Sipping on her mojito, Lu AnLing walked towards the area where she had been sitting. She planned on just sitting there until 3 am and then finding an excuse to leave but fate had other plans for her.At this point, Lu AnLing"s head was pounding so hard because of the loudness and the bright lights and all she wanted to do was get some sleep.
As she walked, her vision blurred slightly, so Lu AnLing stopped to ma.s.sage her temple.
Abruptly, Lu AnLing was pulled aside. Due to the force of the pull, Lu AnLing let go of her gla.s.s and, as she was being dragged away, she watched as it shattered to pieces. However, since the music was so loud, no one had noticed what had just happened.
With complete and utter confusion, Lu AnLing looked towards the one that pulled her, with fear. There, she saw Lu Shuya"s perfectly manicured hand wrapped tightly around her arm.
Getting to a less populated area Lu Shuya lessened her grip. Instinctively, Lu AnLing pulled herself away from the girl.
"What"s going on?" Lu AnLing asked, her voice containing a lot of annoyance but the emotion that got through was mostly pure confusion.
"We need to talk."
Lu AnLing squinted her eyes.
Lu AnLing: "About?"
Lu Shuya looked around with slight worry on her face. "You sang at the Starlight Event. Why?"
Lu AnLing wanted to ask "why is that even important?" but she didn"t want to talk to Lu Shuya for any longer than necessary.
"…My artist was missing," Lu AnLing wasn"t planning to mention that she got fired, nor the important details of the night, including the fact that she was pretty much scouted. She was going to keep her answer short, sweet and straight to the point.
"So you sang for her…" Lu Shuya finished Lu AnLing"s answer.
Lu AnLing: "It won"t happen again though."
"Yes… that"s for the best…" Lu Shuya said.
Turning to look Lu AnLing in the eyes, Lu Shuya gave the girl a blank stare.
Thinking back to their days in high school, Lu Shuya had always thought Lu AnLing was going to pursue something in music, but when the girl had fallen in love with Yang Yize, she completely switched her career path to translation. Lu Shuya understood that Lu AnLing wanted to be useful to the man but, Lu Shuya could never understand someone giving up their pride and dream for a man.
Though, this wasn"t a bad thing for Lu Shuya. She no longer needed to compare herself to Lu AnLing since the girl had completely ruined herself.
Lu AnLing never quite understood why Lu Shuya was so interested in her life and her achievements but the girl had been like this, since the day Lu AnLing entered the Lu family. Though she got used to it because this was something her cousins, and even her brother, Lu Duyi, did.
It was something only those born and raised in the Lu family could comprehend.
Suddenly, from a corner, Lu AnLing and Lu Shuya heard a girl giggle.
"Babe! You"re here!" The girl"s voice said with girlish vigor and love.
"You"re not happy to see me?" A male voice said coolly.
Hearing their exchange, Lu AnLing and Lu Shuya knew who the people, speaking in such an intimate fashion, were. It was Xiao Mian and her fiancé. The real shocker here though, the one that stung at Lu AnLing"s heart was that she knew exactly who the man"s voice belonged to.
Yang Yize…
With no time to think, Lu Shuya approached the corner and looked down the hall. As she started to move, Lu AnLing tried to stop the girl but Lu Shuya slapped Lu AnLing"s hand away.
Blankly, Lu Shuya gazed down the hall.
The hall itself was crowded, so despite Lu Shuya seeing Xiao Mian and Yang Yize, the two didn"t notice her. They would"ve only been able to do it if they were looking for her.
Seeing the strange mix of anger, hurt and various other emotions in Lu Shuya"s eyes, Lu AnLing felt a strange feeling stir within her. Walking up to Lu Shuya, Lu AnLing felt a bit like their roles were reversed.
Lu Shuya seemed more hurt by the situation than Lu AnLing did.
Looking straight at the couple, Lu AnLing saw Yang Yize with his arms wrapped around Xiao Mian"s waist as their lips locked.
Watching the scene, both Lu AnLing and Lu Shuya"s eyes widened. A faraway look then appeared in Lu Shuya"s eyes.
Lu Shuya turned to look at Lu AnLing and then she tightly gripped onto Lu AnLing"s arm.
"I-I didn"t know. I promise I didn"t."
