Heavens. Oh my god. Hell. Shit. WHAT HAD JUST HAPPENED?!
I closed my eyes, trying as hard as I could to keep calm. It addled my brain. Okay, I needed to look at this again, carefully. Breathe in and out. Fyuh.
Where was I? What was this place?
...
I had no idea.
The moment I woke up, my head was pounding. I found myself lying on a strange comfy bed that was made out of feather mattress and fine linen sheets. My eyes swiveled around the strange spacious bedroom. It was touched by a sense of glamour. The canopy bed had brown shades drapes along it. Natural hue walls were illuminated by both massive crystal chandeliers and natural lights sneaked from the windows. I also caught glimpse of parquet floors and blue-stripes carpets, landscape paintings with frames, and classic walnut-colored furniture.
I guessed this was supposed to be Jie Moshu luxurious mansion. After all, this was the kind of place wealthy people like him should live—not insisted on living on a shabby narrow place like mine.
Speaking of which, I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or cry. But I actually fell asleep and became a dead weight on Jie Moshu's chest. It made no sense. How was that even possible? Shouldn't I be taking precautions? How did I let myself so defenseless?
Stupid, Huayu! Stupid little brain!
I couldn't believe I was waking up to this kind of scenario. I felt like banging my head into against the walls, to make everything fell back into its place. Hang on, did Jie Moshu accidentally cast a spell on me?
Did he? I mean, well, he did know some sort of magic.
So, I was kidnapped?
No. No. Definitely not.
There was Baba and Huashe at that time when I faked my fainting. Or it could happen that Baba worried sick at me and Jie Moshu asked to help to take me to see a doctor, instead?
Yes. That was a possibility. A cunning sly hotsy-totsy like him would do anything to "ruin" me. Hopefully not in a bad way, though—he did mention that we had a child before...
No. No. No. Hell, no!
As though it was the right timing, there was a sound of knock on the door that snapped me out of my mine. A woman in typical black dress and white apron walked in. She looked in her early thirties, her auburn hair was tied back into a knot, and her wide blue eyes beamed at me.
"Oh, miss! You're awake! How are you feeling?"
I was galvanized by her exceptionally fluent Chinese despite her foreign looks. I glanced the whole and stared at her in disbelief. The room was so elegant and classically decorated. Moreover, the woman appeared just like 18th century English maid. That was a strange yet cliché way of an opening introduction.
No. It couldn't be... I mean, it couldn't be right. That would mean—
Had I... reincarnated? I was dead?!!
That little act of faint caused the death of me? Heavens, even jokes should have limits.
Just the thought of it paralyzed me in horror.
Gingerly, I took a good look of myself—and thank God. I was still wearing my same casual clothes. My whole body was still intact in one piece.
Could it be... I transmigrated? Only one way to find out: interrogate the maid.
I cleared my throat, "Do you know who am I?"
"Yes, you're the guest of this house's master."
Oh, God. I was still sitting on the bed, frozen, staring at the maid. She said "master" that would have meant I might have just transmigrated to an alternate dimension or I had just travelled through time.
"So... um... where am I? And who are you?" I asked, attempting to sound relaxed.
"You're at the Fang's estate." She shot a radiant smile at me, "I'm a maid working for the house. My name is Anna."
"The Fang's estate?" I asked awkwardly, as the thought of Mr. Fang occurred to me. "You mean, Mr. Fang? That billionaire, Mr. Fang?"
"Actually, it's multibillionaire—" she corrected me, "—and of course, it is 'that' Mr. Fang, and this is after all Fang's family estate."
I was a little gobsmacked, but I scoffed. This Anna, I mean, I knew that Mr. Fang was the top 10 wealthiest man in the country, but what was the difference between billionaire and multibillionaire to the point that she had to correct me that much? Only to emphasize her boss had lots and tons of money? Mother...
Anyway, I hadn't been through both, I was still Liu Huayu. Which I was tad relieved about. I mean, these days dramas and novels were all about reincarnation and transmigration. And I was having the weirdest experience to meet celestial-beings, mythical beast, and evil spirits. So, I might as well thought about the possibility of unexpectant things could happen.
Probably, Jie Moshu was wealthy enough to hire a foreigner to be his employee. I wondered how much salary did she got. Maybe, marrying a billionaire wasn't such a bad idea at all—he got looks that I could admire to, unlimited money to spent, a cute little child that have been raised halfway...
