I Deserve A Second Chance

"You don't have to send me back. I'm sure I have taken a lot of your time today. The office is only next door anyway. I should go now. Take care!"

After they walked out of the mall, she quickly said that to him. He paused on his steps and looked at her.

She added again, "Although I paid for the lunch, I still think I have to compensate your suit as well. Please send the laundry bill to me when you got the chance." She gave a polite smile and without waiting for his reply, she walked away.

She didn't rush her steps, nor was she pretending to be busy with phone. She really didn't do anything except for walking away while enjoying the beautiful day.

Even until the end of lunch, she still didn't ask for his name. As if, she didn't need to know and didn't have to know. She treated this encounter as a one time only and everyone would parted their ways happily.

Oh she was so wrong.

He just looked at her parting figure quietly and gave a small smile. He shook his head helplessly and chanted in his heart, 'We'll meet again soon'.

.....

When she came to office on Wednesday, she got the surprise of her life. She won the proposal tender and on top of that, she would also be in charge for the celebration party. Everyone from her floor, and also from the other floors, all came to her to congratulate her.

She credited her team for the winning. She didn't do the material by herself. And she believed in awarding those who deserve to be awarded. So she always remembered to bring up her team members' contribution to everyone who came.

Because of the tight schedule, everyone worked hard right away, to get the best result for the party. Shao Yan had promised her team for a dinner to celebrate the win and all of them decided to go for hotpot on Friday.

The mall next door had the famous lamb hotpot so it's very convenient for everyone. They went after they finished their tasks for the day and happily went to the restaurant to eat to their hearts content.

"Boss, how do you feel being a celebrity of Gold Crane?", one of her team member, Zhao Wenhai asked her, "Now, who doesn't know Shao Yan of Project Team!"

Other team member, Li Na, also chimed in "Boss, when you go bigger than this, remember to bring all of us with you!". They all chatted happily, and without restraint. All five of them had worked together for the past two years. They had grown from strangers to family during that time.

Shao Yan ordered some beers to accompany their food. And they became rowdier. Wenhai and Li Na were around the same age as her. Other team members, Huo ge and Fan jie were both older than her but when alcohol was involved, no one was pretending to be little miss anymore.

Shao Yan tried not to drink too much, and Lee Ying was also with them, so Shao Yan made sure at least there was one person who was sobered enough to control the situation.

.....

After dinner, because their heart were still so ecstatic, they decided to go to karaoke. She booked a medium room, and they quickly fought for song selection. Shao Yan just let them played around, this was their night anyway. She just sat on the side and sipped her fruit juice.

Someone picked Zhang Xueyou (Jacky Cheung) song True Love (真爱). She was about to drink her juice and then her hand paused halfway when she heard the intro. Huo ge and Fan jie quickly took on the mic and sang confidently. Shao Yan put the glass back on the table and lost in her thoughts.

Many years ago, someone also sang this song for her, declaring his love for her; telling her that they would be together forever, inseparable.

But those were mere lies. She fell for those lies.

She was deeply in love, fully devoted herself to him and agreed to marry him. She left all her friends and families here and moved to country U with him.

It had been two years but everytime she thought of him, her heart still felt the pain. She could feel tears threatened to spill out.

She took a deep breath and calmed herself down. She closed her eyes and tried to think of her project plan to distract her mind.

She tried to spell out her plans one by one. But all the memories just came back to her. Flooded all her emotions at once. She's drowning.

.....

They met at college 8 years ago and dated soon after. All her friends had warned her not to be with him. But she didn't listen.

They spent every single day together. She went to his classes and he went to hers. Soon, everybody knew that they're an item. He was the idol in the university. He was smart and good looking. He was also the role model student for their batch.

Every girls envied her. But if she could turned back time, she would have told her younger self to run away run far away, and escaped him.

He proposed after they graduated. He was 23 and she was 22. Her parents against their decision so much, so they decided to elope. She was filled with excitement of living a new chapter with him that she turned blind to everything else.

Their first few years together were full of bliss. The sex were blazing hot. They were always looking at each other, tried different positions at different places. They were adventurous!

Then trouble came.

They had to face the reality very soon after their third anniversary. He was an ambitious person. He worked really hard and became a director of a gaming company when he was only 25.

He was busy with work and soon neglected her. They kept missing each other presence at home. He came home late when she was already asleep. They had less and less communication.

And everytime they talked to each other, they would just argued and threw things at each other. She would ended up crying and he would left the house frustrated. And then the next day, they would pretend nothing had ever happened.

The cycle continued for several years.

Even when they tried to save their marriage by going on vacation, he would be occupied with calls and meetings. So she finally had enough.

She decided to leave.