Imperfect Desires

Xin Xiaoli didn't even need to observe her carefully to feel her fear. It was too obvious and Liu Nuan wasn't even trying to hide it right now. Lately, whenever she met her mother, her fear only intensified. And now it reached a new limit after what she learned at Meihui's wedding. Only now she understood why her mother had come to hate her so much.

Only now she knew what made her mother hate her so much. Only now she understood why her mother tried to strangle her. Her hatred and hostility and the killing intent only made sense now to her. Everything made sense and yet nothing made sense at all to her right now.

"Liu Nuan..." he called out seeing her lost in her own thoughts. "You don't have an answer or you don't want to answer me?"

"I don't have an answer for you," she replied. 

"I think you do," he reported. "But I'm wondering why you're so scared to give me an answer?" He took a pause before saying, "Do you think if you won't say a word, I won't learn anything?"

Liu Nuan looked up at him, "Go ahead. If you can find out, do it. Because I'm not gonna give you an answer."

Xiao Li sneered at her, "Since you're challenging me, I'll make sure to get my answers from you!"

He stood up and walked out leaving her baffled.

"Master Li, why didn't you continue?" asked one of his subordinates. "We have a lot of ways to make her talk."

"Keep her locked up and make sure she stays awake," said Xiao Li making the subordinate beside him raise his brows at him. Xiao Li gave his men a look, "We don't have to be so impatient. It's not like she can keep her lips sealed before you all for long." He looked at the woman who had been silently at a side, "I don't need to tell her how to make her talk."

A smirk appeared on that woman's lips as she bowed her head, "Master doesn't need to worry. Girls like her are too easy to break."

"Then make sure she doesn't take long," instructed Xiao Li.

Xin Zimen was surprised to see that his son was just leaving like that, "You won't ask anymore?"

"You said to not use force," replied Xiao Li.

Xin Zimen's brows furrowed up, "Son, I didn't tell you just leave like this as well."

Xiao Li turned to his father and said, "You might have not noticed it but if I pushed her right now, it might be counterproductive for us. She seemed very fragile right now. I don't want to break her. I just want her to tell me what I need to know." He took a brief pause, "Although I can try to learn everything from external sources, I won't be able to understand everything unless I hear it from her perspective."

"How long?" questioned Xin Zimen.

"Don't worry, it will take only two days at most," said Xiao Li with certainty.

"And if during that time, people figured out her absence?"

Xiao Li sighed out, "Dad, I was lying when I said no one cares about her absence. The only person who could have looked for her is her father but he isn't in the country for a while now. There is no one else who would look for her. Especially, Aunt Suyin."

Seeing his son's look, Xin Zimen didn't question him. He felt someone patting his shoulder and looked up at his son inquisitively.

"Dad, you should prepare yourself mentally," said Xiao Li.

"What do you mean?" inquired Xin Zimen.

"I mean to say that..." he looked for the right words before saying, "The answers we are looking for might really change a lot of things in our life."

"Since meeting your mother, I had come to accept any kind of change life had to offer," replied Xin Zimen making Xiao Li smile slightly.

"Let's go home," said Xiao Li.

"We are not going to wait here?" asked Xin Zimen.

Xiao Li gave his father a look, "You don't want to have dinner with your little lass?" Xin Zimen was frozen still at that question. "When I told Xiu that I might not be home for dinner, she looked sad about it." While saying that he continued to observe his father's expressions. "I think she wanted to have dinner with us. So, I was thinking of giving her a surprise."

Xin Zimen patted his back saying, "What are you waiting for then? Let's hurry up!"

Xiao Li chuckled silently as he saw his father rushing up towards the car to leave now. It was amusing to see how easy it was to convince his father using Xiu's name. 

As they got inside the car, Xin Zimen especially instructed the driver, "Drive faster. I need to be home before dinner time."

"Yes, Sir!" replied the driver and focused on driving according to the instructions he received.

"Dad, why are you always so eager to see Xiu?"

Xin Zimen was looking out the window when he heard his son's question. He stopped for a minute before saying, "I don't know. Maybe because she is so lovable that I can't help it."

"Lovable?" repeated Xiao Li. "Then how come everyone is trying to hurt her lately?"

"I don't know," answered Xin Zimen with a sigh. "At this point, I really think I should start believing in the rumored curse."

"What curse?" asked Xiao Li.

"There is a stupid rumor in our family," said Xin Zimen. "It says that every daughter in the Xin Family is bound to die."

"Aunt Suyin is alive though," reminded Xiao Li with a frown.

Xin Zimen nodded his head, "That's why I never believed in that nonsense." He took a pause before adding, "But your mother believed in that nonsense."

Xiao Li was surprised to hear that. How come his realistic mother would believe in a thing called a curse? It didn't make sense.

"Or rather than saying that she believed in the curse, she believed someone was trying to take advantage of that curse to do his own dirty deeds."

Now, that was something Xiao Li was more willing to believe.