My Villain

Chapter Thirty-Eight

It has been such a long time since Zi Wei last saw her but she could not be wrong.

The woman pushing a child's trolly with her, while looking through the menu outside Rima is no other than her brother's former fiancée, Zuer.

She seemed to be debating whether to eat inside the restaurant or not and when her face showed that she decided not to, something inside Zi Wei propelled her to stand up and go after her.

"Song Zuer!" the woman's name sounded so foreign against her lips.

It has been years.

Zuer turned back and her eyes widened into the size of saucers as soon as recognition set in.

"Wang Zi Wei?"

She nodded and then slowly walked towards mother and child. "I saw you pass by and I thought I should say hi to you."

The other woman's eyes widened further. "You did?"

She nodded, smiling, diffusing tension in the air before it could even build up. "It's been a long time since we last saw each other."

The other woman turned red.

The allusion to the last time they saw each other would most probably embarrass her, Zi Wei understood, because that was when Feiyu declared to everyone in the dining table that he was in love with Zuer and then he took her hand and they escaped on his car.

Everyone had been too stunned to stop them except for Zi Wei.

She ran after them and before they disappeared into the night, she managed to ask them "Why?"

She had not asked whether it was true and how long since it happened because Zi Wei already had an idea weeks before.

"It just happened, Zi Wei", Feiyu had answered, "I'm sorry."

He did look sorry that she had to get hurt but Zi Wei remembers seeing in his eyes that he was not sorry for falling in love with another man's fiancée.

She then willed her eyes towards Zuer, who looked so torn between being happy and crying but Zi Wei could not understand it then.

The only thing she knew was that her whole world had crumbled and the reason for it was the woman she had considered a friend... and loved like an older sister.

"How could you do this?", the question was laced with poison.

"Zi Wei... I'm... I'm sorry", Zuer had whispered in response.

"No your not."

And that had been the last.

The next time she and Zuer talked was over the phone and she had told the other woman to truly let go of her brother.

The other woman had asked for her forgiveness once again that time.

Their last conversations both ended in Song Zuer saying sorry. Hopefully, today, that isn't how it is going to end.

"Uhmmmm... I really do not know what to say Zi Wei."

She continues to smile. She was happy to see the other woman. "Well, you could start by saying you'll have lunch with me."

Zuer looked confused.

"Please...", Zi Wei threw in, "I think it would be great to catch up."

Zuer took a deep breath then. "I guess you're right. It would be great to catch up after all these years."

"It's my treat then", Zi Wei told her, doing more than what was needed as she held out an olive branch to a woman she once thought of as an enemy.

***