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Reminisce [Part 1]

7 years ago

“WHAT DID YOU DO?” 

VanNess Wu (formally known as Mr. Wu) shouted out, enraged by the actions of his assistants as they laughed. Feeling no guilt because deep down, they were a bunch of hungry mad man, ready to do anything for money.

“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? WE HAVEN’T CREATED A CURE YET!”

One of his assistant laughed, as they walked out of the lab. Unaware of the consequence that will come by doing this. When his most-trusted assistant made an effort to walk past him, he grabbed his collar with so much force that made him choke. 

“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?”

“I NEED THE MONEY! I NEED IT, I AM IN DEEP TROUBLE. SO WE ALL MADE A DEAL TO FOLLOW YOUR INSTRUCTIONS. CREATE THE PERFECT POISON AND OFFER IT TO MR. QIU! HE SAID HE WOULD PAY US HANDSOMELY IF WE WENT ALONG!”

These were words that stung like venom, his grip loosened as his (once trusted) the assistant slipped away. When VanNess began to spoke once more, his assistant stopped to listen to him one more time.

“Aren’t you feeling guilty?”

“I will be calling Mr. Qiu soon. In the meantime, be good and sit tight. As I have said, this experiment will change our lives and our reputation.”

The assistant scoffed, knowing that there will be consequences but he; too was unaware of the full capacity of it. Money had the power to control the mind, the actions of human-kind... and everything that came afterwards. 

“What we have made... what we have created... isn’t poison or a cure, it’s a drug. You guys are going to be the ones who will be blamed if society goes mental over this.” 

VanNess heavily weighed on the impact if this drug was in the hands of power hungry gangs known everywhere. Afraid of what would happen, he smacked his hand on the counter and shouted his frustration out again and again.  

“Ge, we need to burn this!” Wilson (formally known as Uncle Wu) stated as VanNess stared at him, bewildered at the idea.

“Are you insane? If we do that than the whole city will be searching for us! We will be blacklisted into criminals! I can’t stand the shame if I dishonour the family name! We came from an long line of doctors. If we do this then we will be a disgrace not only to ourselves but our colleagues, friends and relatives and to our family!”

“We will go into hiding then! Isn’t going into hiding better than witnessing this drug falling into the hands to one of the notorious gangs? We will be dead either way, we need to move now and quickly before it really becomes a nightmare for both of us.”

As Wilson continue to speak some sense into VanNess who closed his eyes tightly, not believing what he was going to do. Destroying the evidence? If it comes down to it, if destroying everything will mean that they have to risk losing their hard work and people who are involved, who would walk away?

Because once you try to cover a lie, you will need to speak another lie to cover the previous. Were they ready to accept the aftermath?

................

Ady (formally known as Mrs. Wu) was in the middle of reading the newspaper when her husband and her brother-in-law stormed in, storming upstairs before walking out minutes later.

“Honey, I will be going out for a bit.” 

VanNess stated as he quickly left with Wilson following behind him in a haste. When the door close behind them, Ady ran over to the window to see them get into the car. “What are those two up to?” She shook her head and smiles, humming happily as she sneaked her way upstairs to take a peek into her two daughter’s room.

A couple of hours later.

“HONEY, HAVE YOU SEEN THE FOLDER I PLAC—” VanNess asked before he looked up to see his wife holding up a piece of paper. Wilson and VanNess eyes widen as Ady glared at them bewildered and in complete disbelief. 

“WHY DID YOU DO THIS? EXPLAIN! WHY ARE YOU APART OF THIS? ANSWER ME!” 

“Honey..” VanNess whispered as he slowly walked over to her. But he stopped when she stood beside the fireplace. She was going to throw the piece of paper into the fire but will that help them out?

“Honey, don’t. Think of what you’re doing, remember, think before you act.”

“Yes sister-in-law. Don’t do anything reckless.”

“YOU GUYS HAVEN'T ANSWERED MY QUESTION! WHY ARE YOU GUYS INVOLVED?”

“Honey—”

“Don’t blame us sister-in-law. As doctors, we took our oath to help those in need. So one of our colleagues was conducting an experiment that was said to be revolutionary. He came up with an experiment that was extremely fascinating so we decided to peek into it. At that time, we didn’t know we were playing with fire. It wasn’t like this until we got more heavily involved in it, we realized towards the end that this was going to be society’s worst nightmare. We have failed to notice the obvious so now, we are trying to do the right thing.” 

Wilson Wu rubbed his temples at the thought of the situation, so VanNess continued the story.

“Honey, you love flowers right? You dedicated most of your time researching about flowers. Here’s when the story deepens. Have you ever heard of the flowers named Belladonna? Also known as Deadly nightshade. It’s famous for being one of the most poisonous plants in the world. On the outside, this dark purple flower looks delicate, which was rather interesting. But with a single leaf from this flower, it could kill even the healthiest being. It’s all in this single leaf, because this single leaf holds strong concentrations of toxins that makes our nervous system uneasy. Also, it can give us hallucinations, headaches, blurry vision and confusion. And I am sure you can understand why everyone is out trying to get their hands on this. Belladonnas can kill.”

VanNess slowly walked over to his wide, taking the paper back from his wife’s hands and looked over to brother, Wilson. He gave him a firm approval as VanNess ripped the paper into pieces and threw it into the fire.

“So this isn’t because someone wanted you to create a cure... but you guys were involved in an experiment.. This entire time, I thought you guys were researching for a good cause, a cure! We are doctors honey, our family line... our generation... of doctors... WE ARE DOCTORS!”

Ady legs gave in and her lips began to quiver. “What have I done?” She stared blankly as VanNess pull her into his arms. “I’m sorry for doing this..” He whispered into her ears as she cried in his arms harder. 

“I’m sorry to say but we have to leave right now! They will be coming anytime soon if we don’t hurry. I’ll grab the girls, you guys quickly get yourself ready.” He shouted out before walking out of the room in a hurry. 

VanNess held onto his wife’s chin, giving her a smile to reassure her. “I’m sorry for being an incapable husband, will you forgive me?” Ady stared at him, caressing his cheek. “How can I forgive you when I am the one that should be saying sorry?” VanNess gave a small chuckle as he helped his wife up. “C’mon, we have to get going now.” 

He whispered as he helped his wife grab the important things before walking out the door with his family. 

“Where are we going?” Fu Chen asked as they wrapped a blanket around her and Ying Jie. Ying Jie huddled closer to Fu Chen, as everyone looked at one another. Not knowing if they should lie or tell the truth. 

“Girls, we are going to go somewhere for awhile. There are some people that are after your father because he is just too smart for his own good. So we are going to move away.” Uncle Wu explained as he tried to explain to Fu Chen and Ying Jie. With an answer that contained was a mixture of both half-lie and half-truth.  

Soon after, the news broke out like an uncontrollable wild fire. Uncle Wu and Mr. Wu were growing terrified with each day that passed by. No matter how long it was, their nerves did not calm down. Afraid of sleeping at night, sometimes they need to take turns being on the look-out. Afraid someone was going to discover them. That went on for about a year, Mrs. Wu was very sick. She would always clench her heart, telling everyone how it was hard to breathe sometimes, like someone was squeezing it. And that’s how a mother of 2, a wonderful sister-in-law and a beautiful wife passed away. 

As each day passes, they never forgot her. She remained in their hearts for the years to come. When his wife said her goodbye, VanNess was determined to keep everyone safe from danger.