151 Deserve better?

As if in a trance, she stepped out of the car and rang the bell. Wei came and stood next to her. He could hear her taking deep breaths. Her hands were clenched in front of her. It seemed like she was preparing to face the firing squad.They were ushered inside by a uniform clad staff and were politely asked to wait.

"Are you ok?" Wei realised the stupidity of his question, the minute he uttered it.

She inclined her head slightly, in acknowledgment of his concern.

Tang had been pacing in his room, wondering what to do next when the maid came and informed him about Jia Li's arrival. He ran out of his room, leaping across the staircase two at a time to reach her. This was the first time that she had stepped into his house ever. He didn't know the reason for her arrival but his heart was glad. With a wide smile on his face, he came to an abrupt halt when he saw Wei accompanying Jia Li. Simultaneously, he registered her pale face and the pain etched on it.

"What is wrong? Has something happened?" he closed the distance between them and asked her, worriedly.

Taking her hands in his own, he found them tightly clenched and frozen. Jia Li immediately pulled her hands out of his.

"Is it true? Did you fake your amnesia?" she asked him on a broken voice.

Her eyes were begging him to deny it. But the surprised guilt which flashed in his eyes was enough to crush that hope.

He didn't try and deny it nor did he ask her about the person who had told her about it. It was clear to him that he had underestimated his conniving wife's abilities. In this moment, he cursed his timing of revealing the fact. He was going to murder that woman.

"You need to trust me on this. Whatever I did, all my actions were aimed at…" he began explaining but she cut him short.

"Do you know that for the past week or so, I have been constantly hearing whispers behind my back. Maybe you forgot that Moganshan is a small town where everyone knows everyone else's business. I was being slut shamed for hanging on to someone else's husband, trying to steal him. Whether at work or in the neighbourhood, people looked at me as if I was a home wrecker. Even the people closest to me questioned my actions," she referred to Wei as she spoke the last sentence.

"But all that didn't matter to me. My top most, no, my only priority was your health and your happiness. At the same time, what were you doing? Plotting and planning? If you wanted to pursue me, pursue our happiness, why couldn't you be man enough to tell your wife about it first? You wanted us to be together? At what price? Happiness achieved at the cost of my self-esteem, my virtue is not something that I can or will ever accept. I thought you knew me better. Was I not worthy of your respect and trust to come and talk to me straight about it? And what about your family? Do you think your parents would ever welcome me in your life considering I am the one who "supposedly" caused you to take this step," her voice was rising with each passing sentence.

"You are right. I do hold you responsible for what my son has turned into," Mr. Xie spoke up.

No one had registered his presence up until now. Jia Li gave him a pitiful look.

"I understand that, Uncle Xie. Because if you don't blame me, then the fault would lie with Tang and your upbringing. And both Tang and your upbringing are absolutely without a blemish. Am I correct?" she said scathingly.

In her insurmountable pain, she had gone beyond caring about everyone else. After shutting Mr. Xie up with her blunt words, she turned her attention back to Tang, whose eyes were mirroring her hurt now.

"When Mei Zhen first uttered those words, my heart rejected them. I refused to believe that you would do something like this. This isn't the person who I grew up loving. This is the man who knows the beat of my heart better than me. How could you...did you not know that I came out of a marriage due to infidelity? How were you being any different here? Whether you love Mei Zhen or not, whether she is a good person or not, she deserved to be treated better. And more than that, I deserved to be treated better. Who gave you the right to play with my feelings?" she was nearly shouting now.

She stopped talking and took deep breaths. Wei tried to hold her arm but she forestalled him. She needed to finish this alone.