Destined to be his Wife - Forced by Fate

Fun!

“Selfies!!!” Linlin pushed in behind YuZhi and TangShi on the dancefloor, holding her phone up high to capture while on tiptoes above the three of them as they huddled in then waved frantically at ZhengLi to come over. She was picture happy tonight, more so the drunker she got because she wanted to document TangShi’s first night partying with her. It was a long time dream of hers to have TangShi live a normal life of a twenty odd year old girl in Shanghai and she never for a moment thought a contract marriage would be the key to achieving it.

“Stop taking so many.” TangShi giggled but still smiled and posed as YuZhi pulled her in beside him with an arm around her shoulders to ger in on screen, sticking his two-fingers up in a V sign as the three of them were caught for all time on Linlin’s cell. He was an old hand at selfies and having pictures taken and seemed to have no bad angles. ZhengLi wandered over with his tray in hand and a new round of shots and motioned them all to sit. Frowning at his click happy date and her reel of way too many pictures of tonight.

“You missed it!” Linlin accused, waiting for him to lay it on the circular table in the center of their booth before hauling him down beside her and forcing him to take one with just the two of them. He sighed, smiled, and obeyed. Willing to appease her in anyway because he was having way too much fun in her company.

They had been here for a couple of hours already and the four of them were at the merry drunk stage and getting more so. Companionable atmosphere had grown between them all and it had relaxed TangShi completely. It felt like four good friends out for a normal weekend session. ZhengLi and Linlin had gone from enemies on the battle front to comrades in arms and were trying to outdrink one another and flirting heavily while doing so.

TangShi was trying to be reserved in her alcohol intake, but the more relaxed YuZhi became with his, the more he encouraged her to keep up. He had no problem seeing her get drunk as he was confident he could handle his booze and wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He wasn’t old fashioned or overly sexist and believed women should be able to kick back and have fun as much as men did.

“Here.” YuZhi handed her a tiny flaming shot glass very carefully and motioned her to watch him before trying it. “Blow, Tap on the table, and down.” He raised a brow at her and then did exactly that to show her what he meant. Blowing the flame from the top of his liquor, tapped the base on the polished marble surface, and then swallowed it down in one flick back of his head before turning it upside down and thumping it on the table. It was a practiced move and he seemed very skilled at drinking. “Your turn.” He winked at her, stuck close by her side like he had been all night and she nervously chewed her lip as she fiddled with the hot little glass. So far she had stuck to the less alcoholic cocktails, but ZhengLi was pushing shots for the last two rounds. One she refused already, and she was tempted to try it.

“What if I don’t like it?” She queried and was met with a cheeky smile that brought out YuZhi’s dimples. His hair was a little messier than earlier, his outer jacket discarded, and he seemed casual and approachable when he wasn’t so immaculate. She wasn’t aware that in the last two hours her faith and trust in him had expanded hugely. They were no longer awkward or stiff sitting here together but seemed very much like old companions.

“No one really likes it. Burns going down but it gets you smashed, and everyone likes that feeling.” He lifted the base of her shot with his fingertip to motion her to do it and she obliged by following his instructions. Eyes glued to his the whole time as though seeking instruction or approval and he didn’t blink or look away.

Blow, tap, and drink, and then she coughed like a maniac, thumping her chest with a balled fist as the warm foul and bitter liquid burned all the way down her throat. A taste that was so strong it made her eyes water, and she did not like it at all.

“Good girl.” YuZhi rubbed the top of her head with genuine affection like she was a puppy dog who had performed a command. TangShi giggled at how proud it made her feel. She was tipsy or maybe more for sure and felt light and giddy. All her woes had fluttered away on the breeze and her inhibitions were starting to follow. She liked this joyous feeling, and she actually liked this venue.

The busy club was more welcoming than the one Rhea had arranged the last time she drunk, it was darker, had separated booths, and sections that kept dancers and drinkers apart. It was big and crowded but it felt small and intimate with its clever design and layout.

