She wasn't her mother, she didn't share the same bond with her that she shared with her sons. Lu Sheng and Lu Han weren't her brothers like they were of each other, and her father was too busy to be there to be a father; She felt they were a family and she was an extension, a stain on a complete family...

She was envious of what they had; A family that gave you familiarity.

Lu Xinyi sighed at her melancholy thoughts then smiled genuinely and motioned her to come forward, when Riley came in front of her she gestured her to sit, "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'Miss Lu', just call me Xinyi, Okay?"

Riley nodded with a half-smirk, "Okay, Miss Lu."

Lu Xinyi huffed and shook her head with a smile, "Forget about it. Let's just go."

They settled in the car and Lu Xinyi looked through the hard copy of her novel. She wanted to write something better and renewed but this was the first novel she wrote in her high school days and never dared publish.

It was about a girl who had a sheltered life and didn't know the hards.h.i.+ps of the world and then she sought her freedom by running from her protected sh.e.l.l of life to another country to start a new life. Ironic yet iconic. 

She wanted to live her novel then and writing all her strayed emotions, helped her cope with them. Anyway, she wouldn't change today for anything.

Lu Xinyi entered the office and the senior editor stood up for greetings, "Good Afternoon Mr Liao. I am Lu Xinyi, we talked on a mail."

The middle-aged man reciprocated her business smile while his eyes were set on judging her, "Good Afternoon Ms Lu. How I have waited to meet the legendary Artist, Rachel Lu."

Lu Xinyi gave the business like formal smile she had spent her youth practising and nodded her head gracefully taking the compliment as a lady should, "I am glad that we had this meeting then."

Inside Lu Xinyi was nervous, this was her first official meeting but her step-mother had taught her about situations as such.

Always keep your spine straight and chin high, have a posture of a lady. Your voice should neither be of a weak woman nor stern of a prideful woman. Keep it neutral, polite, with fewer words that worth.

When they were settled Mr Liao ordered coffee for both of them. Lu Xinyi didn't drink coffee yet like taught she didn't decline or gave a preference.

After the man had observed her for a few seconds he smiled at the young, well-poised, cultured woman.

Rumours said she was spoilt, short-tempered and stubborn but the young woman in front of him seemed fit for a painting posture.

He patted the copy of her work that he had been going through for a while now, "What are your plans with this?"

Lu Xinyi felt her hands shook under the table in nervousness but none of it seeped on her face, she kept a neutral serious face, not excited or anxious at all, "Well, I want to publish it and officially start my career in literature."

Editor Liao sighed, "Ms Lu I will be frank here with you. Your book is about a modern age Rapunzel, locked in her parents Mansion and all. That is common here." He pointed to the bookshelf in the corner with a comical smug face "Do you have any idea about how many books publish with the same theme every day."

Lu Xinyi eyed the untouched cup of coffee with a pa.s.sive indifferent look, she never drank coffee well, just like she didn't drink her emotions well.

But the man was a.s.sessing her. She could see all signs of it, he was an experienced man and was in the upper society for years, a self-made man. He was deliberately giving her subtle insults to get on her nerves and see how much was there to the rumours about her.

The rumours were all true but she will not be the person to show that to the world!

Lu Xinyi looked at the middle-aged man and smiled. The smile that held him in a trance. She nodded in understanding like she was just taking a constructive opinion, "What are you trying to say?"

Her tone was neither hard, annoyed nor cheerful just business-like, leaving the audience guessing her reaction toward their remark.

Mr Liao who was shocked by such mature approach from the young lady recovered fast and tried another tactic, "Ms Lu, you are renowned because of your Arts even I, myself paid almost thousand Dollars to attend your exhibition two years earlier, your disappearance hadn't lessened your fame even a little instead it had flared it..."

"You have such refined and profound artistic skills and if even not that your surname alone can do wonders. Anything you are going to write will get you to the epitome of the field."

Low blow! He was hinting at how her anonymous fame and family resources are her steps to success. 

She first had won an international compet.i.tion, which she had done all on her own! Her father didn't even know she partic.i.p.ated! Even the first international Gallery that contracted her then, did it on merit basis!

Despite internally bristling and wanting to slap the man to reality Lu Xinyi kept her automated smile intact, like the person they were talking about wasn't her, "What is your bottom point here?"

Seriousness took over the man's features, he patted the novel copy, "The novel right here will get you many places but with a thousand professional critics and a million fandom reviews, such fame will be short-lived and fading."

With seriousness, Lu Xinyi could see sincerity so she halted her plans to spat the coffee on him, "You are saying that I don't have a future in literature?"

The man leaned back on his seat and shook his head, "No, Ms Lu. I would be a sinner in the religion of literature to even a.s.sume that." He gave her a soft smile, "You are one of the finest writers I have come across, the way you define scenarios and deliver emotions, it's like the reader is living your story." 

He took a pause looking at the girl's face to see no pride or smugness, just neutralism, "What I am saying is this storyline is something that will not work in the long run. You are unique and the ideas of your pending novels have inspired me and we will be honoured to publish them."

Lu Xinyi licked her lip and her heart sunk as her smile did, she still asked in a neutral low tone, "So, this is a polite rejection?"

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