Forced by fate – Destined to be his Wife

“You can’t be like this. It will cause you so much backlash if you’re filmed this way. Your image will be stained. It could mess up a lot of your contracts and sponsors, Rhea. The public opinion can be brutal and end careers for the most minor things, you know this. You have to pull yourself together, for all our sakes.”

“I can’t. I told you already.” She sobbed again, sniffing and swallowing hard.

“Here.” TangShi moved in, attracting their attention as she walked forward and held out the glass of water for Rhea.

The sight of her returning seemed to flip a switch in Rhea’s demure and calm state, and she suddenly hauled herself up, turning furiously at TangShi. She grabbed the glass from her hands with a sharp tug and threw the cold sticky liquid in TangShi’s face. Hitting her with icy shock as TangShi gasped and stumbled backwards. Unprepared for an assault and blinded by the flavored water for a second.

Lifting the glass in the air, Rhea made to throw it after her, but YuZhi caught her wrist in flash speed. He grabbed the glass from her hand as TangShi blinked their way in shock, wiping her eyes as it ran down in little rivulets and made her make up run.

“Rhea, what the…” YuZhi exploded, and tugged her back to sit her down but she fought him. Wriggling and twisting and screaming at TangShi. Shoving his arms away and using her legs to force his knees back.

“I hate you; I hate you!!! I want you to die. I want you to go back to the hole you crawled from and never show face again.” She was hysterical, spitting venom TangShi’s way.

YuZhi dumped the empty vessel on the table but kept a firm hold of her wrist. His temper bubbling on high and he took even breaths to cool his temper before he did or said something he would regret. The impulse in him to pick her up and dump her ass flat on the floor was overwhelming and his fury at TangShi getting targeted was making him irrational. TangShi attempted to mop up the water from her dress, aware her hair was falling down over one eye and that she must look awful now.

“I’ll go.” She mumbled, mentally trying to remember where the nearest bathroom was and how to get out unseen.

“Stay right there. Rhea, you have lost your fucking mind. Sit down!” He growled his last command and pushed Rhea into the chair harshly, using more strength than he ever would on a woman, pulling out his cell and pressed it to his ear. He put one hand on Rhea’s shoulder and held her down so she couldn’t get back up even though she was trying.

“Zheng, I need you. First door, corridor on the left by the fountain. Bring something to clean up TangShi and someone to take Rhea home.” His mood seemed stable, but he was inwardly seething. Trying to gain control of this situation.

“I’m not leaving.” Rhea crumbled in her chair and let her head roll to one side. No longer fit to resist as all her energy drained and YuZhi let go.

“Yes you are. I’m done with this bullshit, Rhea. I’m done with you attacking Tang because you cannot get your shit together. This is never who you were, and I don’t know if I never really knew you and this is something you hid for a long time, or if you need help that I’m not qualified to give. Either way, you’re leaving. We will deal with this when you’re sober.” YuZhi turned away, taking a moment to calm his own self and think before shaking himself off.

Rhea jumped to her feet as he moved to tend to TangShi and hauled him back from behind in a fit of jealousy, grabbing his arm and pulling him sideways so he lost his balance. YuZhi grabbed at the arm of the chair and yanked himself free, shoving her away in reaction and scowled at her.

“What about you? Were you always like this? You care so little for me now and switched all your attention to some bitch who has been in your life for five minutes.” Rhea didn’t back down but came at him with unbridled venom. YuZhi’s temper flared from being manhandled, having her scream in his face and insult Tang that way, and he let rip without meaning to.

“Five minutes? Try eight fucking years, Rhea. She’s Alice! do you really think that she doesn’t matter in this? I’m who I always was but if you treat me like shit then expect retaliation.” as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wished he could take them back and knew he said the wrong thing. Groaning internally at blurting this out. Rhea’s eyes widened as it registered who Alice was and the truth of what she meant to him when he was younger.

“What?” She faltered, her words clear and shocked and TangShi didn’t know whether to stay or run. Rhea’s glare came to her in question, and she recoiled with the intense hatred in that look.

