Returning Home - Part 1

Tuesday, continued …

As Hou Yi started the engine on the car and started to drive off.

He quietly said to Anna "Thank you for not getting upset about what occurred in M Mall. I had heard the stories about some personal shoppers, it was a pity we ran into one. As soon as I realised what she was like, I had to establish that you were my wife, and we had a love match. She will, help spread the rumours about our marriage and that we can apparently not keep out hands off each other. Whether people believe her, will be their choice, but until there is a confirmation either way, they will respect you as they will not want to offend me."

Anna was quite but Hou Yi paused and thought about what to say. "While I remember the conditions, we set on our marriage, please tell me that I did not push the boundaries on what you were comfortable with. If I did, I can only apologise to you for that. It was all about protecting you and establishing that our relationship is legitimate. It was not for anything else, and I hope it does not impact your ability to keep the promise that I extracted from you about giving our relationship an opportunity to develop to whatever it could be."

By this time Anna was highly angry. "You damn well better keep your promises, or I will make sure you pay. I do not need this now."

Hou Yi realised that he had pushed his luck with Anna now "I will remember Anna," responded Hou Yi with humility.

Anna then burst out laughing. "You are so easy to wind up Hou Yi. I knew what you were doing and played along with it. I just wanted to see you grovel and apologise to me."

"Anna, what am I going to do with you," replied Hou Yi, also laughing.

He paused and thought that there was one other matter that they need to resolve at this time. "Anna, we need to have the story that we are going to tell everyone about their relationship. You told me you work and ANX Lawyers. Hou Enterprises uses them for our Australian based legal work, and that is because of the recommendation of the wife of a friend's younger brother. I visited the offices 6 months ago, and that would be the logical explanation as to when we met."

"We could tell they the truth, that you were engaged to someone else, and we started out communicating through messaging apps as friends, which would explain that there is no electronic trail. We can explain that you had doubts about your fiancé, and we talked about that, and my response was you should do what makes you happy. We can state that on the day you were at the Australian Embassy to get the documents to marry your fiancé, we passed by each other and you knew you could not marry him. We spoke further through the messaging apps, and we agreed to marry."

"We would tell everyone our intention was to wait until you had not only ended your relationship with your fiancé, but there was a gap before we married. I was happy to wait, even if this cost me Hou Enterprises, however we would then say that your fiancé married someone else and we seized the chance to marry immediately."

"That is quite a tale." Sneered Anna

"It really is not. The only untruths are the communications between us and your plan to dump Lu Jinhu before today. Staying as close as possible to the truth, means that we will not be caught out. Plus, Assistant Wang, was working with my best computer expert to create a small electronic trail that if anyone goes digging will establish our contact, to support the story."

"Well, you have seemed to think of everything." A cynical Anna commented.

"Well how do you want to explain to everyone what happened, other than telling them we are using each other as a means to prevent disasters and get revenge on Lu Jinhu and Yang Lin then?"

"How do you plan, with your explanation explain how come you were prepared to marry Yang Lin today?"

"All I was going to do was have her there and introduce her to Lu Jinhu, to see if they could develop a relationship. The fact that they have married plays into that explanation well."

"Smart a**e."

"Well if you do not like my plan, what will be your explanation to everyone? Come on, someone as bright as you should have an idea?"

"I was going to tell the truth. Lu Jinhu dumped me, I ran into you and knocked you off your feet. The only lie I was going to say was that we instantly fell for each other. They I would say due to Lu Jinhu's threats that we decided to marry immediately to protect me. Short, simple, and does not involve lies."

"Answer this. Do you have your work laptop with you?"

"Yes, I do."

With that Hou Yi quickly pulled the vehicle over, and looked at Anna "Which bag is it in?"

"The Cabin Bag."

With that Hou Yi, left the car running, opened the boot and got out, and went to the boot. The next thing Anna knew was that she was being handed her cabin bag. "Well get it out, and I will set my mobile, for you to use its data."

Quickly Anna, opened the cabin bag and extracted her laptop, and turned it on. Hou Yi indicated "Let me know when you are ready for the password."

About 30 seconds later, Anna, indicated "I'm ready." With that Hou Yi showed her the password to enter to access his mobile data, which she did.

"Can I recommend you open up whatever software you use and search for HOUENT (Australia) Limited. That is Hou Enterprises Australian subsidiary."