Forced by fate – Destined to be his Wife

“So, are you still mad at him?” Linlin giggled in her sweet sunshine tones at her friend on the phone, swinging a leg over the arm of her oversized armchair as she listened to TangShi vent and strop around her room while picking out clothes. She had been ranting nonstop since picking up her call thirty minutes ago and seemed to be on the warpath with YuZhi again. This was becoming a daily occurrence now. Linlin smiled brightly, the phone propped under her chin and against her ear as she painted her nails in neon orange for the day ahead.

“If you are asking if I am still not talking to him, then no, I’m not. He’s the most infuriating man I have ever met, and do you know what he did to me for breakfast?” TangShi stopped mid pacing, her voice pitched and her anger obvious, and threw another dress on the bed to join the pile she was amassing there. Each one tossed in an undignified heap as she tried to expel these wound up feelings and urges towards violence.

“No…but I can guess it was something annoying.” Linlin grinned to herself and stopped to blow on her pointer finger and admire her handiwork.

“He made a point of asking me what foods I don’t like so he could have my diet plan altered and then had the cook make me everything I told him I hated. He’s beyond immature and petty and everyday he finds a new level of low to hit. I honestly couldn’t think he would get any worse!!” TangShi was even more annoyed at herself over this, that she had fallen into his trap and stupidly given him a list of foods she hated. She must have been momentarily dumbstruck.

Linlin snorted with laughter and then tried to cover it with a cough and pressed her lips together to stop the noise before her friend murdered her. She couldn’t help it but to her these two were really something. She found their antics oddly amusing rather than cruel and was starting to enjoy these daily updates. To her, they were two kids playing house and finding ways to one up each other in this weird war. She hoped sexual chemistry was the basis for this behavior and still held out hope that YuZhi would eventually fall for Tang’s charms.

“Don’t you dare laugh.” TangShi scolded with a stern tone. Not amused at her.

“I’m not.”

“I heard you. Now get off the phone so I can get ready, he’ll be here soon, and I don’t want a row about my being late.”

“Still no idea where he’s taking you? And when can we meet, you’re way too busy since marrying that asshat?” Linlin interjected bringing back to the main reason TangShi had called her today. Linlin wanted to see her and was trying to make her commit to a lunch date tomorrow but as always, the Lengs were keeping TangShi active around the clock.

“Soon, I swear, and no. He seemed smug about it too so it can’t be anywhere good. He hinted that it had a bearing on tonight, you know, umm…..” She trailed off shyly and Linlin beamed at the innocence of her sweet girl.

“Consummating your marriage? Getting it on? Losing your V card? Gurl, you need to just grab that man and get over it. He’s YuZhi Leng. Unless you are blind, I cannot see any reason you would turn that fine thing down. He’s hotter than a heatwave in Hawaii. If I could go back and lose mine again, I would give all my money for a chance at that man. He’s one of the seven wonders of the world.”

“Hardly, and you’re not really helping. I’m not shallow like you and happen to need more than some poser who knows he’s attractive. If you like him so much, then you try living with him. He’s unbearable.”

“Except… you already had some pretty steamy make out sessions with him some time ago so we both know he floats your boat. I would gladly swap but his family want Lei babies and I’m not qualified.” Linlin poked fun at her bestie, them both knowing that despite her saying she would hook up with YuZhi given half a chance, they both know she never would. It was part of the best friend code and Linlin had now pegged superstar hot boy YuZhi Leng as her friends first love and a man to never be touched. He was on the no go list.

“Again, not helping!” TangShi’s face flamed at her inability to deny what Linlin was saying, hating that she always brought this up. Eight years ago, even with a mask on, he had made her heart flutter and her knees turn to jelly. Without the mask YuZhi was definitely a face you couldn’t ignore but he was also still a massive jerk.

“I’m just sayin!!! Two years locked up as Mrs. Leng, you have to find the perks. YuZhi in my book would be one of those if he could keep his mouth shut whenever he entered the boudoir.” Linlin’s dirty laugh erupted like a bubbling brook and TangShi could only sigh, knowing fine well they would never agree on this. Linlin and TangShi had completely different personalities and views on sex.

“Dammit. It’s almost time and I’m not dressed. I need to go!” TangShi had caught sight of the clock across the room and cursed herself out for wasting so much time. She had no idea why picking an outfit to go somewhere alone with him was causing her so much trouble. This wasn’t the first time they would be just the two of them but it was the first time he was taking her somewhere alone.

