Florence
Giving her another apologetic look, Tang walked away from the room without a single word. He needed to calm down lest he uttered something brutal enough to destroy this fragile bond. How dare his father discuss him behind his back, and to someone who has no clue about him? And who are they to judge for how long or how much can a person love someone?
"I can't let him get away with this. No one has ever dared treat me like this. How can he think about her when I am with him? He is fantasizing about her, she with her ordinary looks and behaviour? Clearly his tastes haven't grown up yet", Mei Zhen muttered out loud.
Moganshan
Jia Li had lost all concept of time and day. Her misery kept her occupied through the next few days. Chu's damning words kept ringing in her ears. But she knew, had she tried to explain her actions, they would have sounded flimsy to everyone around her.
The guilt over losing her virginity in a drunken stupor to Fu and Tang's absolute lack of support had made her take the rash decision to marry. Her parents had seemed to approve of Fu and that had sealed the deal.
Since childhood, her life had revolved around Tang's beliefs and career choices. She had not thought of herself as a separate entity. And the first decision that she did take spelt disaster from the word go. In hindsight she realised that she should have waited out the storm caused by his father and thought rationally before making life altering decisions.
Maybe she could have told Tang about her divorce coming through, maybe things would have worked out between them or maybe not. But their worlds were so different now. And if marrying her meant alienating his family, jeopardizing his career, then she would rather stay away and not bog him down with the past's baggage. She would never ask him to marry her to compensate for her impulsive decision and his guilt of inaction from so many years ago.
A fresh start was needed in both their lives. With him starting a new chapter with Mei Zhen, she decided it was high time she figured out the direction of her life as well.
The current career had stopped giving her joy. She wanted to do something concrete with her life…something which could make a difference, howsoever small. She was done with the men in her life as well. Henceforth, she wanted to live life on her terms, for herself and by herself.
"Morning, I bring apologies wrapped in Moganshan's most famous sweet buns. If you are planning to throw me out on my ass, at least accept the breakfast", said Wang Wei when Jia Li opened her house door the next morning.
With a sigh, she invited him in.
"You don't owe me anything, neither apology nor breakfast. But I do require my solitude. So once this breakfast is over, I hope to not see you for at least few months, if not more," she brought plates and placed them at the dining table.
Raising his hands in surrender, he spoke, "just hear me out once, keeping everything else aside. Then if you think that we have nothing to say to each other, I promise to not trouble you any further."