It's 40 degree Celsius here, so, don't give me stinky eye for this ridiculously long delay!😒 I'm fried, all right? Fried like a crispy chicken!😭

How is your Summer going so far?Or is it Summer yet where you are now? I am so dried and shrivelled up in this heat that if you put me in a hot tub I will inflate and become soggy like those cup noodles.😥

Life is tough, mate.😑

Off ya go with the chapter.

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Chapter-6

Something changed. Something shifted and was replaced. Something within WeiZhou and outside also. He could feel it from the way JingYu looked at him or sat a bit closer or poured him a glass or water or shaded him from the glare of the Sun or smiled softly at him.

WeiZhou felt them. Of course, he did. He was a businessman. Reading people like books was his job description.

It was just....he did not want to acknowledge them.

Those were danger signs that his head told him not to dwell on. Feelings were dangerous. They could destroy him, which he would not allow.

Survival of the fittest.

Only......it was not so easy anymore.

"When are you going to talk to my family about..er..the engagement?"

WeiZhou was at the green house where the family grew some medicinal herbs, twiddling his thumbs, alone, when JingYu came upon him like an apparition and spoke.

"Good god! Warn a man before you scare the life out of him!" WeiZhou exclaimed one fist thumping his own beating chest.

JingYu mumbled a half hearted apology and when nothing else came as to answer his question, he probed, "Well?"

"Nothing to hurry about. We still have time," WeiZhou said, rubbing the Wishing band around his wrist.

"Three days are not much and I don't want to jump my parents by dropping the bomb on them just as we take off," JingYu said while leaning against a wooden pillar.

Only three days? WeiZhou did not know what shocked him more, the amount of time he had left with or the 'only' that his mind had put before the days. Either way, it terrified him.

"Do whatever you want. Tell them whenever you see fit," he told.

"What I see fit? I?" JingYu came and stood in front of him.

A quick glance told WeiZhou that he was agitated.

"It was your plan. You decided to involve my family into this and now you want me to take charge suddenly?"

Sour mood already worsening with the accusation, WeiZhou riled up, too. "Oh, excuse me for I might be wrong but as I remember you were quite quick to agree with my plan and jumped to even put your own clause into the bargain when the time came. It's really modest of you to put all the credit on me now, isn't it?"

JingYu visibly bristled. "That's because you threatened to ruin my career!"

"And you chose your career over your family. So, drop this holier than thou act. You are not any better."

Nostrils flaring with barely concealed anger, JingYu took a long breath. "Okay, all right. You want me to do whatever I want? Done." He stared at WeiZhou till he had his eyes on him, "I am telling them now."

And then he turned and walked out of the greenhouse.

WeiZhou panicked immediately. Now? No no no, not now! Now was too early. He was not ready. Now was not good. Now was not...

"JingYu! JingYu, listen!"

But the man did not and kept stomping his way towards the house.

"Huang JingYu!" At that raised voice JingYu turned, face still infuriated and WeiZhou continued in his bossiest tone, "I told you to stop and that's an order. If I prohibit you to do something then you obey it without questioning. Do not forget that you are still under my employment."

An array of emotions passed across JingYu's face, too quick for WeiZhou to detect them, and finally it settled onto the same hardness as before.

"Watch me," he said and started walking. By the time WeiZhou caught up with him, he was inside and standing in the opening in front of the huge kitchen area. Sitting opposite were his mother, grandmother and grandfather, cutting veggies for lunch.

WeiZhou stood frozen at the door, too scared to enter, to be seen.

"Mum, there's something I want to tell you. To all of you."

They were already looking at him with concern and his mother nodded immediately, "What is it?"

From behind, WeiZhou watched JingYu's shoulder hunch over......as though preparing for something unpleasant...dangerous.

As though the concept of him being together with WeiZhou was something to despise. There was a sudden emptiness in between WeiZhou's ribs.

"Me and WeiZhou, we are.." JingYu's voice brought his attention back to the scene, "...we are planning to get engaged....soon."