She had seen Mr Cheng wandering around talking to customers and assumed this was his club, the one she knew YuZhi frequented. It felt private and safe even though it was full of people, but no one seemed interested in them at all and hadn’t caught anyone sneakily taking pictures either. She was sure she had spotted an A list celebrity in a far corner from one of Xiaosu’s dramas and wondered if Cheng made sure this place was a confidential place for famous people to relax. YuZhi didn’t seem to care about being seen in here and if he frequented it for years, no pictures of this place had made it onto the internet.

“Want to try another one?” YuZhi queried, leaning forward to scoop a different glass with a new shade of liquid inside and handed her one. This wasn’t on fire and smelled sweet and sickly as she took it from him. “You’re only allowed one of these though, as I’m afraid it might mess you up.”

“What is it?” TangShi squeaked nervously looking at it with obvious suspicious and realizing on closer inspection it was green.

“Absinthe. Don’t drink it yet. Look. Do this with it.”

YuZhi pulled his glass forward and lifted a strange flat metal thing from the tray and laid it over the top of his glass, it had small holes in it like a sieve and he picked up a sugar cube from a bowl on the table and laid one on top, so it was suspended over his drink. He grabbed a small water jug and poured a tiny amount over it so it trickled on the cube and filtered into his drink before placing the jug in front of TangShi.

“Let it dissolve a little and as soon as the absinthe turns cloudy, tip it in and use the spoon to stir the sugar away completely. Don’t down it but drink it slowly. That’s how you drink Absinthe.” He demonstrated by waiting for a moment and then doing what he said and mixing the last remnants of the cube into his drink. Tanghin copied him exactly with her little glass and then both of them lifted in unison and took a sip of the strong liqueur.

TangShi Coughed and wretched and screwed up her face in distaste. Visibly shuddering as it went down and couldn’t hide her abhorrence of this awful stuff.

“Eww, it’s like sweet aniseed and tastes disgusting.” She wretched and patted her chest to alleviate the burning while YuZhi chucked under his breath at her.

“You get used to it but congratulations on being initiated into the seasoned drinkers club.” He patted her on the head again, smiling at her for at least tasting it even though she put it down and pushed it away with a head shake. It wasn’t for her and YuZhi drank his up seemingly entertained with her reaction. He had been so patient with her tonight, acting like a teacher of sorts and enjoying watching her try some drinks for the first time. She had an expressive face, and he found her mannerisms irresistible.

“I’m drunk.” TangShi blurted out as the woozy feeling hit harder, coming over her like a heavy cloak. Her shot obviously working fast and slumped back against her seat so her flopped to his shoulder. She was instantly lifeless, swaying her foot to the low music drifting this way that barley covered nearby chatter of other clubbers.

“You’re a lightweight. I need to up your tolerance by bringing you here a lot more.” He continued drinking from the beer he had placed aside, done with shots for now as he knew how to pace himself. He relaxed back to watch Linlin and ZhengLi who were now on the dancefloor pushing one another around, propping a foot up on the corner of the table so he was angled against TangShi to provide a better cushion for her. He knew that tonight those two would be going home together as their s****l chemistry was off the charts. Two free spirited party animals who were obvious about fancying each other.

“What if the clinic is successful this time.” TangShi broke in, knowing they had an appointment in two days so drinking after that wasn’t wise until she knew is she fell pregnant. “I can’t get drunk and frequent clubs if it is.” She pointed out with a sigh, her mood deflating at the thought of it, and lifted her feet to wedge in the bar under the table to prop them up like his. She was feeling ultra-relaxed now and warm and cosy by his side.

YuZhi was a surprisingly comfortable companion who had kept his promise of taking care of her tonight. He had stuck by her and been the guide when it came to booze and what to order. He had even danced with her a couple of times and proven he was a smooth mover. She felt like she could let her hair down and trust he would get her home just like he promised.

