Forced by fate – Destined to be his Wife

“You can leave. I don’t need you of all people going anywhere with me. I don’t know what this is, or why you’re getting involved in my business, but go away. I won’t thank you for it.” TangShi turned on her heel, showing that hint of sassy she kept concealed most of the time. Her walking still a little fragile from her throbbing ankle but it was nothing to be overly concerned over.

“Wait.. TangShi wait.” Rhea panicked. Her concern escalating with TangShi’s whole demeanor being weird for her. The hostility and aloof behavior and strange attitude which quite frankly shocked Rhea. Who knew TangShi did possess a backbone at times?

“Bye.” TangShi paid her no heed, walking on with intent and ignored Rhea coming after her, pulling her arm free as Rhea tried to latch on and determined to be left alone for the rest of the day. Even if it took her hours to walk home from here she didn’t care. Her entire life was a shambles and the one person she loved more than anything in the world had just thrown her out and humiliated her. Her hand was a throbbing reminder of what he’d done.

“For the love of fucking god.” Rhea snapped, her fiery temper getting the better of her and she grabbed TangShi’s upper arm in a vice grip and tugged her hard towards her with serious strength. TangShi spun on her with momentum, startled with the velocity.

“You did nothing wrong, That fucker drugged you and took advantage and I’m here to help Linlin prove it to YuZhi.” It was a harsh, stern statement blasted right into TangShi’s face and she reeled in shock gawping at her as though she had two heads. Eyes widening and mouth opening to reply but nothing came out. Her brain trying to engage the word to thought process and how Rhea would even know or believe that.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to come out like that, but I have the report in my bag. I’ve read it and it’s conclusive that you were spiked. The one Linlin collected from the clinic. I just want to help. What he’s done, you aren’t the first girl to be used and terrorized by that asshole.”

“What?” TangShi’s voice came out sharp and short, shock evident as her brain rattled around and came to an agonizing halt. Not sure if she just heard her correctly and blinked at her with complete disbelief. “Say that again.” Her heart tore open and left her raw. Despite not really having any kind of deep feelings for Rong Cai, she had trusted him as her school mentor and the fact he kept telling her they were friends. She had felt relatively safe around him and would never have come to any conclusion like this.

“You were drugged. GHB levels were positive and still pretty high despite it being next day when you got the tests done. There’s a massive possibility you passed out not long after and woke up next day. I knew of him, from before. He stalked a friend of mine and did some pretty messed up things to ruin her relationship with her fiancée.” Rhea moved her hand from grip to gentle rubbing, up and down on TangShi’s shoulder as she stood there in bewilderment. Dissecting and letting this fully sink in. A look on TangShi’s face that was a cross between shock and a need to cry. Rhea lifted her other hand to the opposite shoulder and did the same on both sides to comfort her, unsure how else to help.

“He…..? He drugged me? He did this on purpose?” TangShi began to softly cry as the realization sunk in and a warring confusions of thoughts and feelings hit her like a tidal wave. Relief, regret, conflict, pain, fear…. She didn’t know how to feel with the truth hitting her this way. Unpacking so many details and seeing that night from a whole different and sinister perspective which shook her to the core.

“Come on. Let’s go to the car and go somewhere quiet, just the three of us. I think you might be in a little bit of shock. There’s probably a lot to process.” Rhea’s heart ached for the traumatized expression on TangShi’s face and the urge to hug her was overwhelming. She had never been a girl with real female friends, friend sin general or affections outside of her trio with YuZhi and ZhengLi. Being a famous model in a backstabbing, cutthroat, bitchy industry meant she kept women at arm’s length, so she didn’t know how to genuinely show her sincerity.

“Are you saying…. he raped me?” TangShi’s softly whispered as tears fell fast and heavy and her chest constricted so painfully fast she couldn’t catch her breath and started hyperventilating. Her mind blotting in and out of the flashing memories of that dinner and how nice and caring and attentive he was towards her. Of all the times at school he helped her or guided her and seemed normal. She couldn’t believe he would do something like this to her of all people. She had never done anything to him. Never given him reason to harm her or ruin her life like this.

“We don’t know if he went that far. But we need to find out for certain that it was him. CCTV at wherever you ate might show what went down in the corridors, or even the dinner hall.” Rhea was trying to be rational and keep her focus, curling an arm around her as TangShi crumbled in the middle of the street and struggled to breathe. Clutching at the pains in her chest and heart and blinded by watery eyes. Bending forward as tears and chokes came in unison and Rhea panicked about the audience wandering about.

