The Tender Flower {Meteor Garden 2018}

Chapter 48

Lei

"Connor,"

Saying his name left me with a bad taste in my mouth. My fists involuntarily clenched as he moved towards me, his hands stuffed into his puffy, red jacket. 

I waited patiently for him to talk, carefully watching him with my eyes. He seemed to have aged ten years from the last time I had seen him - dark circles drawn around his eyes, the blue in his eyes more dull than before and faint bruises marked along his cheekbones.

"I'm sorry," Connor whispered sadly, making me utterly confused. He fished his hand inside his jacket pocket and pulled out two car keys. I frowned immediately at the abnormality of the situation.

"Here's what's going to happen, Lei. Tomorrow at exactly nine-thirty am, you and your daughter will be dead," Connor began. My ears perked up almost instantly and I searched his eyes, thinking he was pulling some sort of prank, but his eyes bore a deep seriousness. My hands began to sweat and I felt light-headed.

"But I'm not going to let that happen. I can't hurt Meiza anymore and this time I thought to myself that I should do something and not idly stand by. However, this is the only plan I could come up with and I apologise-"

"What exactly are you talking about?" I interrupted his small rant. Connor didn't seem to be in the right state of mind either because he only just noticed my shocked expression. His eyes softened and he gestured to the bench near us. I followed him and sat down, keeping my distance from him. I closed my eyes and tried to take in deep breaths.

"Lei. I'm really sorry but... Gao found out about your secret. I'm not sure how but he has and now he really wants to get rid of you. He summoned me to Shanghai about last month asking me to stick around for business reasons. It was only when Meiza left to Taiwan that he called me and told me about his last resort. I was so sure he was just bluffing and I didn't take him so seriously but then... I got the call last night," Connor explained.

He found out.

I started to panic mentally. My mind began racing with differnet scenarios all which ended horribly and with Liza and I without Meiza forever. Connor's voice was the only thing keeping me from descending into total mental mayhem.

"He wanted me to meddle with the brakes of your car when you had to take Liza for a check-up tomorrow and kill both of you... but I couldn't do such a thing. It would be on my conscience till the day I die and I can't bear taking your life or your daughter's..." he continued, looking at the rusty red slide and the broken seesaw in the old playground.

He wants us dead...

"So I came up with another plan. All you have to do is drive to the hospital, give Liza her check-up and get into a different car that is an exact replica of the car I have meddled with. Gao's spies won't know the difference, trust me. The other car will be driven by Harvey and we'll have a fake baby in the car as well. Good thing your car windows are tinted. Harvey will be well-disguised too..."

Harvey...?

I looked at Connor who was still staring at the playground, his hands clasped together so tightly. Hearing Harvey's name made my fists clench immediately but hearing what Harvey was going to do for us made me extremely confused.

"I know right. Harvey... he wants to do right by Meiza for all the things he did to her..." Connor said solemnly. "I couldn't stop him..."

Do right by Meiza...

"If it's what he wants, then you have to let him do it," I spoke softly. I didn't know how to feel about Harvey risking his life for Meiza but I knew it wasn't my business to meddle with. Connor seemed saddened by the whole thing but there was a glint of acceptance in his eyes.