Meeting

The room was empty when she arrived. Unlike her own small 600sqft rooms (two rooms as per usual), their home was much larger. She suspected she could fit her entire house inside the main room. She included several feet of wall thickness that held various pieces of furniture and things to change the rooms out.

She glanced up at the chandelier and walked to the center of the otherwise empty room. She bent her knees as if sitting on a chair. As she fell towards the floor a padded chair rose from the ground and caught her. A table came up at her side with some snacks on it. This was the convenience of a smart house. Su Ting looked away from the long-lasting treats and pulled up the search feed in her mind.

'Search for 'William Conners'.' she began scrolling through articles. She'd already read many of them. This was also a new habit she'd picked up. Although she usually does it when her hands are busy. She could already feel the impatient tapping trying to shake her leg.

An elegant and strong-looking woman walked in. She had her hair up in a simple hairdo. Her heels clicked against the ground thematically. Each step revealed a slender ankle from beneath her qipao. She held her back straight and her hands together as she walked and did not look in Su Ting's direction once. Su Ting's eyes followed her into the room where she sat and a chair rose for her. The woman did not move after that, staring straight ahead.

The two waited in silence for nearly half an hour before her sister walked in. Su Huiqing had an arrogant look in her eye beneath her modest demeanor. Su Ting noticed a slight pep in her step. As she passed Su Ting, Su Huiqing glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. Su Ting could see the mockery she showed.

"Mother." She skipped over and sat near the woman. Then she gave another sneer to Su Ting.

Su Ting did not respond to the provocation. That seemed to make Su Huiqing upset because she opened her mouth again and acted coy.

"Mother, we signed the documents yesterday. We can get the shares to hovering pods now." she glanced at Su Ting and lowered her voice, but still made sure it was loud enough to hear. "My new fiance has already promised me the project." When she finished, she seemed very satisfied with herself. She looked expectantly at Su Ting's reaction.

Su Ting's heart jumped, but she refused to outwardly react. She set aside her worries. Mu Fang would never allow Su Huiqing to have Chen Lijun. Never.

She opened the search bar to look up the hovering pods. If she was right, Su Huiqing should be talking about VR pods. However, she was sure the gaming hover pods weren't very popular after the initial boom. It was only until the next major update that hospitals started buying them. The mobile pod was helpful for total immersers whose body stays in a specialized pod. But by the time the hospitals found a use for them, there wasn't enough time to get them altered for total immersion. After all, a pod for the populace and a pod for total immersion is different in many ways.

The articles said the hovering pods hadn't come out yet. Su Ting lowered her eyes thoughtfully.

Su Caisheng's cold and indifferent visage turned into the room. His triangle eyes seemed to show his malaise for his life. His cheekbones were high and pointed and his eye sockets were deep. If one was not aware of his lineage they may think he had western blood.

He walked in front of Su Ting without looking at her and dropped a paper in the air. A single-legged table shot up to catch it. His flat majestic voice evenly said, "The annulment with the Chens has been completed." He glanced at Hao Kaiming, who hadn't moved since she sat down, and left the room.

Su Ting did not register him or the new engagement agreement before her. She stared at the man who'd entered behind Su Caisheng. He was the one she'd been waiting for. The one who could bring her to her mother.

She suddenly felt the blood drain from her face. Now she was here, but she had no idea how to talk him into it. She didn't know him in her past life. She had rejected meeting with him. She used any means necessary to stay as far away from him as possible. Now she wanted to rely on him. Had she always been so selfish, so self-righteous? She didn't even have anything to offer in return. Nor had she thought about doing anything for him. Yet she wanted him to derail his life for her sake.

What was it that she'd really expected from him? She had subconsciously pushed everything onto an imaginary man. She realized as she saw him that she'd expected him to fix her fears about meeting her mother. But how could that be? Even if he did know enough about mental health to guide her, why would he even bother?

In a society where lovers rely on each other no more than a close friend, it wasn't as if he had any duty or commitment to her. Not to mention that it was an arranged marriage and they weren't married yet.

Now she knew she was being idealistic and naive. She couldn't rely on someone else to work out her problems for her. What kind of person was that? A person to work without pay for the sake of someone else? A slave? Had she put him in such a position in her mind? Considered her someone to toil for her sake?

When she came to this realization it also hit her that she was facing the world on her own. Until now she'd imagined him by her side. It was an image that told her again and again that she was not alone. But she really was alone.

She would never be able to explain her change to her friends. Over this past month, she came to realize that she did not know how to interact with them anymore. The fog had covered them as well. What she thought of as close friends considered her little more than an acquaintance. Or an interesting or weird person to gossip about because she chose to live off-grid. How could she rely on such a flimsy relationship? Her family had never looked at her to start with. Her Grandmother was dead and her mother was…

She didn't know what kind of expression her face showed.

The man had followed Su Caisheng to her and now stood nearby. He looked like he wanted to say something, but paused. He turned and sat down next to her neither fast nor slow.

His chair faced the same direction as hers--instead of sitting opposite her like the other women in the room--it was as if he was showing in his actions that he was by her side. He sat down with his back straight and face impassive.

A hand rose toward Su Ting. She looked down. He was holding a handkerchief out to her. She looked back at him. He still didn't move, nor did he look her way. Su Ting had the impression his actions were similar to a gentleman turning his back to give a woman privacy. She must have a terrible expression on her face.

His actions stung her a little. She had just realized she had put him in an impossible position in her mind. Yet each gesture flew straight to her heart. It was as if he truly could fill the position she'd been imagining and was willing to do so.

Despite that image in her head crowding around like a haunted carousel at a child's fair, she couldn't help but feel his support well up in her heart. Before she realized what she was doing, she was leaning into his arms. She only vaguely saw what she'd done. It was as if she had been separated from her body and was looking on.

She forced her drifting mind to think. She had to pull back. But somehow the voice echoing around her had changed, 'if he shows rejection, pull away and laugh it off. If he shows rejection…' The fog between her and her body left her an onlooker. No matter how she wanted to feel the horror of what she'd done, she couldn't. In this space, it was as if she'd been trapped, but it didn't feel that way. She didn't feel anything. Only logic forced her to try and pull away.

A hand wrapped around her waist.

He hadn't tensed at her reaction, hadn't shown surprise or shock, hadn't tried to push her away. No, almost as if he'd expected it he looked down at her in his arms and lay a gentle touch to her back. His actions were still neither fast nor slow the same as before.

Her soul floated back to her body. It felt like a million miles and an entire lifetime had passed.