Nana knitted her brows.
“I know Aunt Chen really likes you and you are also good friends with Jianyu, but shouldn’t you realize your place by your own accord?”
“My place?”
“Yes. Well, there is no need to tell you about Chen’s family status and influence, right? But then what about your background? Where is your family?”
Nana smiled, “No offense Miss Tang, but we are really not that close enough for me to tell you about my personal circumstances.”
Suyin stiffened. This bitch!
She smiled, “Nana, you are misunderstanding me. I’m telling you this for your own good. People from our society don’t like mingling with people of a little…you know. In the end, you are the one who is going to get hurt. Some socialites are very harsh.”
“Harsh? Perhaps…like you?”
She gave a distraught expression. “Nana, You are Jianyu’s friend. So, I also care about you. I think you are still angry at me for the incident at the party, right? But I already apologized to you. Can’t you forget it please?”
She faked a sob.
Nana kept quiet.
“I just wanted to say that if anyone heard that Jianyu regularly visits your place in such a downtown area or if you come in his office, it would be a big blow to his reputation. They won’t accept it. I’m his very close friend and we have spent a lot of time together. We still do. Although compared to before, it is a little less now. But, I will not be able to bear anyone saying anything bad about him.”
She gave her the impression that she is the closest to him and indirectly Nana is the cause of their growing distance.
She smiled. “Who are ‘they’? And why would Chen Jianyu need to think about ‘them’? Whoever they are, they are not living his life. They have no right to question his choices. They are happily living their own lives. They should let Chen Jianyu live his too, don’t you think?”
She froze. She never thought that Nana would ever talk back to her. When she falsely accused her in the party, she saw how nervous and scared she was. So, she thought of her as a weak girl who just got out luckily because of that kid and the support of Mother Chen, Father Liu, Liu Jinhai and Chen Jianyu.
“Regarding me coming here, I’m here just to do my job. Also, we sincerely like each other as friends. I will not break my friendship with him because of what other people will think. Because those people only know how to pass judgments. None of them, not a single one of them will come to help you when you are in crisis.
So, then we realize – I compromised on so many things caring about what other people think and they walk out of my life just like that?”
Suyin didn’t have a comeback. Why would she? She belonged to that crowd. She was one of those many socialites who only knew how to point out what and what not to be done; and who would be the first to run away when any sign of trouble comes knocking. Because she doesn’t want any fingers to be pointed at her.
“One more thing Miss Tang. I’m not ashamed of my background. I may not earn as much as you, but I feel pride in my work. At the end of the day, I feel satisfied that I’m capable enough to provide for my brothers and myself. I feel happy that I can run my business on my own two feet, without any connections.”
That shut her up instantly. Nana indirectly exposed how some rich people only use each other to grow bigger and bigger in business. It’s as if they can’t do the same on their own. That hit Suyin very hard.
“Hey. What is with this tense atmosphere?”, Jianyu asked as he came back.
Suyin jolted.
“Ah…”
Nana smiled, “Nothing like that. We were just chatting a little. Alright, I will take my leave now Chen Jianyu.”
“Okay.”
“See you later and”, she looked at Suyin and said, “It was nice meeting you, Miss Tang.”
If looks could kill, then Suyin had already killed her a thousand times. To her, Nana’s eyes looked as if challenging her with the determination to not back down.
She smiled, “Yes, same here Nana.”
She left and Suyin asked Jianyu, “You are quite good friends with Nana, right?”
“Yeah. Now we are really good friends.”, he smiled
“How did you two meet?”
“Well…”, Jianyu told the whole story. He skipped the part where his mother proposed them to date. They were a couple before so he felt a little odd to tell that.
“We started to meet more frequently later on and I slowly realized that she is a kind and honest girl. So, we kind of hit it off.”, he chuckled, “Although I should tell you that it was not easy. In the beginning, we had these weird periods of awkward silences where nobody said anything. You should have seen her expressions. I could literally see on her face how hard she thought to say anything to break the ice.”
Suyin clenched her dress. He was talking so happily about her. It felt like her heart is being tightly squeezed seeing him praising some other girl.
