Tang sent a text to his mother informing that he wanted to sleep for some time and asked her to make an excuse on his behalf to everyone.He slipped out of the house from the servants" entrance and walked towards the garage. Bringing his favourite low slung two seater car out, he zoomed away to the horses stable, located few kilometres away.
London had given him an early exposure to these animals and he had discovered his pa.s.sion for horse riding there. But it was post coming to Shanghai that he had started his equestrian lessons and loved going for a ride as and when possible. As a result, his father had gone ahead and gifted him his first horse.
Today, he wasn"t looking for pleasure which riding always brought him. Instead it was the comfort of being around someone who wasn"t going to judge him or condemn him. He picked up a brush and started grooming the biggest horse. The black stallion was his favourite and was named Rocky after the fictional character from a Sylvester Stallone movie. He was a gift from Mr. Xie to his son on his 21st birthday and was the one creature in the world, which knew everything that was to know about his master.
Post Jia Li"s marriage, Tang had spent many a drunken night in the stable. He ran the hard bristles of the brush on the horse"s mane rhythmically. By the end of the hour, both man and horse were gleaming. His peace was shattered by the phone"s incessant buzzing.
"Your bride to-be is fuming politely for being deserted by her groom at the breakfast table," Chu remarked a touch too casually after he finally picked up.
Tang didn"t particularly care about that in the moment and instead asked, "and others?"
Chu paused for a minute before enquiring, "you mean how are our parents reacting or her parents or your business acquaintances or…."
His ominous silence on the phone caused her to grin before she responded in a cheeky voice, "oh, are you referring to the worried looking woman who is pretending not to care about your whereabouts? Well, as I was coming out of your room, I met her. She was probably looking for you. I told her that you weren"t around and that no one knew where you were. I think she got quite agitated post that."
"Dammit Chu, why did you have to do that? Now she must be building worse case scenarios in her head and hyperventilating," he scolded her, already starting to put the brush away.
She started to laugh softly which irked him even further, "what is so funny about this? You know, I don"t remember you being this irritating ever before."
She replied gently, "isn"t it apparent? You barely even registered the information about your to-be-wife who is mighty upset at your disappearing act. But you were dying to know about Jia Li"s reaction and the mere mention of her discomfort has you troubled. Who exactly are you getting married to?"
Without bothering to explain himself, he cut the call and walked out of the stable and towards the car. Driving fast, he reached back and entered through the same backdoor. Worriedly, he kept an eye out for Jia Li, expecting her to see her frantic. He stopped short at the sight, which greeted him though.
Looking carefree and stunning in an off-shoulder white dress, she sat laughing with some good-looking foreigner. Tang felt unreasonably put out and reached her in long strides.
"At least someone seems to be having a great time!" he said caustically.