"Just who do you think you are? An upstart family with new money and pretentions, you dare to raise a finger at me! And how dare you call my feelings petty? Never have I been made to feel as insignificant and unwanted as I felt in this marriage," Mei Zhen charged at him, venom in her attack.
"So what if I told Fu about you both? So what if I saw him go in when I knew you both were there? From where I stand, you deserved at least a little punishment, if not a lot, for hurting me. As for that tramp, who cares whether she lived or died," she declared hotly.
Everyone"s mouths fell open at the declaration, except for Tang who looked like he would burst a vein in anger.
He struggled to get a grip on himself lest he ended up hurting her physically. But he wanted to hurt her. He wanted to hurt her real bad. He gritted his teeth to control himself from reaching out to her.
"I was trying to be kind to you by faking the amnesia, so that you could see my true feelings for Jia Li and walk away from the marriage on your own. Had I known that a ruthless, heartless person resided under this pretty sh.e.l.l, I wouldn"t have bothered undertaking so much effort. In hindsight, any moments spent with you have been a total waste of my time. I wish I would have invested those instead on pursuing my one true love," he threw the words at her, to hit where it would hurt the most – her ego.
Ethan and Chu looked at him in astonishment. What had he done!
Mrs. & Mr. Xie were yet to recover from the shock of Mei Zhen"s revelations. But Tang"s admission sent them in an absolute tizzy. Mrs. Xie reeled back and sat on the sofa with a thump. She couldn"t make sense of what everyone was saying around her, anymore.
"Tang, is it the truth? You gave all of us such a fright just so that you could go after Jia Li?" she asked him in disbelief and hurt.
In his need to lash out at Mei Zhen, he had forgotten the presence of his mother in the room. Looking at her broken expressions, he was full of remorse. She had done nothing to deserve this treatment from him. He didn"t care about his father"s feelings but his mother had always supported him, quietly and constantly. And the last thing that he wanted to do is have her caught in the crosshair between the two warring sides. Unfortunately, it was too late to backtrack now. He hadn"t originally planned on disclosing this to anyone. But Mei Zhen"s b.i.t.c.hy confession and callous regard for Jia Li"s well-being had made him lose the last shred of control on his sanity.
Consequences be d.a.m.ned…the incident with Fu had shaken him to the core and made him realise the unpredictability of life. What if help hadn"t reached them on time? His mind simply refused to go any further than that. All he knew was that he couldn"t waste any more time on things and people who weren"t important in his life. He was done being a coward, he was through with pleasing people, he was finished living a lie!!
Mei Zhen stood with her mouth agape. "You are doing this deliberately. Trying to make up things to get even with me. I mean, who in their right mind would concoct a scheme like that?" she looked at him, hoping that he would take back his words, deny them.
Tang gave her a freezing look, "at least in this, we are alike. Both of us got spurred into action when the jealousy reared its head. Once I got to know that Jia Li was not married anymore, my own circ.u.mstances ceased to matter. On top of that, the increasing proximity between Wei and Jia Li made me realise that I needed to act fast. You wouldn"t have simply granted me my wish of getting a divorce from you. After all, you value your social status much more than yours or anyone else"s actual feelings. So I had to go the roundabout way."
The casual air with which he uttered the last sentence incensed Mei Zhen even further. It was as if someone had added oil to a flaming fire. She lunged at him and managed to scratch his face before he grab her hands and stop her.
"Tut, tut…imagine what would people say if they were to look at you in this state?" he kept showering her with his verbal a.s.sault.
His heart couldn"t reconcile with the fact that she stood waiting outside when his Jia Li lay in a pool of her own blood. Even if Mei Zhen had a grudge, she should have directed it against him. Going after the woman he loves, NOT ACCEPTABLE, NOT FORGIVABLE.