CHAPTER 4.2:  Compelled 

Mr. Wu sneaked a peek at his wife and smiles happily, he tightly held onto her hand as they make their way through the pathway leading to their garden. Ever since his wife handed her line down to her daughter, she decided to pave her way through their garden, finding ways to bring their garden to life (not that it wasn’t before). He on the other hand found time and there ever since his son announced that he was going to follow his footsteps. For one, it came to a surprise to find out that Danson was aspiring to become a businessmen, considering how carefree he seemed about it. All the worrying was over now that Ying Jie and Danson were busy trying to make a place for themselves in the world. 

Mrs. Wu smiles as she wiggles free from her husbands gasp to bend down and gazes at all the beautiful flowers that was blooming before her. She always dreamt of putting down her work and taking walks in the garden with her husband, but there isn’t too much time in the day to fulfill that dream. But now that she is tending to the garden, she found herself more connected with everything in the house. 

“So that’s what happened. Why didn’t you tell us?”

“We didn’t want to wake the dragon in you.” 

Hearing her make a joke out of this, Mr. Wu stops and looks at her. He didn’t know whether to cry or laugh.

“Watch what you say darling, you might really wake the great dragon in me.” Mrs. Wu took hold of his arm and continues walking through the garden. “Ying Jie and I contemplated letting you guys know for a long time but with everything happening with our businesses and our family, we decided to wait for the best time to tell you guys.”

“You know honey; our parents have been waiting for this moment to come for a long time.”

“I know honey, please forgive me.”

“Let me think about it… I can forgive you… if you forgive me too.” Mrs. Wu looks at her husband, questionably. “What did you do?”

“I told my father that he has a great-grandchild and because of it… there is a possibility… that they might know about Kris... you know how my father loves to talk to the Yans! Wait, looking at your face right face, you’re not mad about this?” Mr. Wu smiles. “Great, then I did something great!”

“If Ying Jie sees them, she is going to start hurting. She stayed in Milan trying to get away from all of this and just by being in Taiwan is starting to make her feel uneasy. I was hoping Ying Jie wouldn’t have to go through this again.”

“Taiwan makes her uneasy? Why is that? Everyone is here, her friends and family is here, even that boy is here.”

“Boy? What boy?”

“Old man’s son, Aaron. He’s in Taiwan.”

“What do you mean? Didn’t he pass away?” Mr. Yan rubbed his temples, shaking his head. “I’m sorry honey; I have been meaning to tell you this but this has always slipped through my mind whenever we talk. I don’t know how to break this news to Ying Jie…”

“What were you guys thinking?! Did you know how much our daughter cried? I would hear her cry herself to sleep and on several occasions, she wouldn’t come out of her room! Luckily Xiao Gui was there for her, he was there to convince her to stand up and be herself once more.”

“I’m sorry, we thought that everything would return to normal and if they were truly meant to be, then they would naturally find each other.” Mr. Wu wraps his arms around his wife. “Look at your garden, it took so time and effort to see these flowers bloom. Just like the flowers, they need a chance to blossom right? In other words, if they are fated to be with each other, then we shouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that chance. Our children know what to do and with my keen sense of judgement, its only a matter of time.”

“Honey, sometimes you do have those moments where you shine. This is one of the many things I said yes to marrying you.”

“And that’s how I knew you fell for my charms.”

“Think whatever you like old man, you and Yan is going to stir up trouble if you start meddling.”

“My dear wife, if you think of it like that, it defeats our fun.”

She shakes his head and passes him the watering can. 

“How about meddling in my affairs?” His brows arched. “There is a lot of work to be done around here, you can start your fun in the garden.” He took the watering can and clears his throat. 

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GUI’S POV

“You need a bodyguard.”

“Why? I came to Taiwan to get away from them.”

“I know how much you hate them but think about it. Having a bodyguard will put my heart at ease.”

“I don’t want one.”

“Gui… please? The bodyguard will stay with you just until your debut runway stage.”

