After a while, Meng Meng heard familiar voices calling her name. She looked up and spotted her parents' faces at a close distance. She could barely decipher what they were saying after suffering a huge blow from a failed marriage to being scammed of all her money.
She felt hopeless. Looking at one side of the road, she found her cracked cellphone that had rows of unopened notifications. Many were messages and others were news tagging her on social media. "That's right. I told all those stupid reporters about my marriage to the Fu family. I have so many fees to pay, yet a scammer scammed me."
"Meng Meng, listen to mom. Listen carefully. Go back to your Grandpa and apologize to him. He spoiled and raised you since you were young. As long as you go and apologize to him sincerely, he will help us out. We will be able to get out of debt and get more money out of him." Meng Meng's mother exclaimed with her hands tightly grasping Meng Meng's upper arms.
Meng Meng stared blankly at her mother with a slop-sided smile, filled with mockery. "Grandpa? That old man who won't even help his granddaughter? Would it not for him, would I have ended up this way? If he had introduced me to a rich family and wanted to see me well off, would I end up being like this?"
Meng Meng shook her head. She reached out to her mother's hand and pulled the hands on her arms off. "Since he won't help me and I am desperate for money, then don't blame me for being cruel. They made me this way. It is all their fault! Joke? I'll let you know that you are the biggest joke after this!"
Eyeing the phone she had tossed away earlier, a sudden idea popped up in her head. The tip of her tongue curled out and moistened her dried lips. She walked across to where her phone was sitting and picked it up to dial a number. On the third ring, the other party picked up.
"It's me. Jiang Meng Meng. I need a favor from you. If you complete this, I promise to give you 100,000 dollars." A sinister grin was carved on her face as she whispered her request over the phone.
- Hospital -
"How is grandpa doing? Is he alright?" Lily quickly walked up to Lin Que as soon as he stepped out of the examination room.
"Calm down. Grandpa Jiang is doing fine. Earlier his heart rate was beating irregularly, but seeing his body examination results, shows that he is fine. As long as he listens to my instructions and follows the meal plans, his condition should stabilize. At his age, he should not be triggered by strong emotions. It is best to not have people such as your cousin around him."
Lin Que stated as he reviewed the charts in his hands. From the looks of the reports, Grandpa Jiang's condition is not too bad as of now. Lily frowned and nodded as he spoke.
"Don't worry, Grandpa Jiang is fine." Lin Que wrapped his arms around her shoulders as comfort. He reassured her that Grandpa Jiang was fine.
A long sigh escaped her mouth after hearing her Grandpa's diagnosis. Lin Que's warmth somehow provided her strength and comfort - the type she strongly needed. Her eyelashes fluttered as if she had something on her mind.
He seemingly understood what she needed most right now. Hence, he kept quiet while rubbing the corner of her shoulder with his thumb. This gave her the sufficient space necessary for her thoughts to process themselves.
"Lin Que...There are some things where I don't know where to start. Sometimes when I think about it, things didn't sit right. I don't understand why Meng Meng ended up this way. At the same time, I also can see why she thought about certain things. I wanted to help, but I felt so lost and confused on how I could help."
She breathed in deeply with her eyes closed. After holding her breath for two minutes, she let it all out. Her eyes lifted after the long breath of air was released. "Back then, we used to stick to Grandpa, so we were quite close. However, once we started middle school, everything started changing. She became more distant."
"Everything became a comparison between me and her. Grandpa would lecture her parents whenever they brought up anything that could raise comparisons between the two of us. Even though her parents were competitive, Meng Meng never voiced much about her opinions."
A helpless smile crossed Lily's lips as she mentioned the old days. "We used to have our dreams of what we wanted to be. She said she wished to be a dancer while I wanted to be anything I felt like being when I grew up. That's why I went from one career to the next with not much hesitation. But for her, she had long forgotten her dream to be a dancer."
"When we started high school, I started hearing rumors about her relationships and the way she acted around the rich social circles. I tried giving her a heads up on what kind of people were part of her social group and for her to be careful, but she would shove me away and tell me she wanted to marry a rich guy. This way, she can depend on that guy for life."
Lily lowered her gaze to the floor before looking back up. She shrugged and shook her head. "I tried contacting her privately and pulling her out of trouble many times, but she continuously provoked my bottom line. She would go to Grandpa and cause him trouble. This made Grandpa's condition deteriorate and it scared me. Really scared me."
Her eyes stung from irritation as tears surfaced. "For the sake of chasing after heirs, she quarreled with Grandpa on multiple occasions. My heart ached for Grandpa when I saw him holding his chest, yet he didn't share his pain with any of us. I overheard him talking to my Grandma's picture. So, I know. Deep down, he worried the most about her. That's why I held back and minimized my chances of interacting with her. Because I was afraid that something would trigger my Grandpa's health." She covered her forehead with her palm.
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