The Wedding Breaker (SAMYU AU FF)

Can You Not Laugh?

<One year later>

"Pa, I told you. You are too old for soccer now. Just stick to golf will you?" Sam mewled as he entered the private room in the top floor of a private hospital.

"What are you doing here? You should be handling the issue with the Development Council."

Sam took the apples his mom had cut for his father into his own mouth, finishing a plate of it before his father could even have a taste. It was already noon and eating them was making him hungrier.

"It's done, Pa. Just rest." He answered. The issue had been settled a few days before and he had tons of work waiting for him in the office but his workplace seemed rather clamorous that day. He felt like everywhere he walked, eyes would be on him. It's normal though, except that day, it was more so than usual.

He watched his mom cut oranges this time, the fruits in the big plastic bag on the table could feed the entire floor, he thought. He walked over to the sofa, sat beside his mom and rested his head on her shoulder. "Ma, are we selling fruits now?"

His mom chuckled, "Are you hungry, son? I'll call the chef to have your lunch ready." His dad owned over half of the shares of the hospital they were in, and everytime his father would require medical attention, that was the only hospital they would go to, so Sam knew the food there was good. He nodded and hugged his mom as he closed his eyes.

"Are you okay, son? I told you, you should take the day off and rest at home." His mom voiced out her worry. Despite the problems he would sometime cause that would make his father blew out steam through his head, Sam was always close to his parent.

Sam kept his eyes closed and didn't answer. Sighing inwardly, he started imagining the happy occasion currently happening on the other side of Taipei. It was all over the internet since the past months and now that the day had finally come, Sam had lost all hope. It was Ke Fang's wedding. A year ago, Ke Fang wanted a simple and private wedding for the both of them, out of the country even but now it seemed like her view on wedding had changed. The wedding was as grand as the royalties if Taiwan still had any. He was rather aggravated at the thought, why was it so easy for Ke Fang to move on? Or rather, why was it so hard for him to let her go?

"Stop sulking. You caused this yourself. She deserves to be happy." Mr. Lin reminded him of the day his love life fell apart. The topic had since be a sore spot for the Lin family and only Mr. Lin would occasionally bring it up to remind his son. The wedding of Mr. Sun's daughter had brought out all the stories of last year. All the talks behind his back could no longer hurt him and in fact, he and Mr. Sun had already resumed their good relationship, not wanting their friendship affected by the mistake of the son. Mr. Lin did not care if his position as the owner of the biggest company in Taiwan would be lost to the Sun family after he married his daughter to another giant of the industry, but he was afraid that his son would be too affected by the situation. Afterall, the wedding served as a slap to their own ego.

"I know, Pa. I know.." Sam opened his eyes and stood up. He excused himself saying that he had forgotten some works at the office and left. He lied, like many nights before, he just wanted to go home, drank himself to oblivion and forget all his sorrows.

Sam went inside the elevator with his bodyguard following suit. The elevator was half-full with staffs and visitors. He leaned his shoulder on the elevator wall and closed his eyes hoping for his elevator ride to the ground floor would be rid of more people that knew him. Unlucky for him, it was lunch time and as the elevator stopped to pick up more people, more staffs would greet and bowed at him. They wouldn't dare to look him in the eye, but he could just feel that they were laughing at him on the inside. He sighed when the door opened again, just five levels away from his destination. Growing increasingly displeased at the watchful eyes, he decided to step out and take the stairs instead.

Ray who always had Sam in his sight, followed along, not bothering to ask any question. Along the hallway of patients rooms, only a few people could be seen. Doctors did not normally do their rounds during lunch hour, so there were only a few nurses and some visitors walking out and about to their own destinations.

Sam stopped to grab a drink from one of the water dispenser by the wall which incited a frown on Ray's face. He normally would never drink out of a dispenser, but he was too thirsty that day. He gulped from the paper cup and wished it was beer instead. From the slightly opened door to his left, he heard a conversation.

"Dad, once you're all well, I'll bring you to travel around the world. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Haha, I'd rather you save that money for yourself, son. But we can travel around Taiwan instead, we have a beautiful country ourselves, why bother going somewhere else?"

"You're right, dad. Let's do that."

He thought the conversation between the son and the father really resembled his own during his younger days. He was still close to his father till this day but so many things had happened and to go back to the time when his dad could easily pinch his cheeks whenever he did something wrong, was impossible. He stood there awhile, listening to more of the conversation. There were also voices from other patients in the four-bedded room but the father's and son's were the only ones that caught his attention. Then, the owner of the voice laughed, both of them, and Sam smiled. The youthful laughter was especially beautiful he thought.

He walked closer to the door, his action was almost like a peeping tom. Ray, who was increasingly weirded out by his boss's action, looked around to see if anyone saw his boss's strange behaviour before he walked behind Sam to find out what was happening.

"What are you doing?"

"Which one is it..." Sam mumbled under his breath. The room was pretty crowded for a hospital room so he found it hard to identify the owner of the voice he heard earlier. His eyes dashed towards the voice as he heard the laughs again.

"Boss." Ray called from behind him.

"Shh."

"Boss." He called again, holding Sam's shoulder this time.

"What?!"

Ray pointed his finger at the man Sam was looking already looking at. "That's him."