Chapter 3: The Reunion

Lia scrambled into the washrooms, catching her breath as she finally finds Win in one of the VIP restrooms, still trying to dry her dress from the incident earlier. She tries to look as calm as possible as to avoid suspicions from Win, but it was too late.

"What are you running from?" Win immediately asks her.

"What?" Lia acts innocently, "What are you saying? I wasn't running."

Win carefully points at her forehead, "Sweat plus you were catching your breath. Now tell me the reason why." Alas, it was useless to have tried to lie to a good lawyer.

"Okay, I ran all the way from the rooftop to find you here. It's just that you were taking so long and I was afraid that you might have bumped into- I mean, you were just taking so long, I was bored." She tried explaining.

"So, you ran?" Win still suspicious of her actions.

"Oh, yes, I ran. How many times do I have to tell you that? So, let's go, okay? The stain on your dress isn't very obvious anymore. I figured out it would be a lot more fun to stay in your house and binge-watch movies until midnight. Don't you think so?"

"I told you so. But you didn't listen. And now that we're here, I think it's better to stay so we don't waste all the time we used to get to this reunion." Win responds, walking out of the restroom, "Why do I feel like you're running away from someone? What did you do while I was gone?"

Lia nervously laughs, "Nothing. What are you saying? I just felt like staying indoors, that's all."

"Look, I don't get you. But since you were the one who brought me all the way here, let's go back up there because I have to grab my purse which I presume you must have forgotten to bring. Let's stay for a while and then go, okay?" Win walks away immediately, still very confused about Lia's actions.

Lia, having nothing else to do, follows her sheepishly. Why of all times would Asher Yang suddenly show up unwanted? But seeing how everybody reacted to his presence, he must have left out of embarrassment, right? All these were running in Lia's head as they took the elevator back to the rooftop. She was fervently praying that Asher was already gone by the time they were back at the venue.

But prayers don't always work, do they? By the time she was finished sending her prayers to the heavens, they were at the rooftop with a Winona Chen standing insensibly, with eyes fixed on a guy across the area. Of course, Asher didn't leave, he was shameless, as he always as been. He was sitting across the room with Henry beside him, they were laughing about something, and as always, he seemed to be greatly unbothered by the stares and whispers around him.

Asher Yang is the son of the owner of the biggest conglomerate group in Beijing, people talk about how their family owns half of Beijing. It may be an exaggeration but their wealth probably isn't really far from half of what Beijing has. More than Henry and Nathan, he was the most popular guy in the university.

But more than that, he was the love of Win's life. After their very chaotic break-up, it took two years before Win finally opened herself to anyone again. She became like a studying machine while in law school, thus the impressive performance. The way she acted in law school was more out of devastation than of perseverance. She did that all to divert her attention.

"I guess I'll take your bag then we'll go." Lia whispers and slowly walks over to where they were seated earlier. Win has regained herself but is still unsure of what she does next.

Unfortunately for the both of them, Henry spots them before they could go, he called out, "Hey, Win! Look who has joined the party."

Lia shoots him looks and it was only then that he realized his mistake. He awkwardly laughs then walks over to Lia, "I'm sorry. I forgot." He whispers.

"It happened. Now the next thing we do is try to figure out a way to get out of this situation you've put upon all of us." Lia responds.

But by the time they finished their little chat, Asher was already walking towards Win's direction. This made both Lia and Henry's jaws drop. They were both in shock, frozen in their positions. Win, on the other hand, had a gentle smile plastered on her face as Asher approached her.

"It's nice to see you again, Win." Asher greeted.

"It is great to see you too. It's been a while and you look awfully the same." She joked, "Only now you've got a professional vibe to you now."

"I've heard a lot about you. From the news, and all the other online sources."

"Yeah. You must've grown sick of my name online." Win chuckled, "Because I have."

"No, it's good actually. I mean, it's good I hear about how you're doing through them."

Win flinched, it's as if something has pricked her chest. She wasn't prepared for all of this; her mind was set on the fact that it was unlikely he'd come. Though a part of her did think about what she'd say once they came across each other after six years, no one can ever prepare for something like this.

"So, I guess I should go first? Unfortunately, I have an appointment tonight and I only stopped by because the hotel was on the way." Win mentioned, breaking the awkwardness built by the silence. She called out to Lia, "Lia! It's time we go."

"Oh, then you should go. It was really amazing to see you again."

"And you too."

Back in the car, Win let out an immense sigh of relief. She was holding back her emotions on the rooftop, no one expected things to turn out that way.

"I'm sorry." Lia finally breaks the silence.

Win looked at her and smiled, "Why are you apologizing? It's not like it's your fault he came."

"But I knew he was there when I ran to you in the restrooms, I should've told you, I'm really-"

Win cuts her off and reassures her that there's nothing she should be guilty of, "Besides, let's just think of him as someone from six years ago whom I accidentally bumped into. There's nothing bad about it. I'm fine, stop worrying."

"If you say so," Lia finally relaxes, "It's just that no one expected him to arrive, even Henry. He's still as shameless as he was in college, showing himself after all that humiliation."

"Humiliation?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot you didn't know. It all happened when you were in your advertisement campaign, he got into a huge matter with one of his employees. I heard that their company did everything to keep it as a secret but eventually it blew up. Gossip sites, online, almost everywhere." Lia narrated, "I guess they were able to silence media outlets but not the people."

"What exactly happened?"

"Nothing was confirmed by their side but according to the stories, he badly beat up one of their employees during a team building activity he leaded in Shenzhen."

Win was in deep thought, Asher can be a little arrogant sometimes but he's not the type of person to pick on other people, she thought. "Are you sure about what you've read? Why would he do that?"

"I know. I was also shocked the first time I heard about it. Asher was not the type of person to do that. But according to reports, he was drunk. That's why."

It still seemed unbelievable to Win, despite everything, Asher, to her, is a good person. "That's all there is? How come people look at him like he's murdered someone? They're too much."

"Yeah, that's why I was shocked seeing him in the reunion. From what I heard; his father has been warning him not to go anywhere while the rumors were still hot. People said he was abusing his stature in the society and did that to his employee because he was powerless. That's why he is receiving so much hate."

"So, what happens now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, the rumors could not have finished there. Did the employee in the rumor file any case against Asher or what?" Win continuously questioned.

Lia sighs, Win isn't the type of person to care about rumors no matter how closely affected she is, no matter how many times she says she does not have any feelings left for Asher and has inherent hate for him, it still seems like deep down, she cares. "That's where it got interesting actually." Lia answers, "A week after the rumors got out, it eventually died down. People suspected that the said employee accepted the Yangs' compensation to keep him silent."

"So, it's over?"

Lia finishes her story, "It could have been. But suddenly just last week, it was all over social media that the employee was filing an assault case against Asher."

Win drops into silence, trying to remember something that seems to be related to the concern about Asher. Her silence was driving for a long time so Lia calls her out, "Win? What's wrong?"

"If this rumor about the assault case all came up last week, could it be why.."

Lia asks, confused, "Why what?"

"Could it be why Yang Industries was looking for me?"