Forced by fate – Destined to be his Wife

“Are you sure you want to do this? ZhengLi could have ….” Linlin gently rubbed TangShi’s shoulder as they sat in the overly fancy office. A small, neat space that was unusually elegant.

“No. I don’t want him involved. He turned his back on me the same way YuZhi did. Why would I ask them for help now? They’re part of the ruins of my life and I don’t need them to help me fix this.” TangShi cut in, stern and stubborn. She had been in this mindset the last two days. Refusing to let Rhea go to ZhengLi or tell a soul about the test results or asking for any kind of help in proving this further. Determined to find out the facts directly and not letting other people solve her problems for her.

Linlin and her had made an appointment with the hotel manager themselves today after talking to him at length on the telephone the day before. It was unexpectedly simple and not the huge hassle they expected it to be. Doing this with just the two of them as TangShi also rejected any interference form Rhea, not ready to forgive and forget or trust her either.

TangShi had taken a massive hit in her heart in terms of betrayal in all of this and Linlin was the only one she wanted to believe in anymore. The only person she would allow close to her as she was still the only one who had never hurt or abandoned her in all these years. No one had come through as who she thought they were, and she needed to rely on herself to get through this. Linlin was all she needed by her side.

TangShi was caught up in a numb bubble of disbelief where anger and outrage held side by side and had managed to block out the agony of heartbreak of the previous few days while on a mission to clear her name. Right now, YuZhi didn’t matter anymore, nor did fixing what they lost. The Leng family was unimportant. Nothing except finding out what that scum did to her and knowing the truth for herself so she could process and decide what to do next. That’s all that mattered to her now.

“Here you go.” The manager walked back in with a bright smile, having left them sitting here momentarily and waved a USB in his hand. Dangling it from a hotel logo keychain and passed it to Linlin gently. “I had them pull up the times covering the corridors and dining room of when your party was booked in and the walkway to 3208, where Mr Cai had booked a room. I hope this is beneficial to your needs.” He hadn’t asked to review the footage because quite frankly he didn’t want to be involved. He was hoping they would take it and leave. Knowing he probably shouldn’t hand over delicate footage like this but the Leng group was well known and somewhat of a force in this city. You would be an idiot to get on the wrong side of them.

Learning the publicly adored daughter in law of Leng group had possibly been assaulted in his hotel was enough to have him copy the CCTV to a file and hand it over easily, without the gesture of cash, or perks. That was a headache that could cause him all sorts of mayhem if it got out that he didn’t assist. So many rich clients would never come here again if the hotel reputation was dented in this manner, trust lost, and he had already instructed staff to blacklist the Cai family from future bookings.

“You watched these?” Linlin queried wanting to know if they were any use and it might save them time. Eyeing him up with scrutiny and able to tell he really didn’t care about the outcome. He only cared about how this would affect this hotel chain.

“No, we just pulled time dates and locations and moved them for you to view. If the hotel can assist you in other ways, then please let us know.” He wanted them out of his building and this matter to be over. His statement he hoped made it clear they could leave.

“I have another question.” TangShi broke in, ignoring his dismissal. Her tone flat and her expression somber. She had been in an unreadable mood all morning and Linlin was concerned with this disconnected version of her. Knowing this could be delayed shock or even trying to process what had been done to her body since she found out about the toxicology report and read it for herself. “When did he book the hotel room?” TangShi knew this was as important as the test results in proving Rong was the one who did this. Proving he planned it in advance. Another notch in the list of disgusting betrayals.

“I’ll check that for you.” The manager turned to his desktop screen and punched a few keys on the keyboard and seemed to scroll through some kind of list.© NôvelDrama.Org - All rights reserved.

“The day before the dinner when he booked the private dining room. Both were done at the same time.” He nodded towards TangShi with a pleasant smile, not knowing the weight of that detail.

“Can you print us the booking form please.” Linlin cut in taking TangShi’s hand as she sat there staring silently at the manager and sensing TangShi was probably dissecting the fact he knew this is what he would do. He booked a double room near the dining hall for this purpose. It was all clicking into place.

“Sure.” The manager pressed some keys and then the whir of a printer churning out the document seemed to fill the gap in dialogue and the eerie heavy silence of this room. The tension between the three of them. He picked it out of the nearby tray and slide it across the table to Linlin with a nod.

“Anything else?” He raised a brow with a polite half smile.

“If I report this, the police may come see you, but other than that thank you for your help. It’s appreciated. We don’t hold the hotel responsible for any of this so don’t worry, we won’t be causing you issues. We’re leaving.” TangShi got up first, stilted and polite but there was an edge to her tone. Startling Linlin into action with her decisive behavior and statement as she walked to the door. Linlin quickly bowed and thanked the manger before hightailing it after her.

TangShi didn’t wait but walked at speed towards the main foyer on the ground floor and out into the grey day that seemed to match her inward emotions. The clouds were covering the sky in its entirety and making it gloomy. Leaving the air damp and cold, while the light was depressing. She walked to the car they had abandoned on the front pathway of the expensive hotel and got in when Linlin unlocked it from a distance before catching up.

“You okay?” They slid into the car at the same time at opposite sides and Linlin threw her a wary glance. Not sure how to comfort or deal with this new version of TangShi. Feeling like she should walk on eggshells and be extra gentle with her today.

“I’m fine. Let’s go home so I can use your laptop to watch it.” Her tone was stilted and empty and Linlin did as she was told.

Traffic was unusually light for this time of the day, so it didn’t take long to get to Linlin’s home a few miles away. Silence heavy between them only broken up by some soothing song choices played on low when Linlin couldn’t stand the lack of conversation anymore. She wanted to help her friend and knew she needed time but TangShi’s lack of communication these past two days was making her sick to her stomach with worry. Worrying like a mother hen and had even started texting Rhea back and forth for advice eon how to console someone in TangShi’s position. Rhea wasn’t much help either.

Home was empty as Linlin’s parents were on another cruise and the staff always kept out of the way until dinner, knowing Linlin liked her space. Linlin pulled out her laptop and set it on the coffee table of the lounge before settling down with TangShi to start viewing the files. Dumping some warm mugs of cocoa and a platter of cookies to somehow soften this task into something bearable.

“I’ll copy it into editor and can clip away anything worthless and only keep what shows us what happened. So we have pretty easy access at a glance.” Linlin was being methodical and meticulous in collecting the evidence as she still hoped TangShi would take it to the police and not let this creep get away with it. She had photocopied all documents too and created an easy to send file should they want it on top of the physical stuff.

“Okay. Move over.” TangShi slid in beside her on the floor in front of the couch and waited for Linlin to put the key fob in. Uptight, wringing her hands and focusing on breathing in and out slowly as her nerves built to epic levels.

“This is you guys arriving here.” Linlin pointed out their group from the main door, shuffling in and looking merry about being there. There was a collection of files from different cameras they looked at one at a time, that had them being shown to the upper floor private dining, fast forwarding with purpose all the unnecessary footage. It meant clicking in and out of several to see their progress and nothing footage they could discard right away.

“I remember everything up until we ate dessert. You can skip all of until then. That’s the last moment I have a memory of.” She nudged Linlin who was squinting at the dining hall footage. It seemed that room had one camera that overlooked the whole room, but it wasn’t of the best quality in low lighting. It did cover the dinner table at a distance though and showed how they were all seated and how Rong made a point of following her. It picked up the group of them but when they moved to the couches for drinks, although you could only see some of it. TangShi sat down on one edge and nothing of Rong who was cut off at the arm. It was a bad angle out of shot and Linlin sucked in air though her teeth in frustration and started again.