Tuesday, continued …

Remembering what the shop worker had said to him, Hou Yi replied to Anna’s inquiry “The shop where I purchased the water from indicated that we would use their staff bathroom. It is unlikely to be much, but hopefully it will let you clean and tidy your face, before we head to the Civil Administration Bureau.”

Hou Yi then stood up and helped Anna to her feet. Rather than letting go of her hand he kept hold of it until they entered the shop. After speaking briefly to the worker, he followed the directions given to the staff bathroom, which as per Hou Yi’s prediction was not much. On entering Anna saw it was simply a toilet stall, sink with clean running water and mirror, but there was a lock on the door, which Anna used. Anna sat her handbag down and removed her makeup from in and a few clean tissues, that she used to remove her make-up to re-apply it.

Anna then realised how dramatically her life had changed in the previous half hour. The devastation of being left at the altar by Lu Jinhu, knocked someone off their feet as of it, finding out she was not the only person being screwed over by Lu Jinhu and proposed marriage to a stranger who agreed. The easier parts not will be dealing with her family, friends and work regarding what happened, when she returned to Australia would be easier but at least it could be put off until her leave finished.

Then the enormity of what she had done hit Anna, she had proposed marriage to a stranger to deal with the situation Lu Jinhu had left her in and had no idea what Hou Yi wanted in their relationship. Hopefully she would not have to fight him tonight, particularly if he wanted to consummate their marriage. As of how drained she felt Anna did not believe that she could. So, she knew that this needed to be cleared up.

Anna then worked on tidying up her appearance, so that she felt at least somewhat better before going to the Civil Administration Bureau.

Meanwhile, Hou Yi realised that he needed to make a few arrangements, and that he had the opportunity to do so, while Anna was tidying herself up. He knew that she was still, somewhat in shock about what had happened, so he did not want to immediately frighten her more, so he called his assistant, Wang Long.

“Assistant Wang, I need you to do a couple of things before you come and pick up back up. Firstly, change the car. Do not use the Maybach or the Bugatti Veyron but select one of the older BMWs or the like. Yang Lin apparently has married Lu Jinhu. However due to fate, I will be married today. My bride, does not know who I am exactly, so I do not want to shock her with a hugely expensive current top of the range vehicle, but something that more makes her comfortable.”

Hou Yi paused to let that sink in and then continued “Can you call Fengs Jewellery and request a selection matching wedding rings and engagement rings are set aside for us to review when we arrived. You can meet me and my bride, where you dropped me off in about 30 or so minutes. When we leave the Civil Administration Bureau, I will confirm our departure so you can be waiting for us.”

Hou Yi paused and heard dead silence on the other end of the line. “Assistant Wang, did you hear me”

“Yes sir”, came the stunned reply through the phone.

“By the way, please call the family and tell them that my bride and I will visit the family compound tonight but will return to my apartment in town. Please make sure that that is ready for us to return to, and can you arrange for the bank to issue a companion credit card in the name of Anna Hou, formally Anna Jones.”

“Yes Sir, I will get on to that immediately.” With than Hou Yi ended the call, and Assistant Wang, realised that something had meant the world completely changed. The Young Master had been somewhat withdrawn when he left him near the Civil Administration Bureau, but now seemed happy and had a purpose. He turned to doing the tasks he had been assigned immediately.

After ending the call, Hou Yi looked towards the door to the staff toilet, which Anna had just unlocked and was walking out of. “Do you feel better?” he queried.

“I think I do. At least I do look presentable, rather than the makeup streaked face that I had,” came Anna’s reply.

In looking at the face of the woman before him, Hou Yi realised Anna was the woman that he had fallen for in Melbourne previously. The world was an amazing place. Fate ensured he could marry this woman, who was so special to him she did not realise it. He was determined that their marriage would be successful, and he would do what he could to achieve this.