Hiding inside her duvet, Chyou blankly scrolled on her mobile watching the latest gossip unfolding before her. Wrapped in the darkness of her blanket and with sleepless circles under her eyes, the white light from her cell flashed on her tired face.
All of Yin's contracts were now canceled and he had nowhere to go. His current projects and his future prospects all now went to a toss.
Did Dad...? Or Yating?
She didn't know who did it but her heart felt nothing as if she was walking on barren land. There was no pleasure she enjoyed in this revenge and his misery.
Once the news broke, her phone buzzed with tons of messages back to back. Shui, Siying, Zhenya, Yujin, Leina, Yuhan, Ai and Liu family siblings - everybody's concerned messages and calls rained a storm on her phone. A gentle wave of warmth washed in her heart with their sincere feelings but she felt drained to respond to any of it.
She was about to put her phone back but a certain someone's call flashed on it and she blinked.
It was her grandfather An Guoting.
She hesitated while the call kept ringing. She could imagine her grey-haired grandfather pacing back and forth, deathly worried about his granddaughter. She knew he won't rest until he would hear her voice.
"...Grandpa," she whispered lethargically.
On the other side, An Guoting's heart sank as he heard her small voice filled with defeat. It wasn't vibrant. It wasn't as colorful as it always was before. It now only radiated a sense of loneliness etched deep within her heart.
"Chyou," he softly and warmly said. "How is my little Chyou doing?"
Chyou stared ahead in the endless dark void, contemplating what her answer should be.
"Are you hiding inside your blanket?"
"I am sleepy."
"You also hide in your blanket when you are hurt. Grandpa knows you the best."
Her eyelashes trembled. She wasn't sure what to say. Her hoarse voice was close to choking. "Grandpa..."
"Of course. Yueqin never lets me slack on food or exercise."
"Of course I don't or if I left you to yourself then you would already be lying on a hospital bed right now," her eyes narrowed.
"Hehe, how can I greet the hospital bed so early? I have two wonderful grandchildren to look after."
Xiang cheekily pointed at himself. "Grandpa, I am more wonderful than sis, right? Right?"
"Hmmmm..."
He cried. "Don't think so much, Grandpa. The pause hurts my fragile heart!"
An Yueqin rolled her eyes. An Guoting held Chyou's hands and warmly smiled. "Come, come. I have a lot to talk about with you, especially all those times when your Grandma bullied me."
An Yueqin raised her brow. "Don't tarnish my name in front of her."
"I am just letting out my grievances, that's all," he said in his defense. He brightly looked at Chyou. "Let's go to the garden. It's so sunny outside after all."
He quickly tugged Chyou outside before his wife would get to snatch her. An Yueqin shook her head. She then glanced at Xiang and worriedly said, "Chyou is not doing well at all."
Xiang's shoulders slumped. "Sis looks like a zombie and all because of that cheater and shameless Cheng Yin! Mom could hardly hold her tears back when she saw her in this state this morning..."
An Yueqin narrowed her eyes and cracked her knuckles. "Cheng Yin needs some harsh punishment. I just have the men to do the job."
An Yueqin had a long history with the underworld before she met An Guoting and married him. She had long left that world but the fringes of her connections still remained.
He grinned. "Grandma is so badass. Cheng Yin just needs to see the dark world once~ I want to see his scaredy cat face~"
She nodded. "He should understand the cost of hurting my beautiful granddaughter and also just who he has lost. Just ending his career seems too light of a punishment for me," she frowned.
Xiang nodded hard. "He has hurt and humiliated sis a lot! He should suffer a hundred fold the pain that he gave sis!"
She sneered. "He will. There is no way for him to escape. But now...I am only worried if Chyou would be able to escape the clutches of this pain. I hope Guoting can do something about it."