Long Xiuping stood at the door utterly confused until realization dawned on her that Song Jia and Wu Zhang were dating. Her crush was dating someone else. Wu Zhang pulled Song Jia closer to him and inhaled her fading lavender scent. At the same time through the mirror, he looked at the devastated expression on Long Xiuping"s face, feeling very satisfied and enjoying it thoroughly.
He would never let even a fly come so close to her as to the point where he will have to share his beloved woman with it. She was the first woman in his life that he has fallen for and he wished to cherish her for the rest of it.
"I brought you a dress." He said outstretching the big bag in his hand to her.
Song Jia frowned, "I already have one. You didn"t have to bring another."
"I want you to outs.h.i.+ne every other woman there." Wu Zhang said adoringly as he pushed the bag in her hand.
Song Jia knew it was some custom made dress, just by looking at the big bag. She laughed lightly and didn"t retaliate much. She took the bag unzipped it and pulled the dress out. It was an off-shoulder dress with a thigh-high slit at the left side, made of velvet marble. The dress was in a deep aqua green color at the top and got darker as it went down. The color of the skirt after a few inches was so dark that it looked like a deep calm sea reflecting the night sky in its water. At the skirt of the dress were very small emerald stones encrusted at random distance, while the deepest part of the dress, the hem of the skirt was studded with small Cubic Zirconia crystals, giving the dress a heavenly look as the stones glittered like stars under the reflection of the light in the room.
Song Jia felt awe-struck by the dress and so did Long Xiuping. Both were so lost in its beauty that none of them realized that the packet had something else too.
"Do you like it?" Wu Zhang asked carefully looking at her expression.
"It"s beautiful!!" Song Jia exclaimed looking very surprised. But then a frown immediately formed on her face. "Wu Zhang it"s too expensive. I can"t take it."
As she said it, she placed the dress back in the bag. When she lifted the bag to put the dress back in, only then did she realize it had something else too. She pulled it out to see a black velvet rectangular box. With just the look of the box, she knew it was a jewelry box. She sighed and placed it back without looking at it.
Her actions formed a very deep frown on Wu Zhang"s face. What did she mean by she can"t take it? It was for her. "You don"t like it?"
Song Jia glanced at Long Xiuping once, looking a bit hesitant. Long Xiuping was smart enough to easily get the cue and excused herself out. "I just remember I have to make a call." Saying this she didn"t wait for another second and left.
Song Jia turned to Wu Zhang who was waiting for an explanation. She sighed and decided to speak, not making him wait for too long. "It"s not that I don"t like it. I love it. It is beautiful. It"s just that you have already done too much for me. Don"t indebt me with your kindness anymore Zhang."
"Is that what you think? I am indebting you?" Wu Zhang felt his mood getting sour.
"No, I just mean to say that this dress and this jewelry is way too expensive for me to accept. You have already done so much for me, bringing me to your house, giving me so many gifts, taking care of the children for me. It doesn"t feel right to just keep taking from you." She tried to reason with him. She was a woman with very high self-esteem and it didn"t feel right for her to just keep taking everything Wu Zhang gave to her. Irrespective of the growing feelings in their heart for each other, (well it was just her because Wu Zhang was already at a point of no return when it came to his feelings for her) she felt it was not right to take so much from him. Just with the look of the dress, she knew it was one h.e.l.l of an expensive dress. The Cubic Zirconia used on it were of the finest quality from Austria and one didn"t even need to talk about the emeralds. Having been working on a jewelry company a lot recently, just with the look she knew they were flown straight from Colombia and were very expensive. She didn"t need to ask the price of the dress because she knew it was enough to burn a big hole in an average man"s pocket. And not to forget the jewelry.
Wu Zhang"s lips pressed in a thin line, "Do you like it or not. Just yes or no."
Under his pressing gaze, all she could manage to do was nod. She honestly did like it and could not bring herself to lie about it.
"Jia see, it is gift from me to you. A gift I am giving you from my own free will. What is wrong in accepting it? And why do you have to feel indebted for me bringing you to my house? One day I will marry you and you will eventually come there. Better now than later." Wu Zhang felt bad seeing his gift being returned and could not help her telling that he had intentions to marry her.
Heat crept up from Song Jia"s neck to her ears, turning them a deep shade of red hearing the word marriage. They haven"t started dating for a very long time and he already had intentions to marry her? The feeling felt both very warm and bashful at the same time. And no matter how hard she tried, a small smile found it"s way to her lips, easing the frown on Wu Zhang"s forehead to some extent in return. He felt better knowing that she was not against the idea of marriage.
"But- But marriage is altogether a different matter Zhang." She felt conflicted internally. At one hand, she was not ready to accept such an expensive dress and jewelry from him while on the other, she didn"t also want to break his heart by returning it. Not wanting to see his emotionally blackmailing eyes, she bobbed her head down to keep her stance firm. "I don"t want to selfishly keep accepting everything. It looks bad."
"I don"t care. I brought this as a gift to you and you are not allowed to return it. That. Is. It." His statement was like a verdict of a king, reeking no s.p.a.ce for any argument whatsoever. If he wanted to give her something, he will and he would not take a no as an answer in return. "If you feel indebted by my help you can repay me. I am don"t mind." He said shrugging his shoulder, "But no matter what I am not taking the dress or the jewelry back."
Song Jia lifted her head to look at him when she heard "repay". "How do you want me to repay?"
In a swift movement, his arm was around her waist and her small body collided in his firm and built one. He tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear and smiled gently at her. In a very husky voice, almost whispering, he stated his price. "Fall for me as quick as possible and reciprocate my love as much as you can. That will be more than enough of repayment for the rest of my life."
A gush of warmth ran through her body once again, but this time her heart was also palpitating along with it. It was pounding so hard that she felt it would jump out of her chest. Her face got flushed and a silly smile spread across her face. She might not have realised it yet but her eyes gave away what Wu Zhang wanted to see. The way her face got flushed and the way she was blus.h.i.+ng, he knew the answer. He knew he will get his payment soon.