I didn't know how or when I returned to my seat. I didn't even know whether I had properly recorded the minutes for the rest of the meeting and negotiations. At the end of the meeting, I was left staring at my laptop with all the things I needed to clean up, while the formal goodbye greetings were being performed. I typed what I heard automatically.
Someone nudged me.
"Go and have lunch with Mr Wen," Manager Hu told me with a bright smile. I assumed that the meeting had gone well and he had gotten the investment that he wanted. "It's not easy for husband and wife to meet during work hours or to have time for each other. Especially for a busy man like Mr Wen. Don't worry about everything here. I'll have people clean up and finish writing the minutes and send it out. You take the rest of the day off to spend with your husband. I'll tell your line managers and get your leave approved for you. What are you sitting staring like that for? Go."
I was pulled out of the chair and pushed into the handsome investment leader's arms.
"You can take your wife, Mr Wen," Manager Hu said in an ingratiating tone. "Don't be too hard on her for running away. Women need to be coaxed more and dealt with gently. Especially such a innocent person like Miss Jing. No. I should call you Mrs Wen now, shouldn't I? When did you get married? You didn't even tell anyone in the company. I have to congratulate you and wish you happiness and many children."
Dumbstruck at the worsening misunderstanding and Mr Wen's willingness to perpetuate the misunderstanding further, I only opened my mouth wordlessly. Nobody was going to believe anything I said.
"Thank you," Mr Wen put an arm around me and someone came running back from the admin department, holding my coat and handbag. "Thank you," Mr Wen said again when I made no move to take my things still too shocked to move, taking them on my behalf. He smiled down at me and put an arm around my shoulder, allowing us to be seen out the front door of the company by Manager Hu.
"But I'm not," I finally found my tongue, looking up at the tall handsome guy holding me, but I was silenced with a peck on the lips.
That familiar sensation and scent suddenly brought my morning wet dream back into full colour picture remembrance, making my brain overload and shut down for a long moment. My cheeks lit up in red flames and it felt like I was steaming out my ears.
Outside the company, Mr Wen gave instructions to the subordinates who had come with him.
"You all go back first. The rest of my afternoon just happens to be clear and now that I've found me wife, I need to have a good chat with her. Please inform Mr Li on my behalf."
The next thing I knew, I was sitting at a table in a private hotel room with the aromatic scents of an array of fragrant lunch dishes tickling my nose with their possible deliciousness. I swallowed and felt my tummy rumble.
There was a low chuckle, making me suddenly notice the man sitting by my side. A hand stroked my head and back.
"Beautiful, you're finally awake? Did I shock you so much?"
"M-Mr W-Wen," I stammered and pointing at the ring on my finger. "This is all a misunderstanding. I found this at the flea market yesterday. I tried it on and can't get it off anymore. I'm - I'm sorry, but I'm not your wife!"
The man chuckled again, picking up a few pieces of food to put in my rice bowl.
"I know. You told me last night."
"Huh?" I froze again. My brain struggling to rewind my memory and remember when I had ever met this man before. Last night, some more.
"But I've never met you before," my voice became muddled when a piece of well marinated chicken was put in my open mouth. I automatically closed my mouth and chewed, holding out a hand to stop the man from trying to feed me anymore. "I can do it myself," I mumbled.
"Not physically," Mr Wen stroked my head. "Didn't I promise you that I'd find you and take responsibility for you, even if it was only a dream? Didn't I put the ring on your finger and tell you that from last night onwards, you would be my wife? Since the ring was fated to come to you, you are fated to be my wife. Neither of us can escape my great grandmother's blessing. The rings tie us together."
"What?"
It was a bit too much to take in and more than a little unbelievable. It was like something out of a fairy tale.
"After this, let's go to the embassy and register our marriage."
"No, what? Why? We've only just met," I protested. "I don't even know you. We're still strangers."
"Strangers who know the feeling and scent of each other? Who knows where the other is sensitive and reacts to a touch just like this?"
A hand stroked the side of my neck, making me shiver. Fingers pinched and stroked an ear, making my entire body tingle with ticklish sensations.
"Don't do that," I gasped.
"Do we need to do that kind of thing in reality for you to realise where you belong?" Mr Wen asked me in a deep voice, piling more food into my bowl.
I swallowed my mouthful of food.
"But that was a dream," I rubbed my neck. "This is real life. It wasn't real. Just a figment of our imaginations.
"This isn't," Mr Wen smiled and captured my lips with his. Oh, his lips were soft. In a moment, I was brought back to the steamy wet dream.
Upon the realisation that this wasn't a dream, once more, my brain exploded, rendering me vulnerable and helpless.
"Isn't this an answer to your question? Isn't this real? The dream wasn't just a dream. It was a real linking of our souls through the dream realm," Mr Wen released my lips and pulled away, licking his lips with a smile. "You are the woman I have been searching for and waiting for my whole life and now, here you are. The rings apparently, are never wrong. Won't you be mine?"
"T-t-time," I stuttered, brain hardly able to process what was happening right now. Everything was happening too fast. "I need more time. I can't - can't..."
"I understand," Mr Wen kissed my nose and then gestured at the food. "Then I'll wait. I'll wait until you're ready to be husband and wife in real life. Not just in your dreams. Eat up."
I barely tasted the rest of the food.
Mr Wen held my hand and took me to the seaside for a walk, covering me with his overcoat when the wind turned cold. I could barely concentrate on what was going on. My inner turmoil was really, very tempestuous.
"Let's go and have dinner," he looked into my eyes and I saw a tender gentleness there that made me squirm.
"No, thank you," I said somewhat awkwardly, struggling to maintain some presence of mind. "If you don't mind. I'd much rather go home."
"In that case," he said, "I'll bring you to meet my parents, grandparents and great grandmother. They will all be eager to see you."
Despite my protests, I was bundled into the car and found myself in a memorial hall. Rows of photos with incense holders stared at me.
"Are - are they all..." my voice trailed off.
"They watch over us from the other side now," Mr Wen said calmly and smoothly, leading me in front of the rows of photos and name tablets. I saw the urns of ashes and felt my brow furrow.
He greeted all his elders.
"Look, everyone, I found her like you said I would. This is my wife. Uh..." he paused and looked embarrassed, twisting my fingers in his. "Wife, what's your name?"
"My name? Jing," I replied in a slight daze, feeling like I was perhaps still sleeping and dreaming and hadn't woken up at all today. "Jing Yulu. Jing, a well. Yulu from the phrase, favour and kindness."
"Jing Yulu," Mr Wen savoured the words in his mouth, repeating them. "Mum, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Great-Grandma. This is my wife Jing Yulu. Look, she found your missing ring. Yulu-ah, show everyone your hand with the ring."
He held my hand out.
A cold wind gushed into the memorial hall, making me shiver, swirling the incense smoke into a column and making the pages of an old book on a stand to one side rustle, flipping through the pages.
"Everyone, you can rest assured now. I have found my wife and will love her, give her a good home and fill our house with children. You can all go on the long journey with peace of mind. No need to hang around here watching over me with such concern."
There was an audible chorus of sighs from around the room and a warm light flashed, half blinding me for a moment. While Mr Wen continued to talk while holding my hand, facing the urns of ashes, tablets and photos, making promises and reassuring his elders, I jumped with a strangled shriek when a transparent old woman's face loomed into my vision.