17 A Light that still Shines

"I'm back," Hou Wei Yan said with a smile on her face, her little encounter with her stepmother already forgotten. "Come drink your milk."

Upon her arrival, Hou Jun Shen stood up while looking at the milk in her hand in terror. Dear lord, he hates the taste of milk. Hou Wei Yan knew this very well so she gave him a close-eyed smile and in a warning tone said. "Xiao Shen don't even think about running away."

He could only sigh at her as she handed him his milk. "Man, your eyes are something, sis."

Hou Wei Yan simply giggled at him and watched him carefully as he gulped down his milk in one go. No matter how often she sees him gulp it down in such a way she still finds herself amazed. She can't understand why he hates it so much.

Hou Jun Shen's face contorted as the milk made contact with his tastebuds. The disgust he's been trying to suppress since he accepted the glass suddenly surfaced on his face. This made his siblings laugh at his misery. Hou Wei Yan enjoyed it the most.

"Sing now?" Hou Jei Li and Hou Wuxi asked as they positioned themselves in the most comfortable state.

Hou Wei Yan gently placed their glasses on the tray and went back to sit on their bed with a smile. "Okay okay."

Noticing Hou Jun Shen just standing around, she gave him a look. She looks at him and urges him to sit on the bed with her "Come here."

Hou Jun Shen immediately shook his head in protest. He just wants to hear her voice again, not sleep with them. They'd be like squished sardines if he joined.

"I'll stay here," he said as he pulled a chair from their study table and sat down like an obedient child.

Hou Wei Yan had no choice but to smile at her grown-up baby brother. With a gentle voice, and her hands touching their hair, Hou Wei Yan began humming the intro of their lullaby.

She looked at them tenderly and lovingly as though the most precious of gems was in front of her. "Cast away your worries, my dear.....For tomorrow comes a new day,"

The siblings looked at her with tears in their eyes. Oh, how they missed this! How they missed this sweet angelic voice of hers. "Hold to me, you've nothing to fear.....For your dreams are not far away,"

"As you lay your head and you rest.....May your dreams take over, my love," Hou Wei Yan placed a kiss on their forehead making them purr like cats. Her touch was so gentle, so sweet, and so caring they couldn't stop purring.

She smiled at them and sang even gentler than her last. "Listen close, my child of the west.....For your destiny lies above,"

"Though the world is cruel.....There's a light that still shines.....In the darkest days of our lives," Hou Jei Li who was the most hyped earlier slowly closed her eyes, forgetting all the bad things that happened in her day. She bid farewell to nightmares as the song of her sister brought peace in her sleep.

Hou Wuxi looked at his twin and slowly, very slowly, allowed himself to fall asleep. He who was usually guarded when sleeping was so relaxed at this moment because he knew that with his sister around they were protected. "When all hope seems lost.....and you can't find your way.....Think of me as you look to the sky,"

"Child mine, your future is bright.....For your father's blood's in your veins," she sang silently as though a whisper and looked at Hou Jun Shen to confirm something.

He didn't look at her. Instead, he was looking out the window absentmindedly. Hou Wei Yan frowned at this but continued her lullaby nonetheless.

"In dark times, I pray you will fight.....For the world will soon know your name." she finished and smiled ever so wide as she saw her twins snoring softly with smiles plastered on their faces.

Once again, she planted a kiss on their forehead and touched it as though easing all their pains. "Goodnight, my angels,"

She took hold of their quilt and gently placed it on them. She made sure they were well covered before looking at her drowsy brother. "Hey sleepy kid, can I talk to you?"

Hou Jun Shen who was starting to feel sleepy suddenly felt something wrong with her tone. "Sis, what is this all about?"

"Did they find out?" Hou Wei Yan asked out of the blue without restraint.

The room suddenly fell completely silent. It took a minute for Hou Jun Shen to speak up as he looked at the twins with worry. "Let's go to my room,"

He immediately stood up and went outside. His actions already confirmed Hou Wei Yan's assumptions. As they entered his room and shut the door, she asked once again, her voice much more sure than before. "Did they?"

With his sister's worried look, Hou Jun Shen knew he could no longer hide it from her. "Eventually,"

There was suddenly a lightning strike in her heart. "What's going on? How did they find out?"

Before she left, she made everyone in the household promise. They vowed not to tell the kids about their identity. [ So how the hell did they find out?! ]

Hou Jun Shen sighed at his sister's helpless confusion. She trusted their father too much. He knows they promised, his father made a heavier promise, but with everything changing that promise was bound to be broken. Especially with his father's crazy and thoughtless love sickness towards Fe Rou Chao along with his jerk-ish nature, everything was bound to be revealed.

"Honestly, it wasn't hard to find out. Over the years, Father's treatment turned worse."

