Chapter 22: Chapter 22

TangShi stared absently out of the restaurant window, reserved and low in mood now that the excitement of being reunited with Linlin had calmed down. Cuddles and tears out of the way after their long separation and now comfortable camaraderie once more. As if they never parted.

YuZhi agreed to drop her off here on the way home instead of taking her all the way back to the house and Linlin was happy to oblige in rushing out to meet.

“I never saw that one coming at all. Really? What is wrong with him? I thought a red-blooded lothario like him would at least take advantage of a new squeeze in his bed and a free pass to do whatever he wants with her for two years.” Linlin crossed her arms and leaned on the table while observing TangShi. Digesting the details about the clinic.

TangShi didn’t respond, instead she was still smarting and touchy about the ordeal she had just experienced in the last hour. The clinic was clean and pleasant but having that done to her made her feel dirty and emotional. Still cringing at the sensations and having to let a male doctor down there between her thighs to administer an implement. It was mortifying for someone like her.

When changing back into her clothes and discarding the medical gown in the changing room she had cried like someone she loved had died. Broken down about how sterile and clinical this was, how shameful it felt, and that getting pregnant this way was degrading to her pride. She would legitimately be a virgin carrying a baby soon enough and it seemed ridiculous to her. He had gone to such lengths to not touch her, and it was getting to her more than it should.

YuZhi had succeeded in hurting her in a whole new way and he wasn’t even aware of it. She put it down to residual and stupid feelings and hopes from a long time ago. Naïve dreams and pointless memories. She shouldn’t care that he chose this method and should be happy about it, but she wasn’t.

“You okay?” Linlin brought her out of her daydream, aware something was off with TangShi’s normally upbeat mood and threw her a warm smile.

“Yeah. Just feeling a little fragile. It wasn’t exactly pleasant, and I think I need to process my feelings a little. I mean. I might be pregnant after this….. that blows my mind.”

Linlin was sobered at that thought too and reached out across the table to scoop up her hand.

“I’m sorry, I never even thought about it like that. Just try and see all this as a temporary learning curve in your life. A path to a future away from all of them. A stopgap.” Linlin had always been an optimist who saw something good in every scenario.

“I know.” TangShi sighed and then physically shook herself to cast off this weary mood because she didn’t want to drag Linlin down with her into depression. “Let’s order. I’m starving.” In other words, can we please stop talking about this and move on. TangShi was never one to dwell and tended to bottle things up to moon over later.

“You know you could look at this as a blessing in some ways. YuZhi doesn’t want to tie you up in bed and demand sex at every opportunity. You have more freedom with him than ever with your father, financial security. I mean, look where he willingly dropped you off, and handed you a credit card to cover it. Maybe try and get along with him while dealing with what’s expected. Who knows, maybe it won’t be so bad and it’s not like he’s some sort of drunk, wife beating tyrant. Rhea seemed happy all these years so he must have some good points.”

TangShi exhaled heavily and nodded. Unable to refute what Linlin was saying. YuZhi did bring her here, to a restaurant in Pudong, one with a high price tag, without questioning it. Linlin’s favorite place to eat, the Aura Lounge of the Ritz Carlton and didn’t mention the fact he was dumping her at a hotel. He just handed her a black card and told her to be home before it got late or else his grandfather would send out a search party. A nothing conversation and he seemed uninterested in her plans even when she began to explain out of habit about who she was meeting. He shrugged it off, waved her out of the car and didn’t give her a second look.

She didn’t know if it disappointed her that he truly didn’t care, wasn’t curious, or if her emotions were already spiraling downward because of what she just endured before it.

“I want hotpot. I have a craving and they don’t do it here. Do you want to go explore and have some fun?” Linlin wanted to bust TangShi out of this weird mood and knew that classy surroundings and expensive food were not the remedy. TangShi was a girl of simpler tastes.

“Hotpot sounds good. Exploring…. Maybe.” A smile lifted the corner of TangShi’s mouth as she turned it over in her head.

“You know you want to and before long you will join the celeb A list and have to hide for fear of the paparazzi. Let’s enjoy your freedom before YuZhi makes your face a household image.”

“Don’t remind me. I still haven’t got my head around that aspect yet and I don’t really like the fact my life is going public. Especially not under these circumstances.”

“It’s a little bit of pie in your dad’s face though, right? All these years hiding you away like some shameful secret and boom…. YuZhi is going to put you in the limelight and make you a household name just by marrying you. Suddenly Lei Enterprises will be hot topic and shares will go up, just because they chose you.”

Linlin found this ironic, that after treating her like a leper from birth, TangShi was doing more for the Leis in one arrangement than he had done his entire life.

“Not to mention the collaboration I know he bartered for. It’s yet to be announced but something big is in the works between them which will catapult Lei Enterprises up nearer Leng Group in status, all because of my sacrifice. Will he ever acknowledge it? No, he will pat himself on the back for being so clever in selling me off to someone like Mr Leng.” TangShi’s words were sour in her mouth and brought bitterness up from the depths of her stomach. Anything related to her father was always a sore point but particularly this.

“Ughhh, this is why high society sucks, and I’m glad my parents don’t care about any kind of marriage alliance to boost what we have. They are both too busy playing with lovers and taking vacations to care about managing things. As long as they have enough dough to support it, they have no ambitions to grow it.” Linlin raised a glass of water to toast her parents, thanking her lucky stars that she never had an upbringing like TangShi.