A pin drop would have rung inside the room, the silence was that absolute. And then, of course, Huang family brought out their own version of Pandemonium.

"What? When? Oh my god!"

"Planning? What do you mean? With whom? HOW DARE YOU TO LEAVE ME OUT OF THE PLANNING?"

"How long have you been together? Isn't it a bit too early?"

"Early? Shut up! Have you forgotten that we eloped after meeting for a week?! You old coot, go peel the potatoes."

"Oh god, I'm so so happy. Oh, my baby!"

And they were all surging up to their feet and hugging JingYu and just when WeiZhou took a step back to flee, JingYu's mother caught him.

"WeiZhou!" Her arms were stretched forward as she came near him. "I can't-" she pressed a hand over her mouth as teardrops fell down from her widened eyes, "I'm so happy. Oh... sweetheart, come."

The hug that enveloped him was warm, inviting, loving- everything that WeiZhou did not deserve from these people.

How would they react when they knew it was all a sham? Would there be a hug for him? Would they still welcome him? Still call him family?

Family.

He screwed his eyes shut and hugged back the smaller figure with all his strength.

He was scared. And it was a mother's embrace.

When another smaller and plump figure hugged him from the side and WeiZhou's eyes opened on reflex he saw JingYu watching him with undivided attention. His expression unreadable.

He closed his eyes again and hugged her tighter. He was probably never going to get a hug like this again.

XOXOXOX

The return of JingYu's father and sister from the market ensured another series of excited congratulations. The house was overflowing with happiness. Faces glowing with joy, except for those two who were the reason behind all this merriment. The smiles on their faces were brittle, eyes guilt ridden and they kept shooting each other sneaky glances.

As the happy rush was temporarily over and WeiZhou was heading out, in desperate need of some open space where he could wrap his head around what was going on, he suddenly found himself eavesdropping.

"All this...all of this...."

It was JingYu's sister. WeiZhou's ears twitched in concentration.

"- and please, don't get me wrong. I would love so much to have a brother like WeiZhou. He is so kind, so well mannered, respectful towards our family and my kids adore him. But brother, aren't you two rushing things a bit?" She sounded so hesitant, as if questioning something that was obviously suspicious was shameful to her. "I mean, a couple of months ago you were not even dating and now you are planning to get married."

"I know." This time it was JingYu's quiet reply. "Trust me when I say even I am bloody confused as to what am I doing."

Despite everything, WeiZhou flinched. There was no reason to. He knew this was fake. They knew. But knowing did nothing to his suddenly sinking heart. The reluctance in JingYu's voice did something horrible to WeiZhou's heart which he ignored to analyse. He could not. He simply would not allow himself to dig deeper of his own emotions regarding this whole affair.

"Then why don't you two take a bit more time? Surely WeiZhou won't mind. You two are still so young."

Everything went quiet for a moment and WeiZhou held his breath.

"It was not a whim. We both took this decision after much thinking. This is the best solution we could think of and we have to go through it."

The held breath stuck around the heavy lump inside his throat that suddenly appeared. He tried to take a shallow breath to dispel it but it did not help.

"Jingyu...a relationship, a decision like this should not involve words like 'have to'. You should be spontaneous about when and whom to marry. I'm sure there is a valid reason as to why you two don't want to delay but uncertainty will only make things worse in the long run."

Oh, JieJie, if only you knew how spontaneous it was when I forced your brother, WeiZhou thought bitterly and almost ran from there. There was no air to breathe in. And thus missed what JingYu spoke next.

"Don't you think I know all that? Because I do. I am aware of all the drawbacks but I cannot let go of the person I want to be in my life in fear of some future uncertainty which may never occur. That's just plain stupidity. Yes, I am on the rush because if I don't he may come to his senses and decides to call things off."

XOXOXOX

In the evening, WeiZhou was called into Mama's room. Alone. The old matriarch beckoned him to sit beside her and rested her shaking, wrinkled hand on his cheek when he did.

"I am so happy," she said and in those four softly spoken words and the cold touch of her palm, she poured so much love that WeiZhou's eyes burned with shame.....with an unachievable dream that he did not even know he wished for to come true.