“Alice? From Beijing, from that ball? The girl you left the night your father died?” Rhea seemed to have a moment of clarity. Her mind putting so many things together and getting flawed results as she spun on YuZhi, grabbing his lapels. “The kiss was real, wasn’t it? All this time, the reason you have been dodging me was because you and her…… you’re having sex, kissing, going on dates, right? Because she’s the one that got away and you hid this from me. You’ve been lying and hiding the fact that she’s the girl you want. FUCKING TELL ME!” Rhea escalated from babbling to outright yelling into his face again and YuZhi hesitated.

He knew he couldn’t lie about a kiss even if it wasn’t the one she was talking about and threw a glance at TangShi who was pale faced and trembling by the door. This was over her head, and she had become rooted to the spot and mute.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“We have never had sex. You know this. And we’re not dating, we’re hanging out as friends because there’s no law against that. That kiss that night wasn’t a kiss. We explained it already and it wasn’t a lie.” He deflected by using specifics to dodge a truth she would erupt at. He knew this was not a night for complete honesty as she was a ticking timebomb already.

“Do you have feelings for her?” Rhea probed, suspicion breaking through as she emotionally crumbled. Pushing him back a step with a hostile shove and a vengeful look in her eye. Her temper rising and YuZhi tried to unlatch her hands from his jacket, sensing the building eruption of tension between them and knowing he needed to diffuse it.

“I care about her, as I should. She’s my friend, the girl who is stuck in this situation like I am. You have male friends; this is no different.” He tried to soothe with his tone, aware TangShi was backing off and seemed like she didn’t know what to do when the door behind her clicked open and ZhengLi slid in. YuZhi sighed with relief, aware ZhengLi was one of the few who could handle Rhea, given he had known her since birth too.

“Let me go. When you’re sober, we can talk it out, but not here, not like this. We need space to calm down. Let Zheng take you home.” YuZhi managed to pull her hands from his clothes as she faded into a dreamlike state. So much going on in her head as she tried to process the new information. Strangely detached and numb as a reality sunk in on her that she never expected.

Alice was a girl she despised all these years for being one memory YuZhi seemed to cling onto. It had never made sense to her why one night had touched his life in such a way and how amazing could this girl have been. Now knowing TangShi was her, her loathing of the girl grew and suddenly it all made sense in her scrambled mind.

YuZhi walked towards TangShi to make sure she was okay, his heart aching by how lost and scared she looked. Overwhelmed with this situation and caught the widening look in ZhengLi’s eye so fast, behind TangShi, as they connected with Rhea behind him.

He turned in time to see her scoop up the glass and throw it straight at TangShi’s head. A look on her normally pretty face of ugly hatred and toxic venom. Intent written all over her. A split second, a moment of unleashed fury on Rhea’s part and YuZhi dived in front of TangShi. Catching her in his arms and shielding her into a bear hug so it collided with the back of his jacket, against one shoulder blade and shattered into a thousand pieces. Some flew past his right shoulder with momentum, and he turned TangShi with him to make sure nothing touched her, while the rest fell down his back and crumbled behind his feet. He cocooned TangShi against his chest, his hand over her head and the other on her back, cradling her. Fury growing and his last nerve snapped completely.

“Are you okay?” YuZhi looked down, reacting first as protector before his anger fully engaged. TangShi nodded numbly, shellshocked that Rhea would go as far as trying to harm her that way and let go of YuZhi’s clothes so he could let her go. Trembling all over and her eyes filled with moisture a as she bit on her lip to curb her tears. YuZhi brushed her cheek with his thumb to comfort her, his heart wrecked with the unconcealed heartbreak.

ZhengLi rushed forward and dusted him down, inspecting him for injury and guided TangShi gently towards the door. Knowing he needed to get her out before Rhea would calm down. This was only going to escalate and ZhengLi couldn’t let that happen to anyone in this room. They were all his friends.

“Go, out there. My friend Cheng will take you to his car, he’s waiting.” ZhengLi nodded with a soft voice, gripping YuZhi’s upper arm for fear he would turn on Rhea if he let him go. He could feel the rising hostility in him, and his stance and expression were grim.