“Why would he do that to me?” TangShi was lost in her own mind, seeing a million things from her entire existence flash before her. Cruel and sometimes painful acts that were bestowed upon her by so called family and friends over the years, always trampling her down like she was a worthless object, and this seemed like another person who did just that. That she was so valueless and nonexistent in this life that people always had to beat on her and make living hell. She couldn’t understand when all she tried to do was go on peacefully and never react, never fight back, and never cause trouble for anyone. That when she finally found happiness why was it okay for someone to snatch that form her and get away with it?

It snapped something in her head. Like a violent shake that knocked everything together into a horrifying perspective. Sick of being everyone’s doormat and tool. Sick of being something to push around and use or discard and hurt. Angry at her father, her stepmother, her sister, her existence. Madder at YuZhi for casting her aside when he claimed to love her and all it took was one little thing and he didn’t give her the benefit of the doubt. Absolutely livid at Rong Cai for doing the complete unspeakable to her because he had decided who she should love and how she should live without once consulting her for her fucking opinion.

“Delusional. He thinks if he got rid of YuZhi you two could live happily ever after, maybe? I don’t know. I can’t begin to imagine because I’m not as sick as him.” Rhea’s face flushed, her cheeks blushing as she thought about the lengths she went to drag YuZhi back to her and ashamed for even coming close to the same kind of erratic behavior and hurting people. Hurting TangShi. A new wave of remorse that only strengthened her resolve to make amends because she too had bene on the same path to destruction and this brought it home.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Take me to the school. I want to see him… I want to know why.” TangShi straightened up, a fire growing in her belly that pulled her through her tears and inability to inflate her lungs. A molten anger bubbling up to the surface and she stood tall, lifting her chin as fierce hatred took over her normally placid expression. Swallowing it down to calmness and yet a surging and fierce volcano was growing inside of her.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Not yet. We need more evidence to know it was him.”

“What more do I need? He was the one who woke up with me. If I was unconscious then how the hell did I get there and why did he lie about my being all over him? He had to have been the one to carry me there. It seems obvious now. How could I be so blind and naïve? Why didn’t I listen to Linlin?.” TangShi was pushing aside the doubt, her guilt over what she thought she had done replaced with fury and she held her hand out to Rhea. Her eyes smarting and her resolve growing stronger by the second.

She lost her love, her home, her place in school and her future because of that bastard. She wasn’t playing anymore.

“Give it to me.” She demanded, her palm upturned, and she locked Rhea in the eye with determination. “I will show him all the proof I need.”

“Yes to all of that but GHB is a drug that can have side effects. He could argue you were awake and acting seductive or whatever, that you seduced him. It can make people do and say the weirdest things and he could lie. He could say he didn’t know about any drug, only that you hit on him. He already lied. I’ll give you it when we’re in a private place and you’re calm and thinking straight.”

“That’s why I need to confront him. He can’t lie if I say I remember and demand the truth. I’ll see it all over his face.” TangShi wasn’t thinking straight. Her mind a mess of colliding thoughts she couldn’t pull apart. Vengeance and hatred controlling her emotions. YuZhi coming to the forefront of her brain but a new additional pain in her chest because of him. Disappointment, betrayal, and heartbreak that he couldn’t think outside the box the way Linlin did and have a little faith in her after everything they meant to one another. YuZhi was another on the list of people who discarded her easily and knowing the truth she found a venomous reason to be just as angry at him. How he treated her. How he humiliated and hurt her. Not once did he question another possibility.

“Let’s talk it out, think on it, and let you calm down. You can read the report with Linlin. I have someone to go see.” Rhea didn’t want to tell her about including ZhengLi, in case he refused to believe any of it. But she knew he would be able to source any video footage and find the evidence needed if TangShi wanted to take this further, even though Linlin was against it.

“Yeah, let’s do that. I have to make plans. He ruined my life so I should repay him for that.” Rhea answered in a zombie like state and pulled a worried frown from Rhea who gently turned and guided her onto the path back to where she came with a feeling of uncertainty. She had witnessed a strange change in the last moments and now was sure the hospital wasn’t a bad idea.