Update time!😎 but a shorty this time because it's easier to write short chapters and because the plot demanded it to be.

Thanks to the lovelies that left comments and votes! Much appreciated!😘❤️

Hope you enjoy it!

Be back next week!🙆

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Chapter-4

"Unca Xun!!!"

It was more of a cry for help than excited yell to see his favourite uncle, who was actually his Papa's manager.

"How is My Lord doing this morning?" Wang HaoXuan asked with all seriousness as he picked up the very unhappy looking kid that had crashed into him the moment he entered.

"XingXing good!" The said good boy exclaimed and pointed at something in the general direction of his Papa. "Montah! Montah!"

Xuan tilted his chin enquiringly and Zhan held up the bowl in his hand, "Veggie monster."

"Oh!" Rounding his eyes Xuan copied the boy's expression and asked, "But if My Lordship won't eat his veggies then how will he fight the monsters and save us all?"

"Montah!"

"And to fight it, you have to eat it."

Realizing that this tactic would not work anymore, a very effective, very fatal pout materialized on that cherubic face. "Unca bad."

However, Xuan was long seasoned with this kind of blatant manipulation and only made another pout of his own, "Then Uncle won't take XingXing to Dragon anymore."

That simple statement worked like a charm, as predicted, and the toddler squirmed down from Xuan's hold and ran to his Papa, opening his mouth to be fed with Veggie Monster.

Dragon was Xuan's pet Siberian Husky.

"Aren't you the charmer?" Xiao Zhan huffed a laugh at his manager and expertly stuffed a few mouthfuls to his son.

"Don't you look death warmed over?"

Even though said in a jest, the two shared a look that spoke volumes.

Apart from being his manager, Xuan was also a very close friend that knew almost all his secrets. Xuan was actually his best friend's, Wang Talu's, little cousin brother. Right after Xing's birth, when Zhan was in a bind and in desperate need of an established career, Talu had suggested him setting up a fashion clothing line. While the plan was being materialized, Talu referred Xuan to handle things for him. At that time Xuan had just returned to the country after completing his business management degree and internship abroad. Talu arranged a meeting between his cousin and Zhan and the rest was history. However, why someone as efficient as Xuan would chose to support a novice entrepreneur, Zhan never knew. But he was grateful nonetheless.

They waited for Xing to finish eating and for Zhan to hand him over to his nanny for the day to start the inevitable topic.

"From the look of it I'm assuming Xing is all right and nothing untoward happened regarding him?" Xuan opened the schedule keeping journal and started scribbling something. "Although I had a plan B ready and honestly, after the news I almost gave it a go but as I-"

"What news?" Zhan was listening with half an ear but his focus sharpened up at the mention of news. It never bode well.

Xuan looked as much surprised, "Haven't you heard?...Oh, you haven't gone online since, have you?"

In fact, Zhan had completely forgotten to switch on his phone that he had turned off on the car coming back. Seeing his manager this morning had reminded him to turn the device back on and he was about to but lost the nerve now.

"What happened?" When Xuan did not reply immediately, Zhan voice rose in a panic, "What's wrong?" Million wild thoughts were rushing through him. Was he spotted by someone? Did anyone guess Xing's identity? Did YiBo do something rash? That man was prone to tantrums.

"It's only a speculation, no need to panic," Xuan hurriedly assuaged seeing him doing exactly that, "but seems like someone saw Mr. Wang leaving the hospital later last night."

Out of all the possibilities, this was not even remotely on Zhan's mind. He stared dumbly, "Hospital?"

"Yes. The reason for which the visit was made is still unclear and any press release from his side is yet to come. Therefore, it's too quick to take it as anything concrete."

"Hospital?"

A scene from the past, faded and worn around the edges, resurfaced. Wang YiBo lying on a hospital bed, complexion identical with the white sheet, tubes attached to his person. Result of a bike accident, which further resulted into Zhan having a panic attack every time YiBo rode a bike after that.

"What happened? What did he do? Why was he-" Mindful of Xing's presence in the house, he forcefully trampled over his rising fear, inhaling deep and slow.

He opened his eyes to see Xuan looking at him grimly. "Have you calmed down enough?"

Zhan nodded.