Hou Wei Yan looked at him in confusion. Was it their father? He's been trying his best to separate them from her but it never occurred to her that he did something even more brazen. "Tell me,"

"He treats us like normal persons like we are outsiders and not a part of his newfound family. The twins tried their best to get their way in his heart, but he only showed them too little of his affection. He accepts their gifts but he never really showed thankfulness over it, but rather a sour attitude towards it. He keeps them hidden as though he is ashamed of them,"

Her face slowly turned ashen as such words began sinking into her head. She thought that once she left, his focus would land on her siblings and that his overflowing affection would be sent to them. But alas, it was only her wishful thinking!

"Aside from that, his new wife is a blabbermouth. The twins found out from her how they never got Father's affection because they were an unknown mistake," he said making nothing hidden from her.

It broke her heart to think they found out and she wasn't there to comfort or console them.

The twins are not born to her parents. They were only half-siblings as they were born from another mother—a mother they had no idea of.

She was told by her mother, Xing Mei Yi, about their true origins. They were placed outside her small house in Paris when she went there for business transactions in place of Hou Guanyu. The house was registered under Hou Guanyu and it was indeed his home more than hers. Before she could return to China, she found them outside her doorstep with a note stating that they were Hou Guanyu's offspring and that their mother could no longer take care of them.

She didn't believe it at first so she took a sample from Hou Guanyu and conducted a DNA test. The results made her feel terrible. Her mother couldn't believe that the husband she'd been loving quite secretly and holding tightly had escaped her grasp and banged another woman behind her back. She knew she could not have his affection but it made her feel worse knowing he had done what a married couple should be doing to another woman. An unknown woman!

When she went back home with the twins, Hou Guanyu wanted nothing to do with them. Angered by his irresponsible behavior, her mother took matters into her own hands. And by hands, it meant her fist. She released her anger at him, her everything at him, and was forced out by Hou Guanyu.

"That all three of us are mistakes," Hou Jun Shen suddenly added.

Hou Wei Yan who was holding her tears looked at him in shock. [ She actually said that?! ]

[ Fe Rou Chao! You wait for your retribution! ] she yelled in her mind as she inched closer to her wounded baby brother.

"Xiao Shen, stop saying that. You're not a mistake, mother never considered you like that," she said and pulled him for a hug.

"She never did, but what about Father? He always shoves how great of regret he has that I was born. Because of me, his misery with Mother was prolonged. He thinks I hindered his reunion with that rotten first love," he said in anguish as he pulled away from his sister's embrace.

Tears began falling from his eyes. He's been holding it in for quite a time now. For once, he wants to let it out. [ To cry it all out! ]

"Xiao Shen," Hou Wei Yan scooped his face and began wiping his tears away. [ What the hell did they do?! ]

"You're not a mistake," she said gently and hugged him once more.

"It's true. I am nothing but a drunken mistake and he still hates Mother for making him drunk that night. Along with his hate for her is his hate for me. I think he's right...we three are his biggest mistake."

Amongst them, the most loved was Hou Wei Yan. It was because she was born at the peak of Hou Guanyu and Xing Mei Yi's marriage. It was when Fe Rou Chao was nonexistent and both were caring towards each other. Her brother, Hou Jun Shen was unfortunately born at their breaking point.

Hou Guanyu was already set on divorcing Xing Mei Yi, but he was conceived. Her father got drunk and did something to her mother. He accused her of doing it on purpose, that it was Xing Mei Yi who placed something in his drink, and it made him madder when she said nothing to prove her innocence. Up until now, she never denied his claims and accepted all the hurtful words he directed at her.

"Stop saying that!" she yelled. "To me and Mother, you're not a mistake—you're our greatest blessing. No matter how much he denies it, you're not his mistake as well!"

Hou Jun Shen smiled at his sister and wiped the remaining tears from his eyes. "You don't have to say it like that because I've grown enough to accept the truth and not get affected by it too much."

He touched his sister's hands and looked at her eyes with seriousness. "Don't worry about me."

"Xiao Shen,"

"I'm just glad I have you and mother. But the twins are the ones who are pitiful because they don't have a mother," he said as he was reminded of their sad gaze on Fe Rou Chao and their brother, Hou Shuren.

Hou Wei Yan felt heartsore upon this reminder. "But they have us,"

An image of her father suddenly flashed in her mind which made her itch to confront him. "I'll talk to Dad about this."

Hou Jun Shen immediately shook his head to dismiss her suggestion. "Don't bother. He'll only think we're using you."

He held his sister's hands even tighter and with all honesty and seriousness said. "Sis, we're fine with things. The twins are tough, you taught us to be tough."

