Then the moment I reached my home, I saw that Pa was sitting on the couch sipping a glass of water slowly, and this scenario made me take a sigh of relief. Then my eyes went towards that other person, a young boy in his mid-twenties sitting beside Pa.
"You have come. You must be Uncle Zhao's daughter?" he asked me the moment I entered the home.
I nodded my head.
"Your Pa fainted due to stress, so there is nothing to worry about now. Since you have arrived here, please take good care of your Pa and don't let him take stress. It's not good for his health," he said.
Then I asked, "And you are...?"
"I am Wu Xiang, a medical intern student. I just started my internship at the hospital here after my graduation," he said.
"And you can bring your Pa there for any future checkups if needed."
I didn't say anything. I only nodded my head, and then that person left the house.
I came and sat beside Pa, but I didn't say anything because maybe I had nothing left to say.
"Xiao Shiza..." Pa said in his weak voice.
I looked at him.
"Xiao Shiza, don't give your Pa this much pain by taking my daughter away from me. Since your birth, I have loved you the most in this whole world. Whatever I did, I only did for you."
He looked down while speaking.
"You know what, Xiao Shiza? Before you were born I was a very carefree man because I only had your Ma and Xin Xin then, and I took them for granted. I thought my life would go on just like that. I didn't do any kind of job and relied on my parents for money. Your Ma and I had many fights because of that. Even when your Ma kept telling me to think about Xin Xin's future, I still didn't do anything."
He smiled sadly.
"But the moment you came into this world, I don't know what happened to me. The moment I held you in my hands, your tiny fingers and your small fragile appearance made me realize something."
His eyes became moist.
"I got a feeling from inside that I was going to do anything for you and make every wish of yours come true. Since then I started my own business with my friends and because of your good charm I became successful in my very first attempt."
He smiled while looking at me.
"It was a miracle, just like you."
"You don't know, but I always wanted to fulfill your wishes even before they came out of your mouth."
Then he held my hands.
"I loved you wholeheartedly, my daughter. Please don't take my Xiao Shiza away from me. My whole life is for you. You gave direction to my life when I was clueless about everything. You turned me from a carefree man into a responsible one."
Tears slowly formed in his eyes.
"You know what? In the hospital when everyone wanted to hold you because you were such a cute and pretty baby, I didn't even let them. I was possessive about you since then. I was scared you might catch an infection, so I kept holding you in my arms and didn't even let your Ma take you from me."
"Pa..." I said quietly.
Then I looked at him and asked,
"Pa, you are scared that I myself will get taken away from you... but what about you?"
"What about you, Pa?"
"You snatched me from Ma. You snatched Ma from me."
My voice started shaking.
"I only fought with you today and you couldn't even take it. You ended up fainting because of stress. But did you ever think about me? About Ma?"
"Why is your love so selfish, Pa?"
"When it comes to you, you can't bear it for a day. But when it came to us, you made me spend four whole years believing that I was such a bad daughter that Ma didn't want to talk to me anymore."
Tears slowly rolled down my face.
"But I was wrong, Pa... too wrong."
"Ma could never stay angry with me for more than one day."
I laughed painfully.
"And I was such an idiot to believe your foolish story. That Ma wouldn't talk to me for four years because of a stupid lie about my maths test paper."
"Maybe getting fooled by you was my destiny."
"And we can't change destiny no matter how much we want to."
After hearing that, Pa looked at me and said,
"Your lie was never a normal lie for a child your age. You used to lie very frequently and your Ma was worried about that habit."
"She discussed it with me too. She didn't want you to become a compulsive liar."
"So for your own betterment, she decided to stay strict with you and teach you a lesson."
He closed his eyes.
"But it was never supposed to become this way."
"Destiny had other plans."
After hearing everything, my heart suddenly became heavy.
I stood up and was about to leave.
Then Pa said softly,
"Xiao Shiza... stay here for a few days."
"I know you don't want to."
"I might have become the person you hate the most."
"But for all those good memories and beautiful moments between us... please stay."
Then after a few moments of silence he quietly added—
"Take it as my last wish."
The moment he said those words, something broke inside me.
I had already lost Ma.
I had lost contact with Xin Xin.
I couldn't lose Pa too.
Not like this.
I couldn't punish him this way.
So without saying anything, I went back into my room.
And the moment I opened the door, it looked so maintained, as if someone cleaned it every day for someone who still lived there.
It didn't feel like nobody had stayed there for four years.
It still felt alive.
Just like back then.
Then I entered the room, locked it from inside, and then I...