I'll Tell You Every Day

Daiyu sighed.     

"Zhihao-gege, you can try to push it back as long as you want. But in the end, you'll have to talk to your brother to patch things up."     

Ying Yue nodded. Daiyu was right. Foregoing the matter will bring no good to both parties.     

Zhihao paused before sighing. That was actually the exact same thing Liu Jin told him. But would talking really solve everything? Zhihao doubted it.     

Admittedly, when he started out his new life, he and Bob had just planned to get rid of Alice immediately. But staying with Liu Jin and Daiyu for so long had affected his resolve. He too wanted what they had – a life of happiness without worrying about revenge.     

He wanted to live a good life with Ying Yue… and Bob too. He didn't want to stain their hands again. Specially not for someone like Alice.     

"Zhihao-gege, don't underestimate the importance of talking." Daiyu spoke.     

"A lot of misunderstandings could be avoided if we just talk and listen." Ying Yue added.     

Seeing Zhihao hesitate, Ying Yue held his hand.     

"If you want, I can go with you to talk to your brother."     

Zhihao paused before shaking his head.     

"I'll do it… I think it's better if we sort this out ourselves."     

Ying Yue smiled and nodded.     

With Zhihao finally agreeing to talk to his brother, Daiyu called up Victoria and they agreed for the brothers to meet tomorrow. Ying Yue stayed over that night and helped Zhihao mentally prepare for his talk with Zhichen.     

---     

When morning came, Zhichen started preparing to leave the Zheng Residences. He was set to meet Zhihao at the Wang Mansion today.     

"Zhichen, can I come with you? I want to talk to Zhihao too." Alice asked as she walked with him towards the family car.     

"… I don't mi–     

"Alice." Victoria's voice cut Zhichen off.     

"Let the brothers have a day to themselves." She smiled but her eyes remained stern.     

"But I want to talk to Zhihao too!" Alice begged, her eyes starting to water.     

"Then send him letters like you always did all these years." Victoria replied.     

Alice's eyes widened for a split second before they returned to normal. Zhichen quickly turned his head to face Alice. He frowned.     

"Go now Zhichen. Your brother is waiting." Victoria instructed.     

Zhichen nodded and turned his head away from Alice.     

"We'll talk later." He said in a low voice before entering the car.     

When Zhichen finally left, Victoria raised her chin and gave Alice a fleeting look before turning around and walking away.     

Daiyu had told her last night that Alice had been writing to Zhihao. Victoria thought that perhaps after she reads through those letters, she would understand why Zhihao hated the girl.     

And so she did.     

While she hesitated against invading her son's privacy, her intuition as a mother told her that something was not right. She promised to apologize to Zhihao after this but for now, she had to do this.     

She unlocked Zhihao's room with her master key and found Alice's letters inside his drawer. She read through them and slowly, rage filled her heart.     

That scheming girl!     

All this time, Victoria had thought of Alice as a sweet child. She admitted that she had been a bad mother to the boys in the past and she felt indebted to Alice for all the times she took care of the brothers when she wasn't around     

 That was why she had always been kind to the girl and had been pushing for a full reconciliation between the children. But who knew that all this time, that girl was exactly the person she should have been keeping away from her sons!     

Alice had continuously been bad mouthing Zhichen in her letters. She told Zhihao that Zhichen was possessive and abusive. She said that if she knew how badly Zhichen would treat her in the future, she hoped she had picked Zhihao instead.     

But Victoria knew how much of a lie that was. While she could tell that Zhichen was indeed possessive, the boy was nowhere near abusive. He had always let Alice do whatever she wanted, even sacrificing his goals and dreams just to accommodate her wants.     

Throughout the letters, Alice had been giving Zhihao false hope. While she never outrightly said she liked him, a woman like Victoria was sharp enough to read through her intentions quite clearly.     

Was this the reason why Zhihao was struggling to heal? Was this why he refused to approach his brother?!     

She clenched her fists tightly. Daiyu was right. Some relationships have to be broken for good. She had allowed that monster to stay far too long with her sons. But not anymore!     

She stood up, a glint flashing across her eyes.     

---     

Upon Zhichen's arrival, Daiyu escorted him to the room where Zhihao had been waiting. After opening the door and letting the older boy in, Daiyu turned towards Nao Nao.     

