1 That man

The phone which was left on the coffee table vibrated, her pens and pencils trembled along with it, one falling on the dark carpet with white and red flower pattern. The thick dictionaries piled one upon another on the side of the table made no movement but the scattered papers beside them shook. Su Fei glanced at the ID before putting the mobile on silent mode, uninterested in receiving the call.

He had been at it for almost a month now. How diligent. She initially thought he would tire after a week. After all, their last conversation had been pleasant for neither one of them. She thought, disinterestedly that, with the passing years, he seemed, to have learned some patience. Su Fei reclined on her sofa, adjusted her laptop's screen and pressed the play button, going back to her film. She couldn't be bothered, even as her phone's screen lit up again and again with missed calls.

The apartment she was in was one she rented with her own money. It wasn't luxurious but it was big enough to satisfy her needs. When her parents divorced while she was still seven, her father took off to another country, and she never saw him again. Her mother wasn't one who believed in doting children and was especially strict with her. So, for a long time now, Su Fei had learned to be independent. Her mother made sure that she was, by no means, someone who would beg for others! And certainly not for their time and love!

Still, the man was persistent. Her mailbox, post box, and phone's memory card were saturated. At that point, even her mother said some few words the time she would visit her on the weekends. After two months, Su Fei thought to give him face. For the first time in a while, she logged in to her skype and received his video call and reluctantly, she agreed to come and see him at the designated place.

***

Declining his proposal of using his private flights, she took commercial ones. After a flight of eighteen hours, she finally touched the ground again, with, albeit, aching and tired limbs. No matter what, she thought, she definitely wouldn't be coming to see him often.

Her small luggage held tightly in one hand, she took off her sunglasses and gazed around her, searching for his silhouette. The airport's hall was packed and people were screaming left and right. Su Fei's eyes squinted. She had never been a great fan of noisy places. Searching for a while unsuccessfully, she sat on an open seat, ready to dial his number.

'Are you miss Su Fei?'

Hearing her name, she lifted her head to see a man in an all black suit and tie. Blond hair filled with gel and the corpulence of a medium bodybuilder. His tone of voice was respectful with almost no accent. If she didn't see him directly, she wouldn't have thought it to be the voice of a foreigner. No, actually it was she who came here, then wasn't she the foreigner? She smiled at him politely, and responded with the language she had used most of her life,

'Can I know who is asking?'

The man smiled, apologizing briefly before giving her his phone. 'Boss' was written on the screen of the ongoing call. Su Fei bowed slightly and apologized for the impoliteness, before taking the mobile in hands and to her ear. At the other side of the line, a voice both familiar and unfamiliar. Su Fei's lips lifted despite her eyes holding no humor as she kept on listening to him. Just who did she come here for again? As he finally went silent, she gave back the phone to the man in a suit. From the beginning to the end, she said nothing. What was she supposed to say? Accusing him of not even sparing the time to see her by himself? Calling him a liar for another failed promised or should she have pleaded that he sincerely put a pause to his ongoing affairs, at the very least, for the time she was going to spend here. What? At most four days? Really, he couldn't have freed himself for four days? Well, even if he promised, she wouldn't have believed. In the end, she was aware that whatever it was that she said, would have turned into a quarrel. She was simply too physically tired to permit herself to be mentally tired as well.

When the man in front of her finished his conversation with his boss and turned to her, she gave him a slight smile, her blue eyes glimmering with restrained frustration.

'Then I'll trouble you, sir Andrews.'

Saying so, she bowed her head to the one who was supposed to be her driver from here onwards. The man returned her gesture and politely asked for her baggage. Su Fei tried refusing for it was a small thing containing just enough clothes for a couple days. But he insisted. Both hands freed, she clasped them behind her back, walking lazily after him and towards the extravagant limousine. Her eyes turned cold at the sight of wrapped presents in there.

Not touching a thing and ignoring the gaze the driver would sometime give her through the mirror, she stretched and found a comfortable position, taking out her phone from her yellow shirt's pocket. She was about to call but remembering the jet lag, it was supposed to be two in the morning there. In the end, she chose to message, reassuring her mother that she arrived safely. By the time she was finished, the car already arrived in front of a residence, the electric gate opened for them. Su Fei got to see once more just how extravagant that man liked to be. There was actually a maze! As they took turns lefts and rights, she silently cursed how long it would still be. If anything, she was just looking forward to seeing a comfortable bed, hoping to catch some decent sleep!

After who knew how many twists and turns, the driver finally pulled in front of a fountain, going out of his way to open the door for her before she got to it herself. Su Fei's smile turned stiff, at the sight of all the staff bowing their head to her. An old man presented himself as the butler, Henry. He talked her mother's tongue smoothly but with a thick British accent. It was, in her view, an army! Maids, footmen, cooks, and gardeners. They way they were acting, one could wonder if that man actually thought she was going to move in here for the rest of her life. He could keep on dreaming!

A vast room had been prepared for her. Almost thrice the size of her apartment. All the things in there had been furnished the same style as that little apartment, only bigger and definitely more expensive. A side room had been used as a cupboard, filled to the brim with clothes and shoes her sizes. She clicked her tongue, for sure, his research had been through. Her bedroom had a king size bed in there and by the bedhead, was a jewel box full to the brim. Well, he certainly didn't do things halfway. Once she turned around, she found on the opposite wall, a painting hanging over the door. It was newly made, the date inscribed at the corner that of three months ago. Far from finding the gesture touching, it was bordering invasive. The painting looked like the photo she took while at a party with her friends after her graduation years ago. How did he get his hand on it?

Sighing, she returned to where she remembered seeing the bathroom was and took a bath before coming back to the bedroom. Her long dark hair was still dripping as she sat on the bed, rubbing them with a towel. In the end, she wrapped the towel around her head and let herself fall on the bed, closing her eyes. Despite still being in a peignoir, she made no motion to change clothes and let herself fall asleep a little uneasy. Though in her childhood she used to dream of a princess room like this one, she had long stopped being his princess.

The sun that was high in the sky finally set and Su Fei woke up to the sound of persistent knockings. The man that she was waiting for and for whom she came to this country still didn't come back to his own home but instead, by the intermediate of a maid, asked of her to wear a classy dress and come find him in a fanciful restaurant. Su Fei's temper was put to great tests as time passed it seemed. She held on anyway and reigned it in. Choosing a blue cocktail dress, she let the woman who came dress her hair and applied light makeup.

Su Fei grew up hearing left and right that she resembled her mother. And certainly, it wasn't false: she had her mother's fair skin, button-like nose and as she stood on her full twenty-three years old, she could be mistaken as her mother in her younger days. However, if you asked Su Fei herself, she would say that she looked more like her father than her mother. More than just the blue eyes she inherited from him, she had the man's sharp brows and thin mouth, making her face looked severe even when she was in a good mood. Now that she wasn't, she looked even less welcoming.

Following that, the driver brought her to said restaurant, and a worker led her to a personal room in there.

As she came closer and the occupants entered her field's vision, her eyes squinted while she recognized the man who got up from his seat while she entered. A stranger. Well, maybe not completely. It was the same man with whom she exchanged some words via video calls sometimes ago. And he wasn't alone. At his left, sat a chocolate hair woman who stood up too, and smiled at her.

Anger swelled and stuffed Su Fei's chest at their sight but she held on. She felt the purse -which came with the dress- that she was holding vibrated, and, taking out her phone, she could read the message on the screen. At that moment, she cursed in her heart, ready to bite someone's head off! Preferably, her father's!