Chapter 16

Aaron came home at around midnight. Danson was waiting for him. It wasn't like him to come home late. When he came in through the door, Danson can smell alcohol. He knew that Aaron wasn't a drinker, but he clearly understand why he had to drink.

"Aaron, how much did you have?" he asked, Aaron stumbled onto a couch.

"I don't know," he answered, as he hiccuped.

"Aaron, you shouldn't be drinking. I understand that you are sad over what happened, but why do this to yourself?" he said.

"Ge, you don't understand. Gui lied. She lied about everything. She didn't leave because of a stupid exam. She left because of Hebe. I heard Ya Tou and that Weng Rui Di talking about it. They said that because Hebe needed me, Gui left with her grandfather," he said with tears in his eyes.

"Aaron, are you sure?" asked Danson.

"Ge, I'm not lying to you. The one whose been lying is Wu Ying Jie! She is a lair!" shouted Aaron. Danson watched his brother. He was hurt seeing his brother like this, but he also knew that there was some gray areas in Aaron's statement.

"Yan Ya Lun!" someone shouted. Danson turned and saw his father. He knew that his father hated drugs and alcohol the most. He cold tolerate anything but those things. "Have you been drinking?"

"Pa, it's not what you think. Aaron is feeling down. Something happened to him," Danson tried to explain, but his father was already dragging Aaron's shirt. "Pa, what are you doing?" He watched as his father threw Aaron to the ground. He left the room and Danson went to Aaron's side.

"Ge, I'm fine," said Aaron weakly. He was not going to fight with his father. He was going to take the punishment for drinking. He knew his father too well. Danson watched as his father returned with a stick.

"Pa, are you going to hit Aaron?" he asked.

"Watch carefully," he said to Danson.

"Pa, you can't hit him. He is not a little kid anymore. Pa, he's 23!" shouted Danson. He wanted to help Aaron, but he can't. He couldn't do anything. He knew that his father would hit whoever gets in his way. Danson watched as his father beat up Aaron. "Pa, stop it. Aaron is already bleeding!" His father didn't listen to his cries. He just kept on beating Aaron, until he was just lying there.

"Yan Ya Lun, next time, you will get a lot more beating than this. You know that I don't tolerate drugs and alcohol. How can you go and get yourself drunk?" he asked.

"I-I'm so-sorry," said Aaron weakly. Their father left the room without looking back at Aaron. Danson went to Aaron's side. He helped him up and brought him upstairs to his room. He asked Xiao An to bring up a first aid kit. He put some medications on his brother's wound.

"Aaron, please no more drinking. This is going to be your first and last time, okay?" he said.

"Ge, I promise that this will be my first and last time," he said weakly. Danson waited until Aaron had dozed off before leaving his room. On his way out, he took Aaron's phone. He wanted to make a quick call.

When he got to his room, he went straight to his bed. He was laying there, deep in thoughts. He didn't know if he should call Xiao Jie and let her know or if he should call Ya Tou. After a few minutes of debating, he decided to call Ya Tou first, and then call Xiao Jie.

"Hello?" a small voice came through the other side.

"Ya Tou, I have something to ask you," he said.

"What?"

"Where were you today after school?"

"Today? I was at a cafe."

"Which cafe?"

"Um...Bubble Tea. Why?"

"Were you with Ah Ben?"

"Yea, I was with him and the rest of the gang. Why?"

"Aaron said that he overheard your conversation with Ah Ben."

"Wait, he heard what?"

"The conversation that you had with Ah Ben. I'm not sure why he was at Bubble Tea, but he said that Gui left because of Hebe."

"Dang it, he was there. Shoot, if I knew that he was there, I wouldn't have said anything. We were just talking about Gui and everything. Dang it. So what happened? Is he alright?"

"He drank and came home drunk."

"Oh no, what did your father do?"

