Milady's Fine Gentleman

Xue Jinxu"s eyes stared searchingly at her husband"s face.  She needed answers, but no one was responding to her inquiries.

"What happened between these two friends?  Are they not in good terms?" Chen Linyun furrowed his brows in deep thought.

"How can I answer her when I also don"t know why she"s here?" He tightened his hold around his wife, as he, too, was beginning to feel fl.u.s.tered by the turn of events.   He was expecting it to be a happy reunion between family members.  He gave Xue Jinxu"s arm a soft squeeze.

Xue Minhe"s visage reflected the same astonishment. 

"Did they fight?  Perhaps, I"ve been away too long, I didn"t know anymore how things are.  They were like siblings before, these two."

Trying to salvage the situation, Xue Minhe invited Xue Jinxu for a walk.  Xue Jinxu obliged since she had been wanting to share some solo moments with her twin.  She wanted to ask away about him, but being in the company of her husband and her old friend restricted her from doing so. 

Before letting her go, Chen Linyun gave a final, rea.s.suring squeeze on her cold, damp hands as he nodded his affirmation.  "Take your time, you two.  You have a lot of catching up to do." Then, he planted a kiss on her forehead.

"En." Xue Jinxu closed her eyes as she received the blessing of her husband"s kiss on her forehead.  Her nerves started to calm down.  She smiled back at her husband.  It felt good to have him back beside her, protecting her, rea.s.suring her, just like old times.  It also felt good to be in the same room and place with her twin brother whom she adores and equally loves.  She felt like floating in Cloud nine.  Only if Teng Man Rui wasn"t there, her happiness would be untainted.

After the deed, Chen Linyun subconsciously glanced at Xue Minhe, his wife"s older brother, and felt uneasy all of a sudden.  He and Xue Minhe had been getting along so far, but then the two men both realized that it was the first time they shared a moment with Xue Jinxu, the lady they both treasure.

Xue Minhe learned from the news about his twin sister"s marriage and colorful love story, but he had not witnessed their affection personally.  When he did, he felt awkward and tore his gaze away.  He let out a sharp, short breath, as he did so.  He must have been affected by the sight.

After the saccharine exchange, the siblings went out, while the husband was ushered by Teng Man Rui to take a seat at the receiving area.  "Would you like to eat?  My maid is preparing the food we bought from a restaurant nearby."

Chen Linyun shook his head and smiled gently.  "Jinxu and you…"

He trailed off, taking extra caution around the sensitive topic.

Teng Man Rui"s countenance flickered with anxiety ever so slightly but regained her dignified stance.  "I told her everything." She smiled a sad smile.  She seated herself on the seat across Chen Linyun and rubbed her tummy tenderly.

"I am relieved that you"re back safe and sound, Chen Linyun.  I have heard what happened to you.  I apologize that I wasn"t able to stay by Jinxu"s side when she needed me the most.  I was facing my own troubles at the time, you see." She motioned her head over her apparent tummy and laughed slightly.

"You"ve done so much for her already.  I could not thank you enough.  She cares for you so much, I could tell.  Just allow her to come to terms with her emotions.  Sometimes, it overcomes her completely no matter how logical she could be, added to the fact that the people whom she holds dear have the greater potential to inflict emotional pain to her."

"I"m not blaming you, because as you"ve said, you"re also experiencing a tough situation.  The connections we make with other people can be entangled with past grudges that we know not of at the start. "

"In this life, no one is spared and all of us have a fair share in the misery and mysteries of the world.  We each have a burden to carry across time and s.p.a.ce, and we just have to do our best to reach the finish line at the best possible condition.  Even then, there"s no guarantee that we will not get there unscathed along the way, or if we will ever get there."

Teng Man Rui kept a genuine smile on her face.  She was saddened by everything that had come to commence - in her life, in Xue Jinxu"s life.  But deep down inside her, she felt contented too.

Chen Linyun was right. 

After having gone through his accident, regaining his consciousness had been the greatest achievement he considered having in this life - that, and surviving the accident, too, aside of course, from winning his wife"s heart.  He felt wiser at this moment and more than talking to Teng Man Rui, he was thinking out loud as he tried to make sense of every d.a.m.n thing that life had thrown to him and his wife, and to everyone he knew.

"I don"t want to meddle… But, Zhu Li Qiang…" 

Teng Man Rui tensed all over.  She pursed her lips into a line.  "We"re over.  If you happen to see him in the future, please don"t mention my name, or even tell him that you"ve met me like this.  It would be better that he doesn"t know any information about me.   Chen Linyun, can I ask you that favor?"

"Okay.  It"s between the two of you."

"I just hope you know what you"re doing." He added in his mind.

"Can I ask you another favor? Can you once in a while check on him when you return to Beijing?  I"m afraid he has no one to confide with."

"Okay."

Chen Linyun exhaled sharply.  "You could have stayed with him for him to confide with, and share things with, good and bad, alike.  But then…" 

He was aware of her growing belly, as it"s already apparent, but he had not known the details of what had transpired while he was away, and why she"s with Xue Minhe instead and did not have any plans of asking about it.  It was none of his d.a.m.n business.

An hour pa.s.sed, and another and another.  While waiting, Chen Linyun helped himself with the food that Teng Man Rui"s maid served them.  He took the liberty to eat comfortably alone since Teng Man Rui did not join him.  "There"s no reason to waste good food."

He figured that the twins would need sufficient time to capture and catch up on all the lost moments in the past seven years. 

When finally the twins returned to the hotel room that was more like an apartment, both were cheerful.  Xue Jinxu"s eyes were red and puffed, but she was all smiles now.  She flung her arms around his, as if afraid of the possibility that he will disappear again.  She rested her little head on his broad shoulder and occasionally raised it to exchange warm smiles with him.

She was ecstatic beyond all the metrics there is in the human world, for two main reasons: (1) Xue Minhe was alive and well, and (2) he praised her and told her that he was proud of her on how she handled everything - the business and the family - in the past years. 

Once in awhile, Xue Minhe reciprocated her affection with physical gestures.  He would raise his hand from his other free arm and patted Xue Jinxu"s head caringly.

Upon witnessing for himself how accommodating and clingy his wife was towards another man, Chen Linyun felt a little jealousy seep through his system like a silent poison that ran along his veins, in his bloodstream.  He was able to successfully dispel it, though, being the rational man that he was.  He scolded himself internally, for being jealous of his wife"s brother.