Wang Ke's email started simple enough.
The older man had told DiDi that after the successful discussion they had, he wanted to be upfront to DiDi and show him what the future of his publishing company is going to be like.
He wants DiDi to understand what his vision is.
If it is going to be a partnership, then it isn't only the Wang Corporation that will bring in something to the table. Wang Ke will be bringing 50% as well.
He gave DiDi a preview of the upcoming line-up of books per season and they all looked good but one book, in particular, caught his attention.
She had seen Shen Yue's name and zoomed in on the book preview immediately.
It was untitled but there was an attachment to it.
Wang Ke had actually sent him drafts of the books.
If that didn't spell out how much the businessman trusted DiDi, he does not know what else it could mean.
They will be signing a contract next week and Wang Ke is here giving him the opportunity to back out if he didn't like what he sees.
Even if DiDi is doing this just to make sure that Shen Yue's second book does not see the light of day, he is happy to meet a businessman who is very much like his Father – someone tenacious, clever, but is honest to the bone.
He immediately clicked on the draft for Yue's story.
He skimmed through it first and was surprised to find ten chapters of it.
WHEN DID THE WOMAN HAVE TIME TO WRITE THIS MUCH?
Is this how fast she really writes stories?!
Since he had read the first book, he remembered that that ended with Zuer and Feiyu's character deciding to make things work as they left him and Zi Wei behind.
DiDi found himself heading to his kitchen and taking out a bottle of mineral water and downing it in one go.
He knows this is a retribution story for his sister but is he ready to read about himself, even if they are supposedly the heroes in this story?
Besides, what could a woman as angry as Yue, write about his character?
He is sure he would probably be butchered again.
There is no way in hell this isn't going to be bad, somehow.
He hardened his heart and braced for what he would see. He took his laptop and sat down the lazy boy near his unit's veranda.
He is going to dive into this head on.
After twenty minutes, his character is introduced in Chapter Three.
Chin is nursing a hangover.
She does not appreciate the familiar sound of her brother coming in her room and shaking her awake.
"GET UP SLEEPY HEAD!", it is as if the person he is talking to is in the next room.
"STOP!", she screams right back at him and hides herself deeper into her sheets. She wishes her bed would eat her up and hide her for the day.
"Zhihao and I are going to go out for breakfast and you're coming with us!"
She doesn't want to eat. She doesn't want to move.
Last night with her girlfriends had been the first time she got drunk as an Irish man and she has earned the right to stay in bed for the whole day. Her brother is not going to ruin that for her.
"NO! Can't you let me sleep?!?", she asks, exasperated, "I'm hungover and happy about it. Please let me sleep."
"You won't be happy about that for long when your body screams for food and water so get up or I'll throw you in the shower and bathe you myself."
She knows the threat is not empty.
Her brother sometimes treats her like a five-year old.
"Can't I stew in the misery of a hangover? Can't I just stay in this room and allow myself to feel hungry and dehydrated? Can't I just... die?"
And there it is again.
The one thing she is trying to hold back – the anger, frustration, and hurt.
It sniffed the air and is going to come out now. Chin is sure. And it is going to come out while she is with her brother, the one man who she knows deserves to hurt just as much as she does.
"I won't allow you to die unless you die happy, Chin. And if you don't get up from bed now, that is not going to happen anytime soon!"
"Why are you acting like both our worlds were not destroyed?!?", she demands of him, "How could you act like you are not hurting as bad as I am?!?"
Kai hauls her up the bed and looks at her dead square in the eye. "Because I have to. I have to act like everything is going to be ok until it eventually becomes ok. And so do you. Some things you have to pretend about before the need to pretend goes away because you have already made it your reality."
The tears fell.
"But it's tiring to pretend", she croaks in between her sobs.
"It's more tiring to not be ok. We both have to begin somewhere, don't we?"
DiDi remembers this moment in time very well.
Zi Wei had come with him and Kido reluctantly but he tried his damnedest to make sure she would have fun.
However, what made him pause is that this scene made him look like a very caring brother.
It is not that THAT isn't true but the tone with which he has been written in here is very different from the tone used on him in the first book.
He remembers that he was still a very caring brother in that book but it sometimes felt like he was just using his concern for his sister to push his untoward agenda on Feiyu.
He was the ultimate villain in that book but it seems he won't be portrayed as a devil in this one.
He brought his eyes back to the story and continued to read.
He still had seven more chapters to go.
Is it possible that despite her treatment of him, she really doesn't hate him?
DiDi found himself going around this question even an hour after he read Yue's draft.
Something squeezed at his heart as he read about how his sister appreciated all the efforts he put in during those first few months after the tragedy that befell them.
Yes, Zi Wei had thanked him profusely herself, never shying away from letting him know how much she loves him for everything that he did and for what he continues to do for her.
Still, to read about it and have the memories refreshed, there was a certain happiness that had enveloped him in realizing that his sister's contentment now was a byproduct of him never giving up on at least one of them getting a happy ending.
And to also realize that the one who had written this is someone he hates and is planning to take down... unrest settled in the pit of his stomach.
Could Shen Yue really be writing this, not for profit, but because she wants to?
Could Shen Yue be saying the truth after all?
Could it be possible that he really is, indeed, an asshole blinded by anger?
He felt his chest constrict.
And then the memory of Shen Yue's face in his car, before they went down the restaurant for the engagement party, flashed inside his head.
It deeply bothered him how haunted it looked at the thought of seeing her best friend and the man she loves officially announcing their upcoming union.
Could it be possible that Yue is writing his sister's story because she, herself, wants to believe that there could be a chance for everyone to find love again?
Because if another person can find love then maybe she can too?
It was a heady thought too heavy for DiDi's state of mind but it pressed on.
He remembered every argument, every conversation, every snide remark they had thrown at each other and the way she shook in indignation when he accused her of writing for money stood out.
"I do not write for money MISTER WANG HE DI! And if you really are intelligent, you would know that if I wanted to get rich, I wouldn't be writing since there really is nothing to earn from writing."
He had taken that as an empty retaliation to make the author look like she really had a heart.
But what she had written down in her new book shows DiDi that indeed, this is a labor of love.
He took a deep breath.
Love victimized him the same way it had victimized her.
They hated each other because they didn't know just how much each of them suffered for love.
But he had seen her struggles and had taken advantage of them, even.
Why was he so blind to that?
And now... now that he knows and understands everything... what could he possibly do?
Something else is starting to replace the unrest he felt in his stomach.
If Wang He Di had not spent the last years being bitter and heart-broken, he would have recognized this new feeling as the one he felt when he was around seven years old and his father had him listen to a Beatle's song. He would have known that this is...