Tian literally pushed Hary into the house. The door was wide open as they had left.
They slowly entered.
Yue and his parents were sitting on the sofa, softly sobbing.
'Shit... this is bad...' Tian gently nudged Hary's shoulders.
He moved forward hesitantly. "Um...."
This small mumble of his caught the attention of the three.
"I...."
Yue looked at him, wiping off his tears. "I'm sorry," "I'm sorry..."
They both simultaneously whispered, startling each other.
Wide eyed, Yue looked up at him. "W-why are you apologising..."
The taller blond man slowly moved closer and sat down next to his foot. "I-I'm sorry that I was a royal ass to you and your parents. You guys have been anything but kind... I'm sorry," he whispered, glancing at the tear stained Zou Wei and Nui.
The couple did not say a word to him.
"Mr and Mrs Zou, you both are wonderful parents. Sorry for throwing stupid accusations...I just came here to see Tian's parents and gauge their affection for her. But after getting close to you both, I-I get this feeling that you did not want to give up Tian voluntarily."
This caught Tian ai's attention. She moved closer and sat down on the ground with him.
Yue's parents looked at her intently.
"I never had any intentions of giving you up...." Zou Nui whispered, gently touching her cheeks. "I carried you full term, hiding the small bump from my family. It was not difficult. You were such a small child I could easily hide you with an oversized t-shirt." She chuckled softly.
Her beautiful brown eyes started to shimmer with unshed tears. "But I could not hide your birth.... they found out. When I was unconscious, they took you from me and said.... that you, that you died," her trembling fingers' gently caressed Tian's sharp eyebrows.
Tian gasped softly.
"Murongs..." Hary gritted his teeth. "They... are the most evil people I have seen,"
"Mind you words, boy. She was a Murong before too..." Zou Wei tapped his head slightly.
Hary pouted, caressing the red spot on his forehead. "Yeah, kind of forgot that..... so what happened next. When did you know?"
"After I ran away with Yue's father, I got to meet one of our previous maids. She was the one who told me about my child's' fate." Stifling a sob, Nui gently kissed her forehead. "I got to know I had a child named Tian ai...."
Tian chuckled softly, touching her now slightly wet forehead. "The name is ironic, eh. Heavenly love.."
"Hmm, whoever named you must have really loved you...." Zou Wei whispered, holding her hand softly.
Tian smirked widely. "Yeah... the grandma in our orphanage really did love us...."
Next to her, Hary pouted. "My name is shitty, though. I think she named me after Harry potter."
Tian glared at him. "She loved harry potter series."
"Yeah....." he scooted closer to the old couple and glanced at them expectantly. "Then? What happened after?"
"We asked my friend to search for her...." Zou Wei bitterly whispered, wiping his forehead. "He searched for a long time but I'm not sure why he did not find anything about you..."
"Oh, that was my fault," Hary lifted his hands with a guilty grin. "I had a lot of friends who are into cybercrimes. After that Murong family attacked Tian, I personally made sure to delete anything related to her."
"Wait what?" Zou Nui sat up straight. "My family attacked you!"
Yue, who was still crying, interrupted them. "Your father is not a good man, mum...."
"Only my father... what about my mother? Is she in this too?" his mother looked crestfallen at this news.
"No, she was...not involved." Yue did not have the heart to say that his grandma was slightly demented. From the looks of it, it must have been a long time since she was diagnosed with alzimers.
Zou Nui sighed loudly with her eyes closed tightly. "My father... still hasn't changed, has he? Tian, did he hurt you badly? I will go and punch him in the face for you,"
"no no. he did not hurt me physically per se... actually when I hit my legal adult age I started searching for my family. Only the Murong name came up. I went to your father.. as soon as he saw me, he threw a fit and sent me away." She looked up, gauging her reactions. Yue's mum was calm as she listed to her words.
"He told me that my presence was a black spot in his political carrier and told me to stay out of his way. And so I did," Tian sighed softly, looking at his parent's stiff body. "It was not a big deal."
