"Hello!" She said impatiently while holding her phone between her cheek and shoulder.
"Hi, Xiao Mey!" She was taken aback by the familiar voice that came from the other end.
Xu Mey was going through a hectic day at the company and her mind was all over the place from looking through all the planning reports on her table. While she was frenziedly trying to focus on her work, her cell phone on the table rang. She distractedly picked up the call but when she heard Fu Shuang's voice, she was frozen.
It took her a while to get back, "You don't get to call me Xiao Mey anymore. And where did you get my contact number?" She asked with a scowl.
"I got the number from someone closer to you." He replied making Xu Mey's frown even deeper. "And you're right. I don't get to call you Xiao Mey anymore."
"Cut the cr*p and get to the point!" Xu Mey was getting impatient.
There was silence for a while before she heard his muffled voice, "Is it too late to say sorry?"
Xu Mey sniggered. "Are you going to give an excuse with that apology?" Without waiting for his reply, she went on, "Because no matter what you say your words will seem like an excuse to me. It really is too late for an apology."
He sighed audibly. "I'm late and I know that. But no matter how hard I tried to muster up the courage I couldn't bring myself to say it." He paused for a second. "I'm not asking for an apology because I want to be free of guilt gnawing at my soul. I'm asking for that apology because I want you to free yourself from the torture of disappointment."
"I've stopped being disappointed in people. And I'm not torturing myself."
"With the way you talk, I know you hate me the most."
'And the way you looked at me at the golf course.' But he didn't say the last statement.
Xu Mey didn't say anything for a minute. "Even if my hate is torture to myself, I won't let it go at any cost."
"I knew to ask for forgiveness was my wishful thinking but I still wanted to try my best. You know I'm a very prideful person and the only one I'm willing to apologize to is you. So, if I'm saying sorry that means I'm sincerely apologizing." By all means, Xu Mey knew that he won't say sorry unless he actually meant it.
"Do you have anything else to say or should I just hang up?" Xu Mey didn't want to hear anything else from him at all but she still asked.
"I have nothing to say, " 'I have a lot to say but I don't know how to say anything to you.' He thought to himself.
"Then I'm hanging up!" Xu Mey hung up the call without waiting for him to say anything.
He laughed. But why he laughed even he didn't know. "You seem to be in a good mood." The remark came from the girl who had just entered his office.
"Happy? I don't have anything left in my life that could make me happy anymore." His tone was bitter.
The girl strutted over to his side and checked his cellphone. The call log made her brows quirk up.
"You called Xu Mey? What changed your mind?" She asked with curiosity.
"Jun Li Na, " he called her name softly, "I called her to apologise. Why I did it now is something even I can't understand."
"There must be a reason." Jun Li Na noted. "After all, I gave her number to you about 4 years ago. I think it was the day you figured-"
"I figured that President Xu and my Xiao Mey are the same people." He sighed thinking about that time. Although he couldn't connect Xu Mey and President Xu to each other at the first meeting that was because he never thought that Xu Mey could have such demeanour that could enchant people.
The Xu Mey he knew was a very quiet person who didn't like making friends but she was a cheery person who liked to smile all the time without any pretext.
"What did you guys talk about?" Jun Li Na asked taking a seat at the sofa.
"Nothing much... I just apologized that's all." He took a pause and laughed lightly. "I thought she was the smartest person yet she didn't figure out that I knew Xu Mey and President Xu are the same people. I really thought that she'll catch me when I sent that wedding gift to her but she didn't catch on at all."
"Shuang, what are trying to do? I know that you have loved her for a long time but she always treated you like a brother." Jun Li Na was distressed seeing her best friend in such a pitiful state.
"It's true that I wanted to marry her but I didn't have the heart to bring her in the same hell whose devils were my own blood relatives." He hated his Aunt for everything she did to Xu Mey from the young age. She really ruined the innocence of a pitiful girl.
"Why don't you just stop pretending that President Xu and Xu Mey are two different people?" Jun Li Na was exasperated by his stubborn nature.
"I have two pretext for pretending. First, I don't want the battle between Xu Mey and my Aunt Fu Lan to become disadvantageous to Xu Mey. No matter what I need her to stay unscathed at all costs." His voice was resolute. "Second, if I tell her that I know her secret, she'll again start running away from me. In the past four years, even if it was just to glare at me but she looked at me. And even if it was just to yell at me, but she still talked to me."
"You're such a pitiful person, my friend." Jun Li Na lamented. "I still never understood how did you manage to recognise her?"
"I might have forgotten her face but her eyes, I can't forget them. I tried so hard to convince myself that the girl on Eiffel Tower and Xu Mey are different but this heart didn't listen and I had to follow her." He sighed tiredly. "Since I couldn't help her when she was Xu Mey, I want to help her when she's President Xu. I'll keep pretending that both are different that way it'll be easier for my heart."
"I just miss the days when you, I and Xu Mey were best of friends." Jun Li Na was lost in memories of old times. "Then you moved away so suddenly, I had to leave as well and Xu Mey... sigh... she was left with no one to protect her from that place."
Fu Shuang felt something pricking his heart when he thought about that place.