196 Coping

Earlier that day, Midori showed a copy of the invitation to her parents, with Takagi Ryuuji by her side.

Xiu Jin's eyes shook.

Aoi Xiu frowned, then she glared at Takagi Ryuuji. "Takagi-san, come with me." She stood from the sofa and strode towards the study.

Takagi Ryuuji strode in pursuit as instructed.

When they reached the lanai, Aoi Xiu sat on a wrought iron chair and gestured for him to sit opposite her.

He complied as he gulped subtly. He knew that the idea was too sudden.

"Takagi-san. You do know that this is stupid, right?" Aoi Xiu was blunt while keeping a skeptical face.

"Igarashi-kaichou..." Takagi Ryuuji felt embarrased and disappointed.

"Ryuuji-kun, this is just a coping mechanism for my daughter. I had known long ago that you hold a torch for her. Are you doing this in desperation?"

"No! I...I don't know..." He shook his head. "I just...I can't bear to look at her seeming like a lifeless doll. When she proposed this idea, she was smiling again...and she was smiling at me!" He was more like explaining to himself than to the woman before him. He sounded like he was reasoning out with himself over this decision.

Aoi Xiu took a deep sigh. She knew that this man is powerless over her daughter. If only Midori had loved him instead. There would have been less complications.

"Ryuuji-kun, you don't deserve this."

He snickered as he slowly shook his head. "When I fell in love with her, I stopped caring about what I deserve." He looked at her in the eyes. "I only want her to be happy. If she could be happy by my side, even for just a little while, then I'll be contented."

"She is still married to someone else."

"Someone who do not wish to recognize her. Kaichou, I saw how damaged she was when he rejected her touch. I felt the pain she tried to hide. For the few years I had known Midori, I understood how she copes for the losses and the disappointments. She will just remain quiet until she finds another thing that could occupy her time and attention for the meantime."

"I know that. She and Manta have weird coping mechanisms for losses. However, you should remember that they also easily give second or third chances." Aoi Xiu was still not convinced. To her, the idea of having a wedding right now is not well thought of.

"Kaichou, I will not touch her, even after the wedding. She is still a married woman. I...I just want to help her...help her cope. She needs me right now, so I'll be with her."

Aoi Xiu frowned. This man can never be truly happy.

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"You will not tell Verdan about him having a wife!" Su Linyu was conflicted. She did not want to accept Xiu Jin's daughter as her daughter-in-law, but when she saw the invitation, she felt cheated.

"All the more reason to tell him! I can't let his wife just marry someone else while he is like that!"

"If that woman cannot even wait for him to recover his memories, then she doesn't deserve him!"

"You were the one who kept information about his whereabouts for too long! You even held a funeral for him! Now you blame our daughter-in-law?!"

"I will never recognize that woman as an in-law of this family!"

"Su Linyu! One more word about this resistance and I will make you remember that you were the one who trapped our son into this!"

Su Linyu was dumbfounded. She did not know that the intel of her husband had gone to such an extent. Her eyes shook as she looked at him.

"What? Did you forget whom you married? I might be in a wheelchair, but I still hold power in ZFC and its partners." Victor Zhou had a smug victorious smile.

Indeed, after the failed engagement with Xiu Jin, Su Linyu was engaged to the then young master of the Zhou family. Back then, he just came from Country F where his mother was born. He is half European, which was evident in his features. When his father became ill after a stroke, he took over ZFC. To strengthen the company ties, he needed a wife from a prominent family. That was where she came in.

At the start of their marriage, Su Linyu believed that he was just a rich and powerful tycoon because of the company. However, as time went by, she found out that the man she married had connections beyond legal organizations.

"Stop playing now, Linyu. Let me clean up after your mess." He exuded a dangerous aura as he thought of how to deal with the chairman of the Song corporation.