Loving You Always And Forever

Mrs. Xia was the talk of the town again.

News of how Ella Sheng, otherwise known as Mrs. Xia, shamelessly cheated on her husband Raymond Xia had spread like wildfire throughout the city. It was scandalous, and the perfect topic for gossip sessions over breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner.

Their marriage had been controversial from the beginning. Raymond Xia had married Ella Sheng after a one-night stand, much to the dismay and disapproval of everyone. Now, the shocking news about Ella's infidelity had set every tongue wagging again; it was a scandal that had seemingly proved everyone right about Ella being unsuitable for Raymond. She had disgraced herself, and the entire city couldn't wait to eat her alive.

The public outrage had forced Ella Sheng to disguise herself with sunglasses and a mask whenever she stepped outside the safety of her house. But her flimsy disguise was no match for the seasoned paparazzi; they mobbed her from all directions, screaming questions in her face.

"Vicky, where are you? Help me!" Ella Sheng pleaded into the phone as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. To her surprise, her agent Vicky sounded just as out of breath on the other end. "Mr. Xia called me just now. He'll pick you up on South Circular Road. Got that? I have to go now, I have a paparazzo right behind me and I can't shake him off!"

Then Vicky hung up.

Ella Sheng stared at her phone in confusion. Why would Raymond Xia pick her up and save her from the paparazzi?

It was much more likely for her husband to want her to be mobbed and harassed by the paparazzi, given the circumstances of their marriage.

But she didn't have time to think. The paparazzi were still chasing after her, determined to twist every word she uttered into an admission of guilt. There was no better way out of this mess than to put on a show for the paparazzi and pretend to be in a loving, trusting relationship with Raymond Xia.

She had to sprint for several minutes before she finally spotted his car at the intersection. As soon as she saw it, she removed her sunglasses and mask and made a show of casually walking over to the car as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She opened the back door, got in, and settled herself next to Raymond Xia. She kissed his cheek. "Thank you, darling, for picking me up." She then turned to the driver. "You can start the car now."

She had played the part of Raymond Xia's dignified wife to perfection, but the chauffeur ignored her. Ella Sheng turned nervously to Raymond Xia, and froze: if looks could kill, she would be dead by now.

Dressed in a smart black suit, Raymond Xia was the very picture of cool, aloof nobility. His handsome face clouded over as he glared at Ella Sheng with his dark, piercing gaze. Once upon a time, the sight of her beautiful face would have banished all rational thought from his head, but that time was long gone. He gritted his teeth as he spat out, "Ella, your job as an actress has muddled your sense of reality. What's gotten into you? Drop the act, it makes me sick."

He wiped the lipstick from his cheek with an expression of open disgust.

She looked at him, entranced. When was the last time she had seen her husband?

Had it been three days? Three weeks? Three months?

It had been so long ago she had lost all sense of time.

His strong, beautiful fingers continued to rub at his cheek as he tried to get the last of her lipstick off. She watched, fascinated, before catching his hand and quickly kissing the back of his hand to leave another lipstick mark on it.

"Ella Sheng!" His voice had risen in anger. He prided himself on his self-control, but somehow, he always found himself losing his temper in the presence of the impudent woman before him. He had avoided her as best as he could for fear of accidentally killing her one day in a fit of rage, but his efforts had backfired. She had become increasingly bold and cheeky with him; it was as if she had taken it as a challenge to test his limits and see what she could get away with.

Her heart soared. It had been so long since he had last called her name. Overcome with happiness, she hugged his arm and snuggled against him.

He had to keep himself from erupting in anger. He shot her an icy look as he said frostily, "Ella Sheng, don't forget your place."

"Oh, I know my place. I'm your wife." She began to rub lazy circles on his shoulder.

He sneered. "You've been my wife for the last two years. Well? How does it feel?"

It was every woman's dream to be Mrs. Xia and live in the lap of luxury. She could have whatever she wanted, but Ella Sheng knew something the other envious women did not: the Xia family was nothing more than a prison decorated in gold. Her marriage had come at the price of her freedom, her happiness, and ironically, the love of her husband.

At the end of the day, "Mrs. Xia" was just a title.

