บท 9: The Past— Five Years Ago Part - 2

5 Years Ago,

It was a beautiful day. The weather was cool and sunny, perfect for a trip. Shi Lian and Atian were going to the Gongqing Forest Park to spend their day together. They have planned of going there for about a week before and since they couldn't go a week ago, they were going now.

"Shi, drive in moderate speed please. I'm concerned" Atian says gently, looking straight ahead of the road. Shi Lian smirks, not listening to what he had just said. "Shi, you are still learning to drive, the roady is not well too, going with such speed will be dangerous."

"Dear boyfriend, stop getting so worried. The road is isolate as hell, no one is there and so i am allowed to go with a little speed."

"You are never going to do what I say, do you?" Atian chuckles, shaking his head. Shi Lian nods which makes him laugh. He gazes at her, and couldn't help but admire by how beautiful she is. He has liked her for a long time and he was sometimes in disbelief that Shi Lian was his girlfriend. He was on cloud nine when she accepted her proposal two years ago. He was never this happy.

"I love you" he simply says, brushing his knuckles on her fair cheeks.

Shi Lian blushes and chuckles, "You always say I love you in the odd times."

"Because I can't help it. I love you very much, and I want you to know that" Atian grins. When Shi Lian turns her attention for few seconds at Atian's face, her heart skipped a beat. He was ridiculously handsome with dark brown hair, dreamy hazel eyes, full lips, and pale skin, and the way he winked whenever Shi Lian stared at him. She could go on about him for the whole day, without any rest and still couldn't cover everything. Atian was her friend before they started dating, but when she realized her feelings towards him weren't just as a friend, she had to confess it. She was shocked when he proposed to her at first.

Everyday with him felt like a dream, a dream from which she never wanted to wake up from.

"I love you too" she says, looking at him with her eyes filled with love. While Shi Lian focuses her eyes on the road, Atian surprises her by giving a kiss on her cheek. "Atian! You are distracting me" she pouts, her cheeks going red.

"Am I?" he teased. Shi Lian giggled, enjoying the happy time with her boyfriend.

As they head towards the North direction, the weather started to wear down, dark clouds hovering over the sky. "Looks like it I going to rain soon" Atian said, looking at the sky, craning his head out from the window of his black Mercedes car.

"Oh god! How can we enjoy at the park then?"

"Well, we don't know anything for now. If the weather is clear again, then we are in luck, if not, we have to return home."

Shi Lian nodded, driving the car in the moderate speed just as Atian had told her earlier. Few minutes later, droplets of rain hit the window of the car horizontally. Shi Lian started the window shield, and turned on the headlights as it had for dark outside. It was merely six in the evening yet, it felt as if it was nine.

"Shi Lian, we should head back. We can come again next time" he said in his cool voice. Shi Lian was upset. She really wanted to visit the park with Atian ans she even had planned what they would do there.

"We don't have any choice either" she mutters. Atian told her there would a u turn junction and from there she could turn around, taking the opposite route. Shi Lian understood what he said, and drove with ease.

"Shi?"

"Yes?"

"Do you remember the last time when I took you out on dinner and it rained that day as well?" he smiled, facing her.

"Yeah. I remember. I remember our every dates" she said, turning her head to her left. Their eyes locked and for a second they forgot about everything. Shi Lian leaned for a kiss and so did Atian. How romantic it would have been, if not for what awaits for them.

Shi Lian recklessly slowed down the car, locking her lips with Atian, having no idea that there was a truck coming ahead. The truck flashed it's big headlights and pressed horn which startled the both of them. Shi Lian's eyes widened in horror, and she focused on the road. She wanted to turn left but she was so scared and their wasn't enough for the thinking.

The truck clashed with the partition blocks while Shi Lian's car collided wirh the tree. Smoke came out from the engine with no sound from inside.

Shi Lian was safe because of the airbag which opened automatically. But she had sratches on her arms, ans her leg was stuck inside.

Shi Lian was unconscious but she opened her eyes slowly few minutes later. Her view was hazy, her eyelids heavy. Sh hissed when she felt the pain in her calves. "Mm" she moaned in pain as she tried to register what just happened. Accident. Truck. The memory came back like reels and it then occured to her. Atian. She snapped her head to her left, finding Atian in a condition she never wished she would. Her eyes went wide with horror when she saw her boyfriend covered in blood. Blood was oozing out from his temples and his eyes were closed. His head was in her direction, his face covered in blood.

"Atian!" Shi Lian cried out. "Atian! " she shook his shoulders, to wake him up, but their was no response. She was never this scared, never this helpless. She unbuckled her seatbelt and managed to got out of the car. Their was pain in her abdomen but it didn't mattered. She went to Atian's side, opened the door, and made him lean on the seat. She cupped his face, slapping ligjtly on his blood covered cheeks to make him wake up. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks because Atian wasn't responding to her. Her hand was trembling as patches of blood stuck to her fingers.

She couldn't let anything happen to him. Shi Lian got up, leaving Atian there, and went to the road to find help. The truck was there too, clashed with the partition with smoke coming out. She wondered what happened to the driver. Just then, she saw the flicker of light coming through from a distance from front. A car was coming. Shi Lian needed help and so she stood in the middle of the road in the attempt to stop the vehicle.

