308 Abducting the bride's brother

Jia Li got up and went to speak with Patricia.

"Hi, my name is Jia Li. Thank you for taking care of MY Xie Tang during this period. I know from personal experience that he can be a tough patient. Can I ask you what exactly is wrong with him?" she had come and sat down next to Pat.

Pat adjusted her assessment of the woman in front of her. Initially, she had thought of her being an ex-lover bent upon a tete-a-tete with Tang, which is why she had been reluctant to let them talk alone. But now she could feel the quiet ownership which this person seemed to have on Tang.

Taking an instinctive decision, she replied, "in simple terms, he has paralysis on the left side of his body, starting from his face to his foot."

Jia Li swallowed back a sob visibly.

Composing herself once again, she said, "I am going to need your help. In this side of the world, how does one abduct someone for the purpose of interrogation?"

Pat grinned at the matter-of-factly manner in which this Oriental woman was speaking with her. She hadn't imagined her to be this spunky. 

"Uh, I wouldn't know that since I haven't done it ever but if I was to think hard, maybe I will start with finding a getaway vehicle as my first step. Rest could be figured out along the way," she said with a wicked gleam in her eyes. 

"Can you help me get Tang out of here right now?" Jia Li asked her bluntly.

She simply couldn't wait to get him away from eyes and ears of everyone around. She was worried that he would vanish if she let him out of her sight or his family would intervene and make it difficult for her to have a conversation with him.

"You do know that the Xie family would order a hit on us both if we take away their precious son from his sister's wedding. Why don't you wait till the ceremony is over. By the way, my name is Patricia," she offered the advice.

Jia Li was shaking her head even before Patricia finished her words.

"You don't understand. This is a matter of his and my life. I know how he thinks and he may find a way to slip away from me if I don't grab this opportunity now," she was pleading now.

On the other end, Pat's phone was going on pinging. It seemed that Tang was getting agitated by the minute.

"I am sorry. I need to go attend to him right now," Pat told her.

Jia Li followed her back to the table where Tang was sitting. He glared at her, as if complaning about being left out. 

"Stop hyperventilating. We need to talk. If you are planning to run away, let me remind you of the promise you made to me couple of months ago," she told him as Pat helped him sit back upright.

"You told me - thank you for allowing me back in your life. I am happy to stay here in whatever capacity you want me in. I am here, to support you in anything that you do. All I want in return is that you don't shut me out. Just let me be around you, and at some point… if possible, walk the same steps as you. Do you remember saying these words?" she asked him, her composure was beginning to crack up.

"Why didn't you tell me that these words came with hidden conditions? I would have prepared myself accordingly," she was accusing him now.

Looking at the tears shimmering in her eyes, he pulled a tissue out and offered it to her. Instead of taking it from his hand, she brought her face forward. With shaky hands, he wiped her cheeks and then let the tissue slip from his fingers. Cupping her supple face with his hand, he let his fingers feel her breath on them. Roaming them all over her face, he traced her contours gingerly, as if trying to reassure himself that this was real.

"Alright, hold it, you love birds. We need to take this show away from here before your mush behaviour scars me for life," Pat's words interrupted them.

"I am going to get the wheelchair here. You go and hail a cab," she instructed Jia Li. 

"I can't believe that I am helping them. Mr. Xie is going to butcher me," she muttered to herself as she walked away.

Hui had been watching the whole tableau from afar but when Jia Li made a move to get up from there, he walked upto her.

"Tell me what you need," he said to her, as she frantically searched for a cab on the secluded road.

Jia Li whirled in surprise and seeing it was him, she smiled in relief.