“Maybe we should skip it this month and go with the flow. Have some down time to go out and have fun. There’s no rush, we have two years and work has been a nightmare lately. I need the stress relief.” He shrugged, mellowed by alcohol and turned his head to see the little face that was now tucked in against him and concealed by shadow. She looked sleepy and smiley and he had the urge to hug her.

“Hmmmm….. I hate going there.” TangShi sighed, being honest with this new liquid bravado in her stomach an YuZhi tensed a little. Guilt gnawing at him that his choice made TangShi uncomfortable, but it was a necessity he could do nothing about.

“Me too, but the alternative isn’t plausible. Rhea would never forgive me for sleeping with you.” He took another swig of his beer and pushed down rising questions that were nipping at the back of his skull.

TangShi giggled inappropriately at his words and poked him in the cheek with her pointer finger. Reverting to a playful child.

“But you sleep with me every night.” She laughed at her own joke and YuZhi chuckled at her innocence, genuinely amused by how cute she could be when she was drunk.

“You know what I mean. We share a bed which is no different to sharing a couch, while both unconscious. Besides, it keeps things straight, less messy. No s*x means less chance of emotions getting misplaced. It’s better this way.” He had told himself this a million times and yet had purposely avoided telling Rhea that grandfather had made them share a room and one bed from day one. He knew it would only upset her and cause doubts even though he never touched TangShi when they slept.

“Why didn’t your grandfather approve of Rhea as a wife and mother to your heir? The public lover whom everyone adores and she’s …..lovely.” TangShi slurred, always curious as to why he had never married his girlfriend or made moves to fall pregnant so his family couldn’t refuse it. He was respectful of his grandfather’s decisions but why did he let them date and then change his mind.

“It’s complicated. My grandfather has a pretty reasonable grudge against the Cheng family. I forced his hand by making us public so he couldn’t stop me from dating her, but he refused to agree to engagement or marriage and forcing a baby into that situation wouldn’t have gone the way you think. He would have disowned it…. I thought in time he would change his mind, until he introduced me to your family, and I knew he hadn’t.” YuZhi’s tone soured, and he shifted to pull his foot down, drinking more of his beer, obviously frustrated with the memories.

“Why? He seems so loving towards you and it would still be his grandchild. I thought he liked Rhea?”

YuZhi downed the remainder of his drink, his own head swimming a little and shook his head. Sobering with a little dip in his good mood and feeling weirdly inclined to open up to TangShi properly. He wasn’t someone who spoke about his personal issues with just anyone, usually just ZhengLi so it was a weird feeling to want to tell her. She had this way about her that pulled all sorts of emotions form him and a need to share. Maybe he was just drunk and overthinking it.

“My dad, the night he crashed…. He caught my mother having s*x with Rhea’s father. He was mad as hell, driving recklessly, on a call to my grandfather telling him he wanted a divorce when he swerved off the road and ended up in a ditch. My grandfather has never forgiven the Cheng family and sees Rhea as part of the problem. He lost his son because of an affair, so he tolerated her but always made it clear he would replace her when it was time for me to marry.”

TangShi was rendered speechless and sat upright with a start, blinking at him with a shocked expression. Her heart chumping into her chest with the shock of his story.

“I’m so sorry. I never knew… Wow, that’s pretty…. a big deal.” His words sobered her enough to realize how much of an issue that was and couldn’t imagine how much grandfather must have been against Rhea to prohibit any future for them both. She could empathize with his grief and heartbreak and didn’t want to judge him too harshly. She assumed YuZhi understood it too, hence why he never outright defied him with a pregnancy or wedding.

“Ironic really. It was because of what our parents did that Rhea, and I grew closer than before. We were both hurt and ashamed and she carried the guilt of me losing my father. She tried to support and comfort me as a friend. My mother…… she committed suicide two months later because she couldn’t live with my father’s death. Guess she loved him and regretted it in the end.” His words trailed off quietly, sitting forward to stare down between his feet as he picked at the label of his bottle and TangShi’s soul ached for him.

