*Ding* *Ding* *Ding*
Someone was ringing the doorbell at the Chen dream house.
*Ding*
"Coming!" Xue Jinxu shouted from the inside, but the maid rushed towards the door and answered it. "Who"s that?" Xue Jinxu inquired.
Agitated, the maid ushered in a distressed friend of the madame.
"Man Rui!" Seeing her friend, Xue Jinxu rushed towards her as the lady guest started sobbing at the sight of her and even intensified her crying while throwing herself in a bear hug onto the madame.
"Man Rui, dear, what happened? What"s wrong?" Xue Jinxu turned towards the abashed a.s.sistant of Teng Man Rui, her personal maid, who carried her bags for her and stood a few paces back. "You are?"
"My name is Chichi, Madame." The pet.i.te girl meekly answered. She knew Xue Jinxu for years as the latter was their young miss" best friend and as she was always in the news and featured on women"s magazines, but it was their first time to ever interact. The girl was starstruck and in awe. She gaped in amazement.
"Chichi, right? Chichi, what happened to her? Both of you, come in, quick! Let"s all get settled in first."
It was a chilly Sat.u.r.day in November, around three in the afternoon. Xue Jinxu had stayed home to rest, although her shop continued to run without her. Chen Linyun was on his study, tending to some urgent business matters. She instructed their maids to serve hot, newly brewed ginger tea to the guests.
Teng Man Rui was guided by the Chen madame towards the couch where she consequently sat and proceeded in wrapping her agile arms around her friend. She found refuge in her friend"s own set of delicate frame and warmth, which Zhu Li Qiang could never provide no matter how good of a treatment he showed her.
All this while, she was tense and trembling, and her tears flowed non-stop.
"Hush, hush…" Xue Jinxu rubbed Teng Man Rui"s back as she hugged her back.
Hearing the commotion, Chen Linyun frantically set aside his paperwork and went out of his study to check the situation. As he somewhat understood the nature of the sentimental circ.u.mstance between his wife and her friend, he gesticulated to Xue Jinxu his intent to leave the house. He communicated through sign language what he intended to say to Xue Jinxu who was facing him, while her friend was turned against him. He pointed towards the door and left instantly. After a while, Xue Jinxu"s mobile phone vibrated and a message from the husband popped on the screen saying, "I"ll be out for a while. I"ll go check Zhu Li Qiang, I have a feeling that he would be needing a friend. Might get home late."
In which the lady typed her response with much difficulty as she was still comforting and hugging her friend. She sent her message to the husband: "Okay, don"t drink too much. If you get too drunk, don"t drive, just take a cab."
"Okay." The husband responded within seconds.
After a few minutes, Teng Man Rui"s sobbing died down completely. However, she remained taciturn."Won"t you tell me why you"re acting this way, dear? I"m worried about you…" Brows furrowed together, she nudged her friend softly. She tucked a stray hair behind her right ear and arranged her bangs accordingly. Teng Man Rui"s sleek black hair was tied in a low messy bun. Her high cheekbones were flushed bright pink and were stained with tears, and her eyes, puffed and swollen. She coughed several times and her voice broke in her attempt to speak. "I cannot tell you everything. Just a small portion. Is that okay?"
"Of course, dear. Just tell me what"s comfortable with you."
"Don"t… Don"t ask for details…" Teng Man Rui hesitated. In the end, she told her best friend snippets and a super abridged version of what had transpired to the point that her version had already lost its criticality. She had only said that she had slept with someone other than Zhu Li Qiang, which had not been what she had wanted, and so afterwards, she tried to hurt herself for it, but because she"s stupid, Zhu Li Qiang found out all about it, and now she couldn"t even face him. That"s how and what she told Jinxu.
"Because lie after lie has piled up on top of another, I still cannot tell Jinxu my relations to s.h.i.+ Fan Hai. She should never know."
"What kind of life am I leading? Full of secrets! So dirty!" She narrowed her eyes as she clenched her fists. She wiped her tear-stained face clear from the remnants of her crying.
Meanwhile, as much as she would try to hold back, Xue Jinxu was caught off-guard with her friend"s revelation. It"s not in her character to casually talk about her private, intimate life and here she was, dropping a bomb. She gawked at her friend, unable to digest what she had heard. Not that she was judging or anything, it simply wasn"t anything that could have been antic.i.p.ated.
"Jinxu, let"s have some fun. I want a diversion." The lady guest broke the silence and woke Jinxu up from her fit of shock.
"Oh, alright. I can organize one." She blinked, trying to get a hold of herself. She thought that perhaps she had not been a good friend to Teng Man Rui that she"s missing most of her life events already.
"Let"s invite other girl-friends. Let"s just waste some quality time together doing girly stuff." Teng Mann Rui offered.
"There"s this newly opened resort and country club with top technology skin treatment and topnotch amenities. Their target market is the elite females – wives and daughters of prestigious families. Hang on, I"ll make some calls. I"m sure we can make an appointment."
Teng Man Rui, despite having such puffed, swollen eyes, managed to let out such a sweet lovely grin. Her eyes sparkled with excitement, although there seemed to be sadness, still, on those lonely eyes.
Xue Jinxu called a few contacts from her phone. She contacted her secretary from Xue s.h.i.+pping, Miss Yan, who had become an executive administrative a.s.sistant in the meantime while the Xue siblings were out of the company since Chen Linyun only works with Butler Lee. Miss Yan gladly agreed to make the necessary arrangements and take care of everything.
She next called Xue Guangxi. "Is Sola with you?" She unceremoniously inquired her brother.
The brother, without saying anything even a short h.e.l.lo, pa.s.sed the phone to Kang Sola who was just seated beside him. The noise would tell that they were in some sort of an arcade. Perhaps, Xue Guangxi was in the middle of a game.
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"h.e.l.lo, Xu-jie?", greeted the girl cheerfully.
"Hey, Sola, we"re having an all-girls event tomorrow. You are invited. You can bring some of your girl-friends with you. Your other Jie-jie"s - Teng Man Rui and me will be there. Onto inviting Hw.a.n.g Meilin next. Miss Yan will be there, too. It will be fun. Let"s talk about Guangxi since he won"t be there.
Don"t tell Guangxi." Xue Jinxu relayed her invitation.
"Hey!! Don"t tell me, huh?! Talk about me behind my back? Not a good idea." The voice of Guangxi rang from the background.
Kang Sola laughed sweetly. "He can hear you, Xu-jie. We"re sharing the earphones although the mic is with me. Tomorrow isn"t it? I"m free to go. I"ll be there. I would love to spend time with girls too." She threw a side-glance into Xue Guangxi"s direction.
On the background Xue Guangxi just clicked his tongue. "Tsk."
Xue Jinxu and Kang Sola both laughed and ended the call on a good note.
Teng Man Rui offered to call Hw.a.n.g Meilin and invited her, too. They invited some more ladies in the elite circle. They rented the whole place for themselves.
That night, Teng Man Rui and Xue Jinxu slept side-by-side in the guest room, arms wrapped around each other, being there for each other even in their dreams.
Chen Linyun, once he arrived in their house, had been notified by the maids of the sleeping arrangement and had been told that the missus was in the guest room. He shrugged it off and nodded at the maid. He had his own version of a serious talk that night, Zhu-Li-Quang style. Although the guy didn"t disclose anything, the atmosphere was d.a.m.n heavy. He had enough for the day as he retired in the master"s bedroom. "I"m going to lend my wife to her tonight."