Chapter 49: Chapter 49
The door at the other end opened with a gust of wind, and a dark figure slid in, blowing in to give her a chill and the smell of oncoming rain. The glimpse of view showing the duskiness of the early morning sky outside which distracted her from the entering person. It was only when her eyes trailed down to glimpse the human walking this way did she realize she knew the figure and face of this woman and she was marching right for her with intent, at a fast and angry pace that made TangShi step back timidly.
“Rhea? What are you doin…” TangShi never got the full sentence out of her mouth, registering surprise in her tone, before Rhea slapped her hard across the face with such force that it knocked her sideways. TangShi was stunned, clasped her burning cheek in reaction with her left hand and stumbled against the bathroom door which stopped her fall. Blinking back up at the red eyed and tear stained woman in utter shock, she managed to slide up the shiny surface but kept her distance as tears pricked her own eyes. She had no idea what was going on.
“What the hell, Rhea?” YuZhi’s hostile tone pulled TangShi back to reality from shock as he stormed in between them, pushing Rhea back by the shoulder where she seemed to be gearing up for a second attack. She was poised and filled with hatred and aggression, wild eyed and staring down TangShi as though she was her worst enemy.
He turned to see if TangShi was okay, instinct pulling him to her and cupping her small face with a gentle hand to lift it up to him. His face was ashen, and his eyes narrowed with a brewing storm of emotions and rage as he checked to see how bad it was. “What the actual fuck are you doing? Why would you hit TangShi of all people? For what?” He snapped over his shoulder at Rhea.
“Let go of her!” Rhea spat, grabbing him by the back of his sweater with a vicious clutch and hauled him backwards so he let go of TangShi’s face and stumbled to right himself before turning on her and grabbing her wrist. His grip firm as he unhooked her without a care if he hurt her and threw her hand aside coldly.
“What are you doing? Are you out of your fucking mind?” YuZhi was beyond angry, seething at her and couldn’t wrap his head around why she would storm in here and do something like this. She wasn’t prone to violence, or erratic behavior and this was in no way acceptable to him.
TangShi’s legs were shaking violently and she was too shocked to say or do anything except stand there and rub her face to try and calm the swelling aching pain and the burn of what she assumed was a handprint on her cheek.
“You’re supposed to be my friend!” Rhea spat accusingly at TangShi, pushing YuZhi to one side so she could face her down, but he stepped back between them right away. Lifting his arm to create a barrier between them and shielded TangShi from another attack.
“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.”