Chapter 1 Do I Need To Step In

The plane steadily rolled down the strip, slowly coming to a halt. At the gate, there were already a swarm of reporters waiting, all holding a camera or microphone of some sort. Passersby stopped to take a look at the commotion, thinking that maybe a big star was about to step out of the plane. They craned their necks and stood on their toes, eager to see who it possibly could be.

A group of people wearing black suits first came out -- they were most probably privately hired bodyguards. After which, a small, dainty figure wearing white appeared. Huge, tinted sunglasses covered nearly half of her face. The reporters clamored around her, flashing their cameras and trying to get their microphones as close to her as possible.

"Miss Xu, are the rumors true about you and your fiance?"

"Can you confirm that Mr. Ben Ming, CEO of the Ming Group, cheated on you with your sister nearly two weeks ago?"

"Miss Xu! What will happen to your wedding? Will you be cancelling the engagement?"

"What happens now, Miss Xu? Will the Xu Group and the Ming Group continue to work together despite this unexpected setback? Will this affect how the next round of directors to be chosen for the Xu Group?"

"Our sources say that your sister and Mr. Ben grew up together. Could it be possible that you are the reason why the relationship between two very prominent families has been completely destroyed? What do you have to say about all of this, Miss. Xu?"

All the voices of the reporters overlapped with each other as they threw one blunt question after the other.

The bodyguards tried their best to keep everyone a safe distance from her petite figure. Despite the uproar, the woman kept her calm.

Bystanders were quick to realize that woman who had just gotten off the plane was Armani Xu, CEO of the Xu Group.

Armani Xu had been on the headlines of countless tabloids, newspapers and magazines over the past few days. It all started when the photos of Ben Ming surfaced, showing that he was kissing Armani Xu's sister in a hotel elevator.

To make matters worse, Ben Ming came forward to make a public statement, saying that Armani Xu had actually been the mistress all this time and that she was the one who came in between his relationship with Jessie Xu

Everyone was dying to know how Armani Xu would respond to these accusations, to find out if anything Ben Ming had said was in fact true.

"Frankly speaking, I don't know much about it," Armani Xu said indifferently. "I had been busy with company finances when I was in E Country. But if all of this is true, if they truly love each other, then they have my blessing."

"So are you admitting that you had gotten in the way of their relationship?" someone continued to ask.

Armani Xu took off her sunglasses, her eyes staring maliciously at the reporter. "Do I look like the kind of person who needs to step into anything?" she countered, her pink lips arching up into a sarcastic smile.

Mary Song, the assistant who was carrying Armani Xu's bag, couldn't help but sigh.

On the other hand, all of the media reporters were taken aback by her arrogant and imposing answer.

However, after giving it some thought, they couldn't help but agree with her.

Armani was the eldest daughter of the Xu Group, a big family name in SH City. At a young age, she had become the CEO of their family's company. Ever since then, she had done nothing but make the company more and more successful. It was inevitable since she was one of the most notable alumna of the Royal Business School in E Country.

On an international scale, she was well-known not only for her business savvy, but also for her incomparable beauty.

With the media left speechless, Armani flashed a half smile, turned around and left.

A car was already waiting for them outside. As soon as they got in, Mary Song tentatively looked over at Armani. "Don't you think you were a bit too... pretentious earlier? I mean is that really the kind of impression you want to give off to other people?"

Armani sighed, "What choice do I have but to put up a strong front?"

Away from the public eye, the haughty look she had earlier was now replaced with sadness.

Of course she was heartbroken. Ben had made so many sweet promises to her. Never did she expect that he would go behind her back and hook up with someone, much less with her own sister.

Armani was abroad to attend an important meeting when he had betrayed her, betrayed their love, and put her in a place of discord.

As the car drove up the highway, her phone rang.

Seeing the name on the screen, she couldn't help but grit her teeth. "What do you want?" she sneered as she answered the phone.

After a long silence, a man's slightly hoarse voice came from the other end of the phone. "Armani, I was just confused when it happened. Let's have a talk, okay?"

"There's nothing to talk about. We need to break up." Even though the tone of her voice was cold and indifferent, her eyes were starting to turn red with tears. Without waiting for his reply, she hung up and threw her phone back inside her bag.

After some time, the car stopped at Armani's family villa.

Upon walking through the front door, the first thing she heard was her stepmother's shrill voice. "How dare you seduce your brother-in-law?" she scolded at Jessie.

"Mom, I really love him! Why can't you just understand?" Jessie cried.

Armani rolled her eyes as she was not in the mood to care about all the fake drama. With her luggage in her hand, she turned around and left. With her lips pursed, she thought for a while before pulling out her phone and dialing a number.

"K, I need to blow off some steam. Can you recommend some place to have fun?" she said as soon as the phone call connected.

"Well... that depends on what kind of fun you're looking for. Do you want to drown your sorrows with wine?" the man named K said excitedly.

K was a friend of hers that was very much used to the night life -- he knew all the different bars and hot spots across the city.

"Fuck off! Just tell me a place now!" Armani said crossly. All her patience had completely wavered at this point.

K quickly told her a place, and promised that he'd be there to meet her.

It was a newly opened bar that was difficult to get into. Luckily, K was able to reserve a private room for himself and Armani. As her friend, K knew how rough the past few days must have been for her. But he could do nothing helpful but find a place where she could just let loose.

As soon as they got there, Armani took one quick glance at the menu before deciding that she wanted a bottle of each kind of wine that bar had to offer. When the waiters came back with their order, the large table was filled from end to end with wine bottles.

"Hey, take it easy, okay? Don't forget to take care of yourself. Crying over a man doesn't help with anything. Besides, it's good that this happened before the marriage. At least it saved you a lot time and energy, right?" K comforted.

Armani rolled her eyes at him and said, "How could you say that? Whose side are you really on?"

Sadness just welled up and overflowed in her heart. She had just loved Ben for so such a long time. They practically grew up together and were childhood sweethearts. More importantly, they were literally about to get married! It didn't make sense at all for Armani how Ben could treat her this way all of a sudden. All her life, she had been reserved and kept her emotions to herself because she was afraid of getting hurt. And the only person she had ever given herself to wholly turned out to be the person who would betray her in such a ruthless manner.

She was nothing to him.

Armani poured herself a glass of wine and quickly gulped it down. In no time at all, she had finished nearly half a bottle all by herself. As she tried to pour herself another glass, K couldn't help but raise his hand and stop her. "Okay, okay! Take it easy now. I'll let you know that this wine is stronger than you think."

"Go away." Armani shook off his hand. Her clear eyes looked a bit hazy, and the faint flush on her cheeks indicated that she was now getting rather drunk. "There's no such thing as a good man," she mumbled. "It's so easy to say nice things and paint a pretty picture, right? Can't trust anyone anymore."

With a sigh, K patted her shoulder to comfort her, letting her pour out all her frustrations.

All of a sudden, Armani put her hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "You go find some men for me. Now."