway. A moment of doubt, a slide in his anger towards her at her pitiful appearance and for a second he thought about following her. Linlin flashing into his mind and knowing he should text her to come collect TangShi and take her to the hospital to have her foot and hand checked over.
TangShi tried to pull herself together as she closed the office door, dabbing her cheeks and sliding her sunglasses back on before adjusting her hat to conceal her face. She breathed in heavily, pasted on a relaxed look of calm with a great deal of effort, and lifted her chin to leave the way she came in. Her body aching with the effort of not falling apart and her mind in turmoil with a thousand thoughts and feelings that were dragging her down. She knew just by this one encounter she had no way of ever pulling him back to her and she struggled to even her steps and hide her injury as she headed out of Leng group for the last time. Wincing with every step.
“Tell Linlin to come get her and to have her seen at the hospital” YuZhi mirrored ZhengLi’s thoughts verbally and ZhengLi blinked at him in surprise at the sudden return of concern. Eyeing him up and merely nodded although his expression was clear about how shocked he was.
“Don’t look at me like that. I never meant to injure her. I’m not an animal. Now get back to work.”