Chapter 8: The Storm Before the Vows
1998 Words
Xiao Nai had witnessed many things in his life.
His wife’s final breath.
The silence of grief that lingered for years.
But nothing — nothing — compared to the moment he saw Ziya collapsed on the cold tile floor of the Solaris office, her body curled inward like a wounded bird, blood soaking through her skirt and trailing down her calves.
Her hand was pressed to her belly.
Her voice, barely audible, cracked in pain.
“Please… not the baby…”
He remembered screaming.
Loud. Wild. Uncontrolled.
“Get the car! Call the ambulance!”
Zhou Chen had reached her first, eyes wide with panic, but Xiao Nai shoved past him, falling to his knees. He cradled Ziya as if he could hold her and the baby together by sheer will.
“She’s bleeding—!”
“Shut up!” he roared. “If anything happens to her, or that child—if I hear one more word from anyone mocking her, gossiping, accusing her—they’ll answer to me!”
His voice echoed through the office like a storm cracking glass.
He carried her out himself. Blood staining his shirt. Terror knotting in his chest.
At the hospital, he paced the hallway like a caged animal — unshaven, unslept, uncaring.
Zhou Chen brought him food. He refused.
Madam Luo waited silently, her eyes damp. The boy she had raised like steel had become flesh and fear for the sake of one woman.
The woman who had changed everything.
Ziya.
The woman who now lay in a sterile bed, fighting to keep the child he once didn’t know he desperately wanted.
She stirred awake the next morning, groggy but alive.
Xiao Nai was at her side in an instant, gripping her hand gently.
“I’m here.”
Her lips parted. “Baby?”
“The baby's fine,” he whispered. “So are you. But—Ziya—”
She smiled faintly. “Don’t say it.”
“I have to. You scared me so much. I thought I lost you. I never want to go through that again.”
She looked at him, eyes full of something soft and brave. “I’m sorry…”
“No.” He shook his head. “From now on, you’re staying home. You’ll work from bed, rest, and I don’t want to hear a single protest.”
She pouted weakly. “What if I want to work—”
“No.”
“But what if—”
“No,” he said again, his voice darker. “I stood there like an i***t while you were unconscious. I can't do that again.”
She chuckled softly. “Alright. No more scary moments.”
He kissed her knuckles. “Good.”
*****
Two weeks passed.
Ziya was confined to bed, but her color had returned, and the baby’s heartbeat had stabilized. Though she missed the office, she didn’t miss the glares or whispers.
Her new workstation sat by the window, covered in plush cushions and pastel sticky notes. Madam Luo visited every evening to rub oils on her legs and share court gossip. Even Zhou Chen stopped by often, bringing bubble tea and bad drama spoilers, pretending he wasn’t worried sick.
And Xiao Nai?
He was there. Every night.
Bringing soup. Kissing her forehead. Reading her the nice messages — and deleting the hate before it touched her.
One afternoon, he entered with a thick folder.
“What’s that?” Ziya asked.
He said nothing at first. Just sat beside her and opened it slowly.
Inside were bridal gowns.
Dozens of them.
Some sleek and modern. Others romantic, embroidered with white cranes and gold-threaded flowers.
“I thought… we could pick together,” he said softly.
Ziya blinked. “But I don’t need a wedding. I just want to get through this pregnancy.”
“I need it,” he replied. “Because if I don’t marry you soon, I might lose the right to protect you.”
She reached for his hand. “You already protect me.”
His eyes shimmered. “But I want to do it as your husband.”
*****
Clearly not everyone was celebrating. While Xiao Nai and Ziya quietly prepared for their ceremony, not everyone in Solaris was rejoicing.
Lin Yue watched from the sidelines.
Her rage had calcified into obsession. She had lost her place beside the man she wanted. The press no longer cared about her elegant appearances or curated smiles.
All anyone talked about was Ziya.
The pregnant bride. The Cinderella of Solaris.
“She’ll ruin everything,” Lin Yue spat to Lady Wen, her voice shaking.
But Lady Wen had grown silent. Since Xiao Nai exposed her lies, she’d been cut off by the Xiaos and exiled from board affairs.
Lin Yue knew: if she didn’t act soon — she would vanish.
So she did what she did best.
She reached into old servers. Whispered to former contacts. Leaked data to a rival developer.
One week before the wedding, a headline exploded online:
“Solaris Under Fire: CEO Xiao Nai’s Pregnant Fiancée Accused of Leaking Game Prototypes”
The media went into frenzy.
Hashtags trended globally. #ZiyaScandal surged. Stock prices wavered. Internal audits ignited.
Ziya sat frozen in bed, hand trembling on her mouse, watching her name get ripped apart.
Thief. Manipulator. Pregnant with secrets.
She gasped, chest tightening.
Not again.
She reached for her phone—
But Xiao Nai was already beside her.
He took the phone gently, held her face between his palms.
“You listen to me,” he said, voice low and fierce. “We will handle this. You are not alone. You are not to blame.”
Her voice cracked. “They’re calling our baby a product of manipulation.”
His jaw clenched. “Then we give them the truth.”
*****
The next few weeks were a careful dance of recovery and retaliation. Ziya worked from bed, wrapped in warmth and lavender-scented blankets. Madam Luo shared stories of Jiali — stories of grief, resilience, and how sometimes the strongest roots grow in winter.
