122 Closeted Pas

Beijing

"Huh! Oh you mean what happened between him and me…well, let's see. We began by polishing off a couple of bottles of wine. One good thing about him is that he isn't stingy, when it comes to the good things in life. And why not, with a cushy job with a top MNC, he can afford to be generous," the woman cackled.

"You were talking about what happened tonight," Mei Zhen tried to steer the chatty woman back to the topic.

"Yeahhhhh, so we were deliciously drunk. He seemed in a good mood, keeping me close, being extra nice, considerate, emotional. I was really happy for that brief moment," her voice choked momentarily.

Impatience radiated out of Mei Zhen but she curbed it and handed over another bottle of water to her.

"Then what happened…" she prodded the woman, when she seemed lost in her thoughts again.

"Then!! Then that bastard took out a plethora of videos from his phone and started showing me. Some of these were videos of his ex-wife sleeping, some of her talking to someone, some while she was eating and some while she was in bath etc. It didn't seem like that she was aware of being filmed though in the videos. I saw some of them for his sake but after a point in time, I got really pissed off and told him to stop.

He looked at me and told me lovingly that he wanted me to copy all the gestures and nuances. Initially I thought it was a joke but after a few moments I realised that he was being serious about it. He wanted me to learn how to walk, talk, eat and sleep like her and then once I was perfect, we would get married – his words, not mine. He is a crazy, delusional guy. No wonder, his wife left him. I told him that I wasn't interested in being someone's 2.0 version and that he should stop talking now if he wanted to get another shot at this relation," she stopped to catch her breath.

"But the next minute, he climbed on top of me and asked me if I liked the lingerie which I was currently wearing. He said he had bought it because it reminded him of my eyes. Considering that my eyes are chocolate brown, I wondered how did the sea green lingerie match my eyes' colour. Before I could ask him for clarification, he started calling me Jia Li. I simply lost it at that moment and pushed him off the bed. I trashed that pair of undergarments and wore whatever I got my hands on first. I was so mad at him that I lost my cool for a bit. I guess, you heard the rest of it, yourself," she said, a bit self-conscious for the first time since she had started speaking.

Mei Zhen tried to keep her facial expressions neutral but her mind was racing away. She hadn't even bothered asking her name yet, she realised belatedly. On second thought, it didn't even matter really.

"Uh, would you like to go and check if he is still there or has left," she asked the woman.

The woman made a disgusting face and said, "not really. Would you mind terribly if I ask you to check on it for me. It won't take more than a minute and I promise not to trouble you at all after that."

Mei Zhen was more than happy to oblige. She quickly went outside and was just in time.

"I am just leaving. Uh…thank you for helping in getting that mad woman off my neck," Fu said to Mei Zhen with a self-depreciating look.

"Go to the coffee shop downstairs and wait for me," she told him in an authoritative tone.

He looked at her, startled. He seemed to be debating within himself, but later nodded and walked away.

"He is gone now. You can go back to your room," Mei Zhen came back to her room and chased the woman out as fast as politeness allowed her.

Quickly changing into a pair of formal pants and a shirt, she left her room, in search of the guy.

Seated across him, she studied the good-looking man with almost angelic expressions. Had she not witnessed the fiasco upstairs or heard the convincing testimony of that woman, she would have a real tough time imagining the guy sitting in front of her capable of having an obsessive streak. He looked so NORMAL, almost pitiable. Wasn't that the first impression which that woman had had about him as well? He seemed to have mastered the façade well.

"I am truly sorry for what happened outside your room. You may find it difficult to believe but I do not normally find myself in such a situation. It seems like I fell for the wrong woman," he started, apology lacing his voice.