She's here!

Tang looked up and a huge grin broke on his face. Everyone turned to look at the newcomer trio.

Jia Li walked arm-in-arm with Li Jie and Chung towards the intended couple.

Tang stood transfixed as a myriad of emotions floated through his entire being. Even at this distance, he could hear her tinkling laughter. He knew if he closed his eyes and concentrated, he would be able to tell her apart from the milling crowd just by her body fragrance. He held a strong control on his mind lest his traitorous heart made him do something stupid, like go and grab the girl who had been born to belong to him, only him.

Mrs. Xie put a hand on her son's arm and worriedly whispered in his ear, "breathe".

She knew what that girl had meant to him at one point in time. What she didn't know was that her son felt the same about that girl till date.

Summoning a tiny smile for his mother, he braced himself for the people who at one point of time had meant the world to him.

"Someone didn't even want to wait for his friends! You seem to be in a tearing hurry to get engaged", Chung punched Tang, good-naturedly.

The baby fat had dissolved long ago and given away to a strong muscular physique and much to his wife's consternation, girls chased Chung all the time. He had been stout during the growing up years. But after lifting weights in the gym consistently over the years, he could give any actor a run for his money in terms of possessing a hot body. No one believed that he was a professor at a university and not in the glamour world.

Li Jie pushed Tang back into the chair and grazed a light uppercut across his jaw, "you really believed that bullshit message that I sent you? I thought that you would have called and abused us right that minute. I lost a thousand bucks to Chung just because of your lack of reaction", he grumbled.

"Hi Liang Mei Zhen, please forgive my friends here. I am Cheng Jia Li, and these two jokers are Zheng Li Jie & Deng Chung. We grew up with Xie Tang in Moganshan. We have just met him after a really long time and hence the boys got carried away, forgetting the occasion for a minute", Jia Li introduced herself to a bemused looking bride-to-be.

Tang disentangled himself from Li Jie and walked up to greet Jia Li while the slightly embarrassed 'boys' introduced themselves to Mei Zhen.

Tang extended his hand only to have her jump up and put her arms around his neck and hold him tight, just like always. His breath whooshed out and time stood still. By natural accord, his arms had found the right curve on her waist and his eyes closed, without even informing him.