Chapter 353 - Friend’s advice

Jun Mo frowned as he turned to look at his friend. 

"What do you mean?"

Edward Wu just scoffed and ignored his friend. He knew that woman wasn't a simple woman who would be so stupid to invite her husband ex to live with them. She definitely had something up her sleeves.

Lei Zhao dispensed with ceremony entirely as he loosened his tie, removed his jacket before sitting down then polishing half the contents of the glass in one go.

He looked up to find Jun Molooking at him quizzically. "Feeling the heat"

"In more ways than one, how is that secretary of yours Edward," he asked conversationally, grasping at anything to defer the lecture he knew was sure to come. In all of their circle growing up, Edward had been the one he had grown closest with because he had a perspective that was thought-provoking and wasn't afraid of the truth.

Edward Wu just glared at Lei Zhao and rolled his eyes at him. 

"Beautiful and yes, I'm f.u.c.k.i.n.g her now. Happy? And don try to change the subject" Edward Wu circled back neatly.

Lei Zhao sighed, he should have known he could not have evaded it. "In my defense, I didn't know people would react like this to me"

Edward Wu shrugged, before replying "I didn't see a problem beyond mild inconvenience until my sister explained things from her perspective very carefully to me"

"What did she say?" He was genuinely curious

"She said it was as if you had gone and adopted a child without telling your wife now she has to bear it gracefully."Lei Zhao winced

"Mentioning that Yue Yan is an a.d.u.l.t of her own won't further my argument right?" He asked without hope of a favorable response

Edward Wu merely shook his head from side to side before saying "it's only going to make it worse"

"I thought so, and mentioning that Yan Mei offered, almost insisted is not going to..." He never got to finish the sentence

"Nope." A single word, very emphatic.

"I didn't think so"

"You look stressed, the sudden attention too much for you Mister billionaire?" Lei Zhao looked up from his thoughts to find his friend regarding him with a concerned look.

"It's Yan Mei " he admitted carefully

"What happened?" Jun Mo asked, none of the censures in his voice this time.

"She had an accident at work two days ago"

Jun Mo froze, then carefully dropped the snifter in his hand. "Why am I just hearing this?"

Lei Zhao sighed, aware of the sudden shift in the atmosphere "I can't wrap my head around it just yet, I don't think I have words to explain the entire scene without losing my mind."

"Try" his friend prompted, not unkindly.

"I think I'm going to need more of this." Lei Zhao gestured at the glass in his hand but he didn't make a move to get up and refill it, he didn't trust his legs to carry him without folding halfway.

"The workday is practically over, take your time and tell me about it.," Jun Mo encouraged lightly.

"I want to clobber your head in for letting me rant all this while and you were like this" was his friend's calm reply

"Thanks, man" the words were grave, the sentiment behind them even heavier. He had accepted those words for the show of love and concern they truly were about.

"What are friends for?"

Lei Zhao didn't get another snifter of cognac, he finished the contents of the glass in his hands then twirled it, focusing on the gentle rainbows it cast in the light instead of the emotional excess in his mind.

He quietly recounted how Yue Yan had saved his wife not just two days ago but for all the other times, his voice deliberately neutral. When he finished the silence in the room stretched out for the longest time.

Edward Wu's face tightened as he relayed his story, his actions measured as he took a small sip out of the contents of the glass in his hands "Wow, that's a lot to bear, then people with their opinions"

Lei Zhao chuckled, it revealed his exhaustion, "I'm not even mad, I see how everyone has a point but the thing I enjoy most is how everyone is like 'how dare you do that to Yan Mei' that she has the entire world on her side even against me is everything."

Edward Wu eyed him balefully. "Trust you to see the good side of it."

Lei Zhao smiled this time, "I'm a businessman, and trust me, there is always a good side even if it's not your side."

"That's a lot to swallow"

"Tell me about it," Lei Zhao replied launching into his own thoughts. "I've been unable to sleep for the past few days, I can't even give myself a moment of rest. Every time I close my eyes I can't help but see the accident happen again, I was not there but my mind can't help supply the images, and this time, Yue Yan does not get there fast enough, in fact, no one is there when it happens and the ending is....."

His friend cut him off with a brutal "Lei Zhao "

"Yes, that" he replied summarily, there was nothing else he could have said

"Well she's good for something…...if she is not the one causing it." Edward Wu observed quietly

"Who?" Lei Zhao asked, unable to hide his confusion at his friend's words

"Yue Yan,  she's saved Yan Mei twice and that's a huge plus in my books, though the timing is a bit suspicious" he pointed out

The defense came automatically and with precise emphasis, "she would never"

Edward Wu waved it off airily, "I know, a bit too dramatic to go to such lengths but she's no angel"

"None of us are, Yue Yan would never" Lei Zhao insisted

That only drew a sour look from his friend, "see you defending her"

Lei Zhao wilted at those words but doubled back immediately. "Surprisingly, everyone thinks she has bad intentions, she's not like that, you know her."