Xia Sha furrowed her eyebrow as her gaze falls on the classic-looking wine bottle. On the opposite of her, Guan Xian looks rigid as his stares went cold. It's when Xia Sha clears her throat, Guan Xian snaps out from his thought and turns to her with a smile.
"Ignore her. I even don't like this wine," Guan Xian begged Xia Sha as he stood from his chair and took the bottle to another table.
Xia Sha watches Guan Xian's charmed the other table by his presence. With a smile and sweet words, the other table seems to accept the wine. In return, Guan Xian comes back with an expensive-looking card.
"Why did you give the bottle away? Do you know them?" Xia Sha calmly as him, as she decided to focus on her steaks, ignoring the panic rising before her stomach.
Guan Xian once again looked at the foreigner on the table and smiled at them before turning to Xia Sha.
"I told you I didn't like that wine, and they are your future investors," Guan Xian answers cheekily and slides the card to Xia Sha's side. Xia Sha glance at the card with slight interest as she shows a faint smile to Guan Xian.
Guan Xian knew that Xia Sha knew that he is hiding something. He would like to explain, but he doesn't like remembering the old pain caused by his stupid and ignorant brain in the past.
The hidden dark side of him started to get annoyed by Ye Zhen Zhen. Guan Xian swears, the next time Ye Zhen Zhen appears before his eyes, he would make her seat decently in her place.
"Sure, I'll keep it," Xia Sha pretended as if nothing happened before and eat her meal.
She did precisely what Guan Xian want at the moment, acting clueless. But it makes the situation turns more uncomfortable as their quality dinner turns cold. He holds his feelings until they got into the car.
"Is there anything you want to ask?" Guan Xian started the so-called discussion with an open-ended question. But he fails to complement his situation when Xia Sha shook her head and smiles at him.
"No?"
No! It's is not the usual Xia Sha he knew. The Xia Sha he knew would throw a ruckus the moment she had a chance. She would get suspicious and choke him to death if he hurt her. Who is this lady inside his car?
How to face this Xia Sha 2.0?
"No," Xia Sha makes her statement clear.
Guan Xian slowly loses the color of his face as he forces his brain to think hard. There must be something behind her action. There is no way Xia Sha didn't get jealous or even slightly curious at Ye Zhen Zhen's action.
Did he oversimplify things? Don't tell him Xia Sha had appointed a surgery schedule?!
"Darling, can I knew what are you thinking right now?" Guan Xian stammered nervously. He didn't even dare to start the engine and drove off.
"Huh? I'm thinking about my hotel progress. What should I do if the launching ceremonies would delay because of the current floods in the F district? People nowadays are rather sensitive," Xia Sha mumbles as she furrowed her eyebrow.
Guan Xian went quiet and started the engine hesitantly as he mumbles under his breath, "Liar."
Xia Sha raised her eyebrow as she throws an innocent look at Guan Xian. "Pardon me, did someone just call me a liar?"
Guan Xian rounded his eyes and almost jumped from his seat. He grinned at Xia Sha and shook his head frantically, "I said lyre. The floods make me think of the music concert I once attended."
"Oh, right, make sense," Xia Sha holds on to her laughter, holding up the funny feeling inside her stomach.
Out of stubbornness and ego, Xia Sha didn't want to appear possessive and jealous. She knew Guan Xian had some history with Ye Zhen Zhen and possibly half other girls in the Capital City. It's part of the package when Xia Sha said yes to the relationship. But there are still times she had insecurities running over her head, and sometimes, she couldn't help it.
'It's all in the past," that is the only sentence Xia Sha keeps chanted on her head to keep her sane.
And sometimes, you couldn't just ignore the problem until it goes away. Those little voices in your mind were scarier than you think. And as Guan Xian didn't know how to start and Xia Sha had no courage to end her endless assumptions, they find themselves suffering in silence.
It's not until Monday when Xia Sha needs to smile at Ye Zhen Zhen for a two-hour straight meeting that she finally wants to explode. Her ego couldn't even stop her finger from sending a message to Guan Xian. The moment she realized Guan Xian had left for a meeting in Barcelona.
"Xia Sha, can I talk to you for a moment?" Ye Zhen Zhen approached Xia Sha with her big, warm smile.
Xia Sha's eyes went around the empty room. As silence started to felt like a threat to her, Xia Sha took a deep breath and squared her shoulder. The calm and grace she ingrained since she was born tried to take over her mental state. But no matter how hard Xia Sha try to stay in her zen, she couldn't.
"I have some questions that are bothering my mind. I hope you don't mind answering them," Ye Zhen Zhen folds her hand after she takes a seat next to Xia Sha.
"As long as we keep it professional, I don't mind," Xia Sha counter Ye Zhen Zhen's statement immediately.
Ye Zhen Zhen's expression remains calm as she replied, "Well, this is lunchtime, and I'm sure you want to hear about this."
Xia Sha is about to reject Ye Zhen Zhe's offer instantly, but she cut Xia Sha off before Xia Sha could answer.
"This is about the girl(s) Guan Xian used to date before."
Xia Sha looks uninterested, but her ears turn red and slightly perked up. There is an internal debate over her head as she glances coldly at Ye Zhen Zhen.
"Why do you think I need to know about this? It's his past. I believe Guan Xian had ended everything in the past. It had nothing to do with me."
"Oh, so you don't want to know the reason why he becomes a womanizer? Like, who is his first love, and how does she broke his heart?" Ye Zhen Zhen tried to make Xia Sha interested by raising her voice tone and raising her eyebrow.
Xia Sha tilted her head to the right and let out a heavy sigh. She pressed her lips into a thin line as she lowered her gaze, "Ye Zhen Zhen, As hard as your tried to bother Guan Xian and me, I've been waisting the same energy to hold myself. Let's make this simple and end today. What do you want, and what makes you think I should answer your questions?"
A fierce eye flashed upon Xia Sha's gaze as she locked her eyes with Ye Zhen Zhen. She wears no polite smile as have twenty minutes ago. Ye Zhen Zhen started to get intimidated as the cold gaze penetrate her deeply.
What do you want? Ye Zhen Zhen knew the direct answer to the very question, yet she is ashamed to bring it up with her mouth.
What are you doing? Why did you appear so many times and bother our dates again and again?
"I-" Ye Zhen Zhen take a rough swallow of saliva but is unable still to finish her sentence.
"I'm sure you are not the type of woman that will stoop low to offer your body and heart to a man in the hope they'll give their heart in return. At most, you only want to show Guan Xian that you exist and are available. I've let you do that, and I'm sure Guan Xian had the clear signal about that too, but let me ask you, did he respond?" Xia Sha asked as if she is the spectator instead of the female lead of the story.
Ye Zhen Zhen went quiet for a long time as Xia Sha's question tear down all her camouflage. Gracefulness that often followed her smiles disappear and left shame all over her face.
"No, didn't he?" Xia Sha found herself sound too resolute, so she makes her confirmation as a question.
"But- he likes me first," Ye Zhen Zhen's trembling answer sounds like a storm triggering Xia Sha's cold heart.
But before Xia Sha could rebuke Ye Zhen Zhen's answer, Ye Zhen Zhen had raised her head and looked at Xia Sha with confusion in her eyes.
"I don't understand. He- he said he would rather die than become a second bound, but you-" Ye Zhen Zhen furrowed her eyebrow and looked at Xia Sha as if she is a crooked witch from the east.