PRESENT DAY..
Maybe the world was small after all. Because Mei Lijuan and Wang Yun were currently staring at each other with a plethora of eyes staring at them.
"A Kleptomaniac?" Wang Jinhai asked his mother in surprise from where they were sitting but mother Wang's eyes were fixated on her son Wang Yun as she wondered what he was doing with the thief.
"But she's too pretty to be a thief" He said as he looked at his brother and her.
"So thieves are supposed to be ugly?" His mother tsked at him. "Ask anyone here. I'm sure you do not know about this since you always refused to attend these parties and only coming now because your elder brother is here. But if you ask, they'll tell you." She said as she glared at the two of them.
"Thou shalt not judge" Mr Wang, who had been sitting in the same table with them said casually before sipping his wine.
He actually was enjoying the show.
**************
"Hand it over... My pen!" Wang Yun demanded angrily with his hand stretched to her but his voice was low because he didn't want any other person to hear them.
Jackie stood there confused. He didn't know what to do at that moment. He recognized the man from the club the other time and remembered Lijuan had stolen his pen.
"Uhm... excuse me Mist–"
"This is between us." Yun lifted his head and said to Jackie who was about to interfere.
"What pen? I don't know what you are talking about and how can you be asking me that question at a time like this?" Lijuan complained with an embarrassed frown.
"Everyone is watching. The quicker you hand it over, the better for all of us– especially you." He whispered to her.
He had not really been surprised when his mother told him she was a Kleptomaniac. He had experienced her 'talent' firsthand to know what she was capable of doing.
"But I've been wondering... how do you do it? Are you like a pro or something? I didn't feel you take it from me at a–"
"Just shut up!" She closed her eyes and muttered while her face cringed in embarrassment. She couldn't believe this man was doing this to her in the presence of other guests. She could see people taking pictures through the corner of her eyes.
"So where is it?" He asked again impatiently.
"Why are you doing this because of a stupid pen?" She whimpered.
"Oh really?" He asked while giving her the look that said "And you stole it?"
Lijuan sighed in resignation. "It's in the car. I'll return it to you. Just save me from this embarrassment. My father is going to kill me."
She said, looking over his shoulder towards her father who was looking at her furiously and ducked her head to hide from him.
Yun turned his head to look at where she had been looking at but couldn't make out the particular person she was staring at since there were a lot of people around.
"Alright then. But first, you need to take off these silly shoes. I think it's best if you go barefooted." He said while looking at her shoes.
"Anything just to leave here. But...." She pointed at the slit in front of her gown with a sad pout, letting him know she couldn't do it herself else her body would he exposed to everyone.
With a sigh, he began to help her unbuckle them.
The crowd was further thrown into a frenzy. Was the Vice President of Wang Motors interested in her? They all wondered the same thing.
Mei Rong looked at them with a ugly frown. She hadn't even gotten the chance to say hello to him but there he was with her sister, helping her unbuckle her shoes? She frowned even deeper when she saw him help her up.
"You should probably do something" Jiaying whispered to Rong when she saw the frown on her face.
"Like what?" Rong asked without taking her eyes from Lijuan.
"I don't know, anything. You're not going to let her win, are you?" Jiaying asked referring to the statement Lijuan had made about getting married before them.
Mother Mei just stood beside her husband as she smiled at the scene. Lijuan was probably right about getting a husband before her sisters. Who would have thought the very man her sisters had talked about sometime ago was the same man that was showing so much public interest in her?
"Now where is it?" Yun asked her after helping her to her feet and walking her to a private corner amidst the curious whispers of the other guests and the furious glare his mother shot him.
If the pen hadn't been given to him by his grandfather as a gift after he was announced as the Vice President of the company, he wouldn't have been bothering himself with her.
Mei Lijuan looked at him guiltily before saying "I don't have it."
"What? You don't have it?" He asked in surprise. He didn't want to believe he had wasted his time and helped her for nothing.
"Who moves about with a pen?" She murmured before promising, "I'll get you a new one."
"You think getting a pen is my problem?" He asked with a scowl.
"What's so special about it anyway?" She asked looking around nervously.
"I'm sure you wouldn't know since you're always picking—" He stopped talking when he noticed the frown on her face and sighed.
"Go on. Say it." She said while giving him a challenging look.
"Oh.. you get angry? You probably should know how I feel now." He said while raising a brow at her.
"Fine. I'll return it. Where can I send it to?" She asked without looking at him. She realised she didn't have any reason to be mad at him when it actually was her fault.
"Do you know most people consider this a sign of insincerity?" He asked her.
"What?" She asked turning to look at him.
"Not looking directly at a person when talking, especially when making a promise. Not that I trust you anyway" He quickly added...
"Where do you live? I'll rather pick it up myself" He said with a straight face.
Lijuan looked at him suspiciously and asked, "Are you sure it's just the pen you want or you're trying to hit on me?"
Yun didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he heard her question. Hitting on her? She wished!
"I can't count on you to return it." He said, not bothering to answer her silly question.
When she noticed he was serious, the look on her face changed to one of worry.
"I can't do that. You can't tell anyone I accidentally took your pen, please. My father will kill me if he hears of it, and my sisters won't let me..." She stopped as though realizing she had said too much.
Accidentally? He almost laughed at her choice of words. "They don't have to know why I'm stopping over to see you." He said stretching his hand.
"What?" She asked, frowning at his hand as she extended hers to shake him.
"Do you have a thing for holding people's hands?" He asked while giving her a weird look.
"Your phone. Hand it over"
After Lijuan reluctantly retrieved her phone from her purse and gave it to him, he typed in his number and quickly called his own phone. He returned her phone to her and before her eyes, he saved her number as "Pen Thief" making her grit her teeth in embarrassment.
"Text me your address. Don't make me look for you else I'm going to make sure the videos and pictures of you on the ground earlier, leaks to the public.."
Lijuan's eyes shone. "You were planning to stop it from circulating?" She asked in surprise. She knew how most socialites behaved. They always looked for an excuse to share embarrassing videos and images of others within their social circle and she had been a victim of that before.
He almost chuckled when he saw the look on her face. "Don't let your imagination run wild. I'm not doing it for you. I just don't want to be involved in a scandal with you."
Lijuan scoffed. "Who are you anyway?" Now that she thought about it, she didn't know his name or the family he was from to act so cocky.
Yun thought she was probably the only person in the party who didn't know who he was.
"You'll know very soon." He said with a smile when he noticed some people were staring their way.
"Enjoy your party." He said bowing his head politely as he walked away from her.