Mark of the destiny

Honey peeked into Wang Shi's office and saw the two people seated at the table in the balcony, ready with a lavish spread of many dishes. They were his grandparents, yet he was reluctant to join them. "Do I have options?"     

"No." Wang Shi crouched down, "Consider it as my request. I promise to join you in no time. Rest assured, mom won't talk about anything that makes you uncomfortable."     

"You are going after 'her'" the 'her' in Honey's statement was Suyin.     

"Yes. I'm worried Suyin didn't bring up the topic of your mother--"     

"Don't call her my mother." Honey's frosty voice caught Wang Huang and Liu Jeilan's attention as they both turned to look. Honey lowered his voice, "Come fast, I'll be waiting for you and..... and.... cough....nothing. Just come fast."     

Before Wang Shi could say, Honey had already left. The couple cheered up and welcomed their grandson. A tiny smile bloomed on Wang Shi's face. He knows what his son was about to ask for, but his tsundere self stopped him. Bummer.     

Couldn't he just say he was looking forward to Suyin join him at the table?     

******     

"Hmm... Looks like Wang Shi had a potent reason when he said he has nothing to do with Honey's mother and wouldn't allow her to enter their lives. After all, which mother would call his child a basta*rd? Despicable." Si Han felt bad for the little boy and related Zena to be the reason behind Honey's cold personality.     

"I believe so," Suyin said, recalling her conversation with Zena. Throughout their conversation, Zena didn't mention Honey even once and only rattled her claim on Wang Shi. How did she come to know about Suyin and Wang Shi? What triggered Honey's trauma?     

"I know you have questions. Instead of thinking about it and tormenting yourself, talk to Wang Shi."     

"I'm respecting his boundaries the way he's respecting mine. He too never questioned me about my previous relationship--"     

"Suyin, you okay?" Wang Shi whispered from the other side of the door, interrupting Suyin's conversation with Si Han. He knocked once when she didn't reply, only to relax after hearing a small 'mhmm'. "Open the door, love."     

"I-I'm bathing."     

"No, you are not. It only takes you a maximum of twenty-two minutes to bathe, but now it's over forty minutes already. Just open the door once."     

Suyin covered her mouth, "Mom, I'll talk to you later--"      

"Is that your doctor boyfriend? Why is he asking you to open the bathroom door?" Si Han's loud voice echoed in Suyin's ear. "Are you wearing clothes? You better be before letting him in. And why on earth he knows how much time you take to bathe? Is he that creepy?" Si Han nagged unknowingly, giving minus points to Wang Shi in her secret diary.      

"Stop nagging, mom. He's just asking out of concern." Suyin hung up in haste and wrapped herself with a bathrobe before she opened the door and found herself in a bone-crushing hug just how she prefers.     

Wang Shi kept one of his hands at the back of her head and kept her close. He relaxed when Suyin reciprocated, and rubbed his back and asked, "What happened?"     

"Sorry."     

"Why?" she began to soothe his tensed muscles, and he lifted her in the air, unwilling to let go or even look into her eyes.     

"For everything."     

Suyin smiled, thinking he was feeling guilty for his parent's behavior. Did he think she would take such small things to heart? "It's normal for parents to react like this. I'm not mad."     

"I'm talking about Zena Song."      

Suyin immediately pulled back from his arms. "How did you--"     

"Though the new wing is not operational, its security system is working." He missed her warmth, itching to hug her again. But the vanishing smile on her lips restricted him. "I have nothing to do with that woman. Trust me. She doesn't even have the right to come within a hundred-meter radius of us, let alone claiming herself to be my wife."     

"Oh!" she said, dragging him out of the bathroom to which he panicked. Her silence bothered him more than anything.     

"Trust me. I'm not lying. She's just a terrible memory of my life. Years back, I fell for a trap which resulted in us spending a night together. I was not even aware of--"     

"Shhh...." she made him sit on the bed, a beautiful smile gave Wang Shi the hope he was looking for. "Stupid man! So Honey not only inherited his good looks from you, but cuteness as well. I do have questions. A lot of them. But Shishi, I respect your privacy. I know something is stopping you from not telling me everything, and I'm willing to wait. And even if you are not ready to tell me ever, it's fine by me."     

She reached to sit on his lap and wrapped her hands around his neck. He was patient, loving, caring, and someone she could only dream of. She has no right to ask him anything when she herself was keeping things from him. With her horrible past experience with Qi Wren, she had already made peace with her life and never to give herself another chance.     

Had it not been for Wang Shi's persistence, she would have kept herself deprived of this beautiful feeling of being loved by someone.      

Wang Shi hugged her desperately. She's the soft blanket in chilly winters that gives warmth and one can't stop hugging it. She's his ticket to a beautiful life, a beautiful future, and growing old watching Honey.      

If someone had told him years back that one day he would love a woman with all his might and be scared to lose her, he would've dragged him to the operation table and cracked his brain open. His experience with Zena Song was enough to scar him forever.      

In our society sexual abuse was thought to be and defined as a crime solely committed against women. The belief is rooted to the extent that it's considered funny if a man was abused. It's impossible for male victims to report, or talk to anyone, especially when society associates man with masculinity.     

Just for her own greed, Zena Song invaded into his personal space and left him scarred. What more, he was not even her target but a victim of mistaken identity. After that day, he built walls around him to defend himself, worked harder to bring People's group to where it was now, and swore never to let a woman enter his life.     

However, the woman in his arms successfully made the first crack in that wall when he saw her for the first time. Crying for her dead baby. At that time, he wanted to hug the young girl to comfort her.      

Yet, years later, their destiny brought them together and gave them another chance to fill the void of their life and heal each other.     

*******