It didn't change the fact that Raymond Xia hated her from the bottom of his heart.

But Ella Sheng kept her miserable thoughts to herself. She shut her eyes before the tears could fall, and turned to bury her face in his shoulder. She mumbled vaguely, "Oh, it's not too bad. What about you? How does it feel to be Ella Sheng's man? I bet it makes you so happy you can die right now with no regrets."

"Whatever." Raymond Xia rolled his eyes. He didn't have time for her nonsense. He pulled his arm out of her clutch and moved to open the door.

But she was having none of it. She threw herself on him and wrapped her arms around his neck as she whispered threateningly into his ear, "The whole city is after my blood because of you.

Make any move to get out, and I'll jump you right here, in full view of the paparazzi!" Raymond Xia was speechless. This woman was utterly shameless! And he had married this shameless woman. She was his wife.

He wished he hadn't married her. It was hands down the worst decision he had ever made in his life.

He put his hands on her waist and held her in place. They locked eyes, and she felt her confidence wilt under his domineering gaze. "If that's the way you want to do it, fine. Let's see which one of us gets thrown out of the car first."

She knew she had already lost the battle. The paparazzi were still outside, and the last thing she wanted was to be thrown out of the car and into the sea of cameras. With a sigh, she let herself fall against his chest as she mumbled meekly, "Alright, I admit I was wrong. Take me home, darling."

She was physically and mentally exhausted.

She had barely closed her eyes when she was unceremoniously shoved aside by her husband. He brushed the imaginary dirt off his shirt with a look of contempt as he said to the chauffeur in his deep, booming voice, "Start the car."

Her back throbbed with pain, but she kept her eyes firmly shut. She refused to cry in front of him. He would only look at her tears with cynical contempt.

She had endured his icy treatment for the last two years. Somehow, the knowledge that she had already hit rock bottom comforted her.

Her position as Mrs. Xia was safe, as long as a certain person never came back.

Much to her surprise, the car pulled over half an hour later, and she jolted awake from a sudden, desperate need for air. Raymond Xia had pinched her nose shut.

She gasped for air as she slapped his hand away. She sputtered indignantly, "Are you trying to kill your own wife?!"

"I'd love to, but I have better things to do." Raymond Xia got out of the car with his long, powerful legs and stood before the open door. He towered over her with a calm expression.

Her heart trembled uneasily at her husband's placid, matter-of-fact attitude. What was going on? She craned her head to look behind her husband, and her heart sank. They had stopped in front of the Civil Affairs Bureau instead of the Xia family house.

She didn't have to ask Raymond Xia why they were there. It was clear as day that he wanted a divorce.

Her blood ran cold. A divorce? Never!

She seized the handle of the door, afraid that he would try to pull her out of the car. Her eyes were wide with terror as she pleaded desperately, "Raymond, I'm your wife. We've been together for two years. How can you divorce me without even discussing it over with me?"

"Ella Sheng, you cheated on me. You're no longer welcome in the Xia family." Raymond Xia made no attempt to pull her out of the car, but Ella Sheng could feel the temperature drop around him as he fixed her with his icy glare. She shuddered involuntarily. She was seven years younger than him, and the age difference alone was enough to make her feel inferior and helpless in his presence.

"The paparazzi are always making up fake news. You don't actually believe them, do you?" She was frantic and close to tears. She had had too much to drink at the dinner party, and the next morning, she had found herself in a hotel room. When she had left the hotel, she had been swamped by the paparazzi. She didn't even know the man she had supposedly slept with, a man named Charles Lin, and she couldn't for the life of her remember how or why she had ended up inside his hotel room.

The events of that night made no sense to her.

She saw his expression darken, and before she could react he had tossed a stack of photos in her face. The photos were a lot clearer than the paparazzi shots, and the evidence was damning. It was obviously Ella Sheng in the photos, fleeing the hotel in wide-eyed panic with Charles Lin behind her.

"You broke your promise. You have only yourself to blame. It's time for you to leave, Ella."

As soon as he said this, it suddenly occurred to her that she had one last ace up her sleeve.