"He beat up Aaron, but he's fine now. He's sleeping. I'm pretty sure he will forget everything by tomorrow since he's drunk. But Ya Tou, I want you guys to be careful though."

"Yea, of course. After hearing this, we will be extra careful. I will tell the rest tomorrow before school, since Gui wants to meet with us extra early."

"When is she leaving?"

"Tomorrow when school's in session. She said that she doesn't want us to watch her leave. So, she will meet us briefly before leaving."

"Okay, I will try to stop Aaron from coming to school early. Ya Tou, does Xiao Jie like anyone?"

"Xiao Jie? Um...yea, she likes someone. But I'm not sure if he has the same feelings for her. When I'm around him, I have this feeling that he likes her too, but I'm not too sure. Why?"

"No reason. Anyways, keep everything on the down low. I know that Hebe doesn't know about Gui's leaving yet either. Or do she?"

"I bumped into her at school today. She knows that Gui's transferring, but she doesn't know why. I told her the same reason we told Aaron."

"Okay, that's good. But, make sure she doesn't know anything."

"Okay."

"Bye." Danson hung up the phone. He put his phone away. He didn't want to call Xiao Jie anymore, after hearing that she has someone else that she likes. He finally dozed off at half past two.

The next morning, Aaron got up extra early. He walked into the kitchen and asked his cook to make him some honey tea. He couldn't remember what happened the night before, but he was in so much pain. His head was hurting and his body was aching. After drinking his honey tea, he remembered.

"Argh, I have to apologize to Pa now," he said, as he went to wash up. He took a shower and got ready for school. He walked downstairs and into his father's room. He knew that his father was always up early. He knocked before entering. His father was waiting for him at his desk. Aaron walked and sat opposite of his father. His father was eying him. Aaron took a deep breath, before starting, but his father interrupted him.

"Yan Ya Lun, I believe that this is going to be your first and last time drunk," he said.

"Yes, this is going to be my first and last time. Pa, I'm sorry," he said.

"Er zi, you know that I don't tolerate drugs and alcohol, why did you do it?" he asked.

"Pa, it was stupid of me. I was depressed that's why I did it, but it won't happen again," he said.

"Er zi, I'm sorry for beating you up, but I just wanted to teach you a lesson. Are you okay?" he asked his son, with concern.

"Pa, I'm fine. Danson helped apply some medication," he answered his father.

"Er Zi, I want to let you know that you can always come and talk to me. I know that I'm always busy, but when it comes to family, I'm willing to make time. And there's also Danson. Why didn't you talk to one of us?" he asked.

"Pa, I wasn't thinking," he said, putting his head down. He felt ashamed. He knew that his father would sacrifice his time for family.

"It's okay. Er zi, if there's something bothering you please tell one of us. We are here for you," he said. Aaron nodded and left his father's room. He went back upstairs. He sat on his bed, thinking. He looked at his bruised arm. He took out his first aid kit and applied some cream and bandaged it. He did the same for the rest of his bruises, expect for bandaging it.

He left for school at 7:45, he wanted to get there early. Danson had overslept, so he didn't stop Aaron from leaving early. When he woke up, Aaron had already left for school. He called Ya Tou to let her know that Aaron was on his way.

At school, they met Gui in the music room. Ya Tou had told them about Aaron, so they were aware of his earliness. Gui gave out gifts in remembrance of her.

"Okay, these are for everyone of you. I already handed Aaron his yesterday. Um...well, I'm leaving for a while. I don't know how long I will be gone for, but I will definitely return. As for Aaron, please don't let him know of my real reason for leaving him. I know that he was once hurt by Hebe, so please don't tell him," she said.

"Don't worry, Ah Gui. We won't say anything to him," said Xiao Jie.

"Okay. Oh, before I leave," she said, as she walked up to Xiao Jie, "Xiao Jie, please let Danson know of your feelings. I'm pretty sure he has feelings for you too. If you don't let him know now, he might never get a chance to know. Ya Tou and Ah Wei, please love one another. Xiao Man, when I return, you better show me your boyfriend and same goes for you, Ben Ben." She smile and walked out.

