Returning Home – Part 1
Tuesday, continued …
As Hou Yi started the engine on the car and began to drive off, he quietly spoke to Anna, his tone serious. “Thank you for not getting upset about what occurred in M Mall. I had heard the stories about some personal shoppers; it was a pity we ran into one. As soon as I realized what she was like, I had to establish that you were my wife, and we had a love match. She will help spread the rumors about our marriage and that we can apparently not keep our hands off each other. Whether people believe her or not will be their choice, but until there is a confirmation either way, they will respect you as they will not want to offend me.”
Anna was quiet for a moment, then said, “While I remember the conditions we set on our marriage, please tell me I didn’t push the boundaries on what you were comfortable with. If I did, I can only apologize to you for that. It was all about protecting you and establishing that our relationship is legitimate. It was not for anything else, and I hope it does not impact your ability to keep the promise that I extracted from you about giving our relationship an opportunity to develop to whatever it could be.”
By this time, Anna was highly angry. “You damn well better keep your promises, or I will make sure you pay. I do not need this now.”
Hou Yi realized he had pushed his luck with Anna now. “I will remember, Anna,” he responded with humility.
Anna then burst out laughing. “You are so easy to wind up, Hou Yi. I knew what you were doing and played along with it. I just wanted to see you grovel and apologize to me.”
“Anna, what am I going to do with you?” Hou Yi replied, also laughing.
He paused for a moment, then continued, “There’s one other matter we need to resolve at this time. Anna, we need to have the story that we’re going to tell everyone about our relationship. You told me you work at ANX Lawyers. Hou Enterprises uses them for our Australian-based legal work, and that’s because of the recommendation of the wife of a friend’s younger brother. I visited the offices six months ago, and that would be the logical explanation as to when we met.”
“We could tell the truth, that you were engaged to someone else, and we started communicating through messaging apps as friends, which would explain that there is no electronic trail. We can explain that you had doubts about your fiancé, and we talked about that, and my response was that you should do what makes you happy. We can state that on the day you were at the Australian Embassy to get the documents to marry your fiancé, we passed by each other, and you knew you could not marry him. We spoke further through the messaging apps, and we agreed to marry.”
“We would tell everyone our intention was to wait until you had not only ended your relationship with your fiancé but there was a gap before we married. I was happy to wait, even if this cost me Hou Enterprises; however, we would then say that your fiancé married someone else and we seized the chance to marry immediately.”
“That’s quite a tale,” Anna sneered.
“It really isn’t,” Hou Yi replied. “The only untruths are the communications between us and your plan to dump Lu Jinhu before today. Staying as close as possible to the truth means that we will not be caught out. Plus, Assistant Wang was working with my best computer expert to create a small electronic trail that if anyone goes digging will establish our contact, to support the story.”
“Well, you seem to have thought of everything,” Anna commented cynically.
“Well, how do you want to explain to everyone what happened, other than telling them we are using each other as a means to prevent disasters and get revenge on Lu Jinhu and Yang Lin then?” Hou Yi asked.
“Good question,” Anna replied. “How do you plan, with your explanation, to explain how come you were prepared to marry Yang Lin today?”
“All I was going to do was have her there and introduce her to Lu Jinhu, to see if they could develop a relationship. The fact that they have married plays into that explanation well.”
“Smart ass,” Anna remarked.
“Well, if you do not like my plan, what will be your explanation to everyone? Come on, someone as bright as you should have an idea?” Hou Yi pressed.
“I was going to tell the truth,” Anna said thoughtfully. “Lu Jinhu dumped me, I ran into you and knocked you off your feet. The only lie I was going to say was that we instantly fell for each other. Then I would say due to Lu Jinhu’s threats, we decided to marry immediately to protect me. Short, simple, and does not involve lies.”
“Answer this,” Hou Yi said abruptly. “Do you have your work laptop with you?”
“Yes, I do,” Anna replied.
With that, Hou Yi quickly pulled the vehicle over and looked at Anna. “Which bag is it in?”
“The cabin bag,” Anna answered.
With that, Hou Yi left the car running, opened the boot, and got out. He returned a moment later, handing Anna her cabin bag. “Well get it out, and I will set my mobile for you to use its data.”
Quickly, Anna opened the cabin bag, extracted her laptop, and turned it on. Hou Yi indicated, “Let me know when you are ready for the password.”
About 30 seconds later, Anna indicated, “I’m ready.” With that, Hou Yi showed her the password to enter to access his mobile data, which she did.
“Can I recommend you open up whatever software you use and search for HOUENT (Australia) Limited. That is Hou Enterprises’ Australian subsidiary.”
