Make Me Yours

He shrugged and began to shift uncomfortably, though a small smile remained on his face; she knew that this man wasn’t a man that was used to showing people this side of him. Hmm. Another thing to ponder upon.

“I do believe it is as you said, Xen. That we never stop learning as there is never a point in our lives that we know it all. It doesn’t make any of us stupid, it just makes us humans.”

“It would appear that you are a wise woman yourself, Zoey.”

It was the first time he would call her by her first name; it made her heart skip a beat. Who knew her name could ever sound so exotic, so lush?

Reaching for her drink so that he would not notice how much she had been affected, she took a sip and murmured sweetly.

“Well, it does take one to know one.” She ended with a wink and set her drink aside. Once again, he chuckled.

Zoey decided that she liked the sound; even loved it. She never would have guessed that he would have such a beautiful genuine smile or laugh, and that she would ever be one to elicit both from him.

“So, tell me Zoey, what about you? What stupid things did you do while you were young?”

“Oh me? Trust me, I did one too many. I got drunk about a thousand times, despite swearing never to do so again, after each time. Marijuana, crack, pills, you name it… I tried them all. But only once for each. It was alcohol that really stuck, you know? Somehow, many of us believe that alcohol is slightly better than drugs – as long as you’re not addicted. Still, I was in college and people were going wild. We all wanted to try different things, see what worked for us.” She took a deep breath as she sighed. Those times had been really crazy. They had attended just about every frat party together. She had been the typical college student.

She had never been a conservative or an introvert. College had just given her the opportunity to explore.

“Well, at the end of sophomore year, I realized – my friends and I all did – that what we truly needed, what always worked for us every time, was having each other. So, we sat up and we sat tight. Got a little more serious with our lives, and started thinking of ways we could contribute nicely to society, whilst making our big bucks. And the rest of college went fairly well after that. Oh, there were also the bad dating decisions. But all that is in the past now. We grew, we knew better and we’ve been acting better.”

He had tucked his left palm under his chin as she spoke, and he was now watching her like she was the most interesting thing in the whole universe. It took a lot to not feel self-conscious. She couldn’t help wondering if her mouth moved right, or if her hair was still in place, or… okay, she was officially very into this man.

“Sounds about the story of a million other college and ex college students out there.”

“Right.”

“But why do I feel that those weren’t what you really considered worst times?”

She paused, for she had not been expecting that question. The hangovers were horrible, but were they her worst times? Surely not.

“You know what?” She finally answered. “If we ever do this again, I mean spend time like this, then I’ll tell you about everything. Deal?”

He took the hand she had held out and shook it. “Deal.”

Christ. She was actually in a lounge with one of the richest men in the world and here they were shaking hands and making deals like old pals, when only a few days ago she had wanted to rip his head off.

“So, what about you? What times would you consider were the worst for you, so far?”

“It has to be when I lost my father and my sister on the same day, to the same accident.”

The crash. She had read about it in the news. She had thought it a terrible tragedy indeed.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. It’s been over ten years now. The ache of losing a loved one… it never goes away. But with time, it lessens. It lessens considerably until it just feels like a dull, numb pain, somewhere in your chest.”

“Were you close to either of them?”

“Very much. My father was a very busy man, but he was a good father. Everything I know, he taught me. He was kind as he was firm, and he always made time for my sister and I. There was never a time we felt unloved or neglected, not even under the hardest of disciplines. Losing him that way… I felt lost. Very lost. And my sister, Chuang. She was the princess. Beautiful, fierce, strong. For a long time, there was this gaping hole in my chest that nothing could fill. It felt as though I had lost two lifelines and I was just barely holding on. Then, I had to step up to take my father’s place. I knew the mantle would always come to me. I had been preparing for it my whole life…”

He paused. “Yet, I never thought it would be so soon. And I always imagined that I would have my father’s guidance as the chairman of the company, when I finally had to become CEO. I was wrong. I was thrown into all of it and actually being at the helm of things… no amount of years of training could have fully prepared me for that reality. It was completely different. I was lost for some time, felt like I was flailing. At the same time, I was trying to mourn their loss and salvage the company and-”

“There was that issue with your marriage.” She had read of it too. It said they had separated on grounds of mutual misunderstandings that could not be settled, and that they would remain friends. She had taken half of everything he owned.

Zoey knew that was not the entire story.

He stopped short, and stared right into her eyes. She held his gaze.

“I see someone did her research.”

“I was curious. The internet has everything for a reason.”

“Indeed, it does. Well yes, there was the issue with my marriage. Having to sign the divorce papers at a time like that, it just made everything worse. But Charles and Yun were there for me. So was my mother; she’s not a very easy person. She was more difficult than my father and the one we feared while growing up, but she was there for me. And then, there was Yuri, Chuang’s daughter. I had almost forgotten about her; they moved into my home and having them around whenever I was home helped. For the most part, it was caring for Yuri. She was so little and so adorable. She became the center of my world. Having someone else to love and care for, and the help of my friends, it helped me get out of the dark pit I had been slowly slipping into.”