Fanatical About You, My One And Only

In the pouring rain, Emily Xu burst into tears as she held Justin Xu, her badly injured father. Though weak, he was able to caress her cheek as he whispered, "Emily...find Ryan Ji from the D Group. He will help you..."

As soon as those words escaped his lips, however, his hand dropped and his head fell to the side. "Dad! Dad! Please wake up! Dad!" she cried, heartbroken.

Emily Xu woke up with a start. She felt her heart pounding against her chest and her forehead was covered with cold sweat.

After having awful nightmares for a few days, she finally made an appointment with Ryan Ji from the D Group that afternoon.

His assistant John Chen walked towards the waiting Emily Xu. The door to the CEO's office was wide open, and so she could see inside. In the chair sat a man with a woman on his lap. The two were kissing passionately without a care in the world. Frowning, Emily Xu turned her head as if she hadn't seen anything. Doubts about Ryan Ji's character began pestering her mind.

John Chen headed to the door, cleared his throat and knocked.

Emily Xu heard a sweet, womanly voice saying, "Ouch, Ryan! Why are you so bad? You made me want you so much, but then you drive me away. I don't want to leave just yet.

I'll wait for your call, Ryan."

A few moments later, Emily saw the woman exit the office. "Miss Xu, you may come in," said John Xu.

Emily Xu walked to the door. As she passed the woman, she realized that she recognized her. She was Jesse Tian, a famous model. Though Jesse Tian was busy tidying up her extremely wrinkled dress, she still had time to throw Emily Xu a nasty glare.

Emily Xu felt that something was off. Ryan Ji knew she was coming yet he still made out with Jesse Tian with his office door wide open. Even weirder was the fact that now that she was inside the office and John Chen had gone out, he closed the door behind them.

"Miss Xu, what can I do for you?"

Ryan Ji asked as he looked at her intently. His eyes were the intimidating kind: bright, beautiful, deep, and dangerous.

"I want to know if you know my father, Justin Xu."

Ryan Ji took out a cigarette from a drawer, put it between his fingers, and sank into his chair. "Miss Xu, you only have five minutes. If you have something to say, just say it. But let me tell you this: If you came here to ask me about what happened to your father, I can't help you. You're talking to the wrong person."

This surprised her. She never expected him to shut her down this fast!

"My father specifically mentioned your name before he died."

"Oh, really?"

He then took out a lighter. Before he lit his cigarette, he asked whether or not Emily Xu minded him smoking. When she shook her head, he lit the cigarette and drew on it. As he puffed the smoke out, he said, "Miss Xu, you can ask your boyfriend about this. It's William Xu, right? Why do you hesitate to ask for his help?"

This damn man was really good at rubbing salt on people's wounds. William Xu was on a business trip to the United States. It'd already been half a month since her father had passed away, but she still hadn't heard from him. At first, she thought that he had something urgent to deal with and so he couldn't come back. But now that it had been so long, she couldn't help but feel that William Xu was just deliberately avoiding her.

Now that she was no longer the daughter of S Group's CEO-she was nothing, basically-William Xu's actions seemed incredibly suspicious.

"My father asked me to look for you, Mr. Ji. Not anyone else."

She was firm on getting what she wanted out of him.

"I've just given you my answer. You may leave now," he said, looking at her indifferently.

"But you have told me nothing. My father has never been a person to ask other people for help. But before he died, he told me to come to you and ask for help. He trusted you that much. He might have helped you before. I don't think you're a bad man, Mr. Ji. You won't refuse to help me, will you? So tell me: what do you know?"

"Even if your father did help me, he's dead. Besides, I don't owe him anything. As to why your father asked you to come to me, I find it curious as well."

Emily Xu felt the hope she was dearly holding on to inside her heart slowly fading away. Her hands began trembling as she realized she didn't know what to do if Ryan Ji wouldn't help her.

After a while, he said, "I'm a businessman. I never do things that are unprofitable. If you want me to help you, I need you to do something for me."

Her eyes widened. "What do you want me to do?" she asked, her voice beginning to shake.

He stared at her, making her very uncomfortable.

"Forget it. I don't think you'll agree to it. Find your boyfriend and ask him to help you. He's also more capable than I am."

She once again fell into silence. Although she already knew that this man was playing a psychological warfare, she still willingly jumped into his trap.

"I would like to know what you want me to do."

Ryan Ji once again puffed out another cloud of smoke. His handsome face remained calm. "My condition is simple: marry me."

Emily Xu was shocked. Out of all the things he could ask of her, this was the last thing on her mind. With clenched fists, she bellowed, "Are you crazy? What the hell do you think of me? And don't you have enough woman around you?"

