Little Cutie

Leaving the room, AnLing wandered off down the hall.

She was in a daze but her mind was in total chaos. She couldn't get over what Grandma Lu had talked to her about just a moment ago.

Marriage?

Why now?

Why her?

Grandma Lu didn't lack grandchildren. Each one of her four kids, with the exception of the eldest, had given her at least two grandkids. As it stood, the youngest and lone male grandchild, AnLing's brother, was the only one too young to marry.

And out of all her Grandkids, AnLing knew that she would be the one to disappoint her grandmother the most when it came to the intimacies and intricacies of marital life.

AnLing sighed.

When she was forced abroad, AnLing and her parents made a deal.

The events that happened that summer would never be known to anyone outside them. So despite what had happened that night and the consequences that followed, none of the other Lu family members knew or would ever know.

Especially not Grandma and Grandpa Lu.

AnLing preferred it that way. It was for the best. She just wanted to fade into the background, but it was obvious that Grandma Lu wouldn't allow it. She was too stubborn. Now that she was focussed on AnLing there would be no escape.

Sadly for Grandma Lu, AnLing was as stubborn as she was.

She had decided a long time ago that she wouldn't have another child, so she knew marriage was an impossibility.

No man in their circle would marry a woman who wouldn't bear them an heir.

AnLing touched her stomach gently, feeling a sense of emptiness, and then cursed at herself silently.

She wasn't sure whether she was angry at her grandmother for mentioning things like that or angry at herself for not realizing how devious her own grandmother could be, but in the end, she just sighed and decided to let it go.

AnLing felt her head pulsate.

She shouldn't have come back here... but, at the same time, she couldn't stand by as her grandmother deteriorated. She needed to be there for her, even if it meant having to listen to the old woman's nonsense and possibly running into trouble.

She owed it to her.

AnLing played with the ring on her finger as she maneuvered through the halls.

Marriage, husbands, kids...

That was the natural process of life.

What would her grandmother think of her if she knew how AnLing had messed up the order of things.

Feeling her heard sink, AnLing shook her head, trying to snap herself out of her delirium. Thinking about this stuff was way too annoying and AnLing had other things to think about, like... her warm bed.

Sleep was beginning to catch up to her, now and all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and die. She barely had enough time to come for a visit, but her grandmother was worth it and this was urgent.

Thank god for her glasses or else her drained state would have been revealed right away and the last thing she wanted was for her grandmother to worry.

AnLing checked her phone.

She needed to get home before seven so she could have a little bit of 'me time' before going to her second job.

Using what little energy she had left, AnLing began to jog towards the elevator. When she arrived in eyeshot she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, turned on her heel and sprinted straight down a random hallway.

Conspicuously, she leaned against the wall and peered at the elevator. Nurses passed by, staring at her as if she was a crazy person. As some of them passed, AnLing bowed slightly and smiled, giving them awkward eye-contact.

Usually, she would care more about her image but it wasn't the time.

AnLing looked at the exit and saw three people walk in. A man in his early fifties, a girl in her early twenties and a boy in his late teens. The girl and the man spoke intimately as the boy trailed behind them with a long face, holding a bouquet of flowers.

If there was something she could never forget, even after six years, it was their faces. They were her father, sister and her brother. They walked toward Grandma Lu's room.

The boy, almost as if he sensed eyes on him, looked her way. AnLing ducked quickly before she could be seen.

Damn that boy was sharp.

When they were out of sight, AnLing walked straight down the hallway, looking for a second exit.

She didn't want to risk bumping into them or someone worse…

As she walked down the hall absentmindedly she wondered why her mother hadn't come with them. She was overseeing Lu Corporation right now but AnLing would never imagine her mother being so busy that she wouldn't be able to visit her own mother.

Mrs. Lu had pride after all!

Deep in thought, AnLing hadn't realized she had wandered into the maternity ward. She just continued to wander, muttering random things as she walked.

Six years and the hospital hadn't changed much. She remembered coming here regularly and it seemed that even her body knew its way around subconsciously but one thing she would have never imagined was that the maternity ward and cardiology ward had switched places.

Suddenly something warm and soft crash into her leg.

She looked down to see a young boy, probably no older than four or five years old.

His face was slightly flushed and his eyes were glazed over. He looked like a ticking time bomb who was just one word away from bursting out in tears.

AnLing didn't want to get involved in this but maybe because he was a child or maybe because he was around the same age her child should have been, she broke one of her most important rules: never involve yourself in unnecessary situations.

AnLing felt her palms begin to sweat and her heart palpitate. She bent down beside the kid and gave him the sweetest business smile she could muster.

The boy froze, staring at AnLing without blinking.

He smelled of powder and milk; like a newborn baby. The scent was foreign but familiar to AnLing.

"Hi there… are you okay?" AnLing asked awkwardly. Her voice sounded much weaker than it actually was.

She internally sighed. She had to stretch her vocals before work tonight.

The boy didn't say a thing, but instead, he averted his eyes and looked to the floor.

"Uh… where's your mommy?"

The boy made no movement.

"Daddy?"

The boy still didn't move.

A silence washed over the two. AnLing couldn't help but sigh.

This little cutie would be of no help. She didn't know what happened to him but she could fill in the blanks in her head. The poor cutie probably accidentally wandered away from his parent and ended up surrounded by strangers, he was probably scared right now and that was why he acted as he did.

AnLing lifted her head up and looked around hoping to easily find his parents, only to notice many women with big stomachs and a large window with small bins. The sight was all too familiar to her.

The maternity ward…

Her face turned white and then green. She put her hand on her mouth and felt herself loose balance. She abruptly lifted herself up for a moment and looked down at the floor.

She never thought she would end up in this place again. It was the one place she never wanted to come back to. The most horrible memories of labor filled her mind.

She gripped her stomach helplessly with one hand, and her mind began to fill in the blanks with nightmarish sensations.

She could almost feel the pure white sheets beneath her. as she gripped them hard.

Her eyes began to redden as the pain in her lower half appeared and disappeared in a cyclical fashion.

It was as if she was being torn apart.