‘I didn’t do anything,’ Gu Jing denied.
‘You promised you wouldn’t ambush me anymore. It appears last night you forgot,’ Zhen Lang said.
Gu Jing lifted her chin. ‘Yes, I promised I wouldn’t ambush you. But can you say that you have no intentions to sabotage my blind dates by following me… what I did wasn’t ambush, it was retaliation,’ Gu Jing said.
‘Ok, since you owe me, I’ve thought of what I want from you,’ Zhen Lang said.
‘Truly?’ Gu Jing asked.
‘Truly. If you let me follow you then you don’t need to fulfil our promise anymore,’ Zhen Lang said.
‘Are you certain? If you’re certain, in the future if you provoke me then I’m not going to hold back anymore,’ Gu Jing said.
‘I’m certain,’ Zhen Lang said.
Gu Jing felt like a heavy weight was taken off her shoulders. ‘I hope you won’t regret it.’
Zhen Lang nodded his head, he turned around and he walked to his bedroom.
Gu Jing stared outside the sunny window and she beamed.
Gu Jing remembered that year on her birthday she posted a photo of Zhen Lang and Lin Tu Shen in bed together on their school’s intranet. Gu Jing walked pa.s.sed a cla.s.sroom and she saw Chen Wei ran outside and tears flowed down Chen Wei’s cheeks. Gu Jing glanced inside the cla.s.sroom, and she only saw Zhen Lang inside the cla.s.sroom. Gu Jing didn’t know what Zhen Lang said to Chen Wei, but Gu Jing felt like a sinful girl. That night inside her room she drank beer under a full moon, and she reflected how Zhen Lang was her enemy but they never involved others in their fights before. Gu Jing was deeply ashamed she hurt Chen Wei by breaking up Chen Wei’s relationship with Zhen Lang as a consequence of her revenge on Zhen Lang… Gu Jing wanted to ruin Zhen Lang’s happiness, but she never wanted to hurt an innocent bystander.
The day after the photo incident Gu Jing wanted to find Chen Wei to apologise and explain the truth about the photo to Chen Wei. But Chen Wei’s cla.s.smates said Chen Wei transferred to an overseas school. Since the photo incident, Zhen Lang never had another girlfriend and Gu Jing noticed Zhen Lang kept his distance from other girls except for Gu Jing.
At that time Gu Jing and Zhen Lang was pa.s.sed the age they could tattle and get their parents to resolve their disputes. So Gu Jing took the initiative to apologise to Zhen Lang, and she promised she would compensate him for his heartbreak. But he didn’t request any kind of compensation from her, and her promise silently hung between them.
In the last few years, Gu Jing purposely avoided Zhen Lang. If he seek her out and he provoked her, she would hold back her rage because she felt guilty for breaking up his first love.
Gu Jing was relieved Zhen Lang finally told her what compensation he wanted. After she granted his request she wouldn’t owe him anything, and she wouldn’t need to hold back anymore if he provoked her… but she didn’t understand why he requested to follow her on her blind dates. Did he wanted to sabotage her chances to get married to take revenge on her for breaking up his and Chen Wei’s relationship?
Gu Jing stared at Zhen Lang’s closed bedroom door, she was curious to see if he could successfully sabotage her third blind date.
Zhen Lang drove Gu Jing to the cafe where her name was infamous… and it wasn’t because she was a loyal customer who loved the cafe’s steaks and lobster buns.
Zhen Lang drove the car to a nearby parking bay so Gu Jing entered the cafe first.
‘Miss Gu, do you have another blind date?’ a waiter asked and he smiled.
‘Hehe… about what happened last time I was here, please apologise to your boss for me,’ Gu Jing said.
‘Miss Gu, my boss said his cafe will always open its doors for you. He said it was the right time to renovate the cafe, and if you want to damage anything he is happy to send one of his waiters to your cafe to receive compensation,’ a waiter said.
Gu Jing thought her hot temper was infamous within a five kilometre radius of the studio.
Gu Jing smiled and she stepped closer to the waiter. She spoke softly. ‘Ask your boss for me if his office needs renovating.’
The waiter laughed awkwardly and he fled from the infamous Gu Jing.
The cafe’s customers’ eyes were focused on Gu Jing the moment she entered the cafe. Gu Jing was a beautiful woman, but they were curious if the rumours were true that underneath her beauty was someone who was blood thirsty for justice and an invincible fighter.
Gu Jing sat at a reserved table and she drank a gla.s.s of water. She was happy her third blind date stood her up, but more importantly there were no sightings of Zhen Lang inside the cafe.
Gu Jing looked at the clock on the cafe’s wall, her third blind date was unfashionably late. She didn’t want to waste any more time waiting for a stranger. She stood to leave, but a waiter stopped her.
A waiter put a cup of coffee on Gu Jing’s table and he pointed to a handsome man who sat at a nearby table. ‘Miss Gu, the gentleman over there wants to treat you to a cup of coffee.’
Gu Jing saw the handsome man lifted his cup of coffee and he smiled at her.
Gu Jing thought the cafe was a sophisticated cafe. The cafe’s furnishings were extravagant eye candies. But she felt the cafe’s appearance paled compared to Zhen Lang’s attractiveness and charisma. Whenever Zhen Lang sat at one of the cafe’s tables, he stood out like a master overseeing his creations. She thought the man who wanted to treat her a cup of coffee was handsome, but the man didn’t surpa.s.s Zhen Lang’s handsomeness.
Gu Jing gestured for the waiter to return the cup of coffee on her table back to the handsome man.
The handsome man stood and he strode toward Gu Jing. ‘Miss Gu, I’m sorry I arrived late. Will you accept this cup of coffee as a peace offering and forgive me?’
Gu Jing smiled. ‘Didn’t you arrive earlier than me? How can you say you arrived late?’
Gu Jing realised the handsome man was her third blind date. She struggled to remember his name. She thought perhaps his name was Di Ruan Wei.
‘Mr Di, I accept your apology. But we don’t need to sit and chat together,’ Gu Jing said.
‘Oh? Why?’ Di Ruan Wei asked.
Gu Jing heard the cafe’s front door opened, it was Zhen Lang. She turned around and she looked at Di Ran Wei. ‘First, can I ask you two personal questions?’
‘Miss Gu, feel comfortable to ask me anything,’ Di Ruan Wei said.
‘My first personal question is, do you want a submissive housewife or do you want an independent wife who has her own career?’ Gu Jing asked.
‘I’ll respect my wife’s work decisions,’ Di Ruan Wei said.
‘My second personal question is, do you expect your wife to be a virgin?’ Gu Jing asked.
Di Ruan Wei smiled and he shook his head. ‘What man living in this modern era would expect such a thing from his wife? Honestly, I’m not a virgin which is why I don’t expect my wife to be a virgin.’
Gu Jing was satisfied with Di Ran Wei’s answers to her questions. She thought perhaps she finally had a blind date who was a normal man.
‘Now can we sit and chat together?’ Di Ruan Wei asked.
Gu Jing hesitated whether to stay or leave the cafe. But she felt Zhen Lang’s burdensome shadow behind her back… she felt like she was a poor heroine caught in a love triangle in a TV romance drama series, she got a bad feeling.
End of Chapter Eighteen