The idea was out of this world for her. First, she was sure that she didn't have any connection with Ryan Ji prior to this meeting. Second, wasn't he just intimate with Jesse Tian a while ago?

What a jerk he was!

"Yes, I have enough woman around me. But I need a wife," he calmly explained, still looking her in the eye.

He was serious. "Impossible. You don't think I'd really do that, right?" she asked in a panic.

He shrugged and said, "You asked me to tell you what I want from you. It's clear that you won't do it, so there's no need for us to continue talking."

He stretched out his long arms to get to the phone. After pressing one button, he said, "John, Miss Xu here is already on her way out."

Walking out of the D Group building, Emily felt lost, confused, and defeated. 'Why would Dad ask me to come to such a man? Ryan is not a good person!' Days before she was to meet with Ryan Ji, she looked him up on the Internet to get acquainted with him. Apparently, in the business world, he was known for his effective yet ruthless practices. It was said that any company targeted by him would be doomed, like a person being bit by a viper. The D Group was the only company in Q City that could compete with J Group.

An unfruitful day drained Emily Xu of all her energy. She returned to the Wisteria Garden to rest, but even before she entered, she heard Lily shouting, "Mr. Xu, you can't do this. How can you do this?"

Emily Xu walked into the house. There, she saw Joseph Xu coming down from the second floor with a painting. Emily took a closer look at what was happening and found out Joseph Xu was not holding some famous painting, but the wedding photo of her parents hanging in her father's room.

She was unable to restrain her fury. "Uncle Joseph, what are you doing?!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Emily, you came back just in time!" Joseph Xu cheerily replied. "My brother left in a hurry. I am your only family now. I'm worried about you living here alone, so we will live here to accompany you. The Wisteria Garden is close to the S Group building and there are many rooms. Your aunt and I will live here for some time."

Emily Xu was now trembling in anger. "Uncle Joseph, my father had just died. Can't you wait for a little bit before occupy his property? Aren't you disgusted with what you're doing? Aren't you afraid of the karma that would follow you just because of your ugly greed?"

Joseph Xu's friendly facade dropped at once and his face became grim. Slowly, he took two steps towards Emily Xu and said, "Watch your words, young lady. Your father is dead. I have taken the care of the leadership at S Group alone and now, I'm taking the initiative to take care of you. Why can't you just appreciate it?"

"Dad, she's beyond saving. Don't try and reason with her . I think she is tired of living a good life. Since she doesn't want us to be so good to her, why should we treat her so well? Just drive her out. If we do, I sure she'll come knocking on our door and begging us to take her in in less than two days."

It was Amy Xu speaking, Emily Xu's cousin.

Lily couldn't bear what she was hearing. Defiantly, she stepped forward and said, "Mr. Xu, your brother had left the Wisteria Garden to Miss Xu. I was present when the lawyer came and he signed the documents."

Joseph Xu glared at Lily and asked, "Who do you think you are? This is family matters! You are just a mere servant. Get out of here right now!"

"I don't think Lily is the one who should get of here," interrupted Emily Xu as she held Lily's hands.

"Wow, I never knew you're this brave, Emily. Unfortunately, I don't think you have enough to back this fiery personality of yours. You're not the rich, powerful girl you once were, Emily. You now have to rely on my father's kindness to maintain your social status. But if you want to protect this servant of yours, then by all means do. Go with her. We don't care,"

Amy forcefully pushed Emily and Lily. Lily didn't want to make things more complicated for Emily, and so she patted Emily's hand and said, "Miss Xu, I'll go. Please take care of yourself."

Joseph's wife, Shirley Lin, said, "Then hurry up! Stop talking and go! Oh, my God! Honey, your brother is so extravagant! I hate that he had been so stingy with us while having all these expensive stuff here in Wisteria Garden! This is such a magnificent place! Come on, let's continue looking around!"

Joseph nodded and led his wife and daughter into another part of the property. With the way they conducted themselves, they looked like country bumpkins seeing the city for the first time!

Once they were alone, Emily persuaded Lily to stay. Lily, however, insisted on leaving, as she was sure that her presence would only mean more trouble for Emily.

After Lily left, Emily found Amy throwing all of her stuff out of her room. Standing at the top of the stairs, Amy said arrogantly, "Emily, I don't think you need to use such a big a room from now on. The maid's room downstairs is enough for you. Please take your things there."

"Amy, what makes you think that you can lay your hands on my things and that you can tell me what to do?"

