Thread That Binds Us

Chapter-34

😑Yes, I know I have missed the update last week without telling and I have a good explanation for it:

This chapter is 8K.😒 I have a pea-brain that needs more than 7 days to dish out an 8k chapter.😑

And look, you greedy potatoes, I have given myself enough triggers writing it.😒 So, be grateful and share your thoughts with me. And vote as well (if your potato fingers are still working).😒

Anyway, Happy Diwali!🤓💖 May the Light of your life always glow like YiBo's face glows looking at his Zhan Ge!😽🕯️

Off ya go, nutters!

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Chapter-34

"Thank you...all for coming today," It took Zhan almost two minutes to squeeze out those three words. The boost of courage he had felt from YiBo's presence earlier dissipated into nothingness the moment the conference room opened to him with its blinding camera flashes and din of murmurs.

People. Strangers. Eyes. Pairs and pairs of them. On him. All concentrated on him. Mapping his every move. Every inch of his existence was for them to stare at.

Rising fear, pooling sweat and an indomitable urge to fly were all he could feel. But there was no escape.

He felt a touch on his back and something kick started in him. Was he quiet for too long? Sitting frozen? For how long had he been lost inside his own head? Panicked that he had fucked up before anything even began and in the haste of making things right, Zhan blurted out the first thing that came upon his lips.

"I am Xiao Zhan, the owner of Yiling."

There was a pause in the room and inside his head when everything seemed to stop....and then the cameras went crazy. Shutter sounds, like hundreds of birds flapping their wings, filled the room; questions arose like waves.

Zhan looked at Xuan with wide eyed desperation. They had prepared a speech for his introduction. Xuan would open and Zhan would follow with the speech but in his panic Zhan had gone off the track.

"It's all right. Everything is going as they should be." Xuan slightly leaned towards him and murmured into his ear, "Go as you like. I'm right here beside you."

Trying to find confidence in those words, Zhan stiffened his back again and chanced a glance forward, only to quickly lower his eyes immediately.

Every single person in the room was looking back right at him. To be the centre of that level of attention was.....

"Mr. Xiao, are you the same Sean Xiao who was known to be the owner before?"

"Mr. Xiao, why did you hide for so long?"

"Mr. Xiao, why this anonymity? What prompted you to conceal yourself?"

"Is the company in financial crisis? Is that why you're revealing yourself?"

"Quiet down, please," Xuan commanded in that gentle yet no-nonsense voice of his. "I will request you to keep the silence for now. We will take your questions shortly but before that, Mr. Xiao Zhan has something else to say. Please, let him finish first."

The noise died down, giving Zhan the cue to speak.

His right leg hadn't stopped bouncing ever since he had sat down. He wanted to stop it physically; to clutch it with his hand, dig his nails deep, deeper, enough to draw blood, enough to anchor himself to this moment, enough to give him that adrenalin hike. He wanted to slide down his chair and hide under the table like Xing did sometimes. He wanted someone to rescue him, to shelter him, to free him from this fear. He wanted to weep.