บท 44: THE EX IS HERE TO WIN HIM BACK
For hours, Xuan Tianmei had sat on a sofa and watched her brother sleep. Worried that he might not wake up while praying that he would. Pitifully, her watch had ended with her falling asleep on the sofa and sleeping into the wee hours of the morning.
When she woke up, Xuan Tianyi was still sleeping. The first sign that he was still alive was his heavy perspiration. Whatever color he had was slowly but surely returning to his face. Xuan Tianmei breathed a sigh of relief and walked to the bathroom to relieve herself.
Almost immediately Xuan Tianmei left; looking for a more comfortable position, Xuan Tianyi turned on the couch. One of his feet slammed the ground provocatively, waking him up. He looked around him confused. The only thing he remembered was him drinking in a bar the night before. He wondered if he had gotten so drunk he couldn't recall how he got home. If he could remember the road home in a totally inebriated state, he should've gone straight to his bedroom. With a sigh of resignation, he got up and retired to his bedroom.
A few hours later, ready for work, Xuan Tianyi opened the door of his bedroom and walked into a sitting room filled with the aroma of freshly cooked food.
"You have a photoshoot in the afternoon, right? I made breakfast." Xuan Tianmei said but Xuan Tianyi paid her no mind.
As Xuan Tianyi walked out the door, Xuan Tianmei ran after him but only stopped at the door when she saw him entering a taxi.
Xuan Tianmei's eyes subconsciously darted across the road. They caught a glimpse of Su Yang exiting the apartment opposite hers. A minuscule earpiece was stuck in the latter's ear. As usual, she was dressed in black attire. She was also wearing a pair of big sunglasses that almost covered the entirety of her face and a black baseball cap. Xuan Tianmei wouldn't have recognized her but her unruly curls made that impossible.
Smiling broadly, Xuan Tianmei waved enthusiastically from her apartment.
Su Yang rolled her eyes, pulled the baseball cap a little lower and entering a cab of her own, left Xuan Tianmei standing alone on her porch.
***
"Good morning. Please, I'm here to see Hua Zhendan." A young man, around the same age as the aforementioned president, said to Zhang Lin. Wearing a brilliant smirk.
Zhang Lin looked up at him and was almost instantly unsettled by his piercing eyes. Professionally, she smiled at him and asked, "Please, what's the name?"
The man with the smirk and piercing eyes looked at Zhang Lin's lips as he spoke. Seductively, he said, "I'm sorry. I don't have an appointment."
Zhang Lin swallowed a blob of saliva and bit her lower lip to control her heartbeat which had quickened at an alarming rate. With shaky hands, she picked up her pen. "President Hua is in a meeting at the moment. I'll write down your name and let him know you want to see him once the meeting is over."
"Oh! There's really no need for all of that. We go way back but we haven't seen each other for a long time. I want to surprise him."
"I still need your name."
The man raised a brow at her. Surprised at her insistence.
"For the records." She explained.
"Oh! It's Qiu Dawei."
"Okay, thanks. Please sit over there then." Zhang pointed to the reception.
After sitting for a moment, Qiu Dawei noticed Hua Zhendan's door open.
Hua Zhendan walked out of his office with two men. Wearing an unctuous smile, he shook hands with both of them and watched them leave. He then turned to Zhang Lin and asked, "What else do I have?"
"Nothing for now." Zhang Lin said and glanced in Qiu Dawei's direction. Qiu Dawei started to walk towards them. She continued, "But there's someone here to see you."
"Who's it?"
Zhang Lin raised her chin at Qiu Dawei who had stopped behind Hua Zhendan. Unnoticed.
Hua Zhendan turned to see Qiu Dawei standing behind him. Visibly shook, he muttered with a small quiver in his voice. "You. How are you here?"
Qiu Dawei smiled at him casually. "It's nice to see your fake business smile hasn't changed a bit."
Speechless, Hua Zhendan glared at him.
"Can we go in?" Qiu Dawei pointed in the direction of Hua Zhendan's office. "I have something to discuss with you."
Hua Zhendan stared at him contemplatively, then shook his head. "I was about to go have lunch. Let's talk in the cafeteria."
"Sir." Zhang Lin quickly interrupted. "Xuan Tianyi's photo shoot is about to start."
Hua Zhendan's heart tightened at the mention of that name. "If you're not busy, you go supervise it in my stead."
"Let's go." He said to Qiu Dawei and they both walked away.
***
"I don't even have a photoshoot. What am I doing here?" Tan Yao complained.
"You're here for moral support." Xuan Tianyi said firmly.
"I don't know what that means." Tan Yao shook his head as he spoke.
"That means that if, and when Hua Zhendan comes, you have to help me control myself so I don't run over to him."
"I thought he was sick." Tan Yao scratched the back of his right ear.
"I heard he's around." Xuan Tianyi tried to look aloof when he spoke.
"Who did you hear that from?"
"Everyone is talking about it."
"Who's everyone?" Tan Yao gasped in surprise. "Jesus Christ. Did you stalk him?"
"No." Xuan Tianyi denied.
Tan Yao threw him a look of disbelief.
"I didn't stalk him." Xuan Tianyi said adamantly. "I only waited in the park. Until I saw him come in."
Tan Yao tapped Xuan Tianyi's shoulder. "Brother. You need help."
"I have help. It's you."
"Then you'll just ditch me when you do see him."
Xuan Tianyi realized that this wasn't a reference to his normal behavior but to the one he exhibited a couple of days back. "I didn't ditch you the other day. I left you in good company."