Ella crossed her legs as she returned Raymond's steely look with a bright, cheerful smile. She was on the brink of a nervous breakdown, but she wasn't about to let him know that. Her heart hammered in her chest as she said mildly, "Raymond, we signed an agreement before our marriage. Our agreement clearly states that you can't divorce me if I haven't disgraced you or the Xia family in any way."

"Well, I'm sure you'll agree that the circumstances have changed." Raymond's tone was nonchalant, but the way he towered over her with his forbidding aura made Ella squirm in her seat.

Ella knew Raymond better than anyone. He wasn't the type to get ahead of himself and jump to conclusions; he was a man who acted according to logic and hard facts.

His calm, assured manner meant that he had irrefutable evidence of her "affair," but Ella found that difficult to believe. How could he have proof of it, when she, the person who had been in the hotel room the entire time, didn't even know what had actually happened? It was all a hazy blur to her. Had she merely walked into the wrong room and fallen asleep in the bed? Or was it possible that she had actually slept with another man?

Raymond, noting the skeptical look on Ella's face, took out his phone and showed it to her. It was an intimate photo of a man and a woman in bed.

The man was wearing a bathrobe. He was handsome, but Ella wasn't in the mood to admire his good looks. There was a woman sound asleep in his arms, and her heart almost stopped when she recognized her own features. Horrified, she slapped the phone out of Raymond's hand and shot him a look of disbelief. "Raymond Xia, is that the best you can do? Your Photoshop skills are terrible! My fans can do better than that."

It didn't matter what proof he had. She wasn't going to admit it. Over her dead body!

She had been an orphan for eighteen years. Then the Sheng family had found her and it turned out she was their second daughter. Though she had been taken back to the family, she was unloved by her family. She had thought she had finally found her place when she met Raymond Xia, but in an ironic twist of fate, she had become the other woman, and her family had turned their backs on her for good.

She was Mrs. Xia, but the title meant nothing.

Raymond hated her guts.

Ella looked at Raymond, half-expecting him to lash out at her after her angry outburst. But he retrieved his phone without comment, his attitude relaxed and indifferent. "Ella Sheng, it looks like we'll have to settle this in court."

"If I can prove my innocence, will you stop all this nonsense about getting a divorce?" Ella pleaded tearfully.

"What's the point? You drove her away and wedged yourself into my life for the last two years. Haven't you had enough? Aren't you satisfied? Must you torture me for the rest of my life? Ella Sheng..." Raymond's throat tightened and he trailed off, unable to continue.

It was a rare display of raw, unfiltered emotion from him.

"Raymond." Ella's voice was gentle but determined. "You love me. Don't you know that?"

The edge in his gaze disappeared, replaced by a look of amusement. He looked as if Ella had just told him the joke of the century. He slowly got back into the car, lit a cigarette, and rested his elbow on the open car window. He didn't say anything, but the lines of his face hardened as he took a drag on his cigarette and slowly breathed out the smoke.

His strange, pensive mood unnerved Ella, but she knew she had to keep up the fight. She said softly, "Raymond, I know you can tell me apart from my sister. I have a place in your heart, but you've been confusing me for my sister the entire time. You love me, not my sister."

She reached out and placed a shy, uncertain hand on his chest, over his heart. She could feel the warmth of his skin and the beating of his heart under her palm. Tears welled in her eyes; in that beautiful moment she could feel a connection with him, and she wished the moment would never end.

She smiled. "Raymond, your heart's beating so fast. Listen."

She leaned in to put her ear on his chest, but Raymond shoved her away without warning. The cigarette in his hand grazed her neck, and Ella shrank back from the sudden burning pain.

She touched the burn on her neck and flinched. The pain seemed to be getting worse.

Alarmed, Raymond snuffed the cigarette out and tossed it into ashtray. He lifted Ella's hair away from her neck, and saw that the cigarette had left an ugly burn mark on her otherwise flawless skin.

She was an actress, and a famous one at that. An unsightly scar on her neck might very well end her career.

Ella shivered at the touch of his fingers on her neck. They had been married for the last two years, but they had only been intimate once, and Raymond had gone to extreme lengths to avoid her ever since. In fact, he had never even set foot in the villa that was supposed to be their matrimonial home.

