135 Yang's Injuries

January 27, 20XX (Sunday)

On the road

Jerome Bonaparte was in his guise of an old man named Giusseppe Alfonsi. He looked at his youngest and only surviving daughter. He was surprised to see the determination in her face. She looked so much like her late Mother, Xue Mu Lan.

"It's your decision, dear." the father assured Mei Li while fakely smiling at Yang's direction.

"Yes," Mei Li nodded and with a beaming smile, she intertwined her fingers with Yang's before she continued, "Mentor Alfonsi, you are like a father to me, and I value your thoughts and suggestions, but this time you cannot persuade me against him."

Jerome Bonaparte stared angrily at their connected hands. He hadn't had the chance to hold her hands enough when she was a child, he had not loved her enough as a father, and another man is already taking her away!

Staying true to his disguise as an understanding old man, he nodded and agreed immediately, "Of course. My dear child, which car are we riding?"

Yang coughed to clear his throat. Mei Li had thoroughly shielded him with her wings. He had wanted to kiss her after she had said her first words of defense for him but refrained because of the ever-present glare from her father. Her lips looked so inviting too.

Yang led them into his car and was surprised that his bodyguards had stopped him from getting on as the brake line had been cut off by someone which had caused the fluid inside to spill. This made Yang and Elizar suspicious. The French agent warned Yang to drive slowly with a signal when the guards had led them to a new car

Yang checked everything before he drove. He checked the tire pressure, brake lines, the oil level, the power steering fluid, tire tread, air filter, the transmission fluid, and even the lights to be safe. Mei Li had smiled at his scrutiny to protect them. He had always gone beyond what is expected of him. She appreciated this quality of his. Elizar had even approved of his behavior while the old man was on the side, choosing to ignore his actions.

When they drove everyone was assured that they were safe, Mei Li had even played her favorite Yiruma medleys again. The two guests at the back had laughed when Mei Li began to hum to the melody like when singers usually hum the lyrics of their songs.

A loud sound of screeching tires suddenly invaded their ears. Yang was the first person to notice the large semi-trailer truck heading straight towards them. On instinct Elizar covered Bonaparte. Yang steered the wheel fast and evaded the incoming collision with the large truck successfully. Jerome was going to sighed loudly but another car, hidden by the largeness of the one before, had been a few meters away from them and going straight ahead at them.

As the car slowly collided with theirs, Jerome Bonaparte could not see anything but light from the car's front and the shadows of the man driving in the front, steering the car, so the first part to be hit would be his side instead of Mei Li's. The image of Yang frantically shielding Mei Li with his own body was buried in the Bonaparte's consciousness as the inevitable crash happened.

The father could hear Yang whispering, "Mei Li" and his hands held her seatbelt in place.

Within seconds, Jerome could feel the impact. His head crashed into the window as he closed his eyes in fright. Was this the cause of their deaths?

When he opened his eyes again, Elizar had taken him out of the car. They turned around and saw the result of the accident. The large truck had rolled away and was lying sideways. A few meters from the truck was a black automobile and an old and empty white van. The black car was crashed on the right side, the driver's side, by the front of the family van.

"Yang!"

Jerome could hear the usually lazy voice of his daughter, shouting at the top of her lungs the name of the person beside her.

"Someone, call the ambulance!"

Jerome regretted his decision to come back to Beijing. He was probably the reason why this 'accident' happened. He should have stayed somewhere in France, away from his children's lives.

Yang's bodyguards that had tailed after them had responded immediately and had taken their employee out of the car and delivered first aid. Mei Li's light brown eyes filled with years and her cheeks stained with crystal water of sadness. Everything on that crash had happened like a slow-motioned scene from a movie that all that had occurred after felt like a whirlwind of events which passed unnoticed.

Jerome watched as Yang woke up on the stretcher to see his daughter's face only to wipe her left cheek with his bloodied right hand and softly whispered, "Your tears are my Achilles heels."

Jerome's heart dropped when Mei Li wailed like she did when her mother had died, and he was forced to deliver her into the arms of a French agent to be left on the doors of an orphanage in Beijing.

Yang's eyelids flutter before he said to reassure Mei Li, "I'll come back to your side soon. Death won't stop me from kissing your lips."

"I'll kiss you first, " Mei Li choked out the words as she held his hand full of blood with her safe and wound-free hands.

The doors of the ambulance close as Chang Min arrived with police and personal guards. Jerome still stared at the distance of where the ambulance had left, replaying in his mind the image of his daughter begging a man not to leave her behind like he had begged his wife not to die.