imPROMPTu

Redemption

A/N: My sis evfabricando encouraged me to write this part as a sequel to "Angst" which is if you go back, the second story in this collection. So I think the prompt of "redemption" here is quite fitting, if not anything, for myself 😉
————————————————————————
Daoming Si bolted upright in his bed, his whole body drenched with sweat. Xiaozi, he muttered under his breath. It felt so real. Was it even possible to have a nightmare within a nightmare? Apparently so, he thought with a shudder, as he wiped the beads of perspiration from his forehead with his bare hands.

That would be his life, if he let his mother have her way.

His hand touched his cheek, where she had slapped him earlier, and the fire that had flickered out in him when he saw Shancai walking away from the mansion suddenly burned as brightly as before.

He had crept into bed and cried out what he thought was all the liquid in his body, after which he had fallen into a fitful sleep, having nightmares upon nightmares.

Si threw aside the blankets. No, this could not happen. He needed to get her back, whatever it took, even if it meant giving up his namesake, his inheritance, his whole existence.

He sprinted towards the door, before he was stopped by a cold voice.

"Ah Si, where are you going? I need you to discuss your marriage to Xiaozi."

He turned around slowly to face his mother and took a deep breath.

"Mother, I am telling you this again and you need to listen closely. I will never marry Xiaozi, not even if she is last woman on this planet. So if you are hell-bent in having her as your daughter-in-law, you will probably need to adopt or give birth to another son, because she will never be my wife. If I don't marry Shancai, the love of my life, I don't marry at all. So the Daoming family line will end with me. Do you hear what I am saying?"

The fury was evident in Daoming Feng's eyes as she looked at her only son, and the passionate words dropping from his lips.

"You..!" She lifted her arm as if to strike him once more, but this time he was quick enough to stop her. He held her arm, firmly but gently, and lowered it down.

"Don't hit me mother. I won't allow you to do this again. I won't allow you to make the same mistake as you did with Jie!"

At the mention of her daughter, Feng's face turned pale. She knew all too well the consequences of her actions on Zhuang. And she suddenly felt a glimmer of regret.

"Do what you like," she muttered. "I won't stand in your way any more. I'm tired of this. So if that's what you want, so be it."

She turned away and walked back into her room, leaving Si heaving a sigh of relief. He could hardly believe it. She was no longer going to stop him. He only hoped now that Shancai would forgive him and take him back.

So he ran, out of the house, down the driveway, and through the streets of London. He didn't think of getting a car, all he knew was that he needed to see her. He needed to redeem himself for the harsh words that he had spoken to her earlier. How could he have said those words? How could he have turned her away? The awful scene and his awful dream played back in his mind as he ran. He needed to get to her as soon as he could. And he knew exactly where to find her, thanks to Lei.

Si knew the streets of London like the back of his hand. He ran and ran, not caring about the curious onlookers. When he finally arrived at the address of the Airbnb that Lei had given him prior to Shancai's arrival, he stopped, suddenly nervous. Would she still want to see him, after what he had said and done to her?