“You sound like my sister.” Kai swung his towel over his shoulder and bent a second time to retrieve the water before straightening to open it and take a hearty drink. He was exhausted and finally let himself stop, but he still had so much internal energy to dispel. This constant nagging rage that simmered inside him made sleep and focus impossible. He cursed Meilei for ever showing up in his life again.
“Ahhh, Minhui has been flying the Anna flag again. You can count on her to always be Anna’s cheerleader.” Tian chuckled to himself and carried on removing his right-hand wrap. Stretching out his legs and tossing them aside.
Kai tensed his jaw.
“Hmmm.” Deflecting the flower comment as a flash of memory brought an unwanted girl into his head, and he pushed her aside just as fast. She had been a whole lot of wasted flowers and gifts, and he regretted every single one.
“I never agreed to it in the first place.” He leaned in to retrieve his cell, discarded gloves, and tucked them under his arm. Tian sighed and wondered if Anna would be sad enough to wait at the restaurant or if she had finally learned not to make the reservations if he didn’t give her a straight answer.
“I never asked her to, and I haven’t given her any reason to do so.” Kai was well aware that Anna had strong feelings for him. They had briefly had a thing long ago that went nowhere for him, yet she had never moved on. Their friendship and business relationship meant Anna was a constant in his life, but sometimes, he just wanted to break free from this situation. It was not that he didn’t care about her. He didn’t intend to give her what she wanted from him. He didn’t feel that way about her. She was someone he respected and trusted in business.. a friend he went to university with. Nothing more.
She had turned out to be a complete wolf in sheep’s clothing, and he was in two minds about whether she would stand up and fight him or resign. He wanted the fight and the opportunity to go head-to-head with her and see her true colors. Maybe then he would finally be able to shift this knife in his heart he had harbored since they parted ways.
If she tried to run, he would force her to stay anyway.
His sister died on the grounds of their home at the hands of the woman he trusted. At her own party. Within feet of her family and friends.
He would never have known if it hadn’t been for the erratic voice note his sister left him right before it happened. He would have continued believing Meilei loved him and Yuelin’s fall had been an accident. That his best friend wasn’t some snake bastard who threw away all loyalty and all their years of growing up together to get in bed with a cheap whore. They cut him in so many ways.
Kai still had that recording from so many years ago. His sisters sobbed and rushed last words. He couldn’t part with it even though he had only ever listened to it once.
Meilei and Kai had argued after seeing San and Meilei closely talking in a shaded garden area alone. San had caught her touching her hand as though trying to hold it. Faces close together, and voices hushed. After weeks of doubts and suspicions, he was irrationally jealous, pushing her away and caught in his anger and unwillingness to believe they would betray him. She had denied it, told him it was nothing and that he was too drunk and paranoid, but he couldn’t shake what he thought he saw. The kind of intimacy he shared with her that should only have been with him. The way San looked at her was the way Kai looked at her. He couldn’t deny what he saw. It was their first real fight, beyond minor misunderstandings and bickering.
He had stormed off to put space between them, needing to cool down before he said or did something he would regret, and less than half an hour later, his sister lay dead at the bottom of the stone staircase leading to their home’s rear entrance.
Looking back, he could see it clearly. It started right after San got a job at a company near Meilei’s campus. He had been so blind. Thinking they were friends and nothing more. Meilei had started acting off and was secretive with her cell, which she had never been before. She would turn down plans if they involved San in their friendship group, and San seemed too busy to hang out anymore. If they did see one another, there was a strained atmosphere, which at first had Kai asking her if they had fought. Meilei always denied anything and everything concerning San.
He was near her all week, living where his new job was while Kai was an hour away. A convenient arrangement for them both. Maybe that was the whole reason San took a job there. Perhaps it started even before he picked up on it.
He didn’t want to think how often they must have slept together in those days before she saw him on weekends. It made him sick to his stomach to even think about it.
“Okay. Please do so.” Meilei didn’t doubt that it would be approved immediately once this went upstairs and Kai saw it. She wasn’t even worried about it. Her manner today was one of sad resignation and zero fight. She had made peace with what she needed to do. She had watched Yue sleep this morning for an hour, finding strength in her baby’s face to hold herself together to do this. Knowing for her, she would walk through fire. Leaving OTS was nothing.
“You will have to work as normal until HR summons you. They have a lot going on right now with evaluations, so it might not be until late today or not even at all. I have no idea how quick a response you will get. It might take a week.” Manager Lee sounded apologetic and stressed. Sitting in here with her, trying to think of reasons to make her stay, but Meilei was adamant. She said this was down to her personal situation and could offer him no workable reasons. It wasn’t OTS, her pay, or her job role.. she wasn’t unhappy with any of it. He had no leverage to make her stay. There was nothing to offer her.
“It’s fine. I want to talk to my team anyway. I owe them the news myself.” Meilei moved to get up, but Manager Lee lifted a hand to halt her.