Emily was so angry that she thought her heart was going to burst. She had nothing else but this villa. But now that Joseph and his family were trying to take over it, she felt defeated.

Amy burst into laughter. "Emily, it's decided. You can't do anything about it. You will use the maid's room starting tonight. You know what? I never thought that this day would come. I never thought that one day, an arrogant bitch like you will have to live under my orders!"

Emily couldn't stand it anymore. She charged towards Amy and gave her a slap in the face. Just then, Joseph and Shirley Lin came back. Amy started whining as she ran towards them. "Dad, Mom! Emily hit me! It hurts so much!"

Shirley Lin was scandalized. Without asking about what truly happened, she confronted Emily and said, "You imbecile! How dare you hit your cousin! I swear to God, I will punish you like no other!"

Emily, however, was not about to back down. Instinctively, she grabbed the fruit knife on the table beside her and shouted, "Come on, you old hag! I want to see you try and touch me! I'll stab you to death!"

Seeing that things could escalate into something serious, Joseph stepped in to stop the warring ladies. "Enough, you two! Stop! Emily, stop being so rude to your aunt! Did your father teach you any kind of manners?! And you, Shirley, from now on, I'll leave Emily to you. Discipline her! I don't want her making a fool of herself!"

Amy glared at Emily with hatred. She swore to slap Emily back.

Joseph and Shirley Lin took the Wisteria Garden as their home. Before dinner, they had move their things in and occupied the villa.

Having encountered Ryan, Joseph, Shirley, and Amy in a single day, Emily felt her whole body shutting down. It was all too stressful for her. Ever since her father's death, she hadn't had a good sleep. She also couldn't eat. The only thing that kept her going was her will to find out who killed her father.

At dinner time, Emily came out of her room to get some water when she heard her two cousins laughing exaggeratedly in the living room.

"Wow, you two went to Dolphin Bay? Did he give this to you? Did you kiss him?"

"What the hell? I'm not that easy! So of course not. But...he kissed me. And Amy, you know what? I was so happy!"

When Emily walked into the living room, Anna Xu winked at Amy, and they immediately stopped talking.

"Emily, come here. I brought you something from my trip."

Emily didn't want to go there, but when she saw the photo album from Dolphin Bay in Anna's hand, her heart skipped a beat. William had told her that they would visit that place this year.

Though hesitant, Emily walked towards Anna Xu. After giving her a souvenir, Anna Xu specially pulled out a necklace and dangled it in front of her. "Emily, isn't it beautiful? Lovers who go to Dolphin Bay buy a pair-one for each of them."

"Who is your boyfriend? He has good taste."

"He is..."

Amy was about to reveal who he was, but Anna Xu cast her a meaningful glance which made Amy rolled her eyes and shut her mouth. "Of course my boyfriend has good taste. He's been like that ever since we met."

Emily felt that something was off. After getting water, she headed back to her room. However, she stopped in her tracks when she overheard what her cousins were talking about. "Why didn't you tell her that William is your boyfriend?"

"What did you just say?"

Emily turned around. Though the dolphin necklace indeed reminded her of William, she never thought that he would cheat on her with Anna Xu.

Anna Xu chuckled and said, "Amy, you have such a loose mouth! He asked me to keep it from her!"

"That's dumb. It's not a big deal! What can she do to you, huh? Look at her. No wonder William does not like her anymore."

Emily couldn't believe what she was hearing. With her judgment clouded with anger and confusion, she ran towards Anna Xu and grabbed her by her collar. As a crazed looked dawned on her face, she asked, "Did you just say that the person who went to Dolphin Bay with you was William? Is it him?"

Anna Xu pushed Emily away and proudly said, "So what?"

Emily felt broken. Slowly, she let go of her cousin, turned around, and ran out of the living room. Her eyes were starting to get filled with tears. While she could accept the fact that William had broken up with her, she could not-and would not-accept the fact that he went to Dolphin Bay and flirted with another woman fully knowing what she was going through back home!

Emily took a taxi to William's house to know the truth. The moment she arrived, she saw her boyfriend, the man she had been missing day and night.

William saw her too, and he walked towards her with his gentle eyes full of concern. "Emily, I'm sorry I'm late. I was just about to go to your house."

He stretched out his long arms and was about to lock Emily in a tight embrace when she took a few steps back. With fiery eyes, she asked, "Where have you been these days?"

At first, William was taken aback by her directness, but he snapped out of it and explained his side. "Something happened in the American branch of our company. I thought it would be finished soon, but I didn't expect that it had already forced some employees to go on a strike. I had to handle it myself so I couldn't come back earlier. I've heard about your father, Emily. I'm so sorry. I wasn't with you when you needed me the most."