"Wait," shouted Ah Ben, "before you leave, give us a wave." Gui turned around and waved to them. They all waved back and took a picture of her. It was going to be a while before she returned. She walked to her car and her driver drove off.

Gui met her father at the airport. She looked around once more, before getting in the plane. She sat by the window, with Xiao Nan by her side. She smiled at Xiao Nan, but she was nervous about leaving. It was going to be her first time in the States, even though she has perfect English, she was still nervous.

When Aaron arrived at school, everyone was staring at him. He didn't care. He just walked straight to his class. When people asked, he would just tell them that he was boxing with his brother, and lost to him. He met up the gang at lunch. They had already know about his beatings the day before, so they didn't ask. Thirty minutes into lunch, a guy came up to Aaron.

"Ya Lun, who beat you up huh?" he asked.

"Like I've been saying, yesterday, my brother and I were boxing and he won," he answered, irritated.

"Sure, I heard that you got beat up by Hebe's brothers," he laughed.

"No," said Aaron.

"Whatever, you can keep on denying if you want," he said. Ya Tou was getting irritated with him.

"You know what you can do?" she asked. He turned his gaze to her. "You CAN out of Ya Lun's life. He said that his brother won him to a match, so leave him alone!"

"Oh, so you're new girlfriend is helping you out, eh?" he said. "I never knew that Ya Lun was such a player. Gui haven't left for that long and he's already with her best friend." Before everyone knew it, Ah Wei had punched him in the face.

"If you talk about my girlfriend and friend in that way again, you will get more than just a punch," he warned. The guy and his friends left. They knew that Ah Wei was a pro breakdancer and that he was trained under his father's body guards.

"Thanks," said Aaron.

"Hey, no problem. What are friends for?" he asked. Aaron gave him a high five and continued eating. After lunch, they went their separate ways. Aaron went to his class, but he wasn't paying attention to his teachers. He was thinking about Gui. He had missed her already. He wanted to see her, but he couldn't. When he got home, he went straight to his room. His father watched him. He didn't know what was wrong with Aaron, but he knew that something was up. He haven't seen Aaron's smile since the day before. He went to his office and asked for Danson.

Two minutes later Danson walk into his father's office and sat opposite him.

"Pa, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Aaron. What's wrong with him?" he asked.

"Pa, Aaron is just feeling sad because Wu Ying Jie left for the States," he answered.

"So...Old Mister Wu took his granddaughter with him. Do you know why?" he asked. Danson hesitated, but he knew that his father has the right to know, as well as Aaron. He got up and shut his father's door and lock it.

"Pa, Gui left because of Hebe. Old Mister Wu didn't want to take Gui with him, but she suggested that she go with him. I don't know how long she is going to be gone for, but I know that she will return," he said.

"Hebe? You mean Tian Fu Zhen?" he asked Danson, with curiosity.

"Yea," Danson answered his father.

"So, she's back and she's the cause of their separation?" he asked.

"Pa, please don't tell Aaron. From what Gui said, Hebe confronted her and told her to leave Aaron. She wanted to have him for three months and that's all. Hebe is dying soon, so she only want Aaron for three months," he said.

"Hebe is dying?" he asked.

"Pa, I'm not sure, but that's what she told Gui. I'm not too sure about the situation, but that's what I heard," he
said.

Danson left his father's office and went to his room. He came upon Aaron's room and stopped. He opened Aaron's door, and looked inside. He saw Aaron sitting by the window with his phone in his hand. It was as if he was waiting for Gui's call. Danson closed the door behind him and went to his room. He knew that Aaron deserve to know, but he also know that if Aaron knows, it will hurt the three of them. He didn't know how they all got into this big mess, but he hopes that when Gui returns, everything will be back to normal.