Fate Brought You Back To Me

Part 12: Face to Face

"Daoming Si, this is your daughter..."

Ah Si stood watching as YueYue clung to Shancai's skirt, peering shyly at him as her mother ran a reassuring hand through her silky locks. Mother and daughter exchanged a look and finally, Yue turned to look up at her father directly for the first time. "Y-you're my papa?" the little girl asked as she took a tentative step toward him, one of her small hands still loosely clutching her mother still. The Daoming chairman nodded as he took one step forward, trying not to frighten the tiny child. "It's really me. I'm your papa," he answered as he crouched so he could meet his daughter's gaze. YueYue turned to her mother, a question silently told in her curious eyes. Shancai nodded and stepped forward in front of Daoming Si, pushing YueYue along with her. Daoming Si didn't dare move a muscle, not wanting to scare his daughter off. YueYue let go of Shancai and put a small hand on her father's cheek, inspecting his face as he did the same. He brought a hand up to brush a stray lock of hair out of Yue's eyes, out of the doe eyes that she had inherited from his Shancai. 

"You have your mother's eyes," he said. "Mama says I look more like you, Papa," Yue said, tilting her head in a childish manner. "Do you?" he said, jokingly inspecting her face, lightly pinching the little girl's cheek as she giggled. He had to admit, he saw that his daughter had his nose, but he had to disagree with Shancai. To him, YueYue was a near perfect carbon copy of her mother. Suddenly YueYue threw her arms around Daoming Si's neck, which he happily returned. "I'm happy I finally got to meet you, Papa," she said, "Mama told me about you." He looked up at Shancai, raising an eyebrow at her. "You've told her about me?" he asked, unable to keep the joy out of his tone. Shancai nodded, answering, "I did, save for what your name is." At this, Ah Si's face fell the slightest bit. "Why not my name?" he asked, hurt coloring his tone. YueYue turned the same question in her eyes. "You know exactly why, Daoming Si." Shancai said, putting emphasis on his surname, and he winced in understanding. Of course he knew why, he felt stupid for even asking. He knew that Shancai had only been trying to protect her child, as any mother would (except my own, he thought bitterly). "Still..." he said as he rose to his feet, carrying Yue in his arms as she clung to him like a koala, "You should have told me when you found out that you were pregnant. I could have helped you, done something, anything." 

Shancai bit her lip as she exhaled loudly through her nose, trying not to become angry with the Daoming chairman. "Daoming Si," she began, "I couldn't have risked anything happening to YueYue, I did what I thought was right for my child, and at the time I learned of my pregnancy, I had already cut my ties with you." "Our child, Shancai. YueYue's--" "Don't fight," Yue whimpered as she squirmed in her father's arms, her eyes beginning to well with tears as they darted from Ah Si's face to Shancai's, "please, don't fight with each other." Both parents winced, and Ah Si smoothed down her hair as Shancai said, "I'm sorry, baby. We're not fighting," then she turned to look Ah Si in the eye, adding, "but we do have to talk about a few things, don't we?" Ah Si nodded in agreement, putting Yue back on the ground and gesturing towards the door, held a hand out to Shancai. "Shall we go have lunch and talk?" he asked. Shancai eyed his hand warily, but relented and placing her hand in his, followed him out of the hotel room. "To speak and only to speak seriously. Don't try anything funny," she warned. "We'll see about that, my little Shancai. I make no promises," he shot back with a wink. She glared at the back of Ah Si's head as he led her and YueYue along. At the end of the corridor was Xiaozi, she'd clearly been waiting for them to come out. "Auntie Xiaozi," YueYue shrieked excitedly before letting go of her father's hand and dashing down the hallway to meet her. Shancai tried to tug her hand out of Daoming Si's grip, but he wouldn't let go. "Wait," he said, peering down the hotel corridor to where Xiaozi stood waiting for YueYue.

Once the little girl was far away enough to be out of earshot, Ah Si pulled Shancai into a hug. It felt like home to have her in his arms again, and he thought, This is where both you and our daughter belong. Shancai gasped when she'd felt herself be enveloped in his warm embrace, her heartbeat going a mile a minute. Be still, rebellious heart, she thought as she choked out, "D-Daoming Si?" "I've missed you so much, do you know that?" he said as he buried his face in her neck, re-familiarizing himself with her soft floral scent. I've missed you, too idiot, she thought, badly wanting to return his hug. This was what she wanted to say, but instead, she gently pushed him away, answering, "Daoming Si, please. Let's not do this right now, YueYue is my number one priority." With that, she continued down the hallway to join Xiaozi and her daughter. Ah Si watched her go, and clearing his throat to compose himself, agreed, "Alright, we'll speak later." He knew he had a lot of work to do to prove that he deserved to be a part of YueYue and Shancai's lives. 

"I won't let anything happen to you," he said under his breath, "I promise."

Author's Note

Wow hey, short update but I just love torturing y'all. soz :p

Thank you for reading!

Thank you!

Gracias!

ありがと! 
감사합니다 !
谢谢!

-monicacantwrite