"Nao Nao, take care of Zhihao-gege for me."     

"Woof!"     

Nao Nao obediently entered the room and rested his head on Zhihao's lap, comforting him.     

Daiyu then closed the door and walked away.     

Seeing that they were finally alone in the room, the two brothers sat in awkward silence.     

"H-Heeeeeey…" Zhihao started.     

Zhichen chuckled. He turned his head to face his younger brother.     

"I'm sorry."     

Zhihao's eyes widened. He paused, taking in his brother's words.     

"I'm sorry." Zhichen repeated.     

Zhihao bit his lip, trying to hold back his tears.     

"I was wrong."     

Zhihao started ugly crying and Zhichen laughed. He hugged his little brother tightly and Zhihao sobbed onto his shoulder.     

"I'm s-sorry too. I don't hate you. I've been meaning to talk to you but I just can't –     

Zhichen listened as his younger brother spoke in between sobs. He continued rubbing his back, comforting him.     

When they were younger, the brothers were pretty close. With their mother always absent, they only had each other to depend on. Zhichen doted on his little brother dearly and Zhihao looked up to his brother as his hero. But as fate would have it, they both fell for the same girl.     

When his mother wanted to move away with Zhihao, he wanted to stop them. He didn't want to part with Zhihao, he was willing to abandon Alice for him. But Alice stopped him, saying that what Zhihao needed was not his apology but time to heal.     

And so he waited. He waited for the day Zhihao would finally be able to forgive him.     

When he heard that he had been doing well, he was happy. That's why when Victoria invited him to come visit them, he immediately agreed and booked the next flight. He hoped that maybe Zhihao was ready to forgive him.     

But when he arrived, Zhihao wasn't there.     

"Zhichen… Zhichen-gege…"     

Zhichen looked at Zhihao who was still ugly crying. It had been so long since he heard his voice – so long since he last heard Zhihao call him brother.     

"Zhichen-gege." He sniffed. "I know things may never go back to how they used to be. But I hope we can try."     

Zhichen watched as his adorable idiot little brother cried. He hugged him tightly and spoke.     

"We can try… We can try…"     

Zhihao hugged his brother back tightly. He closed his eyes and let his tears fall freely. He never imagined that one day he could hug his brother again like this. If only for this, his choice to live a second life was already worth it.     

"Gege… gege…"     

---     

Meanwhile, Daiyu and Ying Yue stayed inside another room, waiting. Just then, Xiao Nuan burst into the room in panic.     

"Xiao Yu!"     

Daiyu stood up.     

"What is it?" She asked worried.     

"We just received a call from the Zheng Residences. Madam Victoria was rushed to the hospital."     

"What?!" Ying Yue and Daiyu asked, eyes wide in panic.     

"Let's go tell the brothers." Ying Yue quickly decided.     

Daiyu nodded and along with Xiao Nuan, they went to inform Zhichen and Zhihao.     

"What happened?!" Zhichen asked upon hearing the news.     

"I'm not sure. We were just informed that the madam was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries to her head. The young lady she was with is still inside the mansion."     

"Young lady?!" Zhichen asked.     

"I think they got into a fight." Xiao Nuan stated. The call was short and only important details were relayed.     

"Let me call Bob." Zhihao quickly took out his phone but the call wasn't going through.     

"Let's go to the hospital for now." Ying Yue urged.     

"Right." Zhihao nodded.     

"Zhihao-gege, go with jiejie to the hospital. I'll go with Zhichen-gege to check on the mansion." Daiyu instructed.     

Zhihao paused.     

"Then I'll go with you too."     

"No, I think they'll need a family member's presence at the hospital." Daiyu shook her head.     

"… Please be careful." Zhihao looked at her, eyes filled with worry.     

Daiyu nodded with a smile.     

"Go."     

With that, the pairs separated.     

---     

Upon arriving at the Zheng residences, Daiyu and Zhichen quickly went to look for Alice.     

"Where is she? What happened?!" Zhichen asked a maid.     

"The madam and Miss Alice got into a fight. They were in the living room talking when we suddenly heard their voices raising. Then, we heard things breaking. We came into the room to check on them and we found the madam on the floor with her head bleeding. Miss Alice was holding a metal lamp with blood stains on it. Right now, Bob has her locked up in the bathroom."