Chapter 837 - Thinking, Worrying And Stressing
With her great hearing, Iris felt certain that Long Jinjing was about to say "Nikolai" before her friend corrected herself and said "Lu Zihao" instead. The others didn't notice Long Jinjing's slip of the tongue, and even if they did, they wouldn't know its significance. If Iris really heard her friend correctly, then it meant that her big brother told Long Jinjing his real name.
What did this mean? Were his feelings for Long Jinjing for real, hence why he revealed his real name to her?
Iris narrowed her eyes, unable to figure out her brother's real intentions, especially since he was so pissed off at her for telling Jin Liwei some part of the truth about their past lives. He refused to give her his blessing to tell Jin Liwei everything, even with her repeated assurances that Jin Liwei was a trustworthy and loyal man who loved her with his life.
She had been in a relationship with Jin Liwei for more than a year now. They were engaged and would be marrying very soon this month. Despite this, her brother still couldn't fully trust Jin Liwei with the truth, even though he had Lu Zihao's memories and should know what kind of character his "Third Brother" was.
For all his oppositions against telling Jin Liwei, now Iris discovered that he might have told his real name to Long Jinjing just like that, someone he must have hooked up only recently?
Iris felt unhappy about what she thought was her brother's unfairness. All of these thinking, worrying and stressing were worsening the ache in her temples.
Before anything else, however, she still needed to confirm first if Long Jinjing really meant to say "Nikolai". Although Iris felt sure that she heard correctly, it was still preferable to be 100% certain. But before she could ask Long Jinjing about it, her phone rang. Dom answered it before passing it to her.
It was her darling. Just hearing Jin Liwei's voice made her aching temples feel a lot better. Her entire mood also lightened up.
The lovers chatted over the phone, not noticing that they were throwing dog food to Iris' three friends. Dom looked ecstatic while listening to the couple's lovey-dovey conversation. The single dog Chen Fei was the opposite with her surly expression. As for Long Jinjing, she was smiling with a dreamy look in her eyes.
"After you've rested in your office, come home immediately," Jin Liwei urged. "I'm also on my way home right now from Jin Corporation. I want us to eat lunch together today. Then I'll accompany you to your meeting with Qiao Yu and Elder Long Jufang later in the afternoon."
"Okay, darling," Iris agreed while already wondering what kind of chocolate dessert their chef prepared today for her.
After more lovey-dovey talk, Iris ended the call with great reluctance. She sighed and hugged Little Liwei while making sure to take a good inhale of her darling's residual scent on the pyjama shirt. These days, she didn't feel comfortable being apart from her man for too long. The combination of her pregnancy hormones and the trauma she acquired from his recent accident at the construction site made her very clingy to him.
Both of them had to compromise regarding their return to their respective work as they were worried for each other's health and safety. Jin Liwei hadn't fully healed yet but he already started working again for half a day. Sometimes in the morning while at other times in the afternoon depending on what schedule was best.
Excited to see her man as soon as possible and eat lunch with him, Iris stood up with Little Liwei and announced, "Let's head home, Dom."
###
On the way home, Iris realized that she had forgotten to ask Long Jinjing for confirmation if she was really going to say "Nikolai" earlier. Should she call Long Jinjing and ask right now? No, maybe later. Everyone at Orchidia Beauty was busy working on Jin Chonglin's men's line. She shouldn't disturb them unnecessarily during this period.
How about her big brother? Long Jinjing mentioned that he went out of town for work, so he should be busy. He hated being interrupted while he was working. Although that never had been an issue before where she was concerned because he always had time for her, he was pissed off at her right now, so she shouldn't annoy him too much. He hadn't been in the best of moods ever since she blackmailed him using Bacon.
This conflict between the two of them was stressing her out. She could only comfort herself with the hope that he would eventually come around because of their deep bond and love as siblings.
In addition to worrying about her brother, she also thought about her appointment with Elder Long Jufang later in the afternoon. The elder informed her that he had successfully persuaded a couple of minor shareholders to consider selling their equity to her. However, the shareholders wanted to meet her in person first.
She heaved a long sigh. "I don't really want to meet Granduncle Jufang later. I remember feeling repulsed by his smell during the Long Industries party. I might faint again later."
"Don't worry, boss," Dom told her. "Didn't you say that sir boss will be accompanying you? You can use sir boss as a stink-repellent like always! Ehehe!"
Ketchup's childish voice also went "ehehehe" inside the vehicle, following her Uncle Dom's example.
Iris massaged her temples which were starting to ache again. "If not because I want to acquire more Long Industries' shares the fair way, I wouldn't have agreed to this tedious meeting with the elder and those shareholders. I would just let Qiao Yu handle everything. We're not even sure yet if those shareholders will really sell their equity to me after the meeting later."
"Mother, we can just snatch their shares by force if they refuse to sell," Bacon's voice interrupted. "How dare they waste Mother's time and energy demanding this meeting with you if they have no intention of selling? If that's the case, they're despicable and don't deserve to be treated fairly."