Lu Shuya didn"t usually apologize or admit to her own wrongs but this situation concerned her pride. Yang Yize was still a family friend and she treated him well but that didn"t mean she liked or accepted the fact that he had cheated on Lu AnLing. Her pride as a woman and as Lu AnLing"s sister — despite her not liking it— prevented her from doing so.
But now this…
"…" Lu AnLing didn"t say a word. In fact, she didn"t even move a muscle.
She remembered how just a while ago Yang Yize had gotten angry about the fact that she had a child and now he was shoving his tongue down Xiao Mian"s throat.
At the pit of Lu AnLing"s stomach, she felt the alcohol making its way up to her throat. She felt sick seeing the two kiss. Though it wasn"t because she was jealous. It was more because she remembered that she used to kiss him and then he cheated on her.
She could only imagine how many girl"s Yang Yize was cheating with right now!
Lu AnLing was disgusted.
Though this wasn"t her place to interfere.
Turning away from the scene, Lu AnLing began to leave. Seeing this, Lu Shuya gripped onto the girl"s arm once more. Feeling a light pain, Lu AnLing pulled away from Lu Shuya, before she looked at the girl dead in the eyes.
"Where are you going?" Lu Shuya asked stupidly. Even she wasn"t sure why she had said that.
"I"m going home. You"re staying over at Xiao Mian"s right? Tell her I wasn"t feeling well, okay?"
This was one of the only times Lu AnLing knew that whatever she said or did, Lu Shuya wouldn"t retort, so she used it as a chance for escape.
Lu AnLing didn"t even give Lu Shuya time to reply before she disappeared down the hallway. Making her way to the exit, Lu AnLing began to notice the disgusting looks of various men, so once she was outside, she made sure to stay in a heavily populated area as to not get herself into trouble.
Touching her temple, Lu AnLing felt it throb but it wasn"t the time to show weakness. She needed to quickly call a cab and then leave.
Suddenly, a man approached Lu AnLing and put his arm around her shoulder. "Hey sweet cakes, want to go home with me tonight?"
Lu AnLing felt a wave of nausea overtake her.
"Not interested," She said as she carefully pushed the man"s hand off of her shoulders.
"Girl, do you even know who I am? If you did, I"m sure you"d want to crawl into bed with me."
Lu AnLing rolled her eyes. "No matter who you are, I"m sure I wouldn"t want to crawl into bed with you."
Lu AnLing accentuated the words bed and you with disgust, to push her point across. Though, despite her insistence, the man still tried to convince her.
Getting tired of the man"s nonsense, Lu AnLing sighed.
"I like women."
Hearing this, the man laughed out loud.
"That"s fine too, we can have ourselves a little threesome."
Hearing the bulls.h.i.t coming out of the man"s mouth, Lu AnLing seriously wanted to punch his teeth out.
"Now come with me."
The man grabbed onto Lu AnLing"s wrist hard, but Lu AnLing didn"t have the time or the mental capacity to pull away, so instead, she dug her nails into his wrist and twisted his arm until he let go of her.
Due to the alcohol and most likely, drugs, the man had taken, it took a bit of time before he felt pain, but when he did the man screamed out.
While he was kneeling over his hurt arm, Lu AnLing kicked him down with her heeled shoes, before she ran to call the nearest taxi. Getting close, Lu AnLing wasn"t relaxed at all. Anything could happen at the moment.
Once she got closer to the taxi, she realized that someone else had already gone in. Now, her best bet was to run back inside and then call someone to pick her up, but who?
She wasn"t Lu Shuya or Xiao Mian. She didn"t have drivers who would come for her at every beck and call.
Suddenly, one name came to mind.
Kang Jun…
He would definitely come.
Inside, Lu AnLing tried to catch her breath. Taking out her phone, she began to search for his number. Anxiety caused her fingers to shake and her vision to blur slightly.
Hopefully she had enough time to call and hopefully, Kang Jun wasn"t busy, or else, she had to go back out there and possibly confront the man.
Suddenly, Lu AnLing felt a presence hovering behind her and she began to feel cold.
"Are you okay?" Kang Jun"s melodious voice kissed her ears.
Before she could gather herself, Lu AnLing found herself pressing her head against his chest as she spoke.
"Take me home."
Having been asked something from Lu AnLing for the first time without her being under duress, Kang Jun"s whole demeanor brightened.
"As you wish." The man said seductively as he hugged her tightly.