If the burning pain on her neck was the price she had to pay for the warmth of his touch on her skin, she would gladly pay it again and again. It was well worth it.

Ella had already forgotten all about the pain in her delight. She hugged her husband and said sweetly, "Raymond, I'll never divorce you."

Raymond didn't reply. He turned to the chauffeur and said, "Take us to the hospital."

"Why are we going to the hospital?" Ella asked, bewildered.

"We're getting you a brain scan to see what's wrong with your head." Raymond's tone was sarcastic, but he made no move to push her away.

Ella was insulted, but she let the jab slide. There was still a chance she would be able to turn the situation around, and she wasn't about to destroy it by exchanging petty insults with her husband.

The thought lifted her spirits, and she arrived at the hospital in a pleasant mood. The doctor disinfected her wound, wrote her a prescription for anti-inflammatory drugs, and then sent her to the gynecology department.

Ella was confused. Why would the gynecologist want to see her because of a cigarette burn on her neck?

Bewildered but afraid to ask silly questions, she allowed the nurse to steer her to the gynecology department. Raymond followed nonchalantly after her.

Several couples were waiting for their turn outside the gynecology department. They saw Raymond and Ella, and surreptitiously took photos of them.

Raymond stood beside Ella with a hand in his pocket. He put his other hand around her waist and led her into the doctor's office.

The doctor was a middle-aged woman. As soon as she saw Raymond enter, she said loudly, "Women only! Men have to wait outside."

Raymond made no move to leave. The doctor adjusted her glasses and squinted at him, before breaking into a wrinkly smile. She put her pen down and said warmly, "Raymond! I didn't recognize you. Are you here to see your dear aunt, or is there something else I can help you with?"

Lora Xia was a single woman in her 50s. With no children of her own, she lavished her affections on Raymond, her favorite nephew. She looked Ella over with the eyes of a calculating hawk for a long moment before the light of recognition finally came into her eyes. "Oh, it's you. I completely forgot that Raymond married you."

Ella blushed with awkward embarrassment. She said meekly, "Hello, Aunt Lora."

Ella tugged at Raymond's sleeve and gave him a quizzical look. She hardly ever saw anyone from the Xia family; they didn't like her, and made no attempt to hide the fact that she wasn't welcome. This unexpected meeting with Lora Xia caught Ella off-guard, and she found herself tongue-tied.

Instead of coming to her rescue, however, Raymond merely told Ella that she needed a physical examination and left the room. Ella's heart gave a sudden leap as her thoughts raced ahead of her. Perhaps Raymond had had a sudden change of heart, and wanted a baby with her. Or perhaps he was feeling guilty about the way he had treated her in the last two years, and was now trying to make up for it with a show of concern for her well-being. Whatever it was, she was grateful for it, and Ella knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. She would gladly endure Lora's unnerving gaze if that was what Raymond wanted.

Half an hour later, Ella returned to the car and let out a long sigh of relief. "Darling, I had no idea Aunt Lora takes her job so seriously. I was so afraid of annoying her I didn't dare say anything to her the entire time. And then she asked me to leave without giving me the report! The whole examination was so bizarre."

Raymond said nothing to that. He handed her the report as Ella fastened her seat belt and made herself comfortable.

She took one look at the report and almost dropped it. She was pregnant. She read it over again, unable to believe her eyes.

How was that possible?

She hadn't slept with Raymond in the last two years.

'Wait!'

Ella suddenly thought of something, and her chest tightened. She struggled to keep her hands from trembling as she set the report down and looked at Raymond with her best attempt at a calm, dignified expression. "Raymond, this hospital visit wasn't about my cigarette burn at all. You asked your aunt to fabricate this pregnancy report as evidence that I cheated on you. Am I right?"

"Yes, you're right." Raymond's reply was flat and unsympathetic. He handed the divorce agreement to her, his handsome face stony and devoid of all emotion. "Ella Sheng, you have only one option. Get an abortion and sign the divorce agreement."

Ella's mind went blank. There was a deafening buzz in her head, drowning out everything else.