“I’ll be there soon.” YuZhi added, motioning for her to go, trying to hold himself still for TangShi’s sake. Both men turned towards the now sobbing Rhea, standing like a broken woman in the shadows of this room. No remorse at all for what she tried to do and it switched something inside of YuZhi off. He had no pity for what he could see in this moment, only a growing dislike for her.

As soon as the door clicked shut, YuZhi shook ZhengLi off, walked to her and lifted her chin with one finger. Cold as ice, his emotions locked up tight by what she just did and that normal persona of YuZhi Leng that he was famed for on full show.

“You and I are done. I know this is partly my fault, and I’m sorry, but life dealt us both a shitty hand we had to deal with it. What you just did, I can’t forgive. I don’t know you anymore and alcohol isn’t an excuse, Rhea. You could have seriously hurt her, left her blind and disfigured…… or worse. We’re over, Rhea. Done. The end.” YuZhi’s words were delivered slowly, perfect clarity and no emotion present at all. The tone he used when shutting down conflicts at work, and it put the fear of god into her. She had never met this version of him.

“You don’t mean that…You’re angry, and we’ve all drunk too much champagne. I’m sorry, it’s just…” She began to plead, breaking down and realizing she made a grave mistake.

“You don’t hurt people like that. I forgave a slap, but this….. I can’t. What’s next, huh? A push down a stair, hit her with your car? You need fucking help.”

“YuZhi, go. Leave her with me. Take TangShi home.” ZhengLi interjected between them, knowing this wasn’t going to solve anything and only aggravate things. He knew YuZhi’s temper well and these past months observed how irrationally protective he was of TangShi. This conversation wasn’t going to end well if he stayed.

“You don’t mean it. We’re not done, we’ll never be done. You’re mad at me but you won’t be in a few days, you’ll see. We’re getting married. You agreed.” Rhea clung to him, desperate and broken now her fury dissipated and began to cry. Genuinely afraid by a version of him he had never directed at her.

“No, we’re not. I mean it. These past months you’ve pushed, manipulated, threatened, and demanded and made me doubt my feelings for you. It’s like I have seen a whole other you that I don’t like and couldn’t imagine a life with that as my wife. This here, made it clear. I can’t be with someone who does this shit, especially to someone innocent like TangShi. I feel like I never really knew you. That all these years have been a mask and I was blinded and never scraped below the surface.” YuZhi stepped back, his expression blanking out as she made a grab for him, but he caught her wrists in a vice like grip and tossed them off with strength, so she stumbled and ZhengLi caught her.

“You’re wrong. I’ll apologize to her. It’s just me being stupid and drunk. Go, get her. I’ll make it right.” Rhea was back peddling, sobering by the second as reality crashed in around her that YuZhi really was tired of how she had been for months. “She’s my friend. She’ll understand and forgive me. It never touched her, and she forgave me for hitting so…”

“You won’t go anywhere near her, ever again. Do you understand me? TangShi was never someone you saw as a friend, and you abused her nature. This, us, this whole situation… it’s over. We’re done. Don’t call me anymore. Make this a clean break and get on with your life. I don’t want to do this with you.” YuZhi had numbed out his heart and closed the door on his feelings once and for all. Lacking empathy for her in this state and although he wasn’t sure how he would feel in the morning, right now he meant every single word.

“Leave. I got this.” ZhengLi pushed him away by the shoulder as he turned Rhea in his arms and cuddled the sobbing girl, who was reaching out to try and gran at YuZhi. Mumbling the words No, and please, between heartbreaking gulps and sniffs. ZhengLi felt for her but knew this was for the best. He had watched them as couple for three years and never had faith in them being a forever thing. YuZhi was only invested so far, and Rhea was too clingy and possessive to make it work long term. The cracks had started long before TangShi turned up. YuZhi had been able to brush it off when it only affected him, but TangShi added a layer that he couldn’t ignore anymore.

YuZhi turned on his heel, didn’t take one look back and walked off in search of TangShi to take her home. His heart cold and his mind set.