TangShi was silenced and her heart tore in two. Realizing why YuZhi was the type to conceal his pain and emotion and keep women at arm’s length. His mother betrayed them all and then left him to fend for himself in the aftermath. His trust must have been destroyed and his once happy family devastated. She knew that a couple of years later the Leng family had a plane crash that saw a huge chunk of them perish. He had lost so much.

 She had known his mother died in that time frame, but the press implied she had a long ongoing health issue. Nowhere had it been made public that she took her own life and TangShi automatically slid her arm in his and rested her head against his shoulder to comfort him. Not knowing what else to do but wanting so badly to give him something. To show she was feeling for him and truly sorry for what he lived through.

“I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. I don’t ever talk about them.” He shrugged, picking up a new beer and took a swig to distract himself from the wave of raw emotions threatening to spew out. Something he had learned to control over the years. Leaning forward further to dangle it between his knees while TangShi stayed cuddling against him. He was becoming acclimatized to her touch and presence and didn’t mind having to hold hands or be this way with her anymore. It was reassuring, like he had a constant warmth and haven by his side who didn’t judge him for things he didn’t tell others. He knew deep down that TangShi wasn’t the type to hold the truth against him given how crappy her family situation was.

“I can see why your grandfather is so against it. He blames her whole family and somehow it would be a betrayal to your father to have a Cheng grandchild as heir. I understand it. But why is your aunt so pro Rhea if her brother passed that…” TangShi was even more confused by that.

“She doesn’t know. My grandfather told only me. And I told Rhea. My sister and family have no clue why my father died that night, other than it was an accident and my mother took her life because of her grief. Rhea doesn’t know it was suicide either.”

“I promise I won’t tell a soul, not even Linlin.” TangShi leaned back and made a crossing motion of her heart which softened YuZhi’s mood, and he smiled gently at her, leaning in to bop his forehead against hers in a show of affection. Swaying a little due to being drunker than he thought, yet glad he had offloaded some of this onto her. It felt nice to tell someone and not immediately feel anxious they saw you differently or would take on more guilt like he thought Rhea would have back then. Only ZhengLi knew all the details of everything.

“You know, I’m sorry about being such a jackass to you the first couple of months. If I had known we would be friends in time, I wouldn’t have made life hell for you. I feel like an i***t for making you suffer. For being cold when you’re…… like this.” He was truly apologetic and regretted all the times he deliberately goaded her or created situations to cause her upset or stress. She had turned out to be the sweetest girl he had ever met and probably the most genuine heart he had come across and it bothered him looking back that he abused that sort of girl. Even not knowing she was Alice; he had been able to see that TangShi was a rare find. Not many girls were so gentle natured and forgiving as she was and undeserving of anyone treating her poorly. His desire to protect and shelter her lately grew stronger the more he got to know her.

TangShi shrugged and smiled at him. Pushing all of it into the past and exhaled softly. She was someone who had learned to let things go in her life or else the grudges would weigh her down.

“I can understand why the situation made you hate me. My father never gave me a choice and I had to abandon school and come home which made me resent you too. I never knew about any of this until two days before we got our marriage license. I don’t hold it against you, I too wasn’t that nice to you.”

“Are you serious?” YuZhi was shocked by that confession. He had known for weeks before marrying her all about it. He had agreed to give two years of his life on the understanding he would marry Rhea one day. It’s the only way he could get his grandfather’s approval for the future he wanted, by compromising on a timed deadline instead of a lifetime marriage. He still hadn’t told Rhea that children between them might not be a doable thing though; grandfather still hadn’t agreed to him having any other kids beyond one with TangShi. He was a stubborn old coot and not yet ready to relinquish that clause.

TangShi didn’t get a chance to reply because Linlin dived on them awkwardly, like a heavy bomb of human bones and skin and almost killed her in the process. Clambering all over them as she tried to crawl between two closely sat bodies and injuring them mildly in the process. TangShi shoved her by the ass to the back of the seat to assist her.