She tried her best to recall the bizarre events from a month ago, the cause of all her current troubles. That fateful night, she had had too much to drink at the dinner party. Somehow she had ended up spending the night in a hotel, and the next morning she had woken up to news of her "affair" with Charles Lin.

She remembered aching all over upon waking up, and the memory of it made her skin crawl. She had assumed it was just a bad hangover, but she wasn't so sure now. Raymond seemed to truly believe she was pregnant; was it possible that she had actually slept with Charles that night? What could have possibly led to that? She didn't even know him!

Ella was still wrestling with her inner doubts when the car arrived at the villa.

Raymond stepped out of the car and made for the front door. He entered the password on the security pad to unlock the door, but the door stayed shut.

He turned to Ella with an accusing look. "You changed the password."

"I change the password regularly since I live here alone. I'm paranoid about robbers and break-ins." It was a complete lie, but Ella was an actress and pulled it off beautifully. She wasn't afraid of robbers and thieves. She had changed Raymond's original password for a somewhat embarrassing reason. She had hoped that he would have to ask her to open the door if he ever returned to get his things. She hardly ever saw him, and would do just about anything to see him again.

But her plan had been a complete failure. Raymond had avoided the villa like the plague after their marriage.

Raymond entered the villa and went upstairs without a second glance at his wife. Ella threw herself on the sofa and lay there, absorbed in her thoughts. The events at the hotel were a complete mystery to her, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Raymond was still upstairs when someone knocked on the front door. Ella rose from the sofa, surprised, and went to see who it was. She opened the door and found herself face-to-face with an unfamiliar man, who proceeded to look her over with undisguised interest.

"Oh, are you here to see Raymond?" Ella asked politely.

The man was immaculately dressed, and Ella could tell from the perfect Windsor knot in his tie that her visitor was a man of refined taste. His bright, beautiful eyes looked at her steadily, as if probing the depths of her soul, and Ella found herself fidgeting uncomfortably under the intensity of his gaze. She wanted to tell him it was rude to stare, but decided against it; he was probably a friend of Raymond's, and she had to be courteous to her husband's friend. She stepped aside and said politely, "Please come in."

Charles stepped into the villa. "I'm here to see you."

Raymond, who had just arrived downstairs with his suitcase, froze when he saw Charles. His expression darkened.

Ella went into the kitchen, and emerged a moment later with two cups of tea. She set them on the table and excused herself. "Take your time. I'll leave the two of you to your affairs."

"Ella, I'm here to see you, not him." Charles seized Ella's wrist before she could turn away, and shot Raymond a defiant look.

Raymond's knuckles tightened on the handle of his suitcase, but he brushed past Charles without acknowledging him. He paused at the table near the front door and picked up the divorce agreement he had left on it. "Ella Sheng, don't forget to sign this."

"Sign that? Are you divorcing him, my dear Ella? That's a relief. I was afraid you'd be too attached to her to divorce her, Mr. Xia." Charles grinned from ear to ear. He looked genuinely delighted at the news.

Ella stared at her visitor in confusion. She removed her wrist from Charles' grip and said, bewildered, "You're not a friend of Raymond's?"

"No, I'm his rival in love." There was an affectionate twinkle in his eyes as he gingerly caressed her hair. "I'm Charles Lin.

Have you forgotten me, Ella?" The corners of Ella's mouth twitched in annoyance. She wanted badly to slap Charles for his impudence, but she didn't have time to deal with him. All of her attention was on Raymond; she wanted to see his reaction to Charles's unexpected visit. But in the next instant, she spotted an all-too-familiar flash of light outside the window, and her blood ran cold.

The paparazzi had hounded her relentlessly on the streets for the past month, and today they had finally grown bold enough to spy on her in her own house.

Unbelievable!

With her back carefully angled towards the cameras, Ella ran to Raymond and hugged him. She whispered calmly into his ear, "The paparazzi are waiting outside. If you leave now, rumors of our divorce will be all over the news. If the reputation of the Xia family means nothing to you, I suggest that you announce our divorce to the paparazzi now and be done with it."

She let go of Raymond and pretended to help him straighten his tie like a loving, dutiful wife.

