41 Rainfall

It had been months since that dinner where knives and blades had been brandished by Li Rong, Yu Yan and Xun Zixi metaphorically. Though things seemed to have settled down somewhat afterwards. But it was the calm before the storm and all three of them knew that. Tomorrow was Yu Yue's twenty - fifth birthday. Yu Jian had wanted to celebrate it with a lavish party thrown for his daughter but Yueyue herself declined. Many people had noticed over the years that a day before her birthday the Eldest Miss would have a melachonic air around herself and all day long she would be lost in her own world.

Some had thought that the reason might be that she was reminiscing about the fact that on her eighteenth birthday an outsider had been brought into the residence and she was wistful about the days long past when she was the only Young Miss of the Yu family. Some thought that as she grew up she missed her late mother even more keenly and was sharply reminded of her absence in her life a day before her birthday. But no matter what their individual thoughts were, everyone had a consensus to leave her be and not disturb her on that day.

Obviously, if others had noticed this then how could the people who revolved around Yueyue not take this into their notice. Yu Jian was worried about his eldest, after giving it some thought he went to Yueyue's room to have a chat with her. He saw her sitting on a chair with a sombre look in her eyes. She seemed to be too low - spirited.

"Yueyue, are you okay?"

It seemed she hadn't noticed his knock and subsequent entry into her room because as soon as she heard his words she was startled.

"Oh, yes... I am fine."

He didn't really know how to broach the subject. If she said that the root cause for her disquiet was Yanyan then, what was he supposed to do? "Do you want to go with this old man on a drive around the city? or play somewhere? How about we go and watch a performance?" He just wanted her to stop looking so sad but without any other options these were the only words he could say.

"Maybe sometime next, not today."

"Then why don't you take Xun Zixi and Mo Qing along with you today. Everytime you go out on this day you don't let anyone accompany you and I get worried about your safety."

Su Li really didn't want to be around anyone today but when she took a look at Yu Jian, she knew he was genuinely worried about his daughter even if that wasn't her. At the end of the day nobody knew the truth. So she just accepted his words with a nod and he went off to work.

Later in the day she took Zixi and Mo Qing with her when she went out. Her heart wasn't at peace today. Today marked the seventh anniversary of her death in her original world. It had been seven long years since she came to this new one. Sometimes she wondered if she was still on that hospital bed and all of this was some drug - induced hallucination and her parents were still by her bedside worried about her. Wouldn't that be even more worse for them? To watch their child in a comatose state. She missed them with every fibre of her being and fiercely wished to see them again. Her mood drooped even further with these thoughts and she asked Mo Qing to stop the car. It felt suffocating to her. She wanted to walk around for a bit.

When she saw Mo Qing and Xun Zixi getting off the car to follow her from behind, she was exasperated.

"Don't follow me around. Nobody is going to do anything to me. Let me be alone."

At her words Mo Qing ducked his head and stopped but Zixi still made as if to follow her so she turned her gaze towards him. "Don't you dare follow me discreetly Zixi. I'll know if you do that and I'll be very cross with you. Stay put and I'll call you to pick me up in an hour to two." Finishing her words she left those two behind with quick steps.

She walked aimlessly along the streets, looking at people rushing to and fro from one place to another, she watched families having dinners in quaint restaurants and observed couples walking hand - in - hand. This made her even more acutely aware of the fact that she was all alone. No matter how anybody cared or pampered her in this world or the next ones to follow, she was like an island surrounded by water on all sides.

Suddenly it started raining and it wasn't a light drizzle but was raining buckets with thunder and lightening all around her. She watched as people ducked under eaves or into shops etc to escape from the rain. She smiled to herself but didn't have the heart to enter a place with so many people around. Therefore, she kept on walking further in such weather without consideration to the fact that she would be soaked through in minutes.