Ziya began to laugh again.
She placed her hands over her belly every time the baby kicked, painted nursery samples, and helped pick wedding colors.
Meanwhile, Xiao Nai stayed vigilant.
At work, Zhou Chen barged into his office.
“You’re moving the wedding up?” he asked, grinning.
Xiao Nai smirked. “Why wait when I already know who I want?”
“Fair. Also… you’re less grumpy these days.”
“I’m in love, idiot.”
“Wow. The mighty boss is whipped.”
“Say that again and you’re fired.”
They both laughed, but Xiao Nai’s eyes drifted to a new report.
Lin Yue’s digital footprints.
Leaked stories. Rumors. A connection with a notorious tabloid editor.
He picked up his phone.
“Prepare a full investigation. Every leak. Every source. I want her buried by truth.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And security?”
“If she comes within fifty feet of Ziya—”
“She’s gone.”
*****
Cameras lined the back wall. Reporters buzzed like wasps, waiting to sting. Board members whispered behind hands, tension thick as thunderclouds.
At the front of the room stood Xiao Nai. Calm. Cold. Immoveable.
Behind him, a massive screen glowed with damning evidence:
A timeline of Solaris’ internal data leaks.
Digital fingerprints traced to Lin Yue on the company’s development server.
A list of secret communications between her and Solaris’ top competitor.
“This,” Xiao Nai began, his voice slicing through the silence, “is what you all need to see.”
“Three weeks ago, a leak nearly destroyed our upcoming launch. Fingers were pointed. Names were smeared. My fiancée was dragged through the mud.”
The screen shifted. A new slide appeared: LEE ZIYA, bold and framed like a headline.
“She was accused of treason. Of selling code. Of using her position — and our relationship — for power.”
He paused, then stepped forward. The temperature in the room dropped.
“Let me be clear.”
His tone turned to steel.
“She did none of that. The traitor… was someone else entirely.”
The lights dimmed.
A video clip played: Lin Yue, caught in a hotel lounge, discreetly handing over a flash drive. Then another — an email chain from her private account confirming a payment for leaked data.
Gasps rippled through the room like aftershocks.
Off-camera, Zhou Chen muttered, “Well damn. He went nuclear.”
But Xiao Nai wasn’t finished.
He looked directly at the press, at the board, at everyone who had ever doubted her.
“Lee Ziya is not the downfall of this company. She is its future. And she is my family. Anyone who dares drag her name again will answer to me — and to the law.”
Reporters surged forward, flashing bulbs blinding in intensity. Questions flew like darts.
Xiao Nai raised a hand.
“She will not answer your questions today. She is resting under medical care. But I will answer one.”
A woman in the back shouted, “So the wedding’s still on?”
Xiao Nai didn’t hesitate.
He smiled — firm, proud, unshaken.
“No. It’s not just on. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”
*****
The next morning, the headlines hit like thunder:
“Scandalous Past of Xiao Nai’s Bride-to-Be: Ziya’s True Colors Revealed?”
“From Nobody to Heiress: Did She Climb the Ladder the Dirty Way?”
The article was long, messy, and riddled with "anonymous sources." It accused Ziya of seducing supervisors, manipulating her way into R&D, even faking her fainting spell to trap the CEO.
It was pure fiction.
But for twenty-four hours, the office buzzed with whispers. Coworkers passed phones under desks. The media circled again like vultures sensing weakness. This time, the murmurs in the halls were sharper. Nastier.
But Ziya?
She sat calmly in Xiao Nai’s private office, working in the quiet, rubbing her belly gently as she scrolled through her tasks. Her face remained composed.
Because she knew.
She had nothing to hide.
She had grown — from the girl who once cried in an elevator, into a woman who could now sit in silence and let her truth speak louder than any lie.
*****
That afternoon, Xiao Nai stormed back into the press room. Alone.
He didn’t wait for his PR team.
He didn’t wait for damage control.
He stood before the crowd of journalists and said, voice unwavering:
“Every claim is false. And if this company continues to feed these lies, I will take it apart with my own hands.”
He looked each camera dead in the eye.
“She is the mother of my child. The woman I love. My fiancée. If anyone thinks they can ruin her, you’ll have to go through me.”
The room went dead quiet.
“She is my heart. And no one slanders my heart.”
*****
Far away, in a quiet villa with the curtains drawn, Lady Wen watched the livestream on mute. The room was dark, the air still.
Lin Yue stood beside her, arms crossed, lips twisted in fury.
“They’re still siding with her,” she spat.
Lady Wen didn’t respond. Her eyes were locked on the screen. On Ziya’s face — calm, poised. On Xiao Nai’s gaze — proud, unshakable.
“She’s not what I thought,” Lady Wen whispered.
Lin Yue scoffed. “She manipulated him.”
“Did she?” Lady Wen asked softly. “Or did you?”
Lin Yue stiffened.
Lady Wen leaned back in her chair, her voice weary. “You told me what I wanted to hear. But I wonder now… if all I’ve done is protect the wrong person.”
“I did what I had to—!” Lin Yue started, defensive.
But Lady Wen turned away. “Then perhaps it’s time you stop.”
- Writer
