179 Come out to play

One part of Jia Li was protesting about the prospect of working with the man in such close quarters but the professional side of hers was excited about the challenge posed in front of her. Her interpersonal skills had always been her strong suit but she had never gotten an opportunity to explore it to its full potential. She had decided to give London and Ying Hui a fair chance!

One month later

Shanghai

"What time are you planning to leave work today? Don't tell me you intend to stick around staring at the computer screen on a Friday night instead of coming out to play," Tang told Wei.

Wei gave him a look and replied, "I have no intentions of playing your maid and chauffeur. Go and find someone else tonight."

"Oh c'mmon. Just because you dropped me home once or twice, you are going to whine about it. It doesn't reflect very well on you," Tang chided him.

Wei looked at him with resignation.

"Your poor attempts at humour leave me unimpressed. Stop bothering me. Do you have no work to do today?" He queried.

"Well, I managed to bring the mare to the water today. Let's see if she decided to drink it up or not," he replied.

Wei got up from his chair and walked towards Tang, who was standing the French window, overlooking the view of the Bund. He had forgotten that today was the first appearance in court for Tang and Mei Zhen.

"How did it go? Has she agreed to sign the papers amicably or does she want to contest it?" He asked.

"Her lawyer has provided me with a long list of Do's and Don'ts list during this period and even post the divorce. She intends to come out of this, smelling of roses. On one hand, I am tempted to just say yes to everything that she has asked for, so that I can be free of this mess. But, she is quite capable of flipping and using this agreement in a twisted way. So I am hesitating. To give you a perspective, she has demanded that I can never accuse her of being a party to the incident with Fu. She also wants that publicly it needs to be portrayed that she is the one who is walking out of the marriage and not me. The list is long and quite creative. I am impressed with her dedication when it comes to self-preservation," Tang replied with a wry smile.

"That woman is truly unbelievable. But like you said, it is a start. Going by her father's reaction last week, I had thought that this would drag on for a much longer time," Wei said.

Mr. Liang had come to the office the previous week and created a ruckus in Tang's office. He had threatened him, cursed him and told him in unequivocal terms that his daughter was not someone to be trifled with. Wei had rushed to Tang's cabin upon receiving this news. He had braced himself for an angry Tang, ready to launch a counter attack. But he had been surprised at his calm, almost lazy demeanour while dealing with Mr. Liang. It was almost as if whatever the man said was insignificant. That attitude of his had further incensed Mei Zhen's father and he had resorted to reaching for Tang's collar. Wei had intervened and tried to extract Tang from the clutches of Mr. Liang. By then, Mr. Xie had arrived there and whisked him away.

Tang had laughed off the whole episode when Wei had said that his divorce prospects were beginning to look bleaker.

He must have done something big to ensure that Mei Zhen at least sat across the table to discuss the divorce today.

"Ok, you win. Let's go and celebrate your tiny step towards freedom tonight. But I am warning you. If you get sloshed, expect to wake up on the sidewalk outside the pub in the morning. I am not going to carry you home and tuck you in bed," Wei said with mock severity.

Tang sketched him a salute and walked out of his cabin. It was strange how the during the past few weeks, a bond had started to form with the most unlikely person. Had someone told him a couple of months prior that he and Wei would be hanging out socially every weekend or that they would look out for each other at work, he would have scoffed it off.

Prior to their face-off due to Jia Li, they had been polite acquaintances at work who didn't have much in common. During the whole episode when they were vying for Jia Li's affection, Tang couldn't stand Wei's presence and hated the mere sight of him. And today, he was the first and maybe the only person that he could tolerate around himself.