“Kay, gurl, call me later and tell me what it was all about. I’m intrigued.”

“Okay, I love you, bye.” TangShi air kissed over the phone and hung up quickly before hauling out the very first dress she had dumped there and rushing to get it on over her underwear. Checking her makeup and brushing her hair again quickly, she rushed out grabbing her bag and shoes and made her way to the main stairs to go and meet him. Panic stricken at being late.

She dropped her slippers in the main hall of the entranceway, slid on the uncomfortable heels that she had in about every color and made her way outside into the bright sunshine to meet her ride. Just as she swept down the stairs, her floral summer dress floating gracefully around her legs, the beaming shine of sun against glass reflected at her and alerted her to the car coming up the drive. Synchronized almost to the second as the hands hit the half past.

YuZhi had several sports cars but today he opted for a black chauffer driven four by four that was used by their company and had tinted out windows so no one could see inside. Today he needed the secrecy considering they were going to a fertility clinic, and he didn’t want questions raised as to why his female companion wasn’t Rhea. This week the news of their split would go public and their statements about there not being any romantic love between them anymore. Last thing he needed was to be spotted with TangShi out and about before the preplanned timeline of Rhea getting them together.

He hated that his life required this level of deception and a story to cover their asses, but such was his life as a an heir to one of Chinas biggest companies, and a life in the public eye as a celebrity. Netziens could destroy a family name and hurt their stocks, so they didn’t want any scandals. He never asked for the fame, it just sort of happened thanks to good DNA and an easy personality that translated well in interviews. Those who favored wealth and good looks put him on a pedestal and had turned him into one of Shanghai’s most sought-after men. It amused him sometimes, but mostly he found it tiring.

The chauffer jumped out and opened the door for TangShi as quickly as he could, knowing they had a tight schedule, ushering her into the semi dark interior. She climbed in as gracefully as she could, avoiding looking at YuZhi and sat in the seat beside him while leaving a considerable distance between them. She waited until the door was slid closed again, giving them privacy once more, to turn to him and lay down her bag on the seat between them.

“Where are we going?” She asked with a nervous shake to her voice. Her anxiety had been ramping up all morning over this details and as she didn’t trust him at all she had worked herself up into a nervous wreck imagining the worst.

“A clinic. Sit back and enjoy the journey it’s a thirty-minute drive.” YuZhi didn’t even look at her.

“What kind of clinic and why? Haven’t I been examined, prodded, and poked enough? What else could you want to test me for?” TangShi was incensed that he was putting her through even more medical procedures after a week of this family massacring her body in so many ways. Between beauty treatments, hair salons, blood tests and even smear tests and fertility examinations, she had had enough. It didn’t feel like she had any say over her own body anymore.

“A fertility clinic. So we don’t have to have sex to have a baby.” YuZhi shrugged, lifting the iPad in his lap and going back to the documents he was reading on the way here. He wasn’t overly thrilled about this appointment either, but it was preferable to having to have sex with his bride when he didn’t want to. He had to think of the future and going back to Rhea when this was over and being unfaithful wasn’t in his nature.

“A what? I don’t understand. We haven’t even begun trying and you are taking us to a fertility clinic? Do you think I’m sterile or something?” TangShi gushed at him, her words slightly scrambled as she held back the frantic feelings overwhelming her. She couldn’t understand what he was thinking.

“No. It’s not that kind of procedure. He’s a good friend of mine, discreet, and willing to do this without a record or registering us. A simple five minutes of your time while he takes what I dump in a cup and inserts it in you where I don’t want to go. Simple…. Clean, and easy.” YuZhi couldn’t see a problem with this plan and had no idea why she gawped at him in horror as though he had just slain a puppy in front of her. He thought she would like the idea of no physical contact to produce an heir.

“No way!” She snapped “You want me to let some man insert and …. I can’t even.” She turned away jerkily. shaking her head, her anger spreading from zero to a hundred in a second and her whole body started to tremble in reaction. She really couldn’t fathom how no matter he did, he still never failed to shock her.

“Don’t really see the difference. I’m some man you would let insert…”

“Stop. Don’t even say it. What’s wrong with you?” TangShi flushed, cutting him off, her cheeks instantly hot and pink with embarrassment at his crudeness and yet YuZhi really didn’t seem bothered at all. He was way more experienced and worldly than her and felt like she was overreacting.

