ɪ'ʟʟ ɢᴏ 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄 ʏᴏᴜʀ 𝑭𝑨𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹

•ℙ𝕣𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕦𝕖 𝟚•

Two years after:

Yibo: 15 and a half, Liying: 14.

Xiao's Residents:

"Zhan. We need to talk." Zhan could already guess what his wife was going to speak about. He had seen it coming.

"I think you already know what this is about."

Zi lets out a sigh before clasping her hands together on the table.

"Let's get a divorce. We can split parental custody over Ah-Li. Or she can choose which parent she wants to be with."

Zhan sighs.

"Have you made up your mind? Are you sure about this?"

Zhan also clasps his hands on the table, meeting Zi's eyes.

"Divorce between just a married couple is easy but have you thought about our daughter? Ah-Li's entire life could be affected by this."

Zi pulls her hand up to stop Zhan mid-speech.

"She already knows what's been happening between us - she knows we only married because we had her. Ah-Li is old enough to understand that two people shouldn't be forcefully held together for just one person."

Zhan sighs again.

"Alright. I'll call her."

What they both didn't know is that Liying had been hiding behind the door the whole time.

"A-Ah-Li.", Zi called out, but was met with silence. Xiao Zhan sighed again and decided to just say it. He held her shoulder and tried to meet her eyes.

"Ah-Li. Look at me?"

She kept her eyes on the ground. Zi comes up and holds a hand at their daughter's shoulder.

"Ah-Li, please?"

The girl slowly lifts her head, barely holding herself together and Zhan continues.

"We have both lost feelings for each other and if this continues, the only thing awaiting our family are fights and violence. I don't want our family to end up like that."

Zi carressed Liying's hair.

"This doesn't change any-"

Zi couldn't finish her sentence before Liying slapped away her and Zhan's hands before running off to her bedroom, slamming the door.

"Ah-Li - wait! Listen-"

"DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! I DON'T CARE!!", She screamed, and at last they heard soft sobs.

Liying already knew that her family was different. She watched her friends brag about how their parents would kiss in front of them and how they were disgusted by their parents' lovey-doveyness.

She knew that parents didn't sleep in separate rooms. She knew that parents didn't talk with blank voices. She knew parents didn't throw money at their children. And she knew that this was meant to happen.

But when it finally did happen, she just couldn't accept it. Or more like she didn't want to accept it. She didn't want to be different. But what could she do?

A small part of her knew that this all happened because she was born. Because if she didn't come on this earth, her parents could have just broken up as a couple. But no.

Because Zhan and Zi felt the need to be responsible and get married so that their child could live a normal life. But they didn't know that it only made her more different.

They didn't know how to raise their child. Zhan was emotionless and quiet. He didn't know how to speak up when Liying did something wrong. While Zi was the total opposite. She was hotheaded and strict and she pointed out a lot of Liying's mistakes.

This duo was obviously a wrong match but they supposedly met on a blind date, got drunk, slept together. Yata, yata, the classic love story, except this wasn't even love, it was torture.

Xiao Zhan sighs as Zi comes up and holds his shoulder.

"We can't do anything else.. can we?", He asked. Zi shook her head.

"We have to get this over with or she really will have a bad life."

The elder smiles dimly.

"So it was our fault from the beginning..."

"Yea...."

No matter how distant this family was, they both knew that they couldn't hate their child.

Zhan could remember the times he held the baby after Zi delivered her. He couldn't express his feelings. Was he scared or excited? He really couldn't tell.

On the other hand, Zi had always wanted a child, but she wasn't prepared for this suprise baby. There was a tone of things she wanted to do when she had her first child, but she didn't have a chance to do anything with Liying.

Both of them were busy with their own work and they struggled to raise a child.

Zi was a popular model, so becoming pregnant made a huge impact on her career. Of course some of her fans supported in her having a child but some were against it.

So after giving birth, Zi only gave a little attention to her baby. She hired a babysitter and began body training so she could get back into the industry. So Liying was born into the world with a bare minimum of her mother's warmth.

On the other hand, Xiao Zhan was in the middle of company crises. Investors pulling out and people trying to steal His position and money.

He only held their baby when there was no babysitter and So was at work. He didn't know anything at all.

When the child would cry, he ordered toys and gave a lot of baby food. Most of the time, he'd leave Liying in her crib and go on his laptop to finish his work.

The two of them, really had no idea on how to raise a child. Thankfully, Liying's grandparents came over on occasions, and properly take care of her. But not even they knew what was really going on.

Of course, Liying was raised in a physically healthy way, but her mental health was simply fucked up.

~~~~~~~