Flower among the thorns

Lesson 46

Kun

"I'm calling off the engagement, I can't get married to Shuxin. " I confronted grandpa who's at my house having a conversation about the marriage matters with my parents.

"What are you talking about? You're already engaged to Shuxin. You have a duty to the company," he said in an authoritative tone.

"I have a duty to YuXin right now and that's more important than the company," I took a deep breath and continued, "she's 12 weeks pregnant with my child."

Grnadpa stood up and slammed his hand on his table, pointing his finger at me in anger, "You.. You.. You made her pregnant?? You rascal, how could you do that to her?!" Grandpa raised his arm and slapped me across the face hard. The burning pain started to spread across my face as he raised his arm for another slap.

My mom ran up to me and shielded me from another slap and my dad tried to appease my grandpa. "Where's YuXin right now?" he asked.

"She's in the hospital. She fell down the flight of stairs after trying to save Shuxin," I replied calmly.

"What?!" Grandpa shouted and my parents stared at me with their eyes wide in shock. "Is she okay? Is the baby okay?" mom questioned me, pulling my sleeve anxiously.

"She's alright, she just sprained her ankle. The baby is fine too, but she bled a little so the doctor is keeping her in the hospital for a few days to monitor her condition." I explained. "Grandpa, I can't do this anymore. I can't give her up knowing that she is pregnant with my child. She would have kept it from me forever if not for the accident. Now that I know, I need to be beside her, with or without your approval." I steeled myself for another round of lashing after my words.

Instead, grandpa simply let out a sigh and nodded," I know she's a good girl.. Its all my fault for ruining the relationship between the two of you just to rescue the company. If that's what you want then I'd respect your decision."

Rescue the company? "What happened to the company?"

"We are in the reds and Queen's group has agreed to help us out if you fulfill your engagement with Shuxin. At first I thought whatever you had with YuXin is mere puppy love and persuaded her to leave you. But now that she's carrying your baby, it changes things,"Grandpa explained.

That's when everything clicked. How YuXin suddenly changed her tone and said that she is tired of our relationship and wanting to give it up. She's been doing it for the sake of our company.. I covered my eyes with my hand as tears threatened to fall. Shit YuXin, why do you have to sacrifice yourself for others.

I went back to the hotel, bracing myself to break the news to Shuxin. Even though it was unfair to her, its still better to tell her as it is now than to drag on any further. When I entered the room, Shuxin was packing up her stuff, oblivious to my presence. "Shuxin." I called and she lifted her head up, stomping towards while huffing in anger. 

"Before you say anything to me," she prodded her finger on my chest, "I am canceling our engagement." She puffed her cheeks in anger. 

"Shuxin, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lie -" I tried to explain when she cut me off. "I heard what happened from Yibo. Your grandpa is so mean to YuXin.. And you, you didn't even try to fight for her. What kind of lousy boyfriend are you?" She started hitting me on my arm with her hand in a fist. After her anger quelled, she plop down on the bed and continued, "I'll tell my grandpa to continue with the financial arrangement with your company. You can thank YuXin for that. Anyway, it's a relief for me to call off the engagement too.. " she squinted her eyes at me with a judging look. 

"YuXin is more of my princess charming compared to you, always rescuing me at the pivotal moment.. If only she was a guy.." She sighed. 

"Thank you Shuxin, I really owe you one. Thank you for being so understanding," I said sincerely, thankful for her calling off the engagement.

"You should be thanking YuXin, anyway I have decided to be the godmother of your child. I am still rooting for Yibo by the way, he seemed more trustworthy compared to your sorry ass." Her honesty made me laughed out, thinking about how I am supposed to win YuXin back. 

Yuxin 

"You are such a disgrace to the family, how did you get knocked up when I simply asked you to go to school in place of your brother?" I cringed my face as my mom hollered at me. "Who is the guy? I swear if you do not tell me his name I will disown you right now!" 

I shook my head, refusing to tell my mom Kun's name. Who knows what she would do to him if she knew. Before I could react, mom slapped me across my face hard and tears immediately welled up in my eyes from the stinging pain. "Fine, if this is what you want then I will slap you until you spit the asshole's name out. You don't have to return back home anymore." She raised her hand and slapped my left cheek while I closed my eyes, bracing the impact. Both my cheeks are now stinging with pain from her forceful slaps and tears were streaming down my face. 

Suddenly, I could hear the faint click of heels entering the room and my mom's blow stopped. "I'd appreciate if you stop slapping my future daughter-in-law," a familiar voice traveled to my ear and I opened my eyes to see Kun's mother holding on to my mom's wrist, stopping her from slapping me. 

"Who are you? What rights do you have to stop me? I am disciplining my child," my mom snarled as she pulled her hand away, glaring at Kun's mom who remained calm and collected. Reaching her hand out to my mom for a handshake, she introduced herself. "I am Mrs Cai, you may have heard of my husband, Cai Jie, the CEO of Rising Sun. I am the mom of the asshole who got your daughter pregnant" She flashed a professional smile and mom stumbled back a little. "You.. you.." 

Kun's mother turned to me and caressed my face gently, examining the red marks on my face. "Since you do not allow YuXin to return home, I hope you don't mind if I bring her back to my house to let her recuperate properly." My mom's eyes darted between me and Kun's mom "Fine, bring that eyesore away. I don't need her to be in my sight and giving me high blood pressure." Mom said as she slammed the door and stalked off. 

Kun's mom took an icepack out from the fridge and gently placed it on my face, soothing the burning pain. "I'm sorry for letting you get hit, that must have hurt." I shook my head and mustered a smile, "It's okay aunty, it's my fault for making her angry." 

"If it's anyone's fault, it would be Kun's I will let him uphold this responsibility. I'm not going to allow you to get hurt anymore," she held my hand and I felt her warmth slowly spreading to me. "Once you are discharge, I will fetch you back to my house. Just to make sure you recuperate properly." 

"But.." I muttered. I am not ready to face Kun and I am still together with Yibo.. 

"Don't worry about Kun. Whether you are with him or not, it's your decision. Right now, just let me take care of you, in place of your mother until she calms down anyway," she assured softly. 

After I was discharged two days later, Kun's mom came over together with Yibo and Kun  to fetch me from the hospital. Seeing Kun in close proximity again was awkward. Despite knowing that Shuxin broke off the engagement with him, I was not preparing to return back to him.

"YuXin, careful." Yibo cautioned as I took his hand and got off the car. He has been my rock, my safe haven for the past few months and I have come to slowly rely on him. He held on to my waist and guided me into the house while aunty led us to my room.

"Your room is right here, I will have a maid to look after your every needs to make sure you can rest properly," she brought me to the room that's right beside Kun's. Great, it's going to be hard to avoid him. Kun was quiet throughout the journey, standing in the corner of the room, just keeping his eyes on me. Did I make the wrong choice agreeing go stay here? But it was not like I have a choice given that my mom has banned me from going home..