Fall (2)

"Bang!" The door was pushed open, it revealed Zhuge Xia, her cousin and Si Jianyu, her former secretary.

Li Baozhai's eyes widened, "What are you doing here?" Her question was directed at Si Jianyu, she had kicked him away and asked him never to come back. She wasn't expecting to see him ever again. Not after what she had said to him.

Then she noticed the expression on their faces was not right. Zhuge Xia's face was pale, her eyes were shifty as if she would be caught doing something wrong anytime soon. She was breathing as if panicked.

'What could be worse than my situation,' she wondered.

"Baozhai, let's go, we'll explain later," Si Jianyu said, tugging her by her sleeve.

She had told him she hated being touched. Ever since, he tried as much to fulfill her wish and refrain from any form of physical contact.

Puzzled, she asked, "What's going on?"

Not waiting for a response, she pulled her hand back, "You know my situation, I can't leave." She lowered her head as she spoke, her voice almost a whisper.

"There's nothing wrong with you. We..."

Zhuge Xia quickly interrupted before Si Jianyu could properly explain, "We need to go before they get here."

Seeing she wanted to argue more, he did not let her as he grabbed her hands, intertwining their fingers, before racing out of the room with Zhuge Xia leading the way.

Li Baozhai was confused as she did not understand what was going on. 'Who were they running from? What was happening?' These were the thoughts running through her mind as she ran alongside her former secretary.

Immediately they arrived outside, they were surrounded by men in black suits.

Li Baozhai frowned. She still could not understand what was going on, neither could she sense the danger.

A part of her couldn't help but question, 'Is this another one of my imaginations?'

Si Jianyu broke her from her reverie. "Baozhai, I'll cause a distraction, take that chance to run away." He whispered, though he wasn't looking at her.

She wouldn't have known he was talking to her if not for the fact that he called her name.

Then she wondered, 'Since when did he start calling me by my name?'

Then again, he was no longer in her employ so it was acceptable.

Subsequently, Si Jianyu whipped out a gun and shut at the closest person by her then pushed her aside.

She lost her footing, almost tumbling. When she regained balance, she stood gaping at him. 'Where did he get a gun? Why was he shooting at the men in suits?'

Li Baozhai had seen too many realities. She couldn't identify what was real anymore so to her this was another one of her imagination.

She thought she no longer saw things but it appears she was wrong.

Her former secretary, Si Jianyu was a gentle man who put her needs first. He was never aggressive. Besides, Zhuge Xia, her cousin, had always been a very aloof person. She didn't get involved in the family matters neither did she talk too much but all of a sudden, her cousin and Jianyu were by her side. One trying to fend off these strange men, the other panicking.

As gunshots fired continuously, only Li Baozhai was frozen in time.

She did not run as instructed and only watched from the sidelines.

After the death of her grandfather, she had told herself that no matter what happened, she would never act as her 'imagination' dictates.

If she had been as calm and as rational as she is now, back then she would not have ruined her reputation in public.

The breeze blew her hair across her face, causing her to shiver. Li Baozhai raised her head, the clouds had darkened and covered the sun, something she failed to notice earlier.

The wind howled as rain threatened to fall while lightning brightened the surroundings.

"Baozhai!" Si Jianyu exclaimed, but it was too late. She had been grabbed by the hair.

She turned to seek her assailant, it was Li Jiayi, her cousin.

Confusion flashed across her eyes, 'What is Jiayi doing here? Why is pulling my hair?'

Before she could register these thoughts or think deeper, Li Jiayi had pointed a gun to her head.

Li Baozhai's face was etched with a frown. Then she heard her cousin's smoky voice sound, "Si Jianyu, drop the gun."

No matter the situation, Li Jiayi was always provocative. From her figure to the way she dressed, even her voice spelt seduction.

Li Baozhai had always wondered how she managed to pull that off.

Even as she was dressed in a rocker outfit, her seductiveness was still present.

Normally, she wore skirts that hugged her figure. As she had a huge butt, it was the number one cause of distraction at the office.

Not today. Today, she was dressed in black leather trousers and booties which she paired with a white top and black leather jacket. Even her lips were painted black.

She did not peg Jiayi for the gothic or rocker type. She likes leather but they were in the form of skirts, bags and shoes but never trousers and jackets.

Li Jiayi's lips were always a shade of red. The black did not make her weird though. It only gave her a dangerous vibe.

While Li Baozhai examined Li Jiayi, Si Jianyu had dropped the gun.

Subsequently, he was kicked to the ground and the gun, taken away from him.

"Si Jianyu, I've never understood why you side with this fool..." She snickered then her eyes turned sharp as she stared daggers at Zhuge Xia, "And you, I thought you didn't like to get involved, why are you suddenly trying to help her?"

Although Li Baozhai still thought it was part of her imagination, she couldn't help but wince when she saw that Si Jianyu had been kicked to the ground.

Her heart shuddered inexplicably.

"I don't like to get involved and I wouldn't have if I did not know that you had plotted to take Baozhai down like this.

Just for Li Real Estates, you people killed grandfather and Baozhai can't differentiate reality from whatever her brain cooked up under your schemes.

It's funny that the company is only a shell of what it used to be because of your schemes."

"Because of my schemes, you say?" Jiayi chuckled, flashing her pearly whites teeth that stood out all the more because of the black lipstick that colored her lips.

"If only you knew who was responsible... I only had to watch from the sidelines."

Afterwards, she pulled Li Baozhai's hair, this made her wince in pain.

The pain jolted her, she finally had an idea of what was going on. There was someone behind her fall and Jiayi had chosen to side with that person.

"Watch from the sides?" Zhuge Xia scoffed. Her eyes had darkened while staring at Li Jiayi. "You think I didn't overhear your conversation?"

Just as Zhuge Xia wanted to clarify, Li Jiayi cut her off. "And what if you overheard? What can you do about it? Who would believe?"

Jiayi shoved Li Baozhai to the ground. Next, she ran her fingers through her hair. Li Baozhai was too disillusioned to say anything. Her lips trembled as she rubbed her head.