4 Chapter 4: Marcus

Marcus almost leaped back into the lake when he saw the person who was next to him.

"Vivian?!" he spluttered, and went into another coughing fit.

Holy shit, is this what the afterlife is going to be? Marcus gasped for air until he was breathing normally and turned back to look at Vivian. Well, it could be worse, but really, he deserve to be in the same place as Vivian.

"Why were you in the lake? Did you get my text?"

Marcus fished out a dripping phone from his pocket. "I don't think I did." He turned to look at her, "What the fuck is going on? Phones exist in the afterlife?"

"...afterlife?" Vivian eyed him warily. "You died."

Marcus nodded, "Got hit by a car too, ironically."

Vivian plopped on the ground, "Oh my god, I can't believe this is happening."

"What do you mean?" Marcus tilted his head in confusion.

"You're not dead." Vivian turned to face him, "This is my last year of college, so it should've been a year since you graduated."

Marcus eyes unfocused, processing the information, "So we traveled back in time." he looked around, "Huh, no wonder everything looked kinda familiar."

"You seem calm about this." Vivian twisted her dark hair to wring out some lake water. "I nearly had a panic attack."

"Well it's more believable coming from you, since I know you died." Marcus said. He took off his soaked shoes and socks. "Did they have to dump me in the freaking lake though?"

Vivian snorted, "Whoever did this must not like you much."

"Don't have to wonder much about why." he muttered.

"Oh yeah, the reason I was looking for you," Vivian said, "It makes it simpler now that you came back too. I want to break-up."

"We're married—" he started, "Oh wait, not here." Well he couldn't exactly fault her for the decision. And he had no reason to reject it. Had no right to reject it.

When he was laying on the soaked pavement, from blood or rain he didn't know, he swore that wherever he ended up, he would try his best to amend his past mistakes.

Looks like this might be his second chance.

"Yeah, so I thought I'd just let you know." Vivian got up and looked around for her shoes, "By the way, the only other person that knows the whole time travel thing is Emma."

Marcus snapped out of his haze. "What? Why the heck would you tell someone? Are you crazy? If people find out, they might try to exploit us!"

Vivian flinched at his raised voice and he recoiled, realizing his mistake. "Wait. I.."

"No." Vivian stomped into her shoes and advanced towards him, "I have spent too long listening to you and not being heard. I trust Emma and I will not have you believe that she might try to sell us out. For what, money?" Vivian laughed, "That's the last thing she needs."

"Listen—" he began.

"No, you listen, Marcus. I am so done with your attitude, giving up what I dreamed of so you could get what you wanted. You never listened, never even considered me when you were making choices that would only benefit you or your company." Vivian's shoulders began to shake

Marcus wanted to reach out and hold her. Wanted to kneel and beg her to forgive him. His hands twitched. But he didn't deserve to be forgiven. Not without proving that he learned his mistakes. Regret wasn't enough.

"It wasn't enough for you that I didn't get to have a career, you banned me from the kitchen in our fucking house." Vivian ranted, "I wasn't allowed to do anything I wanted and my biggest mistake was not speaking up about it sooner." she swiped at the tears that were leaking out. "My biggest mistake was trusting you."

Marcus felt a lump growing in his throat and hot tears welling in his own eyes. He stood motionless, and watched as Vivian walked away. Numbly, he wrung water off of his shirt and pocketed his broken phone. Picking up his shoes, he trudged to the only place he could think to go.

His parents were shocked when they opened the door to see their son, barefoot, soaking wet with red rimmed eyes and shoes in hand. He knew they would be looking for an explanation later, but was grateful that they didn't immediately start bombarding him with questions.

It had been years since he last saw his parents together. He realized how much his decisions have not only affected his relationship with Vivian, but also his parents. Marcus idly wondered how many other connections went sour because of him.

He got through a slightly awkward dinner with them, and when they asked about business, was reminded of the company he already started by this point in his life.

"Son, if the company is stressing you out, you don't have to force yourself to go on with it. We are perfectly happy with the way we live now." his mom said gently, patting his arm. "Our family name doesn't mean as much to us as your well-being."

Initially, when he realized he came back to the past, he wasn't even going to recreate his previous business. There was going to have to be a better way for his family to regain their former status.

