50 Her Kind of Freedom

November 15, 20XX (Thursday)

Zhao Manor, Beijing

It was two o'clock in the morning that Yue had just arrived coming from New York and had immediately jumped into Mei Li's bed. She snuggled inside the blankets that were wrapping her best friend before falling asleep immediately.

Mei Li woke up after five hours, she opened her eyes to see her befriend snuggled into her. Her golden brown eyes amusement dancing in her irises. She got up from the bed, tucked the tired and jet-lagged model after making sure she was in deep sleep, and get ready for the day. She stopped to text Yang that she was not going with him to the company early in the morning but only at lunch because she had to finalize appointments for Yue's Birthday Banquet on November 30. It was just 15 days from now, Mei Li needed to work fast.

Mei Li had sat on the lounge chair at the foot of her bed with papers littered on top of the table in front of her. Her cellphone on her hands, pressed against her cheeks as she arranged for flowers to arrive at the day before the banquet and had put reservations for its arrangements. When Yue woke up at ten o'clock, Mei Li was already done with distributing tasks to be done at the Banquet. The first thing she heard when she opened her eyes were the tapping noises of Mei Li's fingers on the table with the skin between her eyebrows furrowed in contemplation.

"What are you thinking about?" Yue's sleepy voice surprised the painter out from her thoughts.

"… I have no idea where to hold your bbq parties with your family members." Mei Li tapped her fingers again.

Yue blinked with disbelief, "… isn't Zhao manor available?"

Mei Li froze, marvelling at her stupidity, "Am I stupid or what?"

"You can be pretty stupid," Yue agreed with a grin causing her to receive a pillow smacked into her face. The painter had got up from where she was sitting and throwing herself on top of Yue and baiting the younger woman to wrestle.

The bed was in disarray after five minutes of them mock wrestling and pillow fighting. These women of there late '20s were too childish but it made the room warm and comfortable. Yue, although younger was much active, had won unanimously while the painter lay on the bed huffing and puffing for air.

The painter turned to the other side of the bed so Yue could not see the blush on her face. The truth was she knew where the bbq party would be held, she just didn't want Yue to know about the man in her thoughts.

"So how are you?" Yue asked after a while.

Mei Li's smile was full of disapproval as she admitted, "Doing great… I'm not as heartbroken as before. I'm more stupefied with myself, in fact. I didn't know I was so blind to fall in love with Zhong and like his family too."

Yue snorted, "I doubt you were really in love with him…You were too in love with the notion of falling in love and belonging into a family."

Mei Li stared at Yue with a mixture of disbelief and pride. Why did this woman only show her mature side to her alone? The painter smiled as she turned to stare at Yue's eyes, "If you showed your family this matured side to you, they'll stop treating you like a child."

"No way!" Yue told indignant with the idea, "I like them spoiling me like a child far too much to give it up."

Mei Li shook her head… And Yue had the audacity to call the members of her Zhao family as manipulative when she was also one. Suddenly, Mei Li's phone rang. The painter immediately bolted out of bed.

"Hello," Mei Li answered her phone putting it on speaker for her best friend to hear, "This is Wu Mei Li, May I ask who is calling?"

"This is Lu Tiao, an attorney hired by the Chen Family." Comes the male voice from the phone's speaker. Mei Li and Yue looked at each other with surprise.

"Why are did you call?" Mei Li's hands shook with nervousness while Yue's eyes narrowed. Her family members would love to know about this. She will have a long talk with her big brother later.

"I called to set up a meeting with you."

"For what reasons?" Yue's blood boiled in anger especially when Mei Li eyes began to glisten with tears.

"If it was possible for us to meet? I want to show you proof of my claims." The voice said.

Mei Li had quickly agreed, curiosity and nervousness clear on her face. The painter got ready wit Yue doing the same. No way was the Zhao Heiress allowing Mei Li to meet an attorney by herself with the possibility of Chen Zhong being present. That Stupid Zhong deserves to be slapped with a pointy end of her stilettos.

They arrived at the meeting place with bodyguards in tow on a quiet cafe minute away from Height Condominium. Seeing the man in his late 50's waving them over, the two women dressed immaculate sat with grace and poised.

Attorney Lu Tiao had not expected to see the other woman and the bodyguard at their backs. He fumbled to take out the bond paper he had just printed an authorization over the signature. He then said, trying to appear as confident as the two women, "The Chen Family is willing to take this to court."

Mei Li took the paper and read with Yue also doing the same beside her. The paper was basically saying that she had given all her rights to the condominium to Chen Zhong as a gift. She looked at her signature with unease as she remembered living behind three copies of the paper that only had her signature to Zhong before. She knew about one being left behind of the bookshelf in her small living room. She cursed herself for being careless.

Mei Li sigh, the Chen Family was the most disappointing people she had met. She raked her brain on what to do. If she will not give up the condo, she would be at court soon tirelessly defending herself when she could just buy another one for herself. The condo has memories of her past with Chen Zhong too and it was just worth a hundred and eighty thousand American dollars; not even worth one of her paintings.

"You don't have to worry," Mei Li straighten her spine before continuing, "I will not take this to the court, I will give the condo to Chen Zhong. You take care of all legal matters as hired by that family. When you need my signature, you know my contact."

The painter got up with the fuming Yue following after. They leave the attorney staring at their backs, incredulity flushed with embarrassment. It felt like he had punched a pillow; a useless act. Normally people would fight back, shout at him or degrade him, making him look as if he was bullied. This time, it looked as if he was rejected and was forced to file a divorce.

Mei Li left with a lighter shoulder. With this, she was truly free from Zhong. She smiled and was on a good mood all throughout the day even retorting back to Yang's teasing with just a gentle smile of indulgence.

That night, Yue pulled her tired brother to her room and told everything that happened. She narrated everything the lawyer had said and smirked when she saw the inferno dancing in her big brother's eyes. She might not be able to do anything to the Chen Family but she knows many people that could.

After telling her brother, Yue had crept into her parent's bedroom to retell the same event. Living behind the angered couple, she pulled her phone and texted people who were courting her about her anger on the Chen Family. Immediately, the Chen Family was blacklisted by a number of prominent heirs and political powers.

Nobody hurts her best friend especially not when she's still around!