Bei Tian woke up with a terrible headache. He was accustomed to not sleeping for more than twenty-four hours in order to finish his art, but this time it was different. He spent the whole night reading about Lily and he received shock after shock from the things he discovered.
Bei Tian remembered falling asleep at around four in the morning after reading a lot of articles about Lily. He let out a yawn before brushing his teeth. He then looked at the time and let out another yawn when he saw that it was already eight in the morning. Bei Tian immediately left the room and walked towards the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.
“You’re still here?” Lily’s voice surprised him. He stared at her for a while, examining her clothing. She was wearing a black long sleeved bodycon dress that emphasized her curves. Her hair was in a French twist and light makeup was on her face. Lily was a CEO so it would not be unusual for her to be this… polished.
“If Zhuo Jingren catches you staring at me like that, he will kill you.” Lily’s voice woke him up from his stupor. Bei Tian then realized that he must have been staring at her for far too long. He instantly shifted his gaze and walked towards the coffee maker, which looked as if it had not been used for years. After making his coffee, he turned towards Lily who was leisurely reading a newspaper while drinking her own coffee at the dining table.
“Where is he?” he asked awkwardly. Bei Tian didn’t understand why knowing about Lily’s identity made him a little uncomfortable. Maybe it was the fact that he knew about Zhuo Jingren’s love for Qin Jinghua that actually made him start to feel pity for her.
“Taking a bath.”
“So…” Bei Tian started after he took a seat across Lily. “How long have you two been together?”
“Just a month.”
“Oh…” he nodded.
“You seem rather quiet right now.” Lily looked at him. “Is there something that you want to tell me?”
“Oh… I was just, you know. You remind me of someone.”
“Oh… your girlfriend?” Lily asked.
“No… I um… someone that we used to know, but she is dead. So…” he shrugged, his eyes staring straight at Lily’s face as he took a sip of his coffee.
“Then it’s good.”
“Well… it’s not really good,” Bei Tian blurted out. How could it be good? Zhuo Jingren refused to accept that Qin Jinghua was dead, and he even used this woman in front of him to increase his influence in the West to find her. “It just made me wonder why you agreed to marry Jingren? He is good looking, but his temper is not that great. He is a very cold person too. Was it just a business decision?” Of course, Bei Tian was aware of what happened with Lily and Liam Arison’s engagement. This made him wonder why she agreed to marry Zhuo Jingren when she’d just ended her engagement.
“Ah… Well Jingren said that he would kill himself if I didn’t marry him. I am not that heartless, so I agreed,” Lily said shamelessly, her eyes still on the newspaper. The front page was all about Xuan Zengmo and Yang Lina ah. She could not miss this.
“I’m sorry what did you say?”
“You heard me,” she shrugged.
“You- My friend is not like that! How could you slander him? My goodness! Just as I suspected, he has really bad taste in women,” Bei Tian let out a sigh as he shook his head. That’s when the pancake sitting nearby caught his eye.
“I am telling the truth. You could ask him. It is obvious that he is head over heels in love with me ah. Anyone who witnessed our love story would say that,” she boasted.
“Shameless. You’ve only known him for a month and you are already boasting! My… I have never met someone as shameless as you! He is not head over heels in love with you as his heart already belongs to someone else!”
“Who?” Lily instantly lifted her head and looked at him.
“A beautiful woman named Qin Jinghua! She is his first love too! So stop boasting that he loves you so much. Hmph! He wrote songs for Qin Jinghua when we were little, and he even painted her. His adopted parents liked Qin Jinghua a lot too.”
“Ah… but she is already dead no?” Lily asked. The amusement in her eyes only made Bei Tian more irritated. How could a woman be this shameless and annoying?
“She will forever live in Jingren’s heart!” he said righteously.
“I heard you last night.” Lily said. “You said this Qin Jinghua is not even that pretty. Now you are talking about her as if she is an undying goddess. Are you perhaps mentally ill?”
“You…” Bei Tian’s eyebrows were furrowed as he glared at her. This Lily is even more annoying than Zhuo Jingren ah! In his anger, he pulled the plate with pancakes towards him trying to irritate Lily. “Did you make this?” he asked.
“Hmmm.. I did,” Lily said proudly. “Let me tell you a little secret.” She then leaned towards him and lowered her voice. “Zhuo Jingren loves my cooking so much, he said he won’t eat food prepared by anyone else anymore.”
Seeing Lily so look proud, an evil glint flashed in Bei Tian’s eyes as he used a fork to stab into the pancake. “Well… this is mine now!” he said as he took and ate a mouthful of the pancake. He looked at her provokingly, triumph apparent in his eyes. However, what hit his taste buds was something that immediately made him puke!
‘Blargh’
Boisterous laughter instantly echoed throughout the apartment as Lily watched Bei Tian run into the sink and attempt to remove all traces of the pancake from his mouth. He sent her another glare as he rinsed his mouth using lots of water.
“You scheming woman!” he hissed as he pointed at her. “Are you trying to poison Jingren?”
“Who said that it was for my husband?” Lily asked as she stifled another laugh, her eyes beginning to tear up from too much amusement.
“You… You will pay for this! I will tell Jingren about all this!” he fumed.
“Aiyo… you were comparing me to another woman last night. I thought I should teach you a lesson,” Lily laughed. “I am incomparable! Just look at my amazing cooking skills!”
“Shameless!”
“I am indeed very shameless,” Lily concurred.
“Originally, I pitied you because I know that my friend would never love another woman as much as he loves Qin Jinghua, but now that I know how devious you are…. You- I don’t feel any pity for you at all! You deserve to marry a man who doesn’t love you!” he blurted, irritation apparent in his eyes. How could this woman feed him something so salty it would probably kill him the moment it reached his stomach?!
“First, this Qin Jinghua that you speak of is the reason why your good friend married me,” Lily said in a light tone. Bei Tian narrowed his eyes at Lily when he heard her words. Now that he thought about it, Lily had the same eyes as Qin Jinghua… could it be that Zhuo Jingren saw Qin Jinghua in Lily?
But that was just too impossible. Qin Jinghua was kind and gentle, while this woman… is a devil in the business world. There were no similarities at all!
“If you keep on analyzing things, your brain will explode from over exhaustion!” Lily said.
“Are you calling me dumb?”
“Yes, I am… aren’t you always the dumb one while Zhuo Jingren is the smart one? Aiyo… Bei Tian ah… you are still silly and funny, still the type that would make any woman laugh. Tell me… are you already married?”
Bei Tian took a step back when he heard Lily’s question. His eyes lingered on her face as her question registered with him. She knows him?
Wait….
Bei Tian remembered that last night, this woman called him Bei Tian when he did not remember introducing himself. He was sure that they had never met before… so how did she know his name?
It would not be because of Zhuo Jingren as the latter was not the type of person that would talk about other people. Could it be that…
Once again, he narrowed his eyes at Lily and leaned towards her. Lily was undeniably more beautiful than Qin Jinghua, however their similarities are…
“Hold on! Are you Qin Jinghua?”
“Finally… your brain came back. It must have taken pity on you after all,” Lily smiled before she rose from her seat and walk out of the kitchen. “It’s nice to see you again, Bei Tian,” she said as she waved her hand at him. Then she halted her steps and turned to look back at the pale man standing rooted to the floor.
“By the way, thank you for letting me know how much he… loves me. Rest assured, I will take good care of him …” She gave him a small smile before leaving the room.