However, if it was already established, Marcus wasn't about to give it all up. Even if he only had a few employees, they were relying on him, and they trusted him. That'd be looking down on their faith in him and the hard work all of them put in to help him.

Besides, it wasn't all bad that his company still existed. Marcus narrowed his eyes, recalling the accident that took his life. They would pay for murdering him and Vivian.

His parents glanced at each other across the table, having a silent battle.

Finally, his dad coughed and spoke up tentatively, "Marcus, is everything alright? You seem off today."

"I'm fine Ba." Marcus said, "The company is fine. Just thinking about things." he felt their skeptic gazes boring into him but he didn't remember how he used to act after all those years.

They finished dinner and Marcus helped them clean up. As he was stacking the dishes to put in the sink, his father doubled over and began coughing. He dropped the bowls and rushed over. His mother was patting his back, a worried look etched on her face.

Marcus's eyes widened when he saw the blood on his father's hand. "We need to go to the hospital."

His mother wrung her hands, "I told him to stop smoking, but he wouldn't listen."

"Ma, we need to go now." Marcus said, helping his father up and guiding him to the front door.

"But the fees.."

"Ma!" Marcus barked, "I will worry about that later, but if we don't get him there now, he will die."

She followed after him without any more complaint.

"How long has Mr. Liu been experiencing these symptoms?" the doctor looked at Marcus and his mother.

"About a year now." his mother said, "I didn't think it was really a big issue and I did tell him to stop smoking just in case, but he didn't listen."

Marcus shot her a look. A year? This was earlier than he remembered. But then again, how much attention was he paying to his family back then?

The doctor took off his glasses and rubbed his chin, "I can't say with complete certainty but I have a reasonable suspicion to believe that Mr. Liu may have some form of lung cancer."

"Lung cancer?" his mother sat down in shock.

"Can we get testing to make sure?" Marcus asked, despite knowing the outcome.

"Yes. I recommend an X-ray before doing anything else."

"We'll do it." Marcus said, ignoring his mother's pinching grip.

The doctor nodded, "That's possible. We'll schedule the X-ray as soon as possible."

His mother tugged his arm after the doctor left to tell his dad the news. "You know how much money that will cost us? I don't think it's that serious."

"It'll be fine Ma." Marcus patted her hand, "If only dad's ancestors had the same mindset as you."

She shot him an irritated look, "If I don't worry about it then who will?"

The doctor emerged from the room with Marcus's father following, face pale. "So we have the X-ray scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, make sure to not eat anything for six hours beforehand."

"Got it." Marcus inclined his head at the doctor and led his parents to the car before going back to pay the hospital bills.

When they got back home, his mother and father burst through the door in a flurry of argument.

"This is why you should have listened when I told you to stop smoking!"

"I don't think it's that big of a deal." his father waved his hand, "I'm sure it's just the doctor overreacting so they can make more money."

Marcus shut the front door and walked into the living room where his parents were squabbling. He sat down and waited. Slowly they realized his presence and began to cool down.

"Now that everyone is more calm," Marcus started, "I would like to say a few things.

"Ma. Don't worry about the money, I can take care of it." he looked at her, "Trust me."

She nodded wordlessly.

"Ba, you must watch your health. That means no more smoking, no more spicy foods, don't stay up late, don't speak loudly or exert yourself too much." he lectured.

"I got it, I got it." his father waved, "Your mother will kill me anyways if I tried doing those things now."

Marcus raised his brow, "I'll hold you up to that."

"Marcus, you seem very different from before?" his mother leaned on her arm and studied him, "Is there something going on you're not telling us?"

He sighed, "Well, Vivian and I broke up today.."

"Oh no," she gasped, "I really liked her."

"Is this the take a break thing you young people do?" his father grumbled.

"We thought about it and just thought that it'd be the best decision for us." Marcus said, "We really need time to grow as people before we consider a serious relationship."

"Didn't you buy a ring though?" his father gave a flat stare.

"Aha.." Marcus had forgotten about that. He had asked her to marry him the day of her graduation. "I was thinking about it but it's not right to propose to someone when we're not one-hundred percent sure. And besides, we're still young."

His parents stared at him skeptically. Finally his mother shrugged, "It's up to you. We will support you but I hope you won't regret your decision later."

"I already have." he whispered.