Page 64 of He Is My Bride
“I totally ruined the mood, hahaha!”
“…What did you do?” Anne seemed horrified, so Li Ying hurried to dispel her fears:
“Nothing embarrassing, I just felt… You know.” Li Ying leaned closer to Anne over the coffee table and lowered his voice, “I realized I didn’t want it to happen like that, while I had to fake parts of myself because we were in public.”
Anne nodded, understanding. “Yeah. So, what then?”
“I subtly hinted I was tired, which wasn’t a lie, so we went home and…” Li Ying drew a breath and closed his eyes, bringing his hands together as if in prayer. “Hanjun kept banging me absolutely senseless all night.”
Anne shifted uncomfortably, looking around them, worrying who else might have heard Li Ying’s TMI. Indeed, from the next table over, a group of girls was giving them weird looks.
“Ab-so-lu-te-ly senseless, like you wouldn’tbelieve.” Li Ying went on, totally oblivious, “I don’t understand how that man can just keep going like that over and over—”
“I get it.” Anne hissed, trying to hide her face from the other people in embarrassment. “Even if you said you were tired? Isn’t he a little selfish?”
“Nah. I acknowledge my duty as a wife is to satisfy my husband!” Li Ying wiggled the ring in front of Anne’s face.
The girls at the neighboring table stared. They began whispering amongst themselves.
“And then,” Li Ying continued, “in the morning, he had skipped work to cuddle me, and then he popped the question! Or, well,” Li Ying chuckled softly, “I had to help him because he was totally freaking out. He was probably as relieved as I was that he didn’t have to do it in public after all. I don’t think he could have. He was so nervous, the poor guy.”
“Sir Hanjun doesn’t really strike me as someone shy. Maybe behind his cool exterior, he’s a sensitive person, do you think?” Anne spoke while keeping an eye on the girls.
“It’s true. Anyway, I actually asked him first, and after that he was okay to do it too. So cute, right? It wasn’t at all what I expected, I guess, but it didn’t feel awkward or anything. I was just happy it was finally happening.”
The girls sitting next to them got up and left, oddly quiet considering they had been chattering away just a moment ago. Now Li Ying noticed them too.
One of the girls was folding a gazette into her purse. Anne recognized the publication’s title.
“…Wait,” she said and got up, walking to the magazine rack that had free daily papers for patrons.
She returned with the gazette, and wouldn’t address Li Ying’s questions—‘what is that? Is there another one about me?’—until she’d flipped through the paper and found what she was looking for.
“I wasn’t going to tell you if nothing had come of it,” Anne began, “but a reporter called me yesterday. From this paper.” She showed it to Li Ying. “I think a saleswoman from the mall tipped them off. I gave her my card.”
“What the…? She’s got some balls on her, huh? That could get her in trouble.”
“It just might; I’ve contacted the store manager and reported my suspicion.”
“But what if she loses her job?”
“As she would deserve! Why are you defending her?“
“I mean, yeah, it wasn’t very nice of her, but what do you think she makes? That tip probably got her a nice Christmas bonus. Considering she doesn’t know me and probably thinks I’m just another rich bitch who could be taken down a peg, I can’t really blame her for being opportunistic.“
“Well, I can, and were it up to me, she would make nothing at all after this season, so she better enjoy her ‘bonus!’ She’s compromised my professional integrity, too. She’s not getting any camaraderie from me.”
“You’re scary.”
Anne tossed the gazette to Li Ying and folded her arms at her chest. “Not scary enough. Although I told the reporter nothing, they managed to make a small story out of it, but it’s nothing to get worked up about. See for yourself, page twenty.”
Li Ying took the paper and opened the page, reading the short lead-up:
‘Young multibillionaire Wu Hanjun spotted shopping with his female companion in Plaza 66 mall.’
“Big deal.” Li Ying read on.
‘[...]Mall personnel said the young heir of his family’s successful business (Wu Pharma) must have spent an ‘exorbitant’ sum of money to buy presents, seemingly for his mysterious companion. Lucky girl! The young beauty’s name, identity, and nationality have been widely speculated since she arrived in Shanghai last Saturday with Wu Hanjun.’
