Private But Not A Secret [on A hiatus]

Chapter Fifteen

Zee pov

I had told Nunew I didn't want to be here, but he kept insisting. I finally agreed because it was either that or listen to him whine about it for a few more days. The second I got there, business associates of mine crowded around me, making me feel claustrophobic. The man of the hour, Bruce-that's not his real name, it's his English business name-I can't really say that I remember his real name. "Panich," he says, greeting me. I give him an envelope that Max and Nat gave me to give to him. He barely looks at it before putting it in his blazer and leads me to meet more people. I look back and see Nunew looking around, bored? Can't even feel bad for him. He wanted to be here. After a few more chats with people, I notice that Nunew is gone. He just left, just like that. Doesn't he understand how dangerous it is around here? Now I have to look for him because he can't stay still. "Dinner is about to be served; let's go take our seats," someone says to me. "Please continue without me, I'll be there in a few minutes," I reply. I need to find Nunew. After walking for a while, I find him at the end of ANOTHER hallway. How did he even get that far?

"Nunew? What are you doing here? Let's go back to the main hall, dinner is about to be served," I say, leading us to our table. We get to the table, and I feel claustrophobic again and my breaths become shallow. I periodically tune out the conversation to focus on breathing. I don't know what everyone was saying, but they were looking at Nunew. They probably are wondering who he is. "Nunew is my plus one," I say. They continue asking more questions or answering them. I don't know.

"Well, you two laughed once I answered you, so I assumed you are," I hear Nunew say in a really rude tone. "They probably weren't, Nunew," I say, trying to defuse whatever is happening. He stands up; I try to follow, but he tells me to sit back down, talking about getting some air or something. I'm too uneasy and dizzy to argue with him, so I sit back down. After a few minutes, I scan my eyes around the room to look for him. I see him with miss Lan at the bar. I relax knowing that he is with someone responsible and reliable.

Miss Yaqi started talking to me. I didn't really understand what she was talking about, but it felt rude and impolite to shoo her away, especially since it was her uncle's dinner party. "Did you really ask Nunew a question just to laugh at him?" I asked her. She looked at me, confused. "Your plus one? Ha, I didn't mean to," she said. If I didn't know how cunning this woman was, I would have believed her. "Really now?" I said. "Then you wouldn't have a problem apologizing to him, right?" Earlier, I hadn't meant to be so dismissive of him; I was overwhelmed myself. She sighed and rolled her eyes. See, I was right. She doesn't have an apologetic bone in her body. She grasped my arm. "For you, Gege, I will," she said. Just then, Nunew came over, holding a glass of wine. He doesn't even drink alcohol; I smelled trouble brewing.

"Evening," he says, his tone polite but his smile lacking authenticity. "Miss Yaqi would like to apologize for any offense or misunderstanding she may have caused," I tell Nunew. His expression changes to one of offense. Before he can utter a word, Miss Yaqi cuts in. "Zee, you can call me Vivian, please, stop with the formalities," she insists. Yet, formalities are very very very necessary. She fancies us a couple, despite my formality, I shudder to think how she might behave if I ever relaxed around her or spoke more casually, imagine how insane she'll start acting.

"Hia, I'm tired , let's go home," Nunew say, pointedly ignoring Miss Yaqi, which seems fair-I was ignoring her as well. "maybe later. He and I were still talking , kid," she says sharply. Her tone catches me off guard. I've always known Miss Yaqi was not the kindest person , but she's never let her true colors show so blatantly before me. "Oh, that's nice, but I was talking to Hia, so I expect Hia to answer " Nunew counters.

I struggle to hide my amusement. "Sure, I'm tired too," I reply, eager to escape. "Wait, Can I at least get a dance before you leave?"Miss Yaqi pleads, pulling me toward her without awaiting my consent.

Suddenly, Nunew stumbles on my shoe, barely grazing it. His glass of wine sails through the air, soaking Miss Yaqi's dress, staining her pale neckline with red. "I'm so sorry," Nunew apologizes. "Let me help your dry dress" he says, guiding her toward the stairs, presumably to a room above. It all happens so quickly , I'm left speechless. Today, my reactions are just sluggish. I glance at their retreating figures and see Miss Yaqi with hands raised and Nunew tumbling backward down the stairs.

I run over. Lucky the stairs have large gaps in between them so he rolled over a few stairs. Hearing people gasp made my heart apin. I felt as if I was having a mini heart attack. I held nunew and started caressing his hair as a comforting technique mainly for myself. I couldn't even hear what anyone was saying. Some one was trying to take nunew away from me. I just held him tighter. He sat himself up. "I'm sorry, miss. I only wanted to help you dry your dress," Nunew says softly. "Nhu, don't explain yourself to her,"I say looking at her with hatred I never knew I could hoarder. Days of me being polite to Miss Yaqi are over. She needs an aggressive reality check.

I use my handkerchief to wipe his tears. "I'll send you a bill for your dress," Nunew says. He is too nice for this world. "Stop it, Nhu. You don't owe her anything; she's such a ruthless person," I say, hugging him. I vow to protect him forever. "You really believe him over me?" Miss Yaqi asks. "I was there, wasn't I?" I reply. She scoffs and leaves. Again, 'She has no apologetic bone in her body.' I help Nunew walk up the stairs to a room. "Nunew, let Miss Lan check on you, okay?" I say. It's just something temporary. Miss Lan has a bit of medical experience, but I'll take him to a professional later. I need to talk to Miss Yaqi now.

I walk out with Bruce as he tries different excuses for why Miss. Yaqi would push Nunew off the stairs. I know she didn't really do it, and Nunew is quite the actor, but I just went along with it. He has been a bit moody lately. First, he suddenly leaves dinner, and now this scene he has caused. I wish I could see what's going on in his head.

Nunew probably did that out of jealousy and possessiveness, which is fine by me and understandable. I haven't been the best companion.

"...You know she's loved you for years, and now you come to my gathering with a person you seem close to. You don't even ride in the same car as Miss Lan, and she works with you. Vivian did it out of jealousy; she probably misunderstood your relationship with that man..." Bruce goes on and on about Ms. Yaqi. Speak of the devil, and he shall arrive. Ms. Yaqi was approaching us. "Gege," I will never get used to that term of endearment from her. With nunew it's different. I actually love him. "I really didn't do anything," she says, getting closer. "Excuse me, I'll give you two time to talk," Bruce says, giving me a tight smile, leaving Ms. Yaqi and me alone. "If you want me to apologize to your friend, it's fine, even if I did nothing wrong again," she says, grabbing my arm. "Okay, I admit we were laughing at him, but I didn't push him off the stairs," she says, aggressively pouting.

Before I could say anything, Miss Lan leaves the room. I quickly flinch away from Ms. Yaqi. If that were Nunew, he would have blown everything out of proportion and done something crazy again. Miss Lan eyes us, then walks away. Ms. Yaqi looks at her figure moving away, glaring at her. "She's always in everybody's business," Miss Yaqi says.

"Let's go have dinner, just you and I," she says. She sees my displeased expression, so she adds, "to extend my apologies." "Wouldn't it make more sense if you sent this invitation to the person you hurt?" I ask. "Gege~," she coos. I don't have time for her, not tonight. I leave her and walk back to the room to get Nunew.