Hou Wei Yan found herself unable to retort back as Hou Jun Shen engulfed her in his hug. [ They are tough, but that doesn't mean those who did them wrong deserve no punishment because they withstood their attacks! ]

For them, she's going to knock them back to their senses and make them remember that she's not someone to be offended. Her relationship with her siblings should not be taken lightly because no matter the impurities and darkness, she'll be their light to extinguish it all away.

.....

In the darkness of the night, the big blue moon illuminated the twins' bedroom. It was the only source of light inside the room. Everything was already silent, everyone inside the household was asleep, except one. Hou Wei Yan was wide awake despite such late hours.

After her talk with Hou Jun Shen, she went back to the twins with so much pain in her heart. She was struggling to accept such behavior from her father. She was so used to his nice and pampering nature towards her that knowing his other side became suddenly foreign and frightening.

A soft sigh escaped from her lips as she looked at the twins on her left side. They were fast asleep looking so peaceful. It was like they never really got bothered by her father's behavior.

"I'm so sorry," she mumbled as she kissed their forehead before standing up and heading outside their room. She wore a robe and decided to take a walk in their maze to clear her mind for a bit. She took careful strides outside to not wake anyone up because she thought everyone was already sleeping.

But alas, a certain guest was still rhapsodic that he too couldn't fall asleep. The room was pitch black and he had no intention of lighting it up. No one knows he's there except Hou Guanyu who gave him a key to his new wife's room. He requested that he stay in Hou Wei Yan's room for their wedding night to look through the things she left in the household.

He was watching outside the window with whiskey in his hands when a certain noise outside the room caught his attention. It was like someone was sneaking out and it sparked his attention. He placed down his whiskey and opened the door very carefully.

A smile escaped his lips as a woman in a red robe slowly descended the stairs. She was watching her steps and she didn't even notice someone was watching her with a big smile on his face. But as she walked outside the house, the man's smile slowly turned to a frown.

[ This woman, ] he thought as he walked back inside the room and took out a thicker coat from her room—their room. He followed her outside and was like a ninja as no one saw how he was stalking her.

Hou Wei Yan was oblivious to her husband's stalking as her mind was filled with nothing but her family's messy situation. She walked inside the maze with her mind wandering like crazy.

She wants to take the kids out of her father's territory but she can already predict he would never allow such a thing. He might be showing them too little of his attention but he still has his sense of responsibility. He gives them their needs and homes, provides them with the education they need, and even secures their protection. So she can't simply take them away from him without valid reasons.

Hou Guanyu was indeed on the wrong side, she knew that. But that was because he was forced to marry someone he doesn't love and when the time came when he was beginning to love her, his first love came back. On this matter, she's still quite unhappy with the ending.

She always says she's okay because it makes both of them free. But in truth, things could have been better if only they tried harder to fix it; if her father decided to understand her mother more, and if he just didn't give up their marriage.

Without her knowing she reached the middle of the maze. She wasn't sure how she arrived, she just did and of course, she didn't want to leave. After spotting a bench, Hou Wei Yan decided to stay and take a seat. The air was already cold but she didn't mind it at all as she was already engulfed by her thoughts again.

[ Gosh, what am I going to do with Father? ]

The more she thinks of it, the more she's beginning to turn quite bitter towards him. Just because he has a new family doesn't mean her siblings should be cast away like throwaway things. [ It's unfair! Somehow it's unfair! ]

Because in the first place, they are Hou Guanyu's flesh and blood. Even if none of them knows who their mother is, they are still Hou Guanyu's children. [ They are his product! ]

"Thinking in this cold weather won't solve your problems, it only gives you more problems to solve," a deep cold voice said out of the blue which startled Hou Wei Yan.

She was so frightened she even fell on the bench, her butt making contact with the cold grass first. [ What the hell was that?! ]

"You okay?" the voice asked once more. She looked around in terror and alert. She was sure she came in alone.

[ What's going on?! There was no one. I can see no one at all! ]

"Before you go crazy thinking of something odd, wear this coat first."

A thick coat that seemed too familiar to her flew out of nowhere. She remained frozen as she went crazy looking around for the source of the voice. [ Dear Lord, I'm too young for death to visit me! ]

She wanted to talk, to ask, to know, but she was tongue-tied out of fright. She was going somehow crazy because she wanted to run but it was a maze! She also doesn't know if it's a killer or an alien! [ What am I to do?! ]

Ji Li Zhao who was watching from a very small hole in the bushes can't stop but smile at his silly woman. Not wanting to send her into a more panicked state, he decided to speak up again, this time extraordinarily gentle with his tone. "I don't want my wife to get sick."

Hou Wei Yan was stupefied! [ His wife?! Then, it must be my husband! ]

She turned around once more for the voice. [ It's my husband! Dear Lord, it's actually my mystery husband! ]