285 Turn into a slave

"What is this nonsense? All of you think that I am favouring the other. Suddenly I have discovered that no one is on my side," she sniffed.

Ethan came and gave a fist bump to Tang and replied, "have you just realised this?"

Chu stomped her foot and walked out of the room in frustration. Ethan grinned at her retreating back.

Turning around, he sat next to Tang and said, "I know it is you who had initially convinced your parents to accept me as their son and even now, it is you who has pushed them into preparing for the marriage. I am not going to thank you for it. Instead, I am going to fervently wish that you get better soon, fight for your lost love and bring her back into your life soon."

Upon hearing this, Tang's eyes dimmed. With a wave to Ethan, he excused himself and strode out of the dining hall, a lonely figure on that mechanical chair.

Instead of going towards the room, he went out to the patio. Upon realising that they are going to be in America for an indefinite period of time, Mr. Xie had bought a palatial property in one of the closest suburbs to New York. There was a huge garden attached to the house and they had built ramps everywhere for Tang to be able to manoeuvre his way around unencumbered. The place reminded Tang slightly of Moganshan.

Looking up at the twinkling stars, he tried to calm his heart which was in turmoil after listening to Ethan's words. Any reference to Jia Li made his heart behave abnormally these days. Gone was the Tang who was capable of fighting the world for her. Now he couldn't even fight gravity. Every night, he pulled himself out of the damn chair and dragged his half useless body to the bed. Though the doctors said that he would be fully normal one day, some day, he didn't know when that day would come.

Just the mere thought of her watching him in this state, repulsed him. He knew that she would be 100% supportive but he wouldn't be able to take the pain and pity in her eyes.

"No, she can't get to know. Never!" he told himself.

"But, by now she would be thinking the worst of you. She would be heartbroken again. Will she turn to Wei for support again?" this wasn't the first time that these thoughts had crossed his mind.

He had been stalking her social media profile ever since he had woken up. Though she didn't post much, few days ago a picture had surfaced on her profile. She with her boss somewhere in Sudan. In the photo, she looked like she had lost weight but she was grinning into the camera while the guy was looking at her, an enamoured expression on his face. Someone had commented below saying that they looked perfectly matched.

He recognised that expression on the guy's face very well. Jia Li had inspired such expressions on young boys and men ever since he had known her. In the past, these things never mattered to him because he knew that her smiles belonged only to him. But now, he didn't know what he wanted – her to smile for him, or for the guy next to her!

He wanted to shout his head off in frustration but couldn't. He knew that it would cause his parents another sleepless night, at the least. Clenching his teeth, he turned towards the gym.

Shanghai

"Are you ready to leave?" Wei asked impatiently on the phone.

Repairing her smudged eyeliner with one hand, Sam stuffed her mouth with a near burnt toast, while slipping on the shoes. Grunting a reply which seemed like a yes, she cut the call. The man was a machine. He expected her to be ready at 7am. They weren't supposed to report to work before 8:30.

What did he want to do by reaching first – vacuum the office?

Grumbling to herself, she dashed to the washroom for a quick peek to check on her appearance before making a run for the elevator. His kind offer of shifting in the same building a week ago, didn't sound so kind now. If she had to match her timings to that of the Wang empire's heir for much longer, she would turn into a slave.

Her phone rang again making her roll her eyes. She pulled it out of her bag and without bothering to check the screen, snapped, "I am in the elevator. It takes time unless you expect me to fly down from the 24th floor."

"Uh… I seem to have caught you at a wrong time. May be you can call me when you are free," Yimei's uncertain voice came through the phone.