Did I just want to marry that hotsy-totsy? Why my head was looming with his gorgeous face? Arrghh! I should stop thinking about that. I couldn't believe I was just calculating the benefits of getting married to him!
"Miss?" Anna called me out, still standing on the front door. Her brow creased with anxiety, "Are you alright? Should I call the doctor for you?"
"I'm fine!" My voice high and a bit strained, humiliation burned up to my face. Maybe, she thought I might have hit my head somewhere since I asked as though I was suspicious of her. Which was basically true.
"Now that you're awake, I'll lead you to master's study room."
"Right." I swallowed, trying to keep my composure. "Lead the way, then."
She leaded me into a limestone-floored hall smelling sweet and powdery of flowers. The whole place was very vintage, looming with fringed velvet curtains, blue-and-white Chinese vessels, and antique engravings. It was quiet, other than the sound from the maid's rubber shoes squeaking on the floor. Then, we came to a halt in front of a mahogany door.
Anna raised a hand and knocked twice cautiously, as if she was afraid of that she might disturb the people inside the room.
"Come in!" replied a solemn voice. I followed the maid into the room and found Jie Moshu was sitting behind the desk—a great number of noteworthy antiques and a huge affair of satinwood—with an expensive-looking laptop in front of him.
"You can be excused now, Anna." He waved his hand without looking, keeping himself busy with piles of neatly organized paper. It made me wondered if this guy here had OCD.
I waited Anna dismissing herself from the study room until the door was closed. I exclaimed indignantly, as I walked furiously towards him, "Jie Moshu! What do you think you're doing?"
He finally looked up. His unfailingly polite and sophisticated manner were all on his face. "Well, wife, you're finally awake. Why don't you take a seat?"
This was my first seeing Jie Moshu dressed casually in dark grey polo neck and tan trousers—other than tuxedo and suits. Somehow this type of him was looking gorgeously chiseled. For weird reason, I found myself blushing.
Get a grip on yourself, Huayu! I told myself and shook my head quickly. Typical of him to call me "wife" and acted all sweet for deluding me. I couldn't be bothered by his act. I needed to solve my—our agreement.
"Cut it off, Jie Moshu! We had a deal!" I lifted a hand, sounding as angry as I could. "We only agreed on you help me to cure my disease and on return both of you and Axiang are living with me. We didn't talk about marriage!"
He gave me a patient, reasonable smile. "As I've told you, I don't play sneaky."
"But I didn't agree to marry you!" I couldn't help retorting.
"But it's you who told people I'm your fiancé."
I gasped in outrage. Damn. Okay, that was true. And he was trying to outwit me with facts. He wanted a war, then so be it. If it wasn't because of him getting people misunderstood, how could things become a mess like this?
I rolled up my sleeve and banged on his satinwood table desk. "That's because you said it first I'm your wife!"
"Now, you've said it," he said sharply, "it's done."
"Say what?" I stopped in confusion. "What's done? What do you mean?"
Now what? What was he up to again? I tried to survey Jie Moshu's face for a few moments. I got nothing but only calmness. He was way too calm for me to disintegrate into childlike panic—no, I didn't mean myself as childish, just merely a metaphor.
"Try to remember what you've just said earlier."
The juices in my brain were working for a while, as I said carefully, "I'm your wife?"
"Exactly. Now, it's settled."
"Jie Moshu," I raised my eyebrows. "Don't beat around the bushes, and just say what you mean. You know I don't have much patience on this."
His mouth curved into a smile; a very cunning smile. "You've just said it yourself that you're my wife. So, there's nothing to talk about."
"Of course, we need to—"
"...I'm your wife..."
I stood motionless as a sound of my own voice was heard. Then, I realized in sudden mortification. So, he was recording the whole time. I had been tricked.
My logic wasn't with me because I was all churned up and frustrated. I was too carried away because of this man in front of me. No matter how attractive his face was or how muscled his body built was, I couldn't accept that he was playing tricks on me. Now, I had fallen right into his trap. I let my guard down just because I thought he was some kind of lunatic-maniac single dad.
First, I had to breathe. I needed higher oxygen level in my brain, so my juices could work properly this time. I stared straight into his black eyes, seeking to find any hint of emotion beneath them. "Jie Moshu, I don't care if you're a celestial-being or a wealthy businessman, I just want to know one thing. Why me? Do you even love me?"