"I won't say a word if you react like this again."

"I'm calm." Which he wasn't but damnit.

"There is also a rumour going on that the wedding was cancelled."

".....What?!"

"Again, not a confirmed news but some inside source divulged this info."

"Who are all these damned 'inside sources'?"

"Heard it from the bride's side."

They stared at each other in silence.

Zhan spoke first, "And what do you think?" He relied a great deal on this friend of his. Xuan was one of the most level headed and analytic people he had ever come across in life. But above all, he desperately needed something to grab onto right now.

The man hesitated before saying, "I generally don't put any weight on such vague information, as you know, but this time, I think it's true."

Crushing under the weight of the implication, Zhan leaned forward with his knees supporting his elbow and covered his face with both hands, not breathing.

With a sharp exhale, a broken and miserable voice came through his still covered face, "What have I done?!"

XOXOXOX

"I don't give two shits about not finding anything! That man came to my wedding. In broad daylight, touting an infant with him and you're telling me you can't find anything on him?!" YiBo's voice boomed around the enclosed room. He was still at his parent's house and currently tearing down layers of one of his employees' skin.

"We have his name registered on the guest list that attended but," here the man chanced a look at his boss's face and immediately looked down again, cussing mentally, "but we are unable to find the transport details he used."

"Well, he certainly didn't pull a rickshaw to go there, did he?! He must have driven there and there must be details on the parking register!"

"Sir, we have looked but can't find anything that can be connected to Mr. Xiao."

YiBo rubbed his temples to lessen the throbbing pain. Hired car then? "What about CCTV footage? Don't tell me there wasn't any because I know there was."

"We're working on retrieving the-"

"FOR FUCKS SAKE! GET OUT AND HURRY UP!"

Not being accustomed to see his boss in such a hostile state, the man fled the room.

Wang YiBo flopped back into the revolving chair, which bounced from the impact, and stared at the ceiling. His phone had been ringing nonstop, his team working themselves ragged. His manager vomiting blood from all the damage control he had been doing. "And that sneaky bastard just disappeared. Again!" He gritted out.

Over his dead body would he let the man pull the same stunt he did three years ago. Not again. He had two days till he would have to tell Vanessa his final decision and even though he had no intention to go through the wedding at this point but still he could not afford to make her angry. Too much was at stake here.

He got up. Desperate times called for desperate measures and he realized he was not above grovelling.

XOXOXOX

"Mum." That sounded mellow even to his own ears. Well, it better be. They were not on talking terms at the moment, due to his another verbal blast earlier this morning.

She pointedly ignored the call and turned a page of the magazine she was obviously not reading.

"I'm sorry for raising my voice at you earlier."

No response came to that apology either. It irritated him but on the hindsight it was better this way. It reduced the chance of him getting agitated by something she would say, bringing forth another verbal spar between this mother and son. It was better if he said his piece and let her decided.

He wetted his lips and began, "Look, Mum, I know you've always blamed me for our break up and believe me, I wish just as desperately that things could have been different but they aren't." He paused because finally his mother had decided to look at him. "If you know so much then do you honestly believe that I am to blame solely for everything that had happened back then? Mum," he took a step closer from the force of his emotions, "hadn't I suffered too? It might not be enough to you or to him, but to me, it was hell!" Something akin to pity flickered through the face he was looking at. Though this was what he was aiming for but that brief expression stabbed at his newly opened wounds. "If what you hinted at last night is...is true...that I have, I..." He still could not make himself voice it, voice the possibility that he had a son growing up without his knowledge, because it was too cruel of a thing to imagine someone doing to him. "If it's true then don't you think I deserve to know? That I have a right to know? That......that he shouldn't have.....that..." To his horror, his voice choked up with a lump of pain. He swallowed and swallowed again but it didn't go away. "I..can't find him, Mum... Please, help me."

He turned back and stormed away.

While thinking of manipulating his mother with emotions to get the information he got manipulated by his own repressed grief.

Karma was really a bitch.

Quite a while later, the house maid knocked on his study to deliver him a slip of paper that had his mother's handwriting on it.

Yiling Fashion House

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Any thoughts?🙄

And this is Xing's Unca Xun-
I have kept the actor's original name.