Forced by fate – Destined to be his Wife

“You work too hard. Don’t skip meals.” TangShi scolded him.

“I know. I swear, we’ll eat. Go do your thing.” YuZhi turned her by the shoulders and gave her a gentle push back towards the couch, but TangShi caught sight of ZhengLi and Linlin kissing and turned back abruptly, her face flaming and eyes wide.

“Ummm.” She mumbled, flustered, and YuZhi looked up over her head to see why. Shaking his head and chuckling at his best friends antics, before catching TangShi’s hand and tugging her with him.

“Come on, let’s go down and buy some food. Leave those two to get it out of their system. Anyone would think they were actually dating.” He smiled.

TangShi followed obediently as he swiped his wallet and car keys out of his jacket and stood at the door while she pulled her shoes on. Walking out together hand in hand and down to the car park.

They drove to the nearest take out and wandered in together while he placed an order for the usual food him and ZhengLi frequently ate, pulling TangShi beside him at the counter so he could rest his arm around her shoulder to lean on her. He was tired from the past few weeks and work and somehow he always felt better when she was around. It was his favorite part of the day seeing her in the apartment and feeling calm because she had that kind of aura around him.

“Mr. Leng, can we take your picture?” A young over excited voice pulled them from behind and he turned to see two teen girls standing side by side, clutching their cell phones and bouncing on the spot at having bumped into one of their idols. YuZhi got this frequently and didn’t hesitate in nodding and smiling like it was no big deal. Knowing one bad experience could start a trend on Weibo, while he felt TangShi curl away to hide.

“My girlfriend too, or just me?” He nodded at her, knowing she was too shy to assume she should be in it and tried to step away to let him enjoy his spotlight.

“Oh my god. Both, please. You two are hot topic in the fan groups.” One of the girls held up her phone, flashing it at him and he squinted seeing some sort of YuZhi Leng fan page, chuckling at his own face as a banner image and reaching out.

“May I?”

“Yesss… oh my, yes.” The girl seemed excited to share it with him and let him scroll the images and articles that were all about him and TangShi recently. So many candid shots that he wasn’t aware had even been taken in their normal daily life around Shanghai. This seemed to be a private fan group of two hundred thousand members, and all the recent posts were about how happy they were for the engagement announcements. It wasn’t a major shock as he had over a million followers on Weibo and hadn’t had any negative comments. The PR was working.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

“I’m one of the admin who keep the page going and we don’t allow anyone to be negative or nasty. We really like Miss. Lei and love how her and Miss. Cheng are close friends and the reason you met. So romantic.”

“It’s so dreamy.” The other girl mooned at them in equal enthusiasm, eyes soft and gooey as she clenched her hands to her chest. TangShi couldn’t help but giggle at them and obediently stepped in when YuZhi pulled her back into his arm. Curling up against him and making it look real.

“I’ll take one and then we can swap.” Girl one volunteered and they patiently posed first with one girl and then the other before they thanked them profusely and bid them farewell.

“That was weird.” TangShi admitted, having never had this herself yet, even though she had seen enough online pictures of YuZhi to know it happened a lot. To her it was a really unusual occurrence that she doubted she would ever understand.

“You’ll get used to it. Most of the time they either take pictures from afar or are extremely polite when asking. Be nice, smile, let them leave feeling good.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You look like a cover model for vogue in any outfit, no matter the time of day and your hair is always like this.” She reached up ruffling the front of his expensive styled hairdo, that she had never seen weird even after being in bed. He was infuriatingly perfect at all times. Handsome in a striking way and his tall height and muscular body gave him a presence you couldn’t ignore.

“You don’t think you’re beautiful?” YuZhi asked with interest, turning at the sound of the food server telling him their order was ready. Being serious in his question because to him, TangShi was stunning.

“No. I’m just average.” TangShi blushed. Having been told her whole life by her so called family she was a plain jane and worthless as a beauty.

“Tang, you’re beautiful. In any outfit, even with bed hair, at anytime of the day.” He smirked, ruffled her hair like she did him and then hooked her hand in his as he picked up the carrier bag of food and nodded a thank you at the server.

“You have to say that in case someone hears you insulting your ‘fiancée’!” She winked at him, not being serious and fell into an easy pace beside him as they strolled back out to the car. Aware the girls were huddled across the street with others who all stopped and looked their way as they made their getaway. Phones out to catch them leaving.

“I don’t lie. You’re a natural. You don’t have to try to be pretty, you just are.” He turned and bopped her on the nose with his forefinger, before opening the car door for her and ushering her in and handing her the bag. “Besides, don’t believe me… believe what their fan site said. They were calling you a goddess and hoped our future children took after both of us.” YuZhi smiled, warmed by the things he had scrolled quickly, about the public acceptance of TangShi and glad that it wasn’t just the hot news topics, but among his fanbase they seemed to like her. He walked around the car, waving to the group as he left, eliciting squeals and more flashes from cellphones before hopping in and getting them on their way.

“We might be a trending topic tomorrow.” He shook his head as they drove out, watching her relax back now they were no longer on display and eased his shoulders to disperse his own tension. He needed her to get used to this side of his life, because so much more was coming. They had their first public date to an event in a week and she would experience the red carpet for this first time. He didn’t want it to scare or intimidate her and was just as nervous as she was about taking her to something like that where Rhea would be with her new fake boyfriend.

He wasn’t sure if it was going to be a great night, or a night with Rhea drama given her recent behaviors.