“Picture time!!” She sang loudly in TangShi’s ear before rolling over the backrest and jumping behind the seating booth to get between them. She leaned forward pushing them together so she could fit her head in between them awkwardly. “Zhengy…take one… come on, bubba!” She motioned and cooed at her drunk playmate who sighed and obediently trotted over, pulling his cell out of his pocket to do as he was told. It was clear he wasn’t as drunk as her and was humoring her requests.

“Why do we need three thousand pictures tonight?” he raised a brow at her in question and she waved at him in annoyance.

“Ughh, for my WeChat moments. Stop talking and start doing.” She flapped her hands, ushering him to obey and ZhengLi nodded. Muttering under his breath about the weirdness of women and making sure he zoomed into their faces only and cut out their pretty private club in the background. He rarely took pictures, and this was weird for him.

“Okay, on three. One! Two! ….” ZhengLi positioned his phone sideways and got ready to click when Linlin suddenly darted back, grabbing the back of YuZhi and TangShi’s head systematically and bopped their faces together with speed and force neither saw coming. The result was a startled pair jumping at the contact and turning towards each other in reaction, which meant a full face on collision as ZhengLi snapped the shot. It was a mildly painful experience and as soon as she released them, they both darted back with shocked expressions.

“Woohooo, let me see.” Linlin whooped in glee at her naughtiness and climbed over, pushing them further apart ungracefully so she could retrieve his phone. Almost getting TangShi in the face with a stiletto heel in the process.

“Linlin!” TangShi smacker her leg as she scurried away and rubbed her face where YuZhi had smashed lips against her in that painful encounter. Her face flaming with heat and feeling the blush creep up her skin. It was an intimate accident, and her heart was flipping over at the assault. Suddenly unable to look him in the eye as shyness overtook.

“She’s worse than him!” YuZhi too was rubbing his chin and lips where they had been bang pressed for a millisecond and yet he could taste the peach tinted lip-gloss from TangShi’s lips, and it wasn’t entirely unenjoyable. He wasn’t too phased about having inadvertently kissed her as it wasn’t like he hadn’t kissed many in his lifetime. It was not on purpose and no big deal; besides he had kissed her a hell of a lot more eight years ago.

 It was a brief meeting of mouths, completely closed and flat faced into one another but YuZhi still got a weird feeling in his stomach about it. A gnawing of guilt and something else.

“Oh my god…look. You two totally kissed!” Linlin smiled like a mischievous brat and turned the phone to flash them a picture. It did look in fact like they had briefly pecked one another on the lips for the picture. Linlin was obscured behind them where you couldn’t really even make out her hands clamped on the back of each head. It did look like a candid kiss shot of a couple. TangShi blushed even harder and fidgeted with nails while biting on her lower lip.

“Shut up. You are mentally about his age, you know that.” YuZhi laughed at her antics, unbothered, and sat back while scooping his beer and handing TangShi a half-drunk cocktail she started before shots to stop her picking her crystals off her manicure. This had sobered them both a little and culled their heart to heart.

“ummm, I think I have more maturity than this wild thing.” ZhengLi hooked Linlin from behind and scooped her into his arms for a back hug, pressing his chin on top of her head to annoy her as she wiggled and tried to throw him off.

“You two can both go to hell. TangShi loves me just the way I am. It’s being youthful and fun loving. You’re just mad because I got a priceless kiss shot and she looks more attractive than you in it.” Linlin gloated, waving ZhengLi’s phone in the air, and then pulled it back to open the WeChat app. “Totally putting it on my moments.”

Linlin was oblivious to the fact it wasn’t ‘her’ moments on WeChat and uploaded it with a smile for her mutual friends of her private account to see. She tagged the club and posted it with ‘Love’s young dream’ as the title. Happy with herself for another memory that they could laugh about another day. She was abuzz with how close TangShi and YuZhi seemed to be tonight and very pleased with her mischievous trick.

“Enough of that. More drink, less talk.” ZhengLi snatched back his phone and slid it into his pocket, hooking her hand and hauling her back with him. Intent on getting all of them so drunk they wouldn’t be able to see straight. “I’ll go get another round!”