All That We Held Dear - YiZhan (COMPLETED)

Arc VI - The World In Between - Part 8

Xiao Zhan's stomach lurched, and he had to grab onto the back of a chair to steady himself.

"Collapsed?" He repeated in a small voice.

She nodded. Xiao Zhan pulled the chair out and sat down, his heart beating a mile a minute. His body suddenly radiated a tremendous amount of heat, and he unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt. This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not now when the world already felt like it was crumbling around him bit by bit.

"What happened?" He asked anxiously.

Chiyou grabbed a bottle of water from the counter, opened it and passed it to him. With shaky hands, he took a long drag.

"I'm not sure; I'm sorry. I don't have the details. Your mother was distraught, and she wasn't exactly coherent. Her accent was also strong, making it hard for me to understand what she was saying. But from what I gathered, your father was downtown for some work function and suddenly fainted. She hadn't left home yet when she phoned. She said a neighbour would take her to the hospital."

"Chocolate," blurted Xiao Zhan.

"What?" She asked, a puzzled look on his face.

He shook his head and waved a hand.

"Chocolate's owners, most likely."

He knew this was hardly a clarification, but his addled brain struggled. Luckily, Chiyou didn't press the issue.

"That was half an hour ago, maybe less. She's lucky she manages to reach me at all; I was just about to attend a closed family business meeting."

Xiao Zhan suddenly realized that although he'd subconsciously noticed something was off about her look from the moment he'd caught sight of her, he hadn't quite been able to figure out what was wrong. Of course, her very presence and the news she'd brought had also prevented him from focusing on it, and the vague feeling of unease had taken the backseat. But now that he was made to pay attention, he could see how the conservative black dress, patterned with dark crimson spider lilies and the low bun held in place with an ornate gold and jade hairpin, were at odds with her usual style. In short, she looked like she'd stepped out of some old gangster movie. However, more than her look itself, it was the red flowers, with their connection to death, that made him uncomfortable. They felt like a bad omen.

Chiyou, unaware of his grim train of thought, continued speaking.

"I was moments from relinquishing my cell phone when I got the call. You're lucky I'm my father's favourite because otherwise, I wouldn't have been allowed to come here."

He blinked, taken aback. What kind of family business meeting was so secret as to forbid cell phones? And what kind of organization ran meetings in the middle of the night? Xiao Zhan realized he was allowing his mind to wander to other topics to avoid thinking about what could have happened to his father. He forced himself to focus.

"Why didn't you call me? Why come all the way here?" He asked.

She put a hand on his upper arm and gave it a little squeeze.

" Some news should be told face to face. And..."

She let go of him and clenched her hands, hesitating.

"And I wanted to be here in case you had a panic attack," she finally finished with a pinched smile.

This was more than he deserved after what he'd put her through. Guilt weighed heavily on his chest. He ran his hand through his hair to buy himself time to recover.

"Are you coming with me?" He asked.

"I wish I could, but I have to go back now. This is an important meeting, and no matter how much of a daddy's girl I am, even I can't be excused indefinitely."