Jia Li whirled around with relief etched on her face, "where were you all this while. We have been in a frenzy looking all over for you", she said.
With a marked edge in his voice, he replied, "yeah, that is clearly visible."
He addressed the stranger, "hi, I am Xie Tang."
Ethan shook hands with him with an easy smile though he could sense the undercurrents between the two of them.
Mei Zhen arrived at the spot right that moment and pounced upon him, "where the hell have you been? I was told you were sleeping off your hangover from last night but now I see you strolling in from somewhere. All our relatives and friends have been asking about you."
He didn't utter a word but closed the distance between them and kissed her full on the lips, "I am sorry. It was remiss of me and I promise it won't happen again."
Although his words were directed at Mei Zhen, his eyes kept straying to Jia Li. She got up from the chair and murmured polite excuses to Ethan before moving away from the blatant display.
"Your family is extremely interesting, no less than a soap opera", commented Ethan when he saw Chu.
At her questioning look, he explained all that had transpired a while ago between her brother and Jia Li.
"They are the eternal star crossed lovers. My father is the one mainly responsible for their agony but their obstinate behaviour also contributed to this heartbreak," she told him briefly sketching the background.
"This was a bad idea. I should have realised that Jia Li's presence would make brother Tang troubled and frustrated. I am not sure if I should talk to him about us at this stage. I think we should stick to you being a good friend and no more, for now," she mused.
Ethan gave her a mock surprised look, "I don't recall seeing you this nervous ever. You are scared of your brother… I can't believe it."
Chu was shaking her head even before he finished speaking, "no, you are wrong on both counts. I am not nervous but crazily worried about taking even a single wrong step because you are too precious to me. Secondly, it's not scare that you are reading in my eyes but immense respect for him. He has been my hero for as long as I can remember and I don't want to do anything that displeases him. I really want him to like you and the timing sucks under the current circumstances. That's all."
Ethan was about to comfort her when Tang walked up to them and raised his eyes at the apparent proximity between the two of them.
"Brother Tang, this is Ethan Hunt. He works with me at the news channel and has come for the wedding especially. He is fascinated with our country and its culture, people, things," she explained in a rush.
"We just met. So you like everything about China, huh? Just a word of caution – not everything you like, can belong to you. I sincerely hope you enjoy your stay," Tang said ominously and walked away.
Ethan gave a short bark of laugh and said, "are you sure he wants to get married? If I read between the lines correctly, he just told me to back off from Jia Li. I don't think he is even thinking about the bride-to-be."
She had similar suspicions but played the devil's advocate, "you told me about his sizzling kiss with Mei Zhen just a little while ago. How do you explain that?"
Ethan gave her a mischievous smile and said, "you have doubt about my instincts, love? That kiss was to cause heartburn somewhere else. You should have seen his face the minute Jia Li walked away without giving him any sort of reaction. He stopped the kiss mid-way and made a lame excuse to his lovely fiancée about some urgent work."