"You think a stranger who was eager to get rid of me was good company?"
"You two seemed to hit it off."
"I know, right?" Tan Yao asked with a frown. "After you left, his attitude was so different, I started wondering what I did wrong."
Xuan Tianyi chuckled. "How's your UTI?"
"Not that bad anymore. That guy really knows his stuff."
"It's probably happened to him before."
"That makes me feel so good about myself."
Xuan Tianyi smirked at his friend.
After a moment of silence, Tan Yao said in a sympathetic voice. "Hey. I don't think President Hua is coming."
"Why not?"
"Because Zhang Lin is here."
Xuan Tianyi turned to the entrance of the studio and noted Zhang Lin's presence. "Maybe he had something to do."
"Yeah, I think so too." Tan Yao said sympathetically.
Another moment of silence ensued. Until it was broken by the low rumbling of Tan Yao's stomach. "I'm "
"I have a photoshoot." Xuan Tianyi protested.
"Everyone is busy. Lunch won't take long, we'll be right back before you know it." Tan Yao protested.
"Fine, let's go." Xuan Tianyi agreed.
***
"You know, you haven't changed much since the last time I saw you. You're still as dashing as you've ever been." The words rolled smoothly off Qiu Dawei's talk.
Hua Zhendan remembered how these kinds of words used to make him blush. Right now, it just felt inappropriate. "What do you want, Qiu Dawei?"
"I..." Qiu Dawei cleared his throat, trying not to seem too disappointed with his failed attempt at flirting. Knowing Hua Zhendan as much as he did, he should've expected his cold response. "Have some business to discuss with you?"
"Business?" Hua Zhendan asked with a raised eyebrow. That was literally one topic they never used to discuss.
"Yes. I have this streaming site I'm working on. It's not really complete yet, but if your company isn't already affiliated with another service, it'd be a great opportunity if you would do business with me."
"For movies?"
"Mostly movies. But people should be able to stream almost about everything else on it. Depending on what you want really."
"Then..." Hua Zhendan hesitated, "You should be talking to Shen Rui and not me."
"She hates me, Hua Zhendan."
Hua Zhendan shrugged. "It's business. She deals with several people she hates every day. If your idea will be beneficial to the company, she'll accept your offer."
Qiu Dawei gave Hua Zhendan a small laugh. Pointing to his chest, he said. "It's me, Hua Zhendan. I almost made you two stop speaking when I came into the picture. Do you really believe that's something she can keep out of her mind?"
Hua Zhendan smiled at the memory. Then shook his head. "No. I don't think so."
"Now, we're on the same page." Qiu Dawei chuckled. "And I know it's weird I just appeared out of nowhere to ask you for this favor. But it'll be a big help to me."
"It's not weird." Hua Zhendan shook his head. "I'm a connection. People do stuff like this all the time."
"You're not just a connection." Qiu Dawei said pointedly.
"Why? Are we friends now?"
"No. But—"
"Qiu Dawei, let me put this straight to you. We are in the past. And I don't feel anything for you anymore. So we won't talk about anything that happened back then. Not now, not ever."
"I don't feel anything for you either." Qiu Dawei's tone was defensive.
"Really?" Hua Zhendan raised a brow at him.
"Yes. I was just being careful in case—"
"No need to be careful. Send your proposal to my office. Please make it as comprehensive and elaborate as possible. I'll look it over. If it's good, I'll talk to Shen Rui."
"And if she doesn't accept?"
"If it's good, she'll accept. Unless she knows it's yours. But that's okay. I'll just have to go over her head to the board of directors in that case."
"Jesus. Won't that piss her off?"
"It will." Hua Zhendan smiled. "But it'll please me. Come on, let's order." Hua Zhendan said before putting up his hand to call a waiter.
A few minutes into their meal, Tan Yao and Xuan Tianyi stepped into the restaurant. As Xuan Tianyi scanned the restaurant for an appropriate seat, his eyes quickly fell on Hua Zhendan and Qiu Dawei. He immediately felt a heaviness in his chest that made him feel faint.
Tan Yao noticed the couple too. He gasped then asked, "Isn't that the guy from the restaurant the other day? What can they be laughing about?"
Xuan Tianyi shook his head and dragged Tan Yao towards the table Hua Zhendan sat on. "I don't know. Let's find out."
Xuan Tianyi and Tan Yao took the table two seats away from the couple. When they sat down, Hua Zhendan glanced in their direction. Seemingly unaffected by Xuan Tianyi's presence, he continued his meal. As if to add insult to injury, Qiu Dawei stretched out his hand and straightened a patch of Hua Zhendan's hair which was out of place.
Xuan Tianyi felt a burning rage in him. "Let's go." He spat at Tan Yao.
"But I haven't had lunch yet."
"We'll go somewhere else."
"Look, I know what you're thinking. But maybe they're just talking business." Tan Yao tried to reason with Xuan Tianyi.
Xuan Tianyi shook his head as Tan Yao. "That man is his ex. And he told me he came here to win Hua Zhendan back."
"What?"
"Yes. So let's leave. I don't want to see this." Xuan Tianyi stood up and pulled Tan Yao with him out of the restaurant.
As Xuan Tianyi and Tan Yao left, Su Yang got up from the corner of the restaurant where she had been sitting. As she took two steps out, she bumped headfirst into Xuan Tianmei.
"What's it now?" Su Yang grumbled.
"I saw you sitting over here a while ago and I wanted to say hi."
Su Yang shoved Xuan Tianmei away roughly with one hand. Not caring to give the girl a second look, she walked away.
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