269 Insecure Grief

Jia Li felt her skin crawl as she finished reading the words. He hadn't gained even a single shred of remorse during his stay in the prison. She got up and got herself a glass of water. Earthly Matters completely abhorred the use of plastic, so no bottled water.

She drew in a calming breath and re-read the letter. Two things struck at her when she read it again, keeping her anxiety aside.

One, that someone apart from Tang and Wei had traced her whereabouts and informed Fu about the same, along with giving him information which he would not have with him, sitting inside the jail. Second, and more important point was that unwittingly he had made something crystal clear to her. Something which she had kind of lost sight of, in her insecure grief during the past weeks.

"I would have thought that since he was ready to die for you, he would have come running post his marriage shackles broke, if not before," these words resonated deeply within Jia Li.

Yes, he did love her enough to die for her, as he had shown in Moganshan when Fu had captured them. Something must have happened to have stopped him from coming back to her, right now.

"I need to find him," she thought to herself, suddenly agitated.

There was no one in Shanghai apart from Wei whom she could ask for help. But under the circumstances, she was hesitant to reach out to him. She decided to bite the bullet and plan a trip to the country ASAP.

Far far away, Shanghai

Sam had moved into a small one bedroom apartment near the office, the very next day after her showdown with her father. Even if they hadn't confronted each other, she would have still not stayed at Li mansion for much longer. She couldn't envision going to office everyday with her father, nor did she want to suffer the silently accusing eyes of her step family at all times. She wanted to focus on work and nothing else.

"G'morning Samantha, your brother in-law is waiting to see you. You are such a workaholic that family has to come to office to meet you. Get some work life balance in place. I have made him sit in your office and offered him some tea. Don't look at me in surprise. I am a thoughtful person and you are welcome," Crystal Chan, the nosy assistant who had been assigned to Sam, told her all this in a rush.

Sam restrained herself from shouting her head off at her eager but immature assistant. It wasn't her fault for not knowing that she had shown hospitality to Sam's sworn enemy.

"Thank you, Crystal. Please make sure that you check with me the next time you decide to let anyone enter my office. These are unpredictable times and we can't be too cautious," Sam instructed her, gritting her teeth.

She didn't want to start her day with this but it seemed like that the choice had been taken away from her.

Entering her cabin, she threw her bag on the side couch before going to her side of the desk. Zhu Cheng was sitting comfortably on the visitor's chair. He didn't bother getting up and instead gave her an insolent gaze, measuring her up to down.

"If you have seen enough, I suggest you get out before I ask the security to throw you out of here. Unlike your father in-law, I don't give a fig about appearances," she told him coldly.

Cheng stretched his arms overhead and smiled, "OOOH, look at the temper. This was one of the things which I really found attractive about you, all those years ago. Seems like not much has changed."

Sam tried to breathe through her nose and replied, "you are sadly mistaken. Nothing in this room is the same except you and your treachery. No wonder it stinks in here as of now."

Zhu Cheng threw his head back and laughed.

'You know what they say, little girl? The one that brings out the most hatred from you, is the one whom you love the most," he mocked her.

Sam was on the verge of losing her temper. She was worried that she would hit the guy if he didn't leave soon enough. While training during all those years, she had superimposed his face on the punching bag enough number of times. But to actually punch the face… the temptation was overwhelming right now.

"What do you want Zhu Cheng? I have a busy day ahead," she sat down on her chair.

"I want you to go back to your home. Stop messing my well laid plans. Believe it or not, I am actually fond of you. I wouldn't like to see you get hurt," he adjusted his shirt's cuffs and uttered these words causally.