Raymond shot her an icy glare, but obediently set his suitcase down. As he made his way back to the living room, he said in an indifferent tone, "The curtains are open, by the way." Ella whirled around to look. He was right; she had forgotten to draw the curtains. Her little slip-up had allowed the paparazzi waiting outside a clear, unobstructed view of everything going on inside the villa.

The paparazzi were going to have a field day with this.

She was used to the gossip tabloids twisting the facts, but Ella was worried about what the Xia family would think about Charles' scandalous visit. Something told her that Raymond's family would pressure him to divorce her to save their reputation.

Charles had been watching Raymond and Ella with an arched eyebrow. After a moment, he unfolded his arms, picked up his teacup, and sipped his tea with a leisurely air. "Ella, this barely tastes like tea. You should get a different tea."

"Sorry, but that's all we have." Ella rolled her eyes at his impudence as her heart hammered in her chest.

The situation was absurd. Why were the three of them, the main actors of the love triangle the tabloids had been writing about for the past month, having tea together?

Ella wasn't in the mood for tea.

"This is all you have? Well, you deserve better. I have West Lake tea, the tea leaves are of the finest quality. You can have them as a gift." There was a teasing smile on Charles' lips as he nonchalantly set his cup down on the table.

Ella glared at him. She took a sip of the tea she had prepared for Raymond. "That's quite alright. I like my tea."

"Oh, is that right? And what about you, Mr. Xia? What do you think?" Charles arched an eyebrow at Raymond.

Raymond reached for the teacup Ella had prepared for him. He lifted the cup gracefully to his lips and took an elegant sip. "The quality of the tea leaves doesn't matter. You have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy your tea. Why are you here, Mr. Lin, if you're already convinced that your tea is better than everyone else's? You seem to be wasting your time."

"That's a good question." Charles paused to give Ella a long, meaningful look. "I'm here for Ella. She's coming with me to the Lin family."

Raymond sipped his tea nonchalantly, but his lips curved into a sardonic smile, and there was a dangerous glint in his eyes. "You're getting ahead of yourself, Mr. Lin. Perhaps you should slow down."

"Slow down? Why would I do that? The last thing I want is for you to change your mind and call off the divorce while I drag my feet." Charles leaned forward in his chair as he returned Raymond's icy glare with one of his own.

Ella couldn't believe her ears when she heard what Charles had said about taking her with him to the Lin family. She suppressed her urge to throttle him as she said dubiously, "Excuse me? Why would I go with you to the Lin family?"

"You're pregnant with the next heir to the Lin family. Where else are you going to go? Surely you're not going to let my son call this uncultured swine here his father?" Charles' every word was a calculated jab at Raymond.

"Wait, who says I'm pregnant with your baby?" Ella sputtered indignantly.

"You've been married for two years, with nothing to show for it. There are rumors that Mr. Xia here can't perform in bed, if you catch my drift. If the baby isn't mine, whose is it? It's obviously mine," Charles said confidently.

There was a loud thump as Raymond's fist shot out and connected with Charles' face.

Charles fell off his chair and onto the floor. Before he could get up, Raymond grabbed him by the collar and snarled into his face, "Watch yourself, Charles Lin. Don't test my patience!"

The Xia family was extremely powerful and influential. They were virtually untouchable in J City.

Charles wiped the blood from his mouth. Instead of losing his temper, however, he grinned and said, "Mr. Xia, I've heard of your many talents. But so what? You failed to marry the woman you loved, and now you've failed to keep the woman you married. You're a loser."

As soon as he finished saying that, he kicked Raymond off him and got to his feet.

Ella was so angry her eyelids had started twitching. She flung her teacup to the floor, shattering it to a million tiny pieces. In the awkward silence that followed, she said icily, "I've had enough. Get out! The both of you, out!"

"Okay, okay. Calm down. You shouldn't get angry when you're pregnant, it's bad for the baby." Charles' parting reminder to Ella was his downfall. Before he could turn to leave, Raymond tackled him, slung him unceremoniously over his shoulder, and tossed him out the door.

Ella didn't have to look at the expression on Raymond's face to be able to tell that he was absolutely furious.