Anna took a deep breath. "Well my history is a lot different than yours. As to how my parents met, their marriage is a second marriage for each of them. I have two half brothers from my father's first marriage, Ben and Adam, neither of who have married. I have a half sister from my mother's first marriage Susan, who married Wayne Adamson. They have three children. Ben and Adam, both work on farms, Susan is a nurse, and Wayne is a truck driver. All live within an hour's drive of Mum and Dad in Warrnambool. I also have a younger brother James. James took a couple of years off study to work, however he has gone to the local university to study nursing and has a year to go on his degree. He lives at home with Mum and Dad. Dad works for the council, and mum due to an injury retired last year from being an aged care worker. I am the only child that has, as they say flown the coop."

"At school, I was bright enough that I skipped one year completely, and finished year 12 when I was only 16. Both my primary and secondary education were at a local private school that covered both primary and secondary schooling. My marks were such that I received offers for fully paid scholars.h.i.+ps to Universities in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Canberra, and Hobart. I opted, so I could get away from home to study in Hobart, where I completed a combined Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of was degree. It was in my second year when I first met Lu Jinhu. He was older than me but was in his first year of a commerce degree and was staying at the same residential college that I was. Due to my marks, the university after my first year let me take study overloads that allowed me to complete my undergraduate degree by age 20, but still graduate with first cla.s.s honours in law, and then the professional qualification, which was still covered under my scholars.h.i.+p."

"Lu Jinhu, finished his study a couple of months after I completed my professional qualification, by which time I had relocated to Melbourne and commenced work at ANX Lawyers, where I have been since. I have been informed that the partners are considering asking me to buy into the partners.h.i.+p in the next couple of years."

"As to Lu Jinhu and my relations.h.i.+p we started out as friends, but within months, we commenced dating. At university, he kept pressuring me for a s.e.xual relations.h.i.+p, but I continued to refuse him as I believed he was only playing with me, given how he flirted with other women, and made it clear that he needed to commit to our relations.h.i.+p before I would consider that. It was when he moved to Melbourne on completing his undergraduate degree, that things changed. I saw his move as romantic, and that it was a sign he was committing to a relations.h.i.+p."

"However, based on what he said today, that was more because I was gullible and easily manipulated, rather than a commitment to our relations.h.i.+p. It was only after he moved in that our relations.h.i.+p became s.e.xual. He has been my only s.e.xual partner, but I often was not into the s.e.xual side of our relations.h.i.+p as he was. The only thing that I had insisted on before our relations.h.i.+p became s.e.xual was he had to be screened for s.e.xually transmitted diseases, as I told him that this was something that he had to do for me to trust him. Those tests came back clean. As of 8 weeks ago, when I had my annual physical as required by work, the screening then showed that I had no s.e.xually transmitted diseases. In Melbourne he undertook further study at Monash University, and despite his parents' financial a.s.sistance never seemed to have money. I was the one responsible for managing and maintaining our house."

"When he proposed 10 months ago, I was taken by surprise. I think he realised that I was considering whether or not I would end our relations.h.i.+p, as I was not certain where we were going, however I accepted him. Once I did this, I recommitted to the relations.h.i.+p. However now I gather that this was only a ploy to extend time until he received his Australian Citizens.h.i.+p. As to my friends, most of them have drifted away from me, because they did not like Lu Jinhu, so the friends I have at the moment are only those he liked, but that it likely to change."

"Do you think you need to know anything more?"

"Actually, I think we have the information we each need" came Hou Yi's reply. "While I think neither of us really want to go out, we need to go to my family's ancestral home to see my parents and grandparents."

"Yi please do not get angry there are things about how he treated me in our relations.h.i.+p that I really do not want to talk about now. I will when I am ready, so I hope that you can respect that.

"That is OK. You will tell me when you are ready to do so. Do not worry."

With that Hou Yi stood up, and took Anna's hand, and walked back towards the entrance, opening the thee doors. "The door on this side, is that for the walk-in-robe, which we will share. He walked to the door closest to the bedroom/living s.p.a.ce within the suite, and indicate, this room is designed as a walk in safe, not only to keep your jewellery in, but for us to secure things in. it automatically unlocks when I come into the room, after scanning my thumbprint. For it to do that for you, I will arrange with the security team for your thumbprint to be encoded. The final door is the ensuite bathroom. You go and use it first. I understand that your dress is in the robe, but you will find two robes on the back of the door. While you are in the ensuite I will gather my clothes, and when you are done, take them in with me, so you can go into the robe, and get ready."