A Billion Dollar Exchange

''Why did you give her another day? She should leave this night! ''

Das Xia exclaimed after Yan Ran ended the call;

Yan Ran ignored her question and walked towards the other room;

''I'm asking you? ''

Da Xia followed immediately behind; she really could not understand Yan Ran; she behaved like a boss, although she was the one who paid for the room they were in at the moment and paid the men who helped in kidnapping Liling's father, she couldn't understand why it felt as though she took orders from Yan Ran;

''To make it look real, we don't want Liu Wei suspecting a thing; ''

Yan Ran replied nonchalantly; still walking towards the room where Liling's father was kept;

Da Xia was outraged by how their plan had failed and how she was put in a bigger mess by Yan Ran, but when she came to scold her, Yan Ran gave her another option which sounded good to her ears; although it was clear that she was not going to be with Liu Wei any more, they weren't going to let Liling be with him; no, they weren't going to let her be happy, not after making their lives miserable.

She thought about what Yan Ran said and she saw that it made sense, but still she didn't want to look like she was under her, so she replied;

''But you should have told me first, you don't make decisions on your own; ''

She said walking after Yan Ran; when Yan Ran heard her reply, she chuckled slightly;

''Understood. ''

She replied sardonically, walking to where Liling's father sat, his head was bowed a little and his eyes were shut as though he was asleep;

''He's quite strong. Didn't know he could take all those blows and still remain alive; ''

Da Xia said as she leaned on the wooden table in the room;

''If we didn't hurt him, that brat wouldn't believe us; ''

Yan Ran replied; ''Besides; his life does not matter anyways; who would have thought that the dear father of a five star singer would be living in such a place; and to think when we mentioned her name, he was stunned; it seems they aren't in good terms, I wonder why she took the bait. ''

''He's her father, no matter how much she hates him, she can't let him die. It's as simple as that, blood is thicker than water. ''

As they spoke, they didn't realize that Liling's father had awoken, when he heard their words, he froze.

He hadn't spoken to her for years, but he had been watching her on TV's and even attending her shows secretly; although he felt sorry for what he did and how he chased her away from his home; he couldn't meet her all these years, he just couldn't meet her because he never cared for her, did not fend for her; he was so overwhelmed by guilt.

To think that he would be kidnapped and used as a bait to get her, he did not know what she did to those people but from their discussion it was clear that she agreed to their terms_ and she was coming for him;

He was finally going to see her after all these years; he was finally going to have a chance to apologize, to tell her he didn't mean it when he told her to leave;

He was finally going to apologize for how he had treated her and her mother all these years;

…

After Liling heard the beep signaling that the call had ended; she remained still for a few seconds before she pulled herself from the floor and unlocked the bathroom door; she ran her bath water and pulled her clothes off her body before immersing herself in the tub;

The cold water stung her skin making her shiver a bit; she lay down on the tub till the water covered her face; she wanted to forget everything, even for a second; if she could;

But the more she lay in the water the more the thoughts clouded her head until she couldn't breathe, then she pulled her head out of the water;

She wiped her the water off her face; trying to remove the tear stains; although she was trying hard not to look sad, she was sure that everything written on her face was nothing less than pure agony;

All the while she had thought that Liu Wei would be the one to choose family over her, she had never for once imagined that the tables would be turned around!

She had begged him not to leave her but now she was the one leaving him;

She knew she couldn't let her father die but it hurt so much; it hurt so much that she couldn't breathe; she was almost suffocating from the pain;

Tears were gathering up her eyes again when the door to the bathroom creaked open and Liu Wei stepped in;

''Sunshine ''

The last thing she wanted to hear right now was his voice; him calling her so tenderly and with so much love, her heart squeezed so much that she felt it would bleed; she knew she couldn't take it;

She felt him approaching her; his scent wafted into her nostrils and she quickly lay down back in the tub to hide the tears that she tried her best to hold but it just couldn't stay in her tear glands;

''Sunshine, what are you doing''

Liu Wei asked, his brows creasing;

Her eyes were tightly shut and her skin slightly pale from the cold;

She didn't reply; she just remained under the water;

''What's wrong? You'll suffocate, come up. ''

Liu Wei said looking worried now, seeing that she wasn't moving inside the water;

When Liu Wei saw that she wasn't going to reply; he bent low and scooped her up from the water and carried her in his arms; taking her towel from the hanger, he wrapped it around her and carried her into the room;

Liling hugged him closely and buried her head in his neck; she was scared to even breathe, she felt that any breathe she let out with open the window of overflowing tears;