"Thank you, Mama," he smiled his first true smile that day.

"Family do not thank each other!" She chided him with one of her gumless smiles.

Family

"Am I family?" He did not mean to say it aloud but once it was out, he decided to go with it. "Even if I don't follow through the engagement? Will I be a family then also?"

He expected anything from a barrage of questioning to simple rejection. What he did not expect was a giggle that crinkled Mama's face even more.

Looking at his stunned face she said, "Even then! You became a family the moment you called me Mama. Now, even if you leave that silly great grandson of mine, you will still be a family."

Shame, guilt, wonder, hope threatened to slip out around the crack of his carefully erected wall of indifference towards everything humane.

His life was deprived, affection starved. He knew that. Despite having all the luxuries money could afford his life lacked the love that did not come with the chain of obligations; lacked any sense of belonging. His mother loved him but her fear for and guilt towards her own mother overshadowed her love for him. WeiZhou knew that all along, he was not stupid. But through the years of emotional suppression he was able to even fool himself.

But after meeting these people, watching and realizing what familial love felt like, what a family meant.......what a romance could feel like.....his illusion was shattered and he felt empty.

For the first time in his life people who showed him unconditional love would eventually end up deceived by him.

Grief in the form of tears welled up inside his chest. He opened his mouth to say something, anything that might lessen this burden of guilt but Mama's hand on his own stopped him.

"WeiZhou?"

"Yes, Mama?"

She placed something cold on his open palm and rested her own hand over it.

"Everything I have is either given to me by my son or my grandchildren. There is nothing I own except for this." She removed her hand.

It was a medium sized pocket watch, hung by a chain. The gleam of the unpolished metal might be gold. WeiZhou brought the piece closer to his eyes to read the inscription on the lid.

'A Love That Is Timeless'

"This was my husband's," she explained, "Well, I gifted it to him on our first anniversary but it was his and was with him till the last day." Her eyes misted over with the memories past as WeiZhou looked at her mesmerized. "He used to say I made those words true for him in every way." She caressed the watch with a soft smile.

Then she looked him in the eye and said, "I want you to have it."

WeiZhou's eyes widened in shock. "Mama...!" And he immediately tried to give it back, unsuccessfully. "I can't....No, Mama, I can't take it."

"Why not?"

Why not indeed "I just....this is too important, too precious. I can't take it, I won't, Mama, please."

The old lady's face became anxious, "Is it because....it's old?"

"No!" He was not over from the first shock and now there was more. His tongue tangled inside his dry, sandy mouth. "No, of course not! Don't say that. It's not that. It's...priceless! I don't deserve it."

Mama's face relaxed and her eyes softened with affection again. "Why do you say so?"

Cold sweat was pouring down his collar, gathering behind his ears. He wanted to run away, to hide, to evaporate. "I...you don't know me that well for giving me something so.... I am not good, Mama. I am not what you think I am. I am not a good person. I don't deserve it." He pleaded, voice breaking into something ugly.

"Oh, sweetheart," she glided her hand up and down his arm, "I might be old but am not senile. If I thought of you undeserving I would never have given you the last possession of my beloved husband. This is not just an old, broken watch; it is a symbol of ultimate love to me and there is no one more deserving than you. You brought so much happiness to this family, so much love. And you so pretty! Please, accept it."

WeiZhou looked at her, tried to beg to her with his eyes, with his words, tried to yell at her for being so gullible, so amazing, for trusting a snake like him, for reminding him of his heart but in the end he just buried his head in the blankets bunched around her lap and wept.

XOXOXOX

That night when JingYu tiptoed inside their room and readied the futon on the floor to sleep, WeiZhou requested him to sleep elsewhere. It might be for the surprise of his meekly spoken request or might be for the inherent kindness that ran in this family, JingYu complied and left the room, closing the door behind him.

WeiZhou stayed awake the entire night, facing the wall, clutching the rounded metal of the watch.

In the morning he was gone.

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Only one chapter left!🐣

Any thoughts?😶