Li Jun ignored Li Na's mother as she sat on the plastic chair beside him. Which happens to be the only vacant space in the hospital. Every muscle in his body was held in a state of extreme tension, and had been for the two hours they had been sitting in the waiting room.
He was leaning forward, his elbows resting on his thighs and his face buried in his hands. As soon as the call he made to one of his subordinates went through, he was able to calm himself down a little bit.
Mr. Yang the man he sent to silently make Chen Yinnan life a living hell in the prison had filled him in on all the details, how the wanker had been screaming with blood as tears in his tears.
Li Jun was satisfied with the report, he does not want Chen Yinnan to only die, he wants him to know the meaning of hell before descending to the real one soon.
As he was mulling over the report, all Li Na's mother had been capable of was repeating "he'll be okay; My husband will be okay. He would not leave me,' over and over until it sounded almost like a prayer.
Her rigid face was streaked with what looked like tears as a wild, frantic look pervaded her eyes. Li Jun has to wonder if Li Na's mother still remembers that her daughter was also lying on the bed.
Upon registering repetitive words of the woman, Li Jun managed to tamp down his rising temper as he kept on looking at the direction of the ward.
The door to the waiting room opened and Li Na's mother shot to her feet as the medical consultant Dr. Zhao, came in.
The doctor's eyes swept through the room and came to settle on Li Na's Mother, Mrs. Xu. Li Jun had also risen to his feet and was holding himself perfectly still.
"Um---Right, well…this – Ma'am?" The doctor removed the stethoscope from his neck, his eyes full of sympathy.
"Yes, what happened?," Mrs. Xu cut him off. "Say it, doctor, what's wrong with my husband, " She whispered angrily, squeezing the styrofoam cup in her hand.
"Ma'am, I'm afraid we're here with bad news," the doctor starts again. "Your daughter has woken up and the news has been told to her."
Li Na's mother was highly irritated while she tried to find her voice. "Just say it. I can't bear it any longer. I know that my daughter is okay, but what about my husband? Just say it." Her throat is so tight that the sound that came out of her was strangled.
Li Jun blinked once, as he glared at the doctor.
The doctor's head lowers and tips his head to the side. He says, "I'm sorry, Mr. Xu has passed on."
"You've got to be shitting me," Li Jun forced out through his clenched teeth. His gaze glanced in the direction of Li Na's mother, and he saw how she shook and wobbled to the nearest chair as tears kept flowing from her eyes.
Li Jun and the doctor ran towards Li Na's mother, Guiding her to the chair, Li Jun snapped at the doctor. "Is Li Na, her daughter with her father?"
"Yes, " the doctor mumbled out.
Li Na's mother didn't know what was going on after hearing the devastating news about her husband. She knows that was the last time she will ever hear her husband's voice. Despite her grievances against her husband, she was in disbelief, as the doctor announced the death of her, she desperately wanted this whole thing to be a sick joke.
But that never happens. Her husband is her lifeline.
Because this is real. Her husband is gone.
She clutches her chest as the scream that escapes her mouth rocks her body, and draws up a bitter taste so poisonous that she tastes the bitterness on her tongue. "Nooooooo! Hàoyǔ you can't leave me, like this," She should have listened to her husband when he told her that Chen Yinnan was not a good guy but it's not her fault, it is Li Na's fault.
Her foolish daughter never got married all these years. Her daughter's relationship status was a disgrace to her whenever she met up with her friend. It was what led her to believe Chen Yinnan when he says he is ready to forgive Li Na and marry her. Now the wolf in sheep clothing has destroyed her lifeline.
"Oh my god, oh my god, It's not true! He can't be gone! He promised me! he promised me!" Li Na's mother kept crying, shaking her head. She covers her eyes by burying her face into her hand.
She can't think about anyone else, not even her daughter when the one person who meant the world to her is no longer a part of it.
After leading Li Na's mother to the chair and not listening to what the doctor was saying, Li Jun rushed into the ward where Li Na's father was placed and he saw Li Na sobbing, releasing shattering sobs of painful tears. "Father, why must you leave me, now." she cried for her loss as tremors wreck through her body.
Li Na didn't know how long she sat on the floor in front of the bed where her father lay peacefully.
She barely moved when Li Jun kneels beside her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight. Li Jun kept murmuring loving and calming words into her hair as he rocked her with him back and forth before Li Na clutched his hands in sadness.
"You know," she whispered. "I never thought my father and I could be close." Her sad words were palpable, even through her tears.
"He was never close to me during my growing years, I watched him afar off. He was intimidating but not as intimidating as my mother. You know after he took me for breakfast at a diner and to his company. He told me that he loved me." Li Na mumbled in a saddened tone.
"I'll never get to say I love him, back. Now that he's gone" She whimpered.
Li Na slammed her head back into the handrail of the bed and let the tears stream down her face, not bothering to wipe them away. "Yesterday morning. I never got to tell him, Li Jun. Now, he'll never know." Dissolving into sobs once more, whatever Li Jun says doesn't register in her hearing.
She melts into a puddle in Li Jun's hands and curls into a ball. She can't stop crying. She wants to stop, but the sobs won't let up. The next thing she knows is that she was carried into the vacant room next to her father.
He pulls back the comforter and laid her onto the mattress. Kissing her forehead, he says, "Li Na, rest for a while. I'll get lunch for you, okay? You need to regain your strength." he stayed until Li Na was finally calm. His hand rests gently on her forehead as he strokes her hair away from her face and then kisses her cheek and slips out the door.
"Okay," Li Na's voice shook and sorrow chokes her throat.
She never knew that her father's short relationship with her these previous days, will make a great impact, his death made her realize that and she is so sad and distraught.
As shivers rake over her skin and the blood pumps loudly in her ears, Li Na Slipped into a deep slumber, she wonders how her mother will feel about the death of her husband because over the years she knows that her father was her mother's lifeline.