Chapter 33: A past best not recalled.

It was not what Manman was expecting at all. All of the things she said were not what she meant. He should have laughed it off as a joke, not come to a realization of facts! She felt frustrated and offended that he was failing yet again to understand her.

Tears fell from her eyes, genuine ones this time around.

“Why are you crying?” Weijun asked, very uncomfortable with her presence and crying. Every second that she was inside was a ticking time bomb of bad luck. And yet, a part of him felt the urge to coax her. After all they had been trough together, he could not stand to see her sad. “Manman, don’t cry. I am not making things deliberately difficult for you, I just have a lot on my plate right now.” He placed a box of tissues in the arms of a short, realistic robot panda and it delivered them to her.

Manman wiped her tears, grunting softly. His words, despite lacking the warmth of the old Weijun were still good enough. “Sorry, I did not mean to cry, I was just hit with all of this sadness because it feels like you are pushing me away. Once upon a time, the Tai’s and Zhang’s were our mutual enemies. Now you are married to Tai Liwu. Everything is changing so suddenly.”

Weijun sighed. “We could not fight forever Manman and besides, the IH does not much support from the ordinary humans as it once did. The government was also threatening to take back all leadership of One city from me. The alliance was a necessity for us, I had to marry Tai Liwu.”

“But it should not have been you.” Manman blurted. “I heard the groom was Weifeng. When I saw footage of the wedding, I was expecting to see roses at the wedding, not you.” She chuckled. “I would recognize you even if you changed your race.”

Weijun was not so sure of that. If she could recognize him, they would not have needed to come out and confess that they were two brothers with a similar face taking turns in the seat of leadership. “Are you alright now?” He asked her.

She nodded, before staring at him in a sterner manner. “But, you refused to hug me so I am holding a grudge. Weifeng is always nice, you only know how to bully me.” Her voice became softer, acting coy and batting her lashes seductively. Not all of her tears had dried, a few drops were clinging to her perfect lashes.

With her face, any man could be moved. Her face was the epitome of symmetry: cheekbones sharp, lips tinted a natural pink, no human flower could produce.

Weijun felt a tremor in his heart. He could not look away, her beauty was engineered to transfix, to override instinct, to bind attention like a spell.

PAH!

A loud sound shattered the spell as a bird crashed against the window.

Weijun was so startled that he stood up abruptly and looked around like a thief. “She knows.”

Manman looked around. “Who knows?”

Weijun sat down, patting his chest. He did not have time to explain to Manman about what was on his mind. He just wanted her gone before the building blew up. “Manman, I am sorry but I cannot entertain you today. I have a lot of work to do and a meeting planned with the members of the city council later. Then, I have to go home and have dinner with my family which my grand aunt says is important. We will have to talk another time.”

Manman clenched her hands. The bitterness she was feeling returned. Before Liwu, he would not send her away like this! He would at least keep her by his side as his secretary and involve her in all the important decision making. All these years, his heart only had her. His eyes longed for her and even in his dreams, he called for her. How could he send her away like this when she had just cried?

Mo Xia entered the office and gestured from Manman to the door, “Miss Manman, please.”

Manman swallowed her anger and stood up slowly, forcing herself to smile. It did not matter, the road to achieve her goal was still long. Tai Liwu was a fake wife, sooner or later, she would leave.

This marriage was an arranged one to benefit a specific need and satisfy all the interested parties in the alliance. Her biggest advantage right now was that the world and Liwu thought she had married Weifeng. That is why she was confident that things would soon be fixed. All that was needed was for Weifeng to return and claim his wife.

The bond between her and the Shen brothers was unbreakable, especially Weijun. It was not something and unlucky woman like Liwu would break with her threats. So what if she was a better background?

The winner of this war was not yet decided. She bid farewell to Weijun and walked out of the office. Her eyes were calm, but in her heart, a storm of doom was bubbling.

After she left, a wall slid to the side and Cross Ho entered the office, with a sly grin on his face. “She cried and you did not move and earth to put a stop to it!” he exclaimed, twisting the gold ring around his left thumb. “She once said she wanted a Cliffheart Blossom that only grows on Mount Huashan. You and Weifeng went ahead to risk your necks at a time when you were on the Bureau’s most wanted list and you went there for the flower. Do you remember what condition you were in when you returned?”

Weijun clenched his jaw. Of course he remembered, how could he forget? They had climbed the cliff side, their bodies had bled and his right arm had popped out of the socket. When they returned with the flower, they hoped Manman would make a choice.

As the one that had picked it, he thought he would be the first choice.

Alas, the first hug went to Weifeng! And him, the fever he returned with forced his eyes closed. Then, she spent the night at his feverish bed side, tending to him with all the care she could muster.

A choice had not been made and the flower, it had been trampled by officers from the Bureau when they located the place where IH was hiding system hosts who were considered fugitives.

Weijun picked up his pen, shaking off memories of the past. “I would rather not recall. Tell my secretary not to let Manman into my office from now on. I don’t want my wife to misunderstand or that dragon mother of hers.” In the back of his mind, he convinced himself that it was because the city budget was stretched thin.

They did not have money to spend on repairing buildings that exploded because Liwu was angry or scorched because her mother was seeking vengeance.

He nodded slowly. This decision had nothing to do with any emotional fluctuations. He was just protecting the city he built.

Cross smiled. Weijun was coming to his senses, finally!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep