Forced by fate – Destined to be his Wife

“I thought you liked me, but …… I don’t really feel like you do. I’m just a toy when you’re bored. Some play thing to pick up and drop when there’s nothing else.” The sentence broke her willpower to hold back her pain and her eyes misted up with tears. Hating how pathetic he made her when she had literally done the same thing to men for years and had intended to do it to him.

“You’re not a toy and I do like you. More than the average woman. Come on, weren’t we having fun and keeping things casual? What is this now?” ZhengLi was genuinely confused backtracking in his head if he ever missed signs. Pleading with her and fighting the urge to grab her and hold on.

“It’s not fun. It’s hell. You mess with my head and make me second guess myself constantly. I feel invisible around you sometimes and I’m scared to check your WeChat for fear of seeing you out having fun with other girls and feeling like shit over it. I know I have no right, that we’re not a thing but you completely knocked me over and now I can’t handle how this feels. I’m doing this for my own sanity.” Linlin had drunk enough to let her inner thoughts freely spew out. The vulnerable caring side of her that she reserved for only TangShi in the rarest of moments. The soft way of speaking, the hints of truth and real emotion. Things she would never have admitted or said to him sober, and the tears came with the confessions.

“What are you saying?” ZhengLi’s chest tightened, an impulse to wipe away the droplets on her tiny face, his own heart throbbing with a new inner pain for him. She was talking about him messing with her head, completely unaware of how much she screwed him up and stayed on his mind when she wasn’t in his life. Like, right now, being this way and he felt like he was having a mental breakdown with how to fix it. Genuinely afraid of letting her walk away.

“Nothing. I’m going home. I don’t want to see you anymore.” Linlin couldn’t do this. She knew she couldn’t hope for anything and being this close to him was unbearable. ZhengLi had wormed his way into her soul and for the first time in her life Linlin had real feelings for a guy. She didn’t want to compete or cling on and become some needy jealous psycho who spent her life pushing other women off him.

“Don’t go….., Linlin, please…. Let’s date if that’s what you mean… properly. I’ll do better, I’ll be different. It’ll be different. No more games.” ZhengLi’s blurted words came out in an impulsive rush as she moved to walk away, his panic overtaking and his heart racing. His palms instantly clammy as nerves suffocated him. He had no idea what he was doing, other than stopping her from leaving him.

“What?” Linlin turned, only half hearing him and not sure he said what she thought he said. A moment of pause in her already chaotic mind.

“Date me. Exclusively. I can do that. I want to do that.” He locked eyes on her, deadly serious and knowing that it was the only way she was going to stay. It wasn’t a hard ask given that with work lately he only had minimal time to socialize and Linlin was the only girl he had touched since he met her. He had no desire to hook up with anyone else since he met her.

“You don’t date people that way.” She pointed out, knowing she didn’t either, but for him……

“I will for you. And if you think lack of sex is because I don’t think you’re sexy or beautiful, then come on…. let’s go to my place right now. I’ll fix that in one night.” He was rambling on instinct and saying and doing whatever impulsive thought came to his head to keep Linlin in his grasp. Right now he would strip naked and walk over hot coals if she asked him to.

Linlin hesitated, wiped her eyes with her fingers and stared at him while digesting what he proposed. Not sure if he was being serious or if he was drunk. She knew she wasn’t exactly in her right mind and had been drinking on and off all day.

“You’ll change your mind when you’re sober.” Linlin sniffed as ZhengLi moved cautiously closer to her, aware she might still flip to normal Linlin mode and maul him if he wasn’t careful. This version of her had him cautious. He had never seen tearful and wounded Linlin, and it was screwing with his emotions. His fierce tiger was a wounded kitted and it was yanking out a crazy protective need in him to wrap her up in his arms and promise to make it all okay for her. Desperate to physically touch her when this close, dying to give her a hug and cure that sad look on her face.

“I haven’t drunk anything at all yet. Stone cold sober, I swear. Unlike you, Miss swaying where she stands and slurring every word.” ZhengLi caught her fingertips of her left hand and gently pulled her to him, afraid of moving too fast when he didn’t really feel like he had her yet.

Linlin lifted her chin and studied his face, leaning in on tiptoes to sniff him and see if he was lying. There was only shower scent and aftershave lingering around him and no hints of alcohol. She screwed up her face and yet stayed close.

“I don’t believe you. Anyway, I’m too drunk for sex. I don’t want to have sex.” She sniffed again, becoming more emotionally fragile as this conversation sunk in. Aware that he might be sober, but she was at the stage where she would make a fool of herself and probably pass out before he got her clothes off. Still not sure if he was playing some kind of joke and serious about dating properly. Her head was a mess, and she didn’t trust if this was real. ZhengLi made it clear from day one he would never settle for a relationship, as did she.

“Okay. No sex. How about we go to my place and eat and get you sober. Hang out, just the two of us and sleep over. We can talk some more, watch a movie, eat cake.” ZhengLi caught her hand fully, pulled her in against him and managed to slide his arm around her waist without rejection. Sighing with relief at being able to get close to her and bent down to one side to be able to look her in the eye again. His nerves simmering to normal now he felt like he was winning her over. Able to cool his panic and breathe normally.

This was a Linlin he had never met. Coy, vulnerable and almost regressing to being extremely young as she looked away from him to hide her tears on her now smudged face. A hint of shyness about her that didn’t align with her normally brazen self and he bit on his lip still with lingering uncertainty. His hellcat was missing, and this version made him feel like an utter asshole.

“Do you mean it…. That we’ll be exclusive? You’re not messing with me. Making fun of me?” She eventually flicked her eyes up to him to confirm and he nodded. Leaning in closer to bridge the gap so his nose brushed hers. Helpless when she was being this way and unaware of how tightly he was being wound around Linlin’s little finger.Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

“I mean it. I’m sorry I’ve hurt you. I’m not messing, I swear. We can start over. Forgive me?” ZhengLi tilted his head to the side and delivered a gentle peck on her lips, coaxing her out of her sad mood and eager to make her smile. He would even settle for a stroppy tantrum and her normally bitchy backhanders, to this.

“That wasn’t a real kiss.” She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest, a hint of her diva self-coming back as she caved for him. Not satisfied that he was displaying enough regret with that platonic peck. ZhengLi broke into a grin and leaned in for a second one, harder than before and for a longer connection, savoring her cherry lip gloss and her general feel, before he pulled back. Focusing back on her pretty face with a raised brow.

“That better?”

“It was still a one on the kissing scale. I think you lost your touch or you’re not really all that invested.” She turned her face away, a glint of cheeky in her eye as her mood lifted and ZhengLi obliged again. Challenge accepted in showing her how invested he was exactly. Letting go of her so he could slide one hand on each side of her face, he pulled her into his. Tilting his head to accommodate her and sunk a kiss on her properly.

Soft lips meeting and pushing hers apart as he kissed her passionately and their tongues met in a seductive union, deepening it to intensity. Giving it all he could in terms of swooning her over, reducing her to a puddle of hormones and proving how much he wanted her. He kissed her until his breathing and hers hitched in matching breathlessness and walked her back against the wall to further tease her with his skill.

Pressing every inch of his body into her tiny frame and enjoying every curve as his hands smoothed up her figure and wrapped her up tight against him. Pinning her, temperature soaring between them as they both got hot and heavy and devoured one another, losing sense of the room around them and only focused on one another. Linlin’s arms slid up around his neck as she got lost in ZhengLi’s seduction and surrendered to him. He finally pulled away, only enough to breathe as they lingered close, sharing air and he exhaled slowly.

“If we keep doing that then you might become the cake.” He warned, smiling when Linlin blushed all the way from mouth to hairline and looked away, biting her lip in a bid to calm her crazy desires. Aware that she wanted him more than ever and this kiss somehow seemed more loaded than any they shared before. She may have said no to sex but with one real kiss ZhengLi had her crazy wound up. Maybe it was because this time they both kissed with emotion, and the knowledge that neither would be kissing anyone else, anytime soon.

“You have making up to do before I let you eat MY cake.” She winked naughtily, shoved him in his left peck with a flat palm and pushed off the wall to slide away from him sexily. Full on playful Linlin back, only this time with a spring in her step. The promise of something more substantial between them had her mood soaring, all tears and doubts forgotten. “Come on, I’m ready to dance and get smashed until I pass out. We’re not leaving because I don’t trust what I’ll do to you if we end up alone in your apartment.”

ZhengLi couldn’t disagree with that, also crazy turned on, he couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t maul her if he got her alone and he knew he shouldn’t while she was this drunk. He was a gentleman despite his playboy nature.

“Lead the way, Linnyboo, I’m all yours.”

Linlin turned and flashed him a wicked look. One that translated to ‘Damn right you are!’ and now she was intent on having the night of her life to celebrate, with her favorite party buddy.

Linlin also had a bitch to warn off by flaunting her man had a girlfriend officially now. Ready to let the world know. She hadn’t forgotten that hoe with her tongue in his ear when she spotted him, and her fire was back with a vengeance now she knew exactly whose man he was. Grabbing ZhengLi by the jacket lapel she strutted back towards the lounge area, hauling him along like an obedient puppy and he dutifully followed. Smiling to himself and besotted. Content that she was back with vavoom to being the little tornado that brought fun to his life. Returning to fiery Linnyboo once more and finding that sassy inner confidence.