Tuesday, continued ...
Anna Jones realised in asking Hou Yi to sit down she must have sounded harsh, as his question in response came out harsh. In a much politer voice "Sorry, I did not mean to sound so harsh it is just …"
While sitting down beside Anna, Hou Yi realised she was in shock. The harshness in her tone, was not to have a go at him, but was due to that shock.
Once seated next to Anna, he said "There is no need to apologise. Something has happened to you, and you are in shock. Are you able to tell me what happened? I do want to try and help you if I can."
"Thank you", came Anna's soft reply.
She took a breath and continued "Rather than getting into a long complicated story, to put it simply I was meant to marry my fiancé Lu Jinhu today, here rather than in Australia where we live and where I wanted to get married. He convinced me for it to happen here, by saying his parents were too afraid to fly to Australia and did not want to miss their only child's wedding, with a blessing in Australia for my family who could not be here."
Anna took deep breath as now she had to say the hurtful part. "However, I found out it was all a lie. He never intended to marry me. He just needed to string me along until today, and when I arrived, he took pleasure in telling me he had married Yang Lin, as had always been planned."
Anna started to cry again, over everything that had happened to her in the last, as she glanced at her watch, she realised only 10 minutes had gone by, 10 minutes, and how much what she had envisaged was her life in the future had changed. She took a few steadying breaths and looked at Hou Yi who was just watching her.
"Go on", said Hou Yi in such a voice that Anna Jones knew instinctively that she would be able to trust him.
"Lu Jinhu and …" started Anna Jones, and she stopped and shook her head. "No, I guess I should start calling him that evil ex, I have recognised not only that he never loved me but also that I was simply a means to an end and he just used me."
"How did he use you", can the calm but prompt reply.
Rushing what she had to say, Anna said "He took glee in telling me, I had been used from the beginning of our relationship. He used me to gain Australia Citizenship, likely for a taxation or some other reason, and used my trust in him to gain every asset we built up, debt free while leaving me with all the debt." She then took a deep breath.
"What did he do?"
"I am not certain, but I am guessing at this stage he misused the Powers of Attorney I gave him to act for me, but I really do not know. Powers of Attorney without going into their technicalities, which will have me go into some long-winded technical statement ..."
"Are you a lawyer in Australia?" interrupted Hou Yi.
Suddenly that sense of recognition he previously had come back again. It almost clinched it for him, it was not simply that he felt that he was seeing someone who looked like her, it was the woman who captured his attention in Melbourne, at Hou Enterprises Australian Lawyers, ANX Lawyers, particularly as he knew Lu Jinhu lived in Melbourne.
Hou Yi felt his heart racing, in that there was the possibility that he could form a relationship with the woman he fell for on sight, but he did not want to jump to conclusions. Could fate step in and on the day that he was to marry another woman, which looks like not happening now, the woman he fell in love with on sight comes into his life, giving him the chance that he wanted.
Hou Yi knew that he would not push her as to where she worked, as he did not want the crushing disappointment if it was not her, as with everything else he knew he would not cope.
"I am. Lu Jinhu has done everything that I advise my clients to protect themselves about. Well to go back to what I was saying. I gave him this Power of Attorney, so he could deal with things like the Power Company, Phone Company, Internet Supplier etc, as his name was on none of the bills. Without it those companies would not have dealt with him, so I thought that I was making our lives easier."
Anna paused, took a deep breath and then continued "What he told me, was that he has taken everything that I own, and I'm guessing that he has left me with about a million Australian dollars of debt while he enjoys more than that in assets. He seemingly laughed about what he had done. He and Yang Lin will enjoy everything I worked for and ruin me."
Anna Jones, as she was talking observed Hou Yi face and realised at the mention of Yang Lin's name something was wrong.
"What's wrong?" Anna Jones asked Hou Yi.
"I guess we both have been taken for a ride by Lu Jinhu and Yang Lin", came the harsh reply.
"What do you mean?" questioned Anna Jones.
"Well I was meant to meet Yang Lin outside the Civil Administration Bureau today at 3:15pm for our civil ceremony, but I guess that will not be happening now, because it would be too much of a coincidence of the marriage, and what I saw when I looked around the corner a few minutes ago."
Anna looked at Hou Yi realising that there was more to the situation than she first realised about getting at her.