A dead silence settled in the lounge after Richard left with Liang Jie. Zhuang Gohan remained rooted on the same spot. Richard's words resonated in his ears. Every word pricked him like countless needles trying to rip him apart.
He was absolutely devastated and broken beyond repair.
Outside the lounge window, the sun was shining brightly in the sky illuminating the world with its golden rays. The city beneath was now filled with the hustle and bustle of its busy life. But Zhuang Gohan found everything to be meaningless.
An array of thoughts and emotions played with Zhuang Gohan's heart and mind.Teasing him, taunting him, ridiculing him and accusing him.
He argued with Richard about abortion but none knew better than him that it was just a pointless accusation? Because without Lia, there doesn't exist the question of his child being born. And according to Richard, Lia died whilst carrying his child.
Zhuang Gohan fully trusted Richard and understood that if Lia was really alive than Richard would have surely found her by now.
No one in the globe could compete with Richard when it came to acquiring information about anything and everything.
A sudden thought popped in his mind and the balcony began to tempt him to jump down and join Lia and his child in the other world. He knew they wouldn't want to see him still he couldn't resist the temptation. He couldn't handle this pain. Alcohol was beginning to take its toll on Zhuang Gohan. He stood up from the sofa in his wobbly legs and step by step he slowly walked towards the balcony. He didn't know what he was doing, he was totally messed up.
All he wanted was to get back Lia ; get back his child. Even if it meant crossing the world he didn't care.
Desperation, hopelessness and guilt suffocated him altogether. This was a loss that Zhuang Gohan couldn't bare.
Its just as Richard said, Zhuang Gohan loved Lia from the bottom of his heart therefore, he hated her as well as himself with all his heart.
And now everything turned out to be a huge mistake. His mistake!!! So what was he supposed to do now, his hate was baseless and his love was lifeless.
There is a fine difference between love and hate even though they both reside in the same heart. We can only hate someone we truly love.
Lia's tearful face flashed across his eyes. Each and every moment of those torturous three months resufaced themselves throwing Zhuang Gohan into an abyss of guilt.
His pride, ego and confidence were all crumbled to dust.
Avenge the Ai family? Hehe!! Was he even qualified to do so? What right does he have to do so?
More importantly, what's the difference between him and the Ai family?
His mother was innocent yet she suffered under that ruthless tyrant and now he repeated the same.
How far can one stray from its own blood?
Lost in his thoughts he reached the balcony and was about to jump down when a sudden force threw him back inside the room and the balcony door immediately shut itself tight.
At first, Zhuang Gohan was surprised and thought he was hallucinating things but the little bump on his forehead said otherwise. The pain sobered him up quite a bit and he was startled to find himself lying on the floor near his office desk. He got up groaning in pain and realised that he had hit his head on the edge of the desk. He tried to open the balcony door again but greater the force Zhuang Gohan applied the harder he was thrown back. This lasted for a while until he sprained his right arm while trying to balance himself from falling and finally gave up. His mind was trying to understand the what was going on unfortunately, too much of alcohol was making it extremely difficult for Zhuang Gohan to think clearly.
" Is this how much you hate me Lia that you won't even allow me to kill myself?? " He asked facing the now shut balcony just to vent his frustration.
" No Daddy " A voice replied to him.
It was a sweet, crisp child-like voice filled with a boundless of gentleness and immeasurable love.
Zhuang Gohan didn't believe that the voice was real and thought he must be really drunk but as if the voice read his mind, it replied.
" No Daddy you are not drunk, we are real. "
Zhuang Gohan didn't say anything further. He looked around trying to pinpoint the strange vibe that shouded the room. Soon enough he saw a streak of light emgering from within his own heart. It was a beautiful bright light took the form of a child except that it was just a silhoutte of a child under the light and not a real child.
Zhuang Gohan was terrified to see what was happening before him ; this was anything but normal. Thanks to the bizzarreness, intoxication was long gone.
" Who..Who are you? " He asked nervously as he stepped away from the light.
" We are the ones whom you wanted to meet by jumping down the balcony. Are you not happy to see us, Daddy? " The voice answered then asked seeming to be hurt by something as this time the voice was not as cheerful as before.
Zhuang Gohan couldn't decide what to make of this situation but he did notice the change in the tone and decided not to step away.
" How can you be the ones I wanted to meet because the one who has you is dead? " He asked trying to understand the purpose of its appearance.
It was a madman's idea but, what else was Zhuang Gohan supposed to do when faced with something like this. Since the unknown figure had presented itself to him, he might as well use the opportunity. Afterall, in his heart Zhuang Gohan still believed that Lia was alive.
" Daddy we haven't seen you in six years, does that mean you are dead too? " The voice answered Zhuang Gohan's question with an equivalent question.
Zhuang Gohan was both surprised and impressed by their intellectuality. It's words made perfect sense and he quickly replied to them.
" No I'm not dead. I'm standing in front of you than how can I be dead? "
" Exactly! This applies on mommy as well. Also, finding mommy is not Uncle Richard's job, it your job Daddy. We're your family, not Uncle Richard's.."
Zhuang Gohan still didn't have the foggiest idea as to what or who that light beam was but each and every one of its words threw him in deeper and deeper in his own thoughts. It was clear as a day that it was here to guide him out of this road block.
And although so much was going on between them, Zhuang Gohan managed to notice something interesting about the voice of the silhoutte. Everytime they spoke it was not one but two poeple speaking together ; a girl and a boy.
Could it be that he was father of a pair of twins?
As wild as it may sound , that was the only explanation Zhuang Gohan could conclued at the moment.
" I have tried to look for your mommy everywhere but no one has seen her in the past seven years. Can you tell me where can I find her? " The more he spoke with the radiating silhoutte,the more his sense of wariness disappeared and he decided to ask them directly.
A tiny ray of hope appeared before him in the form of this light source.
" To find a person you must find their roots. Not matter how much a tree grows it's roots still remains attached to the ground thanks to its roots. " The voice answered. " Daddy you'll come and find us, won't you? "
" Of course I will! I will come...I will come and find your mommy and then we will finally meet each other for real." Zhuang Gohan reassured them as well as himself. The more he spoke with the voice, more he grew attached to it. Their was a strange feeling of belonging and warmth around it.
" Please, come fast Daddy and find us. We're really sad. All our friends have both mommy and daddy but we only have mommy who is sick. We also want to have both mommy and daddy with us. So please Daddy find us fast so that we can also be a happy family. " The voice said then began to radiate even brightier. When its now brightier rays touched Zhuang Gohan, he immediately drifted off to the dreamland.
He was carried to the bed in the lounge then covered with a quilt. Before leaving, the silhoutte left a broken earing on the bedside table.
" Goodnight Daddy!! Now its time we finally meet Mommy. " They said and the source of light disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving Zhuang Gohan with his own judgements.