“Haha…” Lily gave a fake laugh. “Nice one… You…” However, her face quickly stiffened as she cast a look at Secretary Go and then back at her driver. “Is this a joke?” she asked, unable to process the current situation.
A myriad of expressions flashed on Lily’s face as reality sank in for her. She took a step back, her gaze darted back and forth between Zhuo Jingren and Secretary Go. “You pretended to be my driver!” Lily accused Zhuo Jingren.
“Correction. You thought that I was your driver,” he calmly said before walking slowly towards his oversized work desk. Zhuo Jingren took his seat behind his desk and gestured at the chair across him, “Please take a seat.” Seeing as Lily did not move an inch, Zhuo Jingren understood that they needed some privacy to talk freely. He then instructed Secretary Go to leave the room.
Secretary Go did not tarry, walking quickly out of the room while avoiding Lily’s gaze. This situation was a little intimidating ah… He was sure that his heart would stop if he were to remain in the same room as those two lions that seemed to be clawing at each other.
“You lied to me,” Lily stated, her tone cold and chilly.
“I did not say that I was your driver. How is that considered lying?” he retorted. After spending time with Lily yesterday, Zhuo Jingren realized that his heart is still beating strongly for this woman and he knew that she is the one that he wants to spend the rest of his life with, until his last breath. Moreover, the situation with Lily’s grandfather’s inheritance made him feel like fate was pushing them together.
As a 31 year old man, Zhuo Jingren was still a novice when it comes to courtship but that didn’t discourage him from wanting to court Lily and eventually marry her. For Zhuo Jingren, he believed that courtship should lead to marriage and after marriage, the husband should continue to woo his wife for a lifetime.
All Zhuo Jingren could think right now was how to get Lily to agree to his marriage proposal so that he could have the privilege of spending a lifetime of bliss together.
“Why are you doing this?” Lily asked, sounding irritated. She tried her best to remain calm but everything that had just transpired felt like an information overload for her. Seeing as Zhuo Jingren raised an eyebrow nonchalantly, Lily felt her blood boil and she almost flared up in anger. She repeatedly reminded herself that being angry would be showing weakness to her opponent, giving them an upper hand and she would not give this man a chance to gain an upper hand.
“What do you mean?”
“Why lie to me?” she reiterated.
“As I said…”
“Then why did you allow me treat you like my driver? Why make me look like a fool?”
Zhuo Jingren did not answer her immediately, instead, he took the time to study Lily’s face, trying to understand her emotions. When Lily noticed that his dark brown eyes were looking intently into hers, she broke eye contact. A flash of guilt was in her eyes but it quickly disappeared. Realizing that this man was the father of her unborn child had already caused Lily to feel complex emotions and she didn’t know how to face him.
“Stop staring at me like that!” she snapped before she walked towards the seat across him. “You owe me an explanation.”
“No, Lily. You owe me an explanation.” Lily was about to snap back at him, but his next words completely shut her down. “Why did you disappear seven years ago?”
Lily’s eyes dimmed as she lowered her head to avoid his gaze. Seven years ago…Seven years ago when Lily got into a road accident, she lost her mother and had a miscarriage. The doctor also told her that the possibility of her conceiving again was very low as her uterus received a huge trauma during the accident and it wouldn’t be as healthy as before. As a young woman who desire to have a family one day, being told that she might not be able to conceive again was a huge blow. But could she say to this to a man she barely knew? No. These were her most painful memories.
“So, you remember,” she muttered.
“How could I forget?” he said softly. The sadness that he saw in Lily’s eyes just before she lowered her head had affected him. It felt like something had pierced his heart, cutting through him and worse, he had no idea what caused her sadness.
“Is that why you pretended to be my driver? You want me to make a fool out of myself?” she snorted. “Is this some kind of revenge for disappearing all those years ago?”
“No,” he answered honestly. “I did it because I was planning to make you my wife and that was the only way for me to get close to you.”
“Huh?” Confusion instantly registered on Lily’s face. The sadness and guilt that she felt earlier vanished into thin air. Wife? How could he say something like this so casually, and out of the blue? This person… “Are you really Zhuo Jingren? Is this some kind of reality TV show prank?” she asked. “This is not a funny joke.”
“I am always serious. Seven years ago, you claimed my virginity, insulted me by leaving an amount of money that was only enough to clean my shoes and ran away,” he sulked.
“Excuse me? What did you say?”
“I said you ran away!”
“Before that!” she demanded, while trying to hide the mirth in her eyes.
“I said that amount that you gave me…”
“No, before that.”
“I said you took my virginity!” he answered almost immediately. “And I want you to take responsibility!”
Lily deadpanned before bursting into peals of laughter. “So you are sulking because I was your first and I ran away? How could you be so childish?”
“You also promised to marry me years before that!”
A flash of realization was seen on Lily’s face. “So you are that shy boy huh,” she thought out loud.
“Now you remembered?” he gave her a cheeky grin.
“Only after you told me your name was Renren last night,” she answered.
“So are you going to marry me now?” he asked full of hope.
“Of course not! Why should I marry someone I barely know?” she answered with another question. Somehow, she was afraid that this man would blame her for losing their child. Would he be disappointed with her and then leave her after that?
….
Editor: Swaning
