Imperfect Desires

Ying had completely misunderstood Cali's words. In her mind, Destiny referred to not a person but the general term destiny that she seemed to despise a lot. After all, no matter how hard she tried to achieve something there was always a mysterious thing called destiny that would come between her and her goal.

And most importantly, her hate for this word was because of what her mother told her, "Xiao Ying, you should stop loving Ah-Li now. Maybe, he wasn't meant to be your destiny." Those words were the bane of her life. How easy was it for people to say that he wasn't in her destiny. But how come none of those people ever bothered to look at her efforts? How could a thing like destiny mess up her whole life?

Because of this small misunderstanding, Ying was gonna have an outburst but she chose not to since the occasion wasn't right.

"Destiny! As if that can change anything."

Cali pursed her lips as she was amused by Ying's reaction. The more she looked the more she was surprised by this professor before her. From all her research about this person sitting before her, nothing matched with her personality. In-person, Dr. Yan Ying was a completely different person. She already figured that Ying was like a gangster in the clothes of a scholar but only now she was learning that this gangster was a little too amusing. 

"Dr. Yan..."

Ying looked at her as she heard her name and said, "You can just call me Ying."

Cali nodded and replied, "Then you can just address me as Cali. I stopped being a doctor a while ago."

Ying rolled her eyes as she stated, "A doctor is still a doctor. Especially one like you who saves lives." She pointed at herself as she added, "I don't like it when someone calls me doctor. After all, I'm more suitable for breaking bones than fixing."

Cali chuckled softly at her words before replying in a serious tone, "Ying when I said destiny... I meant Destiny Novell. My one and only cousin."

Now, it was Ying's turn to frown. "Destiny Novell? Your cousin?" Cali nodded her head and Ying's frown deepened. She picked up her phone and scrolled to a document and showed it to Cali. "But in your family registry, Destiny Novell is registered as your sister. As your father's second daughter. How did she become your cousin?"

Cali languidly took a bite of the pasta and frowned, "Eee. This doesn't even have the Italian taste. How can they fool people with this?"

Ying shook her head. "Hey! We are having an important discussion!! How can you talk about the inauthenticity of Italian pasta's taste in this situation?"

"Sorry about that," replied Cali sheepishly while she wiped the corner of her mouth. She cleared her throat and began, "I don't blame you for thinking that Destiny is my sister. My father did play a big role in this. When she was born, my aunt got really sick. She was really on the verge of dying and she didn't want Destiny to grow up without parents. So, she asked dad to raise her as his own daughter. Dad also didn't want her to grow up as an illegitimate child, so he went along with aunt's wishes. It took about five years before my aunt's condition was stable and during that time, Destiny grew up like my sister."

Ying's brain was trying to process whatever she just heard. It wasn't easy to take it all in such a short time as she blurted out, "So, she is not your sister. Right?"

"Well, she is my cousin-sister." Ying glared at her dangerously and Cali tactfully answered, "I mean no. The answer to your question is a definite no. She's Carina Novell's biological daughter."

Ying gulped down the lemonade she just got in one go. She was really feeling thirsty for some reason. Why was this news more shocking than knowing Carina Novell was dead? It didn't seem logical but she was really going crazy thinking about this.

"Wait, who's the father?" Cali raised her brow at her in question. "The biological father of Destiny. Who is he?"

Cali exhaled sharply. "We wouldn't be in this mess if only aunt has ever told who the father really is."

"Last time when I asked you about your aunt, you were certain that your aunt would be in China. How? What made you so sure?"

"Because whoever Destiny's father is, he is definitely from China. That is the only thing that dad knew about that mystery person."

Cali noticed the way Ying's face was turning pale. She suddenly looked like a sick person. While Cali was trying to understand Ying's expressions, the latter one's mind was all over the place.

'Zizi said he only loved Carina Novell. He didn't mention anything about having a relationship with her. Where is this daughter popping out from? But if what Cali said is true, then it really means that Destiny is Zizi's daughter. However, Zizi is not the kind of person who would abandon his own kid. Well, I don't even think he'd leave Carina Novell if they really were in a relationship. Then what the hell is this? Fuck! Zizi has a daughter! Is that why he asked me to find out about Carina Novell?' She shook her head to herself. 'Nah! If that was the case, why didn't he mention Destiny? Wait! Does he even know that he has a daughter? This is turning into a bigger mess than I thought it'd be.'

Seeing how Ying was pulling her hair in frustration, Cali was bemused yet again. Out of courtesy, she asked, "Ying, you okay?"

Ying looked up at her face and sighed out, "I'm okay." No matter how much I'm struggling inside, I'll still keep telling you that I'm okay. She took a deep breath to calm herself before she asked, "Do you have any photo of her?"

Cali thought about it before nodding her head. She rummaged through her purse before giving her the photo. Ying took the picture from her hand and looked at it. Seeing the girl in the picture, her eyes widened instinctively.