William's words were so rehearsed and insincere that Emily couldn't help but sneer. "William, are you really busy with work, or are busy having a vacation with your new girlfriend?"

William's expression froze. When Emily raised the bracelet that Anna Xu gave her just now, tears began falling from her eyes. "Did you and Anna stay in that hotel that has the view of the dolphins?"

"Emily, I don't understand what you are talking about."

"William, do you think I'm a fool?!" Emily shouted at the top of her lungs. She was now shaking from fury. "Stop lying to me!"

"Anna just came to see me! She said that she wanted to go to Dolphin Bay, so I took her! Nothing happened between us!"

"All of those happened and you never thought of telling me?" Emily stared at William, stunned. This was the person she had loved so much. While she was going through her darkest days, he was out there accompanying another woman.

Emily threw the necklace on William's face. "You fucker. You and Anna are a match made in hell! You two deserve each other!"

"Emily, listen to me..."

William caught Emily's wrist and tried to pull her in close to him.

"Emily, please let me handle this. This is just a misunderstanding. We can't separate!"

Though Emily was still trying to get free from William's grasp, she asked one question she had been intending to know the answer to. "My father died for no reason. I want to know everything you know about why that happened."

"Emily, this is the key to another apartment of mine. Move there as soon as possible. Let's live together."

Staring at the key that William gave to her, Emily asked, "What's this?"

William wrapped her arms around Emily and said, "I know you can't face Joseph all on your own. You have me. I'll support you."

"So that you'll be able to marry Anna and I'll be some kind of your secret lover?"

Emily felt a stabbing pain in her heart.

"Emily, I love you, and you love me too, right? We love each other! I will provide you everything you need!"

Emily pushed William away. She had already stopped crying as she stepped away from him and looked him in the eye. She thought she it would hurt badly, but it didn't. Without saying goodbye, she turned around and bolted away from William.

Emily went ahead and looked for Officer Jin, the one in charge of her father's case. "Miss Xu, you don't have to come here every day. You have to trust us when we say that we are keeping an eye on your father's case. The only clue that we have, the unlicensed car that was on the crime scene, had been destroyed. We are now trying to find new clues. Searching for good leads isn't easy, Miss Xu. So please give us time."

Emily fully understood that her father's case was extremely difficult to crack and that it was useless to pester a mere police officer. But she knew she couldn't just sit twiddling her thumbs and waiting for an update. "Mr. Jin, I'm here to remind myself that my father's death isn't an accident. I know that someone did it to him. I know that someone murdered him."

"Why don't you try looking for clues?"

It was only then that Emily remembered that among the board members of the S Group, apart from Joseph, the only person she knew was Richard Jiang.

Richard Jiang owned a company. Emily found the address of his office and was planning to pay him a visit. When Emily arrived at his office, his secretary told her that he was meeting an important guest. Because of that, Emily had to wait at the reception area.

After waiting for a while, Emily noticed that someone exited Richard's office. To her surprise, it was Ryan!

When she saw that Richard was about to follow Ryan to the elevator, Emily quickly stood up and called his attention in fear of not having a chance to talk to him. "Mr. Jiang!" she called out.

Richard's head snapped towards her direction and looked perplexed. "Emily?"

"Yes! Are you going out?"

As she was speaking, she felt like she was being stared at by Ryan. Her eyes fell on the man beside Richard, and indeed, Ryan's eyes were on her. A slight frown formed on his lips as he did not expect to see Emily in Richard's office.

"Dad!"

A beautiful girl in a slip dress walked out of the elevator that had just arrived. Emily, Richard and Ryan all looked at the direction the voice came from.

"Lexi!" Richard said, sounding ecstatic. "You came just at the right time! I was just telling Mr. Ji here that you just came back from abroad. I know that you're not really familiar with this place, so I am asking him to take you around."

Lexi Jiang looked at Ryan, her big clear eyes unblinking. Like love at first sight, the admiration she had for him contorted her every feature. She walked up to him, held his arm, and shook it. "Ryan, isn't it? Why don't we start today? Let's go out tonight, is that okay? I know you have a private room in the Jade Pearl. I've seen you there several times, but I didn't have the chance to propose a toast to you."

Emily couldn't believe that so many girls fell for Ryan. 'He's literally the worst,' she thought, disgusted. 'Pretty girls really have the worst taste in men.'

Ryan shook his head. "Tonight? I'm afraid I can't," he replied bluntly.

