Two years later…It was March when an invitation letter was pa.s.sed to him by Fan Jing, his manager.
The next month, both Jiang Li and Selena Tang had to attend a wedding since the bride and groom were no strangers to them. One was Wen Hui, an upcoming politician, the other was Tang Yu Yan. At the reception, the latter greeted both of them with a smile. Selena"s att.i.tude towards her was not warm, at best cordial, but she didn"t take offense.
Tang Yu Yan had learned to repent for her actions in the past and apologized twice, the first was done publicly when she was still a bit of a b*tch scheming to use the crowd to make Selena forgive her, the second was when she truly repented and wanted true forgiveness. It was only unfortunate that Selena was quite the bad character herself and only treated her apology as a joke.
Well, for her, apologies were really a joke. If one wanted to admit her sins, it was not enough to simply vocalize it. An action should accompany it.
Tang Yu Yan showed it by simply not intruding in Selena"s life or annoying her in any way.
Not long after, the wedding reception formally started. Speeches were delivered at the same time that the food were served. Jiang sat next to Selena joining Qin Tai"s bunch.
Dong Lan was there. According to the younger man, he was invited because when the newlyweds were having a cool off, Tang Yu Yan went to the then famous fortune-teller. His statement was remembered up to date by the woman, "You know, it"s you who should wake up and realize the other party had given so much. Even if you are the female protagonist of some drama, you are still not ent.i.tled to only receive and not reciprocate." so he was invited.
It was Jiang Li"s first time meeting Dong Lan after the latter reawakened his talent and memories. He then remembered that from Ye Xinya"s world he encountered somebody with the same name. But his encounter with that person was so brief and left no impression. Jiang Li also didn"t know the man"s relations.h.i.+p with the strange female fortune-teller, plus the appearance was difference so he didn"t pay any more attention to the coincidence.
"Hehe. I know for sure that you won"t be married before me."
"…"
With that simple statement, Jiang Li was guided not to notice the knowing smile on Dong Lan"s face.
A large part of the memories had been recovered so the younger man finally remembered that there was a dangerous person from his previous lifetime named Jiang Li who his adopted mother warned him about. His tarot divination before had confirmed that his guess was correct. The person before him was the same Jiang Li, the annoying guy previously named Jing Mo. On why there were sent to another world, he had yet to remember the reason, if there were any.
Time pa.s.sed and the danced floor was opened to everyone after the beautiful and happy newlyweds dance.
Selena didn"t want to join the people locking the dance floor. "Why would I want to dance on somebody else"s wedding? I never danced, even on my parents" birthdays," she said with a scoff when he invited her.
He simply shrugged and did not take the rejection to heart. The meat dishes were more tempting anyway.
The throwing of the garter and the bouquet part arrived. But neither of them stood up. In the end, the one who got the two was the fortune-teller. Yup, only Dong Lan since after catching the garter, he shamelessly tagged along the bachelorettes and raced with them to catch the bouquet for his girlfriend.
Jiang Li and co sneered and laughed disdainfully at him. The d.a.m.n guy was so desperate that he had no qualms embarra.s.sing himself in the gathering. Where else would one see this kind of scenario? So this was why he said he would be married first before anyone else?
"If you"re not invited there, I wouldn"t have even considered attending," said Selena after they reached her penthouse which was on top of the sky-high building actually next to the hotel where the reception took place.
The two left the moment the newlyweds vanished from the hall, going who-knows-where for their first night.
"Your parents would have forced you nonetheless so there"s no way you won"t." He chuckled.
The woman narrowed her eyes as she threw her phone and bag on the sofa because without her permission, the annoying man was already inspecting her ref.
"Hey, why do you only have wines and canned beers here?"
"Because obviously I ran out of milk, yogurt, ice cream, and milo and I"ve yet to stock up on them?" She sarcastically said, joining him in checking the bottles before picking up the one with the highest alcohol content… not. She randomly grabbed a bottle of red wine.
When he was about to remind her evil thoughts easily ran a man"s mind for a drunk woman, he saw her marching towards the kitchen.
Half a minute later, she came out with a dish in hand and widened her eyes in fake surprise. "You are still here? I thought you went home already."
"…"
"Is she really treating me as her future husband?"
It was quite amazing that he managed to flash a smile at that time. "You haven"t told me to. And the door is locked from the inside. If you forgot, you haven"t told your boyfriend the pa.s.sword so I was wondering if you want to lock him up here. I"m sure he would be willing."
Selena was planning to enjoy her food in front of the TV since she didn"t eat much at the party, but without a choice, she placed the plate and spoon down and walk towards the door. "I don"t want a rogue to stay the night."
Jiang Li looked at her back for some time as she keyed in something on the door keypad. Her hair was down, reaching halfway her back. Its black hue was exactly the same as the color of her black dress that clung tight on her body.
He selectively forgot what she just said and gently hugged her from behind. When she puzzledly turned her head to him, he planted a kiss on her lips.
Normally, this would be out of character for him. But maybe all this time, he was finding an Original which easily allows a man to express himself and be affectionate with somebody without seemingly going OOC.
"What do you think are you doing?" After recovering from her dazed state, she asked as they briefly parted.
All of a sudden, instead of answering her, he said, "Selena Tang. Let"s get married...."
The words were deafening and shocking since they seemed to have come out of nowhere, done spontaneously out of jealousy of the newlyweds from earlier.
Yet she only sneered and said, "So you"re asking me to marry you so you can achieve your goal of bringing me home? Mr. Jiang, you"re downplaying this matter. Marriage is something you at least have to think over a hundred times before deciding. If your second marriage failed, people will start to think something is wrong with you."
"Our marriage will what?" he started blinking his eyes.
Then the man laughed since the question sounded stupid. They never had a failed marriage. Not even once. Proven and tested many times already through the magic of time and reincarnation.
Also, wait, shouldn"t she first comment on how he was asking her hand in something serious without a ring or anything? This was the first time he brought up marriage. This was making him feel like his regret for not competing with Dong Lan for the bouquet was unnecessary.
He chuckled and shook his head. "It won"t fail." He said with certainty.
The beautiful eyes staring at his face glimmered with doubt. For her who lost her memory every lifetime, it was unfathomable how a guy who loved so much and got betrayed could still be this reckless in making important decisions like this.
"Your confidence is making me, the partner, feel awkward."
"Hmm? Why?"
One corner of her lips lifted up and answered, "Because you know, just now, I was thinking nothing is absolute so you should not count your chickens before they hatch."
The reply she got was a meaningful grin… and something else that completely shut her up and later left her panting for breath, mind blank….
Lost in her man"s soulful gaze, the pa.s.sionate kiss successfully made her forget about opening the door and pus.h.i.+ng him outside.