He continued to press on about the positives of having a bodyguard just until the reporters rush over to speak to us; I gently carried Kris down from Xiao Gui’s arms and smiled at the reporters. Xiao Gui straightens his posture as he his professional self to speak with the reporters. I chuckled, it was during these times I can fully reply on him. Xiao Gui had a knack for finding his ground wherever he was, as oppose if she has took on the reporters by herself, it would take a miracle for her to do this alone. This man has more than a handful of positives, he can make his negatives turn into positives if he wanted to. 

Suddenly, I felt Kris squeeze my finger and I looked down at him. He passed his cookie over to me and I smiled, taking the cookie that he was offering. “Mommy, look!” I turned to see Kris’s bright smiling face, pointing over to one of the guards standing by the entrance. Maybe he was shy of all the people standing in the hall… I took a glance around the area and I weakly smiles. I was used to this kind of noise but for Kris, it might be too much for him to handle. So I say, “Kris, stay close to mommy.”

“Look mommmmy!” Excited, he cried out as I felt his small finger slip from my hand. I smoothly let the conversation to Xiao Gui before walking after Kris. I went with my instinct as I followed him into the lobby. 

“Kris!”

“LOOK OUT!”

I looked behind me to see someone screaming at me to get out of the way. I closed my eyes and when I felt him run past me, I opened my eyes again to see one of the security guards’ arms around me. I cleared my throat and looked at him but before I got a glimpse of what he looked like, he turned away. Then the security guard pushed me away and ran in the direction to the lobby. ‘OH NO! KRIS!’ I followed after him but the guards standing by the entrance blocked me from entering.

“KRIS!”

*CRAASSSSH*

“OH MY― ARE YOU OKAY SIR?”

I pushed the guards away and ran over to Kris. “KRIS!” I knelt down and pulled Kris into my arms. Praying that he was okay, I scanned his boy to see that he was not harmed. “MOMMMY!” He wrapped his arms around my neck and shivered. “Its okay, it’s okay, mommy’s here.” I comforted him gently as I noticed a man walking away from the scene. He was gripping onto his shoulder, was he the one who saved Kris and I? Is he hurt badly?’

“HOW ARE YOU GOING TO PAY FOR THE DAMAGE? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU’VE DONE?!” One of the lightening directors called out at one of his associates for tripping on the cord, causing the stage lamp to fall. “THIS EQUIPMENT IS VEERY EXPENSIVE! THANK GOODNESS WE DON’T HAVE TO CALL EMS!” The director continued to fuss at the poor boy. 

“Are you okay?” The head of the bodyguards asked the man who just saved the lady’s kid. “I’m okay.”

“I’ll give you your sick day. Go and get that wound checked.”

The man nodded and proceeded to walk out of the door. I continued to stare at the security guard as he made his way to the doors. In the midst of everything, it wasn’t until I heard Xiao Gui call out my name, I felt something… something unexpected…

“GUI! ARE YOU OKAY?!”

My heart leaped when the man suddenly stopped walking.

“GUI!” I turned around to see Xiao Gui running over to me. “ARE YOU OKAY?” He quickly scanned his both to see us unharmed and I smiled. “We’re okay, thanks to―” I turned around but the man was already out the door. Again, I felt something.

“Can you stay with Kris for a bit? There’s something I need to do.”

“Yeah―sure, of course! Be careful Gui!”

I ran out of the hotel to see him get in to a cab. I tried to call out for him but when I saw him grip his shoulder, this feeling in my stomach didn’t subdue. ‘He must be really hurt…’ I held onto my stomach and waited for a few seconds to see a taxi pull up in front of me. I hopped in and told the taxi driver to follow the taxi in front of us. 

When I heard the driver announce that we have arrived, I paid him before making my way into the building without looking where I was. I did know that this wasn’t the hospital or a clinic, this was a professional building. 

I could feel the chiffon on my dress lift off my body with my movement, it felt like I was dancing my way through the empty hall. Even though I was running to catch up to the man, I didn’t even stop to think about anything else. 

“Hey! You are―”

I ran into the elevator in a hurry to catch up with the guy that I just heard someone calling out for me. Before I knew it, the elevator doors closed, but I did see his face and my memory was screaming that he looked familiar. Have we met before? Where did we meet?

Alex scratched his head and sighs, staring at the elevators going up. 

*DING*

When the elevator doors opened, I slowly walked out of the lift to see