Four.

It wasn’t unusual to hear the sounds of objects shattering and raised voices of my parents in our household. It happened quite often - they would be at each others’ throats all the time. At the time, I was young and I couldn’t understand what was happening. I could never realize how serious the situation was, but I still cried. I didn’t like to see them fight. I was afraid they’d hurt each other.

I had heard the maids whispering to themselves. They would always say that my parents were in a failed marriage. And I wanted nothing more than to fix it.

One day it got way out of hand, I was in my usual hiding spot. So was my sister. None of us wanted to get caught spying on my parents while they argued, we knew we would punished.

My father had thrown one of his favorite glasses on to the floor, my mother barely flinched. “You wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for my father,” she yelled. “If he hadn’t invested in that petty business of yours, you’d been an insignificant person. You should learn to be grateful,” she spat distastefully.

“Fine. You’re the queen of this world and we should all bow down to you.” I could hear my father laughing, loudly.

“You disrespectful bastard!”

“What do you wish to do now? Leave? You’re more than welcome to. But the kids will stay with me.”

I couldn’t hear a thing after that. I peeked out of the door to see if everything was alright. My mother had started sobbing now, silent tears rolled down her cheeks.

“This is all her fault, that wretched child,” she murmured at last.

“Why are you bringing the child into this? She’s done nothing wrong.”

“Nothing wrong? I’ll tell you what was wrong. I had to carry her in my womb and go through all the struggles while you were away enjoying with your mistress, because I wasn’t appealing to you anymore, right? And then you decide to come back, conveniently after I’ve given birth? What’s worse, you decide to name her Michelle, after that vile lady?”

“I hate her,” my mother screamed. And that’s when I realized they had been arguing about me. I was the root cause for their endless fights.

My sister turned towards me, she had been crying too. She whispered the most hurtful words, “I wish you were gone.”

Shanghai, 1981

Liling woke up suddenly when someone’s breath tickled her neck. She sat up immediately to find Luhan perched on the edge of the bed with a silly grin on his face. “Luhan, what are you doing here?” She looked around to see if anyone else had been in the room.

“Good morning, sunshine.” Luhan flashed one of his charming smiles at the girl, partly amused to see her confused appearance. “I’ve obtained permission from your parents to take you out for the day. I’ll wait for you downstairs while you get dressed.”

With that he left. Liling sighed; she could see Luhan was making additional efforts to court her. If he kept being so persistent she was afraid she’d eventually give in. And if he especially managed to impress her parents she was certain that in no time they’d be set up.

Her mother was already astounded with the guy; she always commended him for his notable manners and charm. It was no doubt that she had taken a liking towards the guy. It was just a few days ago that her parents had the talk. She had come of marriageable age and they hoped she would choose her rightful companion soon. And Luhan knew that very well and wished to use it in his favor.

She wondered if she should tell Luhan about what was holding her back. She was worried about Michelle, she didn’t know if the girl could accept it. She wasn’t sure if Luhan was aware of the girl’s feelings towards him, but she knew it wasn’t her place to tell. If anyone told him it should be Michelle herself. She had pushed Michelle on plenty of occasions to go ahead and confess to the guy. But the girl always refused saying it wasn’t the right time. Liling was scared if the right time would never come.

Luhan stood up immediately when Liling descended down the stairs. He was awed by her attractiveness. She could look stunning with the simplest clothes. Liling’s parents gave out a knowing smile, they were happy that their daughter had finally agreed to take a step in the right direction.

Luhan handed her a huge bunch of roses, bowing slightly while she accepted them. “We’ll be off then!” He smiled at Liling’s parents again and led the girl out of her doorstep.

“Luhan, why are doing this?” Liling questioned when they were finally seated in his car.

“You know that very well.” He cleared his throat and fixed the rearview mirror slightly. “Since you haven’t had breakfast, there’s somewhere I wish to take you. I’m certain you’ll love it.”

The girl nodded slightly. There was no use now; she’d have to get through this day. Perhaps she could reject him at the end of the day, she thought. But that would mean breaking his heart and if she accepted him, Michelle would be heart-broken instead. She was stuck in the middle, she wanted to make both of them happy but she didn’t know how.

She could smell the fresh, salty odor the ocean gave out. Luhan had driven them to the sea-side. It was one of their u