The secret she doesn’t know

After closing the door, Xue turned around backing the door.

"Hmph! My dad thought me how to make one go bankrupt if he bothers mom." Xue muttered to himself with an evil smirk on his face.

"Xue'er, where did that guy go?" Mei came downstairs washing her wet hair after taking a shower. She was wearing a light blue dress with thin straps.

"He went home, mommy," Xue replies with a bright smile. "Did he bother you?"

"No, he actually helped me a lot. He even treated my feet." Mei showed him as she sat on the sofa.

Her feet' cuts were almost healed.

"Wow, that's great mommy!" The kid beamed.

Mei nodded.

Zi walked out of the kitchen and smiled as she saw Mei came home. She sighed in relief and went into the living room.

"Finally, you're back!" The old lady said as she pats her daughter-in-law.

"Yes, mom," Mei replied with a bright smile on her face.

"Granny, mommy is hungry. Is the food ready?" Xue asked with a serious look on his face.

"Yes, my child." Zi pinched his cheeks softly giggling. "You talk just like Rui," Zi muttered with a faint smile.

"Mom..." Mei glanced at her. "We need to talk."

"Go ahead," Zi replied casually as she took a seat beside Mei.

"Xue, go play in the room." Mei pat the child's head as she smiled softly at him

"Can I use the laptop?" He asked with a cute face.

"Ok, only for a little."

Chen Xue hurried to his room and closed the door to play his games.

"What is it, child?" Chen Zi asked the young woman beside her as she looked at her.

"Did Rui have... lung cancer?" Mei finally asked with a sad face.

"I..." Zi hesitated for a few seconds only to nod her head in the next seconds.

Mei clenched her hand and looked away.

"How could you hide it from me all these years? You say I'm your daughter, but do you treat me like this? If Rui didn't have the accident, he would gave died slowly and I wouldn't even know!" The young widow exploded into tears as she put her hand on her mouth to stop talking since her voice started getting hoarse.

"Child. It was what Rui wished for. Forgive us." Zi sighed as tears fell from her eyes too and she hugged Mei who was crying.

Mei simply cried her heart out. She had been holding herself for too long. She might appear indifferent and cold to others but she only shows this part of her time to time.

Zi knew that well. She let her cry to let out all the sufferings she has been going through.

-The day after Xue's school-

Mei An dropped Chen Xue at Chen's mansion after he finished his echo and went to an important business meeting.

"Baby, I'll be back as soon as possible, " after saying that, she drove away.

"Take your time, mommy." Xue waved her with a smile.

After changing his uniform into more comfortable clothes, he went to the basement. He clicked a button under the bookshelf and a wall opened. Xue wasn't surprised. Like he was used to this.

He walked inside the room. There were laptops, boxes and papers on a pile. Xue went for the laptops and opened one.

"Daddy," he said with a grin on his face.

He looked through the saved documents and found one that was about [How to hack]. The child opened the file and read it.

After some time, he had mastered it already!

"I'm a genius!" he complimented himself proudly.

His hand slid and clicked on an unknown button. He got surprised and looked at the screen. A video of a young man appeared on the screen. He looked just like the kid. Hair colour, eyes colour, skin colour, the adult version of the kid.

Xue clicked on the play button and the male started talking.

["Hey. This is for you. My child." A soft smile appeared on his cold-looking face. It was Rui. Xue's father.

"I don't know either you're a girl or a boy. Ai, if you're a girl. Xue if you're a boy. I and your mom have decided to chose one of these names for you before you were born. I don't know if I will have enough time to see your birth but I'm doing this because... you never know. In case god takes me away before.

If we can meet before my limited time, I'll be glad, my child. But time is rushing me." Sadness filled his cold eyes slowly with each word he pronounced.

Xue watched it attentively and tears slowly filled his eyes. He was only four years old, but he could more or less understand what his father was saying.

[Rui took a deep breath and looked at the screen. "I love you. Never think I don't love you. I love you more than anything after your mother. I never wanted to leave you both alone. I also tried hard to fight this. But I failed. But I will always watch over you. Protect your mother for me. Either you're a boy or a girl. If you ever find a girl or boy you get interested in, convince your mother first because she might be hard about it." He laughed for a few seconds and continued. "She suffered a lot. She got betrayed too so she wouldn't want you to suffer like her. She deserves the world's happiness. You know that, right? I'm counting on you. There's a lot of things I prepared for you. Just try to find them within this house."]

The screen closed suddenly leaving Xue crying on his own.

"Daddy... daddy... I miss you... God, you're so mean. You took away my perfect daddy." He sobbed wrapping his knees.

***

{Ring, Ring}

The bell rang. Xue quickly wiped his eyes and rushed out. He closed the secret room and ran towards the door. He opened it and saw his mother standing in front. He fought his emotions and smiled brightly.

"Mommy! You're back."

Mei noticed something off and knelt in front of him. She touched his eyelashes and felt it was yet.

"Why were you crying baby?" She asked as she hugged him.

"Just missing you, of course." He lied bluntly.

"Liar." Mei frowned and pushed him away from the hug.

"It's true! Look, it's so late." He pointed to the clock indicating 9 pm.

Mei sighed and gave in.

"Alright, alright." She entered the house and went upstairs to fresh up and change her clothes.

'Phew.' Xue sighed in relief of not getting caught and turned on the Tv to watch his favourite show.