Ten years ago,
Shanshan was cooking in the kitchen, in Wu Zhaoyi's apartment to celebrate his return from Japan. At least, that was the only thing she could do for him, trying to cook his favorite food. One of Shanshan's hands reached into her pants pocket and a rectangular black and white photo was there. A pounding feeling appeared in her chest and a wide smile adorned her lips.
However, what Shanshan was actually looking forward to more was seeing Wu Zhaoyi's expression when he saw the photo. Although, she was sure that Wu Zhaoyi would be confused and stare at her with a blank expression as usual. It was just that, among all the possible responses that the man might give, Shanshan hoped that Wu Zhaoyi would not reject her, especially the creature living in her stomach.
When her thoughts were wandering somewhere else, suddenly the sound of the front door opening was heard. Realizing that, Shanshan immediately put the paper in her hand back into her pants and turned to greet whoever was going to come in there. At that moment, Shanshan unconsciously began to imagine what her future would be like with Wu Zhaoyi, where she would wait for him to come home while cooking something for them to eat.
Although being a housewife had never crossed Shanshan's mind, it didn't sound so bad now. Especially if it meant she would actually have a home, together with the two people she loved the most. As her imagination began to run wild, her eyes caught a visitor who actually showed up there.
Shanshan was about to say hello when something caught in her throat. The girl's eyes widened, just like she couldn't believe what she was seeing there. More precisely, she didn't expect to see who was standing across the room.
"Luo Xieshan?" The girl's voice came first, with the same shocked expression as her. "What are you doing here?"
The girl's gaze then shifted to the kitchen area behind Shanshan, which looked messy with smoke coming out of the pots on the stove there. "Are you cooking?" She asked with a mocking tone and stared at the pink apron Shanshan was wearing.
"You… how did you get in here?"
Shanshan's question did sound very silly, because the answer was of course due to the girl knew the password to this apartment. But, of all places, why this apartment. "Tang Jinjing?"
The girl then walked into the dining room and pulled out one of the chairs there and sat down. "Sit," she said to Shanshan as she pointed her hand at the empty chair in front of her. "Let's talk."
Realizing that they really had to talk face to face, Shanshan followed Tang Jinjing's words and took a position there, allowing them to see each other. The atmosphere in the room was serious and tense, making Shanshan seem to assume that there was a big surprise waiting for her. However, the girl's intuition told her that the surprise would shatter all her dreams, forcing her to wake up from the future she had just built in her head.
Before starting the conversation, Tang Jinjing took out a cigarette from her handbag and lit the lighter. The smoke from it came out of the girl's mouth and she used the empty plate there as an ashtray to catch the ashes. "Break off with him."
The order came out of Tang Jinjing's mouth easily, as if she was a member of Wu Zhaoyi's family. "What do you mean?"
The girl then raised her left hand and brought it closer to Shanshan, "This is my engagement ring." Tang Jinjing explained the meaning of the diamond ring that circled her finger. "And my fiancee name is, Wu Zhaoyi. We just held that important event in Japan, after the match was over."
At that moment, Shanshan felt like she was in between a dream and reality, because the words that came out of Tang Jinjing's mouth felt so unreasonable to her. "Can you repeat it again, who is your fiancee's name?"
A long sigh was heard from the girl and she turned to look at Shanshan with pity, "His name is Wu.. Zhao.. Yi.." She spelled the name in a rather loud and clear voice. "He is a Chinese swimmer who just won two gold medals in a competition in Japan recently."
Understand what the girl was thinking, Tang Jinjing opened her phone and placed it on the table in front of Shanshan. "That is one of our engagement photos." She said and took a few drags on the cigarette in her hand, giving Shanshan a pause to observe the face that appeared on the screen. "That's the Wu Zhaoyi I was talking about."
Shanshan's world collapsed before her eyes, mixed with various questions that appeared in her head, clashing with each other. Why now? Why didn't Wu Zhaoyi ever tell her? Was the man toying with her all this time? Why did he have to lie to her?
"I know what you're thinking right now, so I've prepared an explanation."
Tang Jinjing seemed very different that day compared to usual, as if she could understand Shanshan's condition and tried to give an answer to her. Although it also confirmed that Tang Jinjing had known about Wu Zhaoyi's plan aimed at her. Which also meant that she knew the reason why Wu Zhaoyi did all this to Shanshan.
The girl then picked up her cell phone that was placed on the table, then swiped the screen a few times before putting it back there. "They are siblings," explaining the photo that was different from the one she had showed before, where Tang Jinjing was no longer there. "Haven't you ever felt that the two people are very similar?"
A big gong seemed to be struck beside Shanshan's ear, causing her to instantly wake up and open her eyes wide, preparing to face the reality of what had actually happened in her life for the past year. Although no words came out of Shanshan's mouth, the expression on her face was enough to confirm her current mental state. Therefore, Tang Jinjing continue talking there and let Shanshan analyze it slowly.
"Wu Zhaoyi, Wu Zhaoxing. If you put the two names side by side, then you will be able to see everything more clearly." Tang Jinjing commented, "Xingxing is Wu Zhaoyi's only younger sister and has never been exposed by the media even once. However, their relationship is very close."
Just as Tang Jinjing said, if she tried to put the two people side by side, everything would be so obvious. Not only the names, but when the two faces were close together like the photo in front of Shanshan's eyes now, even a stranger would definitely say that the two of them were siblings. However, why did that not cross Shanshan's mind at all? Was it because she liked him too much?
"Now is the time for you to stop, before you go too far." Tang Jinjing's voice was full of sympathy. "I'm saying this as a fellow woman. Because in the end, you'll be the one who will be hurt and lose more than him."
Shanshan closed her eyes and took a deep breath, everything was too sudden for her. At this moment, she didn't know what to believe and what to do. Especially since she never expected that Wu Zhaoyi would betray her like this.
"Let me think about it first." Shanshan replied in her weak voice.
"What else do you need to think about?" Tang Jinjing immediately replied, "There's no way for you to continue being with him."
As if she still saw the hesitation in Shanshan's eyes, she finally began to outline some compelling reasons for her to let go of Wu Zhaoyi. "First, this is related to Wu Zhaoxing's death. There's no way he'll choose to be with the person who caused his sister's death."
That alone should have been enough to make Shanshan retreat in an orderly manner, but there was another voice in her heart that whispered to her to hold on.
"Second, we are already engaged. The event was even attended by many people, not only between the two core families, but also the company's business partners and all his fellow athletes."
This one thing, indirectly put Shanshan in the position of a third person, who of course would be an easy target for everyone's slander. Without trying to understand the real situation and who the real victim here was.
"Third, he will never choose you," This really made Shanshan's chest feel tight. "Because he just wants revenge for everything that happened in his life."
Tang Jinjing's loud sigh seemed to show her annoyance at Shanshan, "You are still young and your future is still long." The girl began to give an advice, "After this you can start over and find your true happiness."
This time it was Shanshan who sighed in her heart. What if she herself did not have the courage to leave or lose Wu Zhaoyi?
***