She was sure Kai would have given her up and left then, but he didn’t. He had stuck by her against his mother, and she wondered if that’s why the woman had never warmed to her. Not even six months on.
Meilei didn’t want to cave and put Yue in a position she wouldn’t feel happy in, not around that cold woman. She still shivered at the memory of her.
He was starting to get desperate.
Qian stayed focused on the road, glancing at his rearview, scrutinizing the girl he had met only once before they came to OTS. At a family dinner, and tried to remember if she seemed any different now. He remembered someone bright and happy, who smiled at everyone even though she seemed shy. This woman he saw walking around OTS avoided eye contact, kept her head down, and never engaged with anyone. He had never seen her smile even though she had passed him often. She was nothing like the woman his cousin dated back then. There was an aura around her that she didn’t want people near her.
Given his relationship with Yuelin and Kai, Qian had mixed feelings about her presence and turned his attention back to the traffic ahead. Sighing loudly as he listened to them trying to negotiate, he was glad he had never been stupid enough to have sex without protection. A kid was a messy and lifelong commitment.
Meilei was waning, knowing Kai wouldn’t give this up, and the memories of the past and what she endured at the hands of those investigating officers were chipping away at her. She knew Kai was trying to make her understand that his mother’s demands shouldn’t be ignored. Despite being so against it, she knew firsthand he was right. Pushing that woman against what she wanted had never done her any favors.
Kai leaned back, taking a long breath and letting it out slowly before nodding. He knew there would not be a better offer or another compromise, and then he at least could buy more time before his mother demanded to see Yuelin again.
His mother was never maternal, and he knew it was not about bonding with her grandchild. It was a demand to inspect her, see what she looked like, and about control. To summarize, if Yuelin was worthy of the Xuchen name. She clicked her fingers and expected her children to drop anything and obey. That’s what this was because he was stupid enough to have a baby with a girl she never approved of, and he was more than aware that since finding out Meilei was a part of the picture again, his mother was being even more anal, and commanding.
He doubted his mother would be looking to set play dates and cozy sleepovers. She saw children as an extension of her legacy, and should she find fault with Yue, she would dismiss her and ensure her existence was never tied to the Xuchen name. Kai knew it, yet it meant nothing to him. Regardless, he would look after her for the rest of his life.
Maybe it would be a blessing and less of a headache should his mother deny Yue and let him deal with their relationship privately. Many kids in their class lived secret lives and were denied their parentage. Mistresses had babies all the time, and wives kept them quiet to save face.
Thinking about his mother while Meilei stared blankly out at the passing scenery in a bid to ignore him brought his mind back to earlier.
“What did you mean about my mom paying the police to torture you? What was that? More ‘woe is me’ bullshit? What were you implying?” It had come out of nowhere, yet that nagging thought had been turning over in his head ever since. A slight memory of something he couldn’t put his finger on.
Meilei stiffened, closing her eyes to zone him out and wishing she had never said it. She didn’t want to rehash the past. She had told herself long ago that she owed them no answers if she ever saw any of them again. She had tried and failed, and she would never beg again.
“It doesn’t require explanation.” She shut him down and leaned further away, resigned to being his prisoner until they got to the school.
Once a manipulator, always a manipulator.
“No?” Meilei softly chuckled to herself and then rested her forehead against the glass. “How else do you think they made me sign something I never wrote.” She was tired. It had been a long day, and she closed her eyes to zone him out. There was no fight in her to do this, and she shifted into a smaller ball to ensure he stayed far away.
Kai stilled. Hearing her words and pausing, not reacting physically, but it did rub on him in some way.
He couldn’t believe this was her new angle after all these years. She just never gave up.
Tian had called him to his office only a couple of days ago to set him a task that Kai should never know. Suspecting a payment to the Division HQ of the police department had been part of that conversation. Qian glanced at the road and then at his cousin’s face and frowned.
Tian seemed to have a change of heart concerning this whole thing, and Qian, even after hearing what Tian was looking for, was still on Kai’s side. He didn’t know what Tian was digging for and only had requests to find two documents relating to the past, but hearing her words stirred unease in his heart.
“We’re almost there. Where am I parking?” Qian asked, butting into the tense and now quiet atmosphere. Seeing the signs for the kindergarten, he turned ahead and followed his satnav for Yuelin’s registered school.
“Here. I can walk the rest of the way and get a cab home. Thank you.” Meilei sat up, intending to escape from them, while Qian looked to his cousin for approval.
“I can take you to the door and come with you. I can take you both home.” Kai wanted to see Yue again; he strangely missed her, but Meilei’s instant stone-faced stare told him the answer. She had enough of Kai for one day.
“Stick to the arrangement. I don’t need you interfering.”
Qian turned in and waited for further instruction, seeing Kai stiffen and then nod his way. Relenting and allowing Meilei control in this matter because he didn’t want her retracting the meeting for his parents. Qian pulled into the side of the road and slowed to a stop. Jumping out to get her door, and stood aside.
Qian waited until she was out of earshot and opened the rear door to see his cousin. Both men watched the figure of the dainty girl marching on without looking back, and he nodded after her.