The Rise of the White Lotus

Morris Liu subtly smiled. His hand slowly raised as he reached his finger to the white blurry dumpling in front of him. "Adorable." He said as he tried to poke her.

*GASP!!*

Churu gasped in disbelief as she flew a little farther from him. "You can see me?! As in, SEE and HEAR?!" Panicking, Churu was flabbergasted by this turn of events. 

"Huh, I think I'm going crazy… I can hear the walls screaming." With that said bitter note, Morris Liu downed another glass full of alcohol. Right now, he could faintly hear a small voice and a faint white figure flying in front of him. However, since he was drunk, Morris Liu thought he was having delusions— or believed it was the effect of the alcohol and lack of rest.

Upon hearing his last statement, Churu heaved a sigh of relief. She almost had a heart attack seconds ago. "Good grief…"

When her heart calmed down, Churu heavily inhaled as if she was gathering all her energy forces before she shouted while looking above;

"Hey, old hag! What are you doing?! Stop testing out stuff if it will be buggy! @(#-&$!!" As far as she knew, only Lexi should see her. Hence, there was only one explanation of why the drunk Morris Liu was hearing her… on a second note, there's also one possibility why he was seeing her.

"Oy! What will happen to this man?!" As expected, Churu never heard a response even after the harsh curses she threw at her.

"She must be having fun toying with me." She fumed before turning her attention back to the melancholic man. She flew closer and sat at the center of the small table. Since he could hear her in his drunken state, she must at least take this chance to give him a piece of her thought.

"As I was saying before that bug… my anger towards you might lessen a little bit, still, you and Lexi are not meant to be. Everything happens for a reason because… God is always bored and he needed some entertainment!" Churu's tone escalated quickly on her last sentence. Still, half of what she said was nothing but facts.

Since she came from the heavenly world, she knew one or two things how this world works, and how the Absolute One had his odd way of teaching his creations a lesson— for a better cause or whatever cause he had in mind.

"Well, that's just how it always is..." Churu heavily sighed once again. 

She had hated Morris Liu since day one because of his overbearing and strong arrogance. However, she never really thought that there would come this time of the day that, while Lexi and Churu would normally have their facial sessions— Morris Liu was drowning himself with guilt, regret, and painful memories of the past.

"You'll eventually find your perfect match." This time, Morris Liu didn't respond immediately as he continued to wordlessly drink his sorrows away. 

"Match… huh, I don't need that…" He bitterly muttered which made Churu frown.

If only, Morris Liu met Wren Tanaka or Seraphina Yue much earlier, he would have been preparing for his upcoming marriage with Lexi. However, he only had this chance after everything was done. After he lost everyone he cared about— after losing the only family he acknowledged… he didn't know what he was fighting for anymore. Was the death of Kong Shuren enough?

[Short flashback]

When Morris Liu was appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Liu Empire and its 'major' shareholder, he was welcomed with a mind-boggling truth that he never heard before: their family had fallen a long time ago.

Indeed, his first day of being the Liu family head was also the day he discovered that his position was a mere valueless title. Instead, he was sacrificed to be the next puppet of the master puppeteer: Kong Shuren.

Granting that the Liu Empire still stood tall on top of the social ladder, however, because of the huge debt they had to Kong Shuren— the most powerful man in the underworld in country x, they ended up being his employees behind closed doors.

Of course, since Kong Shuren was a smart man, he knew the value and weight of the Liu Family, therefore, he milked every benefit he could from Morris Liu's dumb Uncle and used the Liu Family connections to cover up his illegal business. He also let the Liu Empire operate like how it used to be while being the real owner from the shadows.

Morris Liu already had his suspicions back when he was a director of their company. However, with little vague shreds of evidence and mere hunches, he didn't speculate despite being restless by every passing day.

"Morris Liu, my new dear confidante! Welcome aboard!" Kong Shuren welcomed him. He was in his late 40's with a scar on his right closed eye. 

Those were the words that he first heard in the first meeting with the former chairman… or rather, the former puppet that covered up Kong Shuren's schemes.

In spite of knowing the truth, Morris Liu managed to keep his icy front intact as he swore in his mind that he would take back their family to its former glory. However, that same day, Kong Shuren flaunted his powers to him and how low he could go to make him bend.

***

"Since you already know the truth, my CEO Morris, why not be obedient and go with the flow, eh? After all, your Liu family still remained at the top with my protection. Also, you don't want your fiance and the Yang family to be involved, right?" The man said with a vicious smirk as a murderous glint that flashed across his eyes after he shot someone in cold blood.

"Don't drag them into this." After keeping his silence for a while, Morris Liu spoke as he glanced at the lifeless body of a man that was drowning with his own pool of blood on the concrete ground.

"Of course, I won't." Kong Shuren slowly strode towards him and placed his tainted hands on his shoulder. Tapping it lightly, he whispered, "It will be you who will decide if you want to involve them or not." with that said threat, he left with a satisfied smile after seeing Morris Liu's priceless reaction.

---

[Present Time]

"Well, the person for you will come whether you like it or not— but that won't be Lexi." Shaking her head, Churu bluntly uttered with this stubborn, egotistical man. 

"Not her… Mhmm, I gave her up a long time ago." Responding to the apparition, Morris Liu bitterly muttered. Although he didn't want to give her up, he must.

He knew already knew that he must give her up. The first day he hurt her and the following events after that— he had lost all his rights. Furthermore, the fact that she attempted suicide, Morris Liu knew he failed. He failed to bring the Liu Family to its former glory and he failed to protect her. Instead, he pushed her to ruins.

"Say, what do you think will happen if I told her about Kong Shuren?" Fixing his disoriented gaze to the adorable dumpling, he asked.

"Huh? You should have known the answer to that." Tilting her head to the side, Churu responded as she didn't mind conversing with a drunk Morris Liu. After all, he won't think this was a reality.

"Right… she will try to understand. She will stay, she will involve herself in the deeper mess, but… that's not the life I want for her. Yet, I still gave her hell— what's the difference, I'm still pathetic." 

Churu pursed her lips on a thin line as she watched Morris Liu blame himself for everything. Although Churu wanted to blame him, however, how could she judge now? What happened to them was cruel. Morris Liu was in a hell predicament and he could only take small baby steps to beat Kong Shuren while trying to protect the people he cherished— even if it means hurting them instead of entirely losing them by that man's hand. Yet, he was too naive not to realize that hurting Lexi was the same as losing her in the hands of Kong Shuren.

Thus, he lost her.

On the other hand, Lexi's love was too deep that she was willing to lose her life instead of coping with the pain. Hence, even though Churu felt sad for Lexi, she could not fully blame Morris Liu.

"Can you get a hold of yourself?! You've done everything you can and that's what's important! If you really love Lexi and want to show penitence, then be a better person! The damage had been done— you can't do anything about it! You can never reverse the time so, the only thing you can do is do what you originally want to do! You frustrate me!" Frustrated, Churu fumed as she yelled at him in one go. Unbeknownst to her, her advice would soon backfire on her.

"What I initially want?"