It had been more than an hour since Miss left the two of them behind. As soon as it started raining Mo Qing was worried for Miss's health. She didn't even have an umbrella or a raincoat with her at the moment. What if she fell sick afterwards? It would be a gross dereliction of his duty. He tried to call Miss on her phone many times but she didn't pick up any of his or Zixi's calls. With every call that went unanswered, his worry and unease increased. Just as they were about to drive around in the car to look for her, his phone rang. He heaved a sigh of relief thinking it was Miss calling them to pick her up but he was disappointed when he looked at the Caller ID on his screen. It wasn't Miss who was calling him but the Second Young Master of the Li family. He thought it might be that the Second Young Master Li was with Miss or had met her coincidently (it had happened a few times over the years) and was calling to tell them to return back and that he would drop Miss off at the residence.

Su Li stumbled on an uneven tile on the road and was almost sent falling flat on her face. Worried that if she kept on walking in this rain, she'll probably fall down, she just squatted down on the spot in the middle of the road.

'I am being too naive and trusting of the system. It's no use doing all these tasks. It's the first world and already I have spent so many years here. Who knows how many tasks I'll be issued and how long it would take to complete them at this pace. More importantly, I don't know the first thing about the system.'

She knew she was being melodramatic but today of all days she couldn't help herself. She looked at the vast sky above her and closed her eyes to not let the rain drops fall into them.

Li Rong watched as Yueyue sat down in the middle of the street with raindrops pelleting her body but she didn't pay any mind to that. Itwas like she felt she was too lonely and didn't want to share her sorrows and worries with anyone.

Su Li had been lost in her maudlin thoughts when she realised that she couldn't feel the raindrops on her body anymore. She looked upto find Li Rong standing besides her with an umbrella shielding her from the rain. For a moment she just squinted at him and then slowly stood up. Both of them stood under a single umbrella and looked at each other as if they were the only people left in the world. Slowly she compartmentalized her emotions, locked them in and have Li Rong a smile etched with sadness.

Li Rong pushed his umbrella into Yueyue's hand, shrugged off his overcoat and pulled it tight over Yueyue's body. The rain had already soaked through her clothes. He was worried she would fall sick because of getting drenched. All this time Su Li kept on looking at this person infront of her who reminded her of someone else in her own world. Someone who would always rebuke her for her negligence towards her health while still taking care of her. Sometimes she would even confuse Li Rong with that person since some of their habits were quite similar.

"How come you are here?", she questioned him. When he didn't give her any response, she could figure out the reason by herself.

"Did Mo Qing call you? Did he say something to you?" That guy was really crossing his boundaries if he had called Li Rong just because she hadn't picked up his or Zixi's calls.

"Doesn't matter if he did or not."

"Li Rong...." he cut off her words in the middle.

"He didn't. I am the one who called him. I have noticed that your mood is always off a day prior to your birthday. So, I called him to ask about you. Originally, Mo Qing wasn't ready to open his mouth but after I threatened and bribed him about your well - being he told me you were roaming the streets on your own in this kind of weather so I came."

Su Li didn't know how to respond to his words.This guy would leave everything behind to just come here because he was worried about her health. She was thankful to him for his care towards her.

"What is it? Why must you hide your emotions from me as well? If you are worried or sad about something atleast talk to me about it. May be I can help you with it."

Su Li heaved a deep sigh and replied, "It's nothing. Don't worry about it. Am just thinking too much."

Her response didn't seem to placate him. "I have heard rumours that you stopped seeing Yu Yan because I caused a rift between you two. They are saying I have you wrapped around my finger and am just managing my fish farm. Also, that you went out with Yu Yan to get me jealous. Let's leave before someone spots us and another round of rumours start. I don't want people to misunderstand either of us."

"I don't care about what others say. People will always keep wagging their tongues."

"There are a lot of things that will not cease to exist just because we chose to ignore them or stop thinking about them." Su Li didn't know if she was saying those words regarding the current rumours to him or to herself about the situation she found herself in.

"Tell me what's bothering you. Atleast I can help the beauty to bear her burdens."

She smiled at his words. "All you know is to flatter me."

Just as they turned around to walk back, they saw Mo Qing and Zixi standing a few feet away waiting for them.

"Return to the Yu residence with me Brother Li".

All of them left for the residence while the curtain of rainfall dispersed by the time they reached their destination.