“She cleared my name but she didn’t scold him for breaking my jaw!” Lu Xuan shouted as he pointed his finger at Han Zixin. “She always has excuses to justify his actions. I don’t like it!”

His hate for Han Zixin was clear in his words. He then turned to look at Song Xueyun and said, “Xueyun, it wasn’t just me but even you didn’t find out that there was something wrong with my sister when she fell into the water. The water barely reached her calves. I thought she wouldn’t drown in it. What’s my fault? We used to play in the swimming pool all the damn time.”

After calming down for a while, he burst out again, “Is it my fault that three years of separation from her had made her so fucking different that I didn’t even know she has aquaphobia. I was blaming myself all night, thinking of different scenarios of how I could have lost her. I am a child too. I get scared too. What if mom didn’t tell her that she has aquaphobia?”

When everyone was pointing fingers at him last night, he didn’t say a word. He didn’t say that he didn’t push her into the water. He neither accepted the blame nor refused it. But this gave chance to all others to talk shit behind his back. This gave an opportunity to everyone to declare him as the monster who hurt his own sister in jealousy.

He took everyone’s words calmly without breaking into a fit of anger or beating anyone. He believed that it was his fault that she passed out in the water. But it wasn’t his fault. He was only an ignorant bystander.

“Lu Xuan, I think we need family therapy, “An Xiulan suddenly said. She didn’t need to know that this twin brother of her body was playing a blame game all night.

Lu Xuan looked at her as if she had lost her already lost mind. “What the f–” He swallowed the word back as he recalled how she said that word to him that day. When the curse jar couldn’t take away his habit of cursing, her saying the f-word for once made him think about his words twice before saying them.

“What the heck are you talking about?” Lu Xuan asked. Heck wasn’t considered a curse, right?

“Look at the problems we have between us, “An Xiulan said as she pointed at him and her. “There were no physiologists in ancient times to help us sort out our shitty life but we have now. It is a great discovery of the profession by modern man, don’t you think so?”

“Stop saying bad words, “Lu Xuan warned her.

An Xiulan just rolled her eyes. “This fucked up family of ours is an outcome of modern life. If our parents didn’t get divorced and chose to stay in a toxic and loveless marriage, mom wouldn’t have gone to America with me and we all could have been one single family. Maybe, we wouldn’t have so many differences between us. So, modern problems require modern solutions. And I don’t think there is any better solution than family therapy for us.”

“What kind of dramas are you watching these days?” Lu Xuan looked at her as if she was joking with him. Why would he go to a psychologist? He had not lost his mind. He was sane.

“Lu Xuan, we can’t live our life without mending our relationship. You aren’t Lu Zhaolin who I have to see once in a while. We are siblings. We will stay with each other under the same roof for the next two years and even after that we will be an inseparable part of each other’s life, ” An Xiulan told him.

She took a slight pause as she went on, “You have to decide now if you want to hate me or leave the hate behind. Do you know what’s funny? I don’t even recall why we even hate each other. I don’t know what happened three years ago that changed you so much. But I’m willing to leave it behind. The question is – if you are too?”

Lu Xuan looked at her for a moment and then suddenly he stood up to walk towards the path of the creek.

“I will look for him, ” Song Xueyun said as she stood up to run after Lu Xuan.

“Aren’t you gonna after your brother?” Han Zixin said after a while.

“My brother has a habit of walking away when someone is telling him the truth, ” An Xiulan nonchalantly said. “But he will be fine. He is just pondering over the things I said to him. Was I too hard on him?”

“Nah, sometimes a slap is needed to bring someone out of trance, ” Han Zixin said with a smile. He scooted near her and felt her forehead. “Your fever is gone. How are you now?”

“I don’t feel good, ” An Xiulan acted spoiled as she looked at him with big sad eyes.

“Then, how about I show you something I found this morning?” Han Zixin said. He grabbed her hand and brought her far from the camping site.

“Oh my god, are there wildflowers?” An Xiulan gasped as she put her hand on her mouth in shock. As far as she could see the land was covered with few trees and wildflowers. She could tell that these flowers weren’t planted by anyone but they grew naturally by the seeds scattered by winds or they must have grown here before too.

Her downcast mood was gone in an instant as both of them sat on a big rock under the shade of the tree from where they enjoyed the beautiful scene of flowers.

“Zixin, what do these wildflowers teach us?” An Xiulan suddenly asked.

“Hah, what can they even teach us? Aren’t they mere flowers only?” Han Zixin answered.



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