The car stopped abruptly in front of her. "Please, help me! Please!" she begged, going to the driver window. The man gave a skeptical look, not sure if she was faking it or not. "W-we got into an accident and my boyfriend is unconscious. I need to take him to the hospital. Please help me!"

The man then noticed the truck which was in a bad position as well. He got out of the car, and went to where Shi Lian's car was crashed. "Oh hell" he muttered, when he saw Atian lying on the ground with blood wetting his hair and face.

"Shit. Okay, come with me." The man and Shi Lian helped Atian get up from the ground and take him to his car. He made him lie down on the passenger seat. The man's blue tshirt was smudged with Atian's blood but he was more concerned about his seat which he had furnished two days ago.

"Thank you very much for your help" Shi Lian said, sobbing. The man told her to sit ahead. Once they were inside, he started the car and drove to the direction of hospital.

YAOWU HOSPITAL

Shi Lian was waiting outside the operation theatre, sitting on one of cold metal chairs. Her head was down, and her body was trembling with fear. Fear that something would happen to Atian. It was her fault he was in that state. She was blaming herself. If she had been careful when driving, the accident wouldn't have happened.

The doctor had suggested that she too needed medication. Shi Lian at first declined, too concerned about Atian that she doesn't care about her injuries. The nurse firmly told her she needed help, and hence Shi Lian agreed. She had scratches on her elbows, her right calf had a burn sign which pained when the nurse applied antiseptic. There was scratches on her forehead as well. A white bandage was wrapped around her forehead.

The man had called the police, and also Shi Lian's parents. Shi Lian wasn't in the state to speak anything and so the man did most of the work. He was speaking to the police at a corner, because Shi Lian refused to say anything. Everything scared her. She couldn't help sobbing.

"Shi Lian!" called her mother. Shi Lian slowly craned her head to her right, finding not her only her parents but also Hu Meng Yao, Atian's mother and Hu Wencheng, Atian's older brother coming towards her with frantic expression.

"Oh my god! What happened Shi?" Sha Sha cried, worried to see her daughter in a condition like this. Her father asked the same thing. Shi Lian opened her mouth but couldn't say anything.

"Where is Atian?" Meng Yao asked, grabbing Shi Lian by her shoulder. Meng Yao's desperate expression scared Shi Lian. "Tell me! Where is my son?"

Before Shi Lian could say anything, the police came along with the man who helped them. Meng Yao asked the police about her son.

"He is the operation theatre. He was badly injured. Fortunately, we took him here on time Or else he would have been...." the man said.

"There was an accident at the N2 Highway between a car and a truck. This young man was passing by and Miss Shi Lian asked help from him" the police informed them. Sha Sha gasped, her palm covering her open mouth.

Meng Yao faltered, way too shock hearing about her son. Wucheng helped his mother, keeping her stable in one place.

"How did the accident happened?" Mo Zheng Yuan asked.

"Only thr victims know what actually happened there. Unfortunately, the truck driver is dead and Miss Shi Lian refuses to say anything."

Meng Yao went to Shi Lian again, grabbed her shoulder and asked in desperation. "Shi Lian, tell me what happened. How did Atian got hurt?"

Shi Lian felt guilty. Way too guilty that she couldn't stop the tears flowing out from her eyes. "Say something, Shi Lian. Please!"

Sha Sha was a bit scared the way Meng Yao was forcing Shi Lian. Her daughter was already in a traumatized stage and putting too much pressure on her wouldn't do any good.

"I-I was driving... " Shi Lian spoke, her eye downcast on the clean marble floor. "I was reckless. I wasn't focused on the road and the truck came from no where..... I.... " her voice cracked. "Atian told me to drive slow but i didn't listened to him.... Oh! Its all my fault... All my fault."

Sha Sha was about to go console her daughter when Meng Yao slapped right across her cheek. Everyone were stunned, including Shi Lian whose eyes went wide. Meng Yao has never ever hit her, never looked at her the way she was looking at her right now. Hatred.

Sha Sha quickly went to her daughter's side. "Yao! What are you doing?" she demanded, holding Shi Lian tightly by her shoulders. Sha She's heart was pounding hard as she felt Shi Lian's cold body tremble.

"She is the reason my son is in there! She admits that it is her fault!" Meng Yao thundered, glaring at Shi Lian. She was charging forward again but Wucheng stopped her, keeping her in place.

"Mom, no. Calm down. It is not anyone's fault here."

"Wucheng, she just said it was her fault! Didn't you hear?"

"Mom, the road was dark annd isolate. The truck driver was probably drunk. Shi Lian would never hurt Atian deliberately" he said.

"Yes, he is right. Our Shi Lian will never do such thing!" Sha Sha agreed.

"Listen to me, Shi Lian" she warned, pointing her index finger at her

"if something happened to my son, I will not let you off. I will not forgive you for this!"

Shi Lian was still traumatized about the slapped, that she could barely hear what she had said. But she heard it. The guilt got heavier and she felt that it would have been good if she was the one in Atian's place.

"There are few forms that needs to signed. Who is going to do?" the nurse came, her eyes averting from each of them.

"I'll do it " Wucheng offered, going with the nurse to the reception counter.

The police and the man also left. The police went to the accident scene to find more about it and the man went home.

"Yao, calm down. Shi Lian is also in shock. You also know she will not do it deliberately" Sha Sha said calmly, trying to make Meng Yao understand.

"Hmph! I don't know anything. All i know is that my son is in a critical situation."