Professor Luo Xia paused in-between his words and sometimes let out sighs as he brought himself back to those sweet old times. "Your grandmother was a very mysterious lady who looked small but was very audacious. When we first met, she stopped me from tossing out a withered plant. She hugged the clay flowerpot with the plant in it and scolded me."
He chuckled, "I still remember how I stood still like I was waiting for the emperor's command. She was feisty, but I could tell that she was very passionate about plants. It was weird because people were always cautious about her. Instead of the scary rumors that circulated in this small place, I only saw a very bright and pretty lady."
Susu subconsciously relaxed her originally tensed body as she observed her grandfather speak with such a loving expression on his face. She didn't interrupt him and kept the questions that she had for him in her mind.
Zi Yan smiled when she saw that Susu started to lower her guard around them. On the other hand, Professor Luo Xia didn't notice the smiles on their faces as he blabbed about his old story. Sometimes he laughed and mentioned the silly moments between him and his wife. Other times, he would sigh at her stubbornness and how much he missed her dearly.
"When I pursued her, she gave me the task to make some seeds blossom. She told me that if these seeds grow into beautiful roses, then she would date me. With the weather conditions at that time, I knew she was just picking cabbages and throwing it at me. Even so, I didn't give up. It was a miracle when I saw signs of the plant growing."
He shrugged and touched his hair, "I thought that the lords in heaven pitied this handsome man, so they gave me a miraculous chance to be with her. Even she was shocked and inspected the flower to make sure it was the same seeds that she gave me. At the end, she gave a soft laugh and told me that she liked me too. Apparently, even if those seeds wouldn't grow, she would have accepted me anyways."
Susu hugged her knees and rested her head on her kneecaps, "you must have been very happy."
His smile showed his shiny teeth, "Of course! I finally got to date the woman I loved. Everything went smooth and eventually I asked her hands in marriage. It was a sloppy one since I was nervous and all giggly like most men would. I watched too many television shows with those guys acting all calm when they knelt down on one knee, so I thought it would be an easy thing."
"Pffft, dad, you must have been so nervous and shaky! Hahahaha" Zi Yan slapped his back and teased him.
"Laugh it all you want. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be born~ Anyways, your mother, Yuan Yuan, was always kind of weird. Not in a bad way. She always seemed to know what was going to happen and would warn me about things. I never kept it to heart because I thought those were pure coincidences. Even her favorite song was like some unknown tune that nobody had ever heard of."
The smile of his face froze as his lips slowly became a small frown, "unfortunately, I didn't realize that our days were that short. If I knew, I wouldn't mention the future plans and would have done everything with her. Except, that day when I came home to an emptied house, it was already all too late. She was already gone and left me a note with some dates on it."
"What happened to her?" Susu frowned when she heard the disappointment in his voice.
"I didn't understand at first and even now, it still feels like a dream. Later, a granny walked up to me and left me a diary without saying anything. Before I could ask anything, she already disappeared as if she was never in front of me. It was Yuan Yuan's diary."
He inhaled and let out a deep sigh, "In the diary, she included details about her innate ability to reading minds and seeing the future. She could see people's life span and knew that everything is inevitable even if she interfered. Everything she once said as a child scared off all the neighbors because of the damn accuracy. They called her the grim reaper and spread nasty rumors of her."
"In one of the pages, she mentioned that her mother told her that in the near future, she would meet a man. When that time comes, she would know which man it is because she wouldn't be able to read his future. From there, she would have to choose her path."
"And...you were the man..am I right? Then what does it mean by choosing her path?" Susu asked.
He nodded with a bitter smile, " I'm the man who interrupted her predictions for the future. She never told me any of her worries and always acted calm in front of me. Even when she counted down the days that we had left, she always smiled. I am the man whom she was destined to meet and fall in love with. At the same time, we won't have a future."
"If she chose to be with me, then the future would become a mess and everything may change. Even if she doesn't choose me, she knew that there would be a day when she has to leave this place. Apparently, the seeds that she gave me weren't supposed to grow. That's why when she saw the roses, she was shocked as well."
"During the time that I spent growing the roses, she had a talk with her mother. Her life had been determined since the day she was born. When she reaches a certain age, her unique ability would be found out by some rich people and they would hunt for her. Eventually, she wouldn't be able to escape her fate."
"Then...that means grandmother already knew that she wouldn't be able to be with you.." Susu mumbled.
"Yep. Since the very beginning, but she still chose to spend the rest of the time that she had left with me. After getting married, her future changed." His eyes gazed at Zi Yan whose eyes were already reddened by this story. She never knew that her mother made such sacrifices.
He handed her his handkerchief and continued, "because of our life choices and the unexpected arrivals of Zi Yan and Zi Lan, she had to leave earlier. She went to her mother for another prediction before deciding to leave. Her mother told her that if she continued staying here and waited for her children to be born, everyone would end up killed by the greedy assholes."
"What? So she left without telling you anything because of this?" Zi Yan interrupted and felt bad for her father.
He shook his head and patted her shoulder, "It's not her fault. If she told me everything, I would follow her everywhere. I wouldn't be able to save you, Ariana and Chen Nan. We would've been in a much worse situation. Luckily, she left the diary to the granny for me. "
"What did those greedy people want from grandmother, though? Her predictions?" Susu bit her lips from their heart breaking story.
"They didn't want her abilities. What they wanted was for her to be a part of their experiment. To create more babies with her unique DNA cells and to figure out how regular humans could have psychic abilities." He clenched his fists against the bed sheets and gritted his teeth.
"What the fuck? What kind of sicko would do this to others? No matter how greedy people get, this is absolutely inhumane and illegal!" Susu sat up and punched the bed.
"You'll be surprised how disgusting these pigs are when they see people as monetary values." He sighed.
The lipstick on Zi Yan's lips had been long gone, "This is outrageous. Even though I knew about the experiment part because I was involved in that bullshit, I still can't believe people could get up to this extent for money! I was young, but I wasn't stupid enough to believe in their shit words about taking my blood test."
"You were part of that..experiment?" Susu turned to face her with a shocked expression.
Zi Yan nodded and said, "your mother died because of cancer, but it was also because they did some weird lab thing on her. I'm not sure if they found some scientist or not, but she appeared to have given them good results? Hah, that Yin Zin Leung took her as his wife because he wanted their child to have psychic powers like she did."
"When they found out that her cancer was incurable, they decided to take her egg and his sperm. Instead of finding a surrogate mother, they said that because I came from the same womb as Zi Lan, I would be the best candidate as a surrogate mother. Even though everything was forced, you turned out to be the best miracle to us. She gripped Susu's hands tightly.
"So..I was...an experiment...?" Susu muttered.
Zi Yan sighed, "Darling, even though you came to this world because of this chaotic drama, you only need to know one thing. You have two mothers who love you dearly. Zi Lan gave birth to you and loved you so much that she used her remaining amount of strength to seal your abilities. She knew that if they find out that you have the abilities like we do, then you would be dragged into this."
Susu's lips parted and her rasped voice asked, "Then why...why did you guys leave me? What did those assholes do to you guys?" her body trembled and objects floated in the air as her anger heightened.
"Susu, calm down first. Calm down! It's bad for your current condition!" Zi Yan pulled her for a tight hug and whispered words into her ears.
"How do you expect me to calm down when my whole life had been ruined by some person's greedy ass experiment?! What about Shen Wen? That monster I called dad throughout my entire life? The stepmother? Who are the liars and which bastard destroyed my family?!" She screamed out her frustration and started crying while clenching her mother's shirt.