"The Crown Prince couldn't handle the burden crushing his heart so he apologized to the First Princess and cleared the little misunderstanding between them. Now that he was no longer distracted by his guilty conscience, or trying to save a damsel in distress, the Crown Prince was finally able to appreciate the beauty in front of him. He had seen her before but he noticed her now.
Dressed in that beautiful dress, the First Princess took the Crown Prince's breath away and the way he looked at her caused the First Princess's heart to flutter. Even the Crown Prince's best friend noticed the spark between the two. So did the others attending the ball.
The King did as well."
****************
Zhang Dong had his eyes on his son and Lu Zhi since the moment they had arrived. He noticed that not only was Lu Zhi wearing a different dress than before, things seemed to be different between her and his son as well. A calculating smirk curved upon his lips as he watched his son interact happily with Lu Zhi. Finally his idiot son did something useful. Lu Zhi is a hundred times better than that girl his son had an affair with years back.
He decided to not interfere right now, to let Yi Chen develop his relationship with Lu Zhi on his own. And if he doesn't, then Zhang Dong decided, he will have to make sure that Lu Zhi ends up being his son, Zhang Yi Chen's wife.
"Hello, Mr. Zhang." it was the Mayor.
"Mr. Hong." Zhang Dong gave the Mayor a curt nod of greeting. But when he saw the beautiful young lady accompanying the Mayor, Zhang Dong's eyes flashed with interest. An interest that his wife who was right now standing beside him had seen many times before in all the years she had been married to Zhang Dong.
Huo Mei just stood there like a meek and mute doll while watching her husband of 32 years chat smilingly with the Mayor's young partner all the while eyeing her as if she was candy he wanted to taste. She looked at the young woman who was now hugging her husband's arm between her huge breasts. Huo Mei looked at the young woman with such expressions as if saying, 'You are just a plaything. You will go but I will remain.'
Zhang Yi Chen was talking to Ming Ze when his gaze fell on his parents, his mother to be precise. He watched that horrible look dawn upon his mother's face that he has seen numerous times in his life of 30 years. As he watched his father shamelessly flirt with that young woman who was even younger than half his age, Yi Chen's blood boiled. He was angry at his father's actions and frustrated because he could not do anything about it.
His hold on the glass in his hand tightened to such a degree that it got crushed due to his strength. "Yi Chen." his friend placed a comforting hand on his arm and called out his name in order to divert his attention.
"Control yourself. It will be a bigger mess if he sees you reacting this way when so many people are around." Ming Ze knew about everything that Yi Chen had to go through. He was aware of every little thing and was furious at himself for not being capable enough to stand against Zhang Dong.
"Oh, God! What happened?" the two friends looked in the direction of the voice and found a concerned looking Lu Zhi staring at Yi Chen's injured hand.
Yi Chen let go of the remnants of the glass and both Ming Ze and Lu Zhi flinched seeing his bloodied hand. "Are you mad? Why would you do that?"
She immediately called a waiter and told him to bring a first aid kit but she quickly changed her mind and told the waiter to call in a doctor as there could be tiny pieces of glass stuck inside his wound. Ming Ze led the two of them to a private room next to the hall where the gala was being hosted.
The waiter brought the first aid kit and also informed that the doctor was on his way. Meanwhile, Lu Zhi cleaned Yi Chen's wound using water and picked out the visible glass pieces using tweezers. Even though it was Yi Chen who was hurt but it looked as if Lu Zhi was able to feel his pain. Ming Ze let Lu Zhi treat Yi Chen's wound and didn't interfere. Watching the two like that, Ming Ze couldn't help but think if they had a connection between them like he and Lu Ying share. The only difference being that Yi Chen will not be able to understand what this was and neither will Lu Zhi.
The doctor arrived a few minutes later and after making sure that there were no pieces of glass stuck inside Yi Chen's hand, the doctor bandaged his wound and prescribed him an ointment to be applied on the wound. All this while Yi Chen remained silent, his face guarded by a stoic expression.
"What happened?" this time Lu Zhi questioned Ming Ze about what made Yi Chen injure himself.
"It was an accident. He was just distracted about something." answered Ming Ze.
Lu Zhi knew that asking about it further would be awkward as she wasn't close enough with Yi Chen to ask such personal questions. She looked at Ming Ze and he gave her an assuring look so she left the two friends to talk.
"You okay, buddy?" asked Ming Ze while sitting in front Yi Chen.
"Hhmm." YI Chen just hummed in response and leaned back on the couch he was sitting on. Closing his eyes, Yi Chen tried to not think about all those painful moments, all those bad memories that made up his life. Traitorous tears fell off his eyes silently telling the story of his grief and pain.
"Will this ever end?" Ming Ze's heart hurt hearing his friend's croaked and broken voice. Even after years of seeing and treating the wounds on his friend's body, mind, heart, and soul, Ming Ze still wasn't strong enough to bear this painful burden.
To people outside, Zhang Yi Chen was a man who had everything, who needed nothing. The most richest and capable businessman whose life was full of nothing but happiness and joy. But in reality, Zhang Yi Chen lived the most tragic life. His life was full of sorrows, abuse, and neglect. People who hadn't experienced such life would never understand that having money wasn't equivalent to being happy.
He's been through so much hell that one could ever imagine and would ever know.
"Soon, my friend. Soon." assured Ming Ze while patting Yi Chen's head like a parent does to comfort their child.
****************
Two major events were the talk of town the next day.
The representatives of Zhang Yi Chen and Lu Zhi had released a press statement that explained that there was nothing between the two of them. It was explained in brief and precise words that Zhang Yi Chen had only helped save Lu Zhi from a pervert who had been caught by the police and that she wore that particular ring only because she liked it and not because she was engaged to Zhang Yi Chen. It was also mentioned that the Lu Zhi will be suing a few of the reporters for slander.
The second thing that made the headlines were the photographs of Lu Zhi with Yi Chen, of them staring at each other, of them dancing with each other, of them re-entering the party after Lu Zhi changed her dress and them "blushing" while they talked to each other. Two photographs of Lu Ying and Ming Ze were also published in the newspapers; one of them dancing together and the other one was of the moment when Ming Ze had kissed Lu Ying on the back of her hand.
There were two pages of the newspaper dedicated to the charity gala held last night and one-fourth of those pages were about the Lu sisters who were clearly enamored by the two best friends - Zhang Yi Chen and Lin Ming Ze.
While the press release and the announcement of the court case for slander caused the rumors to cease but the photographs from the other article did make the hearts of some fangirls flutter. There weren't many of them but there were people commenting and gushing over the online articles, photos, and videos about the two possible couples.
People went from being sure that Zhang Yi Chen and Lu Zhi were engaged and expecting a baby together to realizing that it was all a misunderstanding and then starting shipping them together like they did with the celebrity couples.
Ming Ze was slightly upset that people were shipping him with Lu Ying but instead bringing up his dating history and claiming that he could never be serious about any woman.
Seeing him whine like a child who was about to throw a tantrum, Father Lin commented, "I did tell you to not date all those women but you did not listen. Now suffer."
Ming Ze cried, "How cruel is my fate to give me a father who enjoys my sufferings."
"Tch. You still have the face to blame me?!" commented Father Lin, "Why don't you focus on wooing my daughter-in-law instead of reading these stupid comments. Once you will be together, people will definitely notice that you are truly serious about my precious daughter-in-law."
"Go, do something instead of sitting here. Shoo!" Father Lin waved his hand telling Ming Ze to leave.
Ming Ze made a stupid face before going back to his room to get ready. He has a woman to woo.