Justin quickly rushed out to where Shar sat waiting for him a smile on her red lips. With the way she was leaned back with the light on her he was able to see the faint outline of her ribs as well as notice how p.r.o.nounced her clavicles and cheekbones had become."She really has been through a lot, s.h.i.t, should I tell her about who I just saw..?"
"Hey! You"re back, hah and it looks like you brought the buffet table with you too!"
"Well of course, that"s a feast to die for in there, plus it looks it wouldn"t kill you to have a few more of these cakes here. I mean you look great girl, but you seem to have lost a lot of weight, are you healthy?"
Chang"s open smile became more reserved and a little coy as she looked up at him.
"Don"t you know you"re not supposed to ask a ladies weight? Yeah, I"m a little on the low side now, but I a.s.sure you I"m healthy, the way I was before I could have stood to lose a few pounds. I"m a little under 60 kg, compared to the 78kg I was before."
"Uh, translation please for the American."
"I was about a 170lbs before, now I"m about 130, see fine."
"Girl you"re about 5"8, and stacked like a bad mama jama! That"s way too low, here quickly start eating before you die!" Justin quickly set the plate loaded with all kinds of desserts as well as a bunch of different kind of veggie tarts stacked on each other.
"Hahaha I"m not going to die, I lost most of the weight after I had to go to the hospital for awhile, and haven"t been able to really gain it back since then. If it makes you feel better though here, mmnm." Chang picked up one of the small tarts and took a bite and enjoyed it without reaching for another.
Justin gave her a dubious look before sighing and refilling their gla.s.ses with their pilfered champagne bottle.
"Alright so you left off right when you were about to tell me about your cousins doing something that made you want to change your name."
"Ah that"s right, so I made the mistake of trusting my cousins for the longest time. Out of everyone they were some of the few people that were kind to me and I trusted them blindly for a while. I didn"t realize it was all a set up for them to utterly ruin me and try to publicly shame me." Chang took a deep breath, steeling herself before continuing looking at her friend who was quickly stuffing a bunch of beautifully colored macrons into his mouth.
"Last year on my birthday, my grandfather Jean-Jacques held a similar party, but so soon after my mom"s death I just felt so stifled, my birthday last year was the worst with both my parents gone. So in the middle of the party when my cousins proposed we escape to go somewhere to have fun, I was all for it. it was one of the worst mistakes I could have made.
----
"So for what reason have you shown yourself at this event without my permission? Do you mean to bring chaos to her life again." In a low, brusque tone Jean-Jacques Dumont spoke with the man next to him who stood over a head taller than him, all the while attempting to keep an amicable smile on his face. Not want it to get out that the same man had been able to break into and enter his private premises twice now, Jean-Jacques Dumont played the part of a benevolent hot greeting his guest.
"You should know why I am here, more than anyone else. I am here to see Chang, or should I say Charmaine, my wife." Liang Jian Amal looked down and gently smiled down at the older man, but his eyes flashed with hostile intent. "I"ve held down my end of the bargain, well mostly, not counting last year, do not tell me you plan to continue to stand between us, do you?"
"My words then were mostly just pretense, I never expected you to wait and come back. As for last year, you do still have my grat.i.tude for that matter." Ignoring the angry flash in the younger man"s eyes and his stony face, Jean-Jacques Dumont continued. "Besides after all this time, do you really believe that you would just be accepted back into her heart. Please let her be so that she may find happiness again in her new life, move on."