224 Big girl now!

Tang pulled her in for a quick hug before letting her walk away from him. The brief contact had started and finished before she could even think about protesting over it.

On her way back, Jia Li thought back to the extraordinary evening. She had a feeling that none of this was real and in no time, she will wake up and realise that all of it had been a vivid dream. But the guy this evening had been slightly different from the one that she remembered. So she couldn't have imagined him… this was REAL.

"So that's it? You would forgive him and fall back into his lap like an overripe fruit," a part of her mocked the easy way that she had interacted with him throughout the evening.

"What happened to your tears-choked words that you would always hate him and wished to never set your eyes on him again? Are you looking for more heartache, more humiliation? Didn't you leave your home, your friends, your country because of HIS actions and lies? Seems like it wasn't enough. Now that you are just starting to settle into a rhythm, he is here and you want to go back to square one," the hateful voice inside her wouldn't stop berating her.

By the time she had changed into her night clothes, her head was ready to split into two parts. It was due to that persistent voice which kept reminding her why Tang was absolutely the wrong man to bring back into her life.

Next morning, the sun rose reluctantly and so did she. Jia Li didn't want to face the day and it's reality.

"You are a big girl now. Suck it up and move on," she told herself severely and got up to get dressed for work.

"Mr. Ying, is all well at Eric's end? I am asking because he left so suddenly and that too without informing any of us," she raised the topic with the boss, later that morning, as they waited for the client to arrive.

She was acutely missing his wise council when it came to prepping before client meetings. Hui probably grasped it and gave her a gentle smile.

"Don't worry. You will be fine. If anyone should be worried, it would be me, right?" he said, with self-depreciating humour.

She couldn't bring herself to refute it and gave him an apologetic smile in return. Camilla buzzed the intercom in Hui's cabin, announcing the client's arrival.

Jia Li hastened to reach the reception area with another colleague from Eric's team. Taking in deep breaths, she summoned a smile and extended her hand warmly towards Mr. Zheng.

"Welcome to Earthly Matters, Mr. Zheng. My name is Lin Jia Li. Mr. Ying is looking forward to meeting you," she welcomed him.

He shook hands with her and replied, "as are we. I am sorry, we will just have to wait for a minute. My partner is running slightly late."

She looked at him in slight surprise. They had not been informed about another partner joining in for the meeting today. She recovered quickly and told him that she would wait for the partner here while he could go to the meeting room with her colleague.

She typed out a message to Hui informing him about the latest development. Though today's meeting was just a formality and the business had already commenced between the two organisations, it was important for them to give out the right impression for good business relations. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't realise the advent of another person till Camilla cleared her throat loudly.

With a smile firmly in place, she turned around and…

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, closing the distance between her and the unexpected visitor.

"I believe I am slightly late. I apologise," said Tang, dressed in a formal, steel grey suit, matching tie and wing tipped black brogue shoes.

Jia Li looked at him in confusion, her brows furrowed.

"Uh, yes they are waiting for you in the meeting room," Jia Li's colleague had come back out after dropping Mr. Zheng in the conference room.

He shook hands with the newcomer and introduced himself, "G'morning, I am Xie Tang, Zheng's partner."

"I am Bruce Whitaker and this is Lin Jia Li. Welcome to Earthly Matters," he said.

Jia Li was still trying to wrap her head around few facts. He was in London for a meeting, not to see her. He had opened a new company in partnership with someone, which was in a business relation with her company. Most importantly, he hadn't bothered telling her about any of it either through the umpteen mails which he had written to her nor yesterday when he had had ample opportunity to do so.

He hadn't changed one bit!!!