"That old Murong is a fucking asshole." Hary shouted all of a sudden. "I got to know of something recently from one of my friends...," he bit his bottom lip, refusing to tell anything more. "I'll tell you in private." He whispered to her secretly.
"hmm..."
After a soulful conversation, everyone just sat there looking at each other.
Yue leaned against his father's shoulders and glanced at his sister.
Tian held one of his hand and his father's hand.
Zou Nui held Hary's hands ever so gently as well.
Seeing this, the rock in Yue's heart just disappeared. 'Whoa... is this how big families fight?'
He had been the single child for a very long time. Fights and conflicts usually ended up with him in tears and his father in rage.
But now.. with Tian here, everything was different. His father started to talk it out instead of hiding his emotions. He actually cried today, along with his mother.
It was a good thing, though.
Expressing emotions instead of bottling up is very good for our heart and mind. Yue was happy that his father finally opened up his mind.
And Tian opened up her heart.
He slightly glared at Hary, who laid his head on his mother's lap. "I'm still angry with you,"
"boo hoo I apologised."
"It's not enough," Yue pouted.
"Now you are just being petty..."
"Enough, both of you," his mother glared at them slightly. "You both have stirred up enough drama for the day. As a punishment, you both have to sleep in the hallway,"
"Mum! My room...." Yue pitifully looked at her.
"The girls will be sleeping there from now on. Let's give them some privacy," she kissed his hands softly.
Yue pouted, glaring in Hary's direction. "Why do I have to sleep with him? Can't I sleep with you both?"
His father was the one who rejected his idea. "Your mother and I like to be very loving to each other every night. We don't want you in-between,"
"Oh, my god so mean. You are tossing your son out in the cold," he whined loudly.
"At least you get to sleep with a handsome hunk," Hary winked at him.
"Eh, I can barely call you handsome," Yue pushed him away playfully.
Seeing them interact, Zou Nui finally had a small smile on her face. "My children are all here now..."
"Yes they are," Zou Wei hugged her, gently kissing her cheeks.
******
A week passed by and the family had fallen into a routine.
Every morning, the first person to awaken was Tian. She went to the garden area at four am and started to exercise.
By five, Yue woke up from the snoring sound of young Hary and joined her in a sparring match. Usually she won. But he did progress enough to push her attacks back a little.
By seven, his mother, Juda and Lui woke up. They prepared food.
Things between Juda and Tian were still cold. He was not sure what had happened, but the two girls refuse to be even in the same room.
Hary gave his father a helping hand when necessary. Otherwise, the young man was just simply wiling away his time.
Breakfast time came around and everyone gathered at the dining table.
Today's menu was steamed egg with toast and peanut butter.
Yue picked up the toast and scooped a spoon full of peanut butter. Just looking at the tasty brown paste, he could not help but think of a certain someone who ate it with relish.
"I'm going to see uncle Wen,"
"Why?" his father glance at him with his brows raised.
"It's been a week. There has been no word of Qian's and Fan's rescue," Yue licked the spoon, eating the small chunks of peanut butter.
His father sighed. "Hmm, go see what's going on. Oh, and ask him if he needs any help in his garden. My powers could be of use to many this way,"
Yue frowned deeply at his offer. "I don't want you to expose your powers,"
His father and mother both look at him in shock. "Why not?"
"It's not a safe. You both have unique powers. There are so many greedy people out there who will be willing to hurt you to get your powers. The same goes for you, Juda. You are not to reveal your powers to anyone at any cost,"
Juda nodded solemnly. "But what if people see me use it?,"
"If it's a trusted friend of ours, it's okay, but if it's an outsider, we might have to silence them. Your power is one of the elusive yet sought out ones. If anyone gets even a smallest doubt that you have it, they will kidnap you,"
Juda gulped.
Hearing this, even his sister frowned deeply. "It's better you stay home for now. Don't go anywhere else. After the situation cools down, you can move about freely," she whispered to Juda.
The other girl nodded.
Biting down on the toast, Yue stood up in a hurry. "I'm leaving.. bye,"