"A prior appointment? That's fine. It isn't a big deal for me. I'll wait for you."

"Well," Ryan began, his eyes once again on Emily. "I'm afraid you have to ask her for permission."

Then, Emily felt everyone turn their head towards her. She felt her involuntarily holding her breath due to being so uneasy. Her eyes met Ryan, and she was surprised by how calm he looked.

Richard Jiang looked so disappointed. "You have an appointment with Emily this evening?"

"Actually..." Emily stammered.

"Not only tonight, but she came here to fetch me. Why are you still standing there, Emily? Let's go."

Emily felt like she was under the spell of Ryan's deep, gorgeous eyes. As if she was not in control of her own body, she followed Ryan into the elevator.

"Goodbye, Mr. and Miss Jiang."

Soon, the shocked and disappointed stares from Richard and Lexi Jiang vanished as the elevator doors closed.

Inside, Ryan and Emily stood beside each other silently. The tense and awkward atmosphere could be attributed to them not having any kind of relationship, even a friendly one.

Emily was the one who broke the silence. "Why did you do that?"

Without looking at her, Ryan replied in an indifferent tone, "What made you think Richard knew anything about your father's death? Naïve."

"It's none of your business!" she snapped.

"Well, if you didn't come and disrupted what I was doing, it really wouldn't be any of my business. But you did."

"What the hell are you even saying? What did I disrupt?"

'What a lame excuse!' she thought, fuming.

"You just want me to have nowhere to go and beg you!"

Something about what Emily said seemed to have set Ryan off. He walked towards her until she was pressed elevator wall. His deep eyes were unfathomable. Now, the tension was too much for her that she felt her heartbeat beating hard against her chest. She became so frightened that she crossed her arms over her chest. "What did I do and what are you doing?!" she asked.

Ryan didn't answer. Instead, he stretched out his hand and patted Emily's head. "I'm not interested in women with A cup breasts. What I'm curious about is your mental health. It seems like you're a bit manic these day, not making much sense. Are you going crazy? You really don't know Richard, don't you? With his way of doing things, even if he knows something, he won't tell you."

Ryan then took a few steps forward and stood in front of Emily as if nothing had happened. He was tall and had a wide back. With one hand in his trouser pocket, he looked like a dashing debonair.

Emily cursed Ryan in her heart. 'What kind of eyes do you have? I have C cup breasts!' She took a deep breath and muttered, "How did you know I was having nightmares?"

Indeed, the past month had been hard on her. Every night she would have nightmares, and she couldn't sleep or eat well.

The elevator reached its destination before Ryan was able to answer her question. He stepped out without even glancing at the girl behind him.

Emily followed him silently. To her surprise, she saw William.

William's face was contorted by shock. Then, after seeing Ryan in front of Emily, he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Emily, come here. I have something to tell you."

Emily was then whisked by Ryan into his arms. Everything was going so fast that she felt confused as to what was happening. The next thing she heard was Ryan speaking casually to William. "Mr. Xu, I'm afraid Emily doesn't want to talk to you. Am I right, Emily?"

Emily nodded like a puppet. God knew that what Ryan had just done was exactly what she wanted to do.

William's face darkened upon seeing the scene. He rushed towards Ryan and threatened him angrily, saying, "Let go of Emily! She is mine! How dare you!"

Ryan pushed William away and said, "Of course I'm not as capable as you, Mr. Xu. I don't think I would be able to dump my girlfriend and sleep with her cousin in a matter of days. You are so charming. I'm sure countless girls will drop on their knees the moment you give them the slightest hint of affection."

"Don't fucking try me, Ryan! Emily, don't listen to his nonsense. Please come here. Talk to me. Let's figure things out."

William tried to grab Emily's hand and tug her away from Ryan.

Emily's heart was in turmoil. 'William, why are you still acting like you didn't wrong me?' she thought, anger once again rising in his chest.

"I don't want to see you again, William. And I don't want to hear any of your nonsense anymore! You and I have broken up. Got it? Now get lost!"

Emily wrapped her arm around Ryan's waist. They then walked out of the building together.

As soon as they were out of William's line of sight, she pushed Ryan away in disgust.

"Whoa! Don't kick down the ladder just yet, Miss Xu. You will lose a friend."

Emily rolled her eyes at him and thought to herself, 'I don't need a friend like you!' But she still thanked him politely.

Ryan turned around and left Emily without hesitation. As she stared at his receding figure, Emily kept thinking about her father's words-"Find Ryan. He will help you."

As if struck by a moment of clarity, she shouted, "Mr. Ji, please wait for me!"