“Is the virgin Mary act because you’re disappointed I won’t bang you or is it because you really are a prude and some sweet untouched innocent? I really didn’t think you would be the pure type to be honest. Not at twenty-four with passable looks and a half decent figure.” YuZhi eyed her up with a smirk, a half compliment but also not. Making her skin crawl and she could only scowl back at him.

“What is that supposed to mean? Does your ego ever just stop inflating itself?” TangShi swung away from him again, to haul her bag into her lap and stare moodily out of the window. Hating that once again he reduced her to this.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

“I mean who am I to judge if you’re not? We live in twenty, twenty-one. I’m not a traditionalist and I sure as hell am not a virgin either. I don’t care what you’ve done before this or what you do after, as long as only my DNA mingles with yours until we’re divorced.” He chuckled at his own euphemism, amused at his own humor.

“Eww.” TangShi screwed her face up at him, skin flaming and unwilling to admit she had never gone beyond kissing anyone in her life, and that anyone was him. She hadn’t really done any dating in the last eight years or before that night of the ball. It wasn’t something she actively pursued while trying to escape a life she hated and focusing on her scholarship. “Could you make this sound anymore icky?” She deflected.

“What’s ‘ickier’ than having to do this with you?” YuZhi retorted, quick as always and she silently cursed his smart-ass comebacks and deadpan expression when delivering them. She hated his sarcasm and that cold and cool persona that other women seemed to swoon over. She didn’t know if he was quick witted because of a high IQ or if spending your days with cutthroat businessmen made it a necessity.

“Whatever. You know, I really don’t see what it is Rhea likes about you. She’s pleasant, likeable, and actually warm. You’re…. well, not.” TangShi wasn’t in the mood for trying to be sarcastic and witty, but she was mad enough to want to wound him with words too.

“Is that supposed to be a burn? Nice try. Rhea likes cold, distant, and sexy…so I don’t really care if we are opposites. I also don’t care if you don’t understand the relationship as it doesn’t concern you.” YuZhi flicked the screen of his iPad and turned a page to make it clear he had work to do and didn’t want to keep talking to TangShi. She was an irritation in his day and already taking up his valuable time to do this.

“What if I say no?” TangShi dropped that question sweetly while still watching the passing scenery fly by, with a heavy weight in her stomach. The thought of a clinic doing something like this consuming her and making her feel wretched. She hated going to the doctors as it was, and this was going to be both embarrassing and evasive. She couldn’t imagine anything worse.

“Then I guess I have to get drunk and make a woman of you.” She felt his eyes on her as he turned her way and glanced just in time to catch his wink her way. A smooth, bad boy, and giving no cares kind of gesture before he smirked, showing off a hint of those shiny white teeth and going back to his device. TangShi inhaled heavily and gritted her teeth so as not to react and balled her fists instead.

“I’d rather go to a clinic” she ground out petulantly. Weighing up the two she didn’t really like either option, but the appointment was a lesser of two evils. She could bear it.

“Good. I can relax knowing we agree on something. We’ll come here twice this week, then again a month from now if your periods show up in two weeks. We’ll plan accordingly until you’re pregnant.” YuZhi spelled it out in an even disinterested tone and carried on reading while TangShi blanched at how easily those words came out of his mouth.

Most men in her life would never talk openly about anything like this with any females she had known growing up and yet he seemed unfazed and uncaring. He didn’t seem all that invested in the fact that all this was to make him a father at the end of it. He really didn’t show any kind of emotion about that at all.

“Anymore questions, or can I go back to what I was doing? I have a meeting this afternoon and several reports to read before then. I’d prefer if you just sit and be quiet and pretend, I’m not even here.” He dismissed her airily, eyes back on his screen and infuriated her.

TangShi didn’t respond but glared at him for a long moment wondering if there was any person ruder than him in this world, until he looked up, clocking a brow at her expression and smiled.

“Glad you agree.” He turned away, slid in his seat to adjust his position and lifted a leg to wedge his foot against the middle rest so he could use his knee to prop up his tablet in an easier position. Blanking her out and ignoring her presence.

TangShi turned way, so many emotions stirring up inside like a tidal wave looking for release, and she hated the fact that he made her feel like this anytime they interacted. A combination of anger, a sense of uptightness, and a deep wounded feeling in her soul. He always made her upset and annoyed. All muddled together to confuse her as to what she felt and left her in the worst kinds of moods.

YuZhi got to her for a million reason and now she could add this to the list of things he did that made her feel worthless. Using a clinic rather than physically touching her to get pregnant had to be about the worst way to tell a woman she repulsed you, and it left a scar on TangShi’s heart despite hating him with a passion.