Title: Love Becomes You
Author: sereace
Warnings and Notes: Since I find it quite improbable that you'd be reading the second chapter of this fic without reading the first, I just tell you to read the first chapter for warnings. *sheepish grin*
The most drastic reaction he could do was to blink in astonishment at the scene before him.
His father was having a frenzy, a reaction reserved for his business dealings, meetings and conferences with dignitaries he did not even want to hear, much less see, of.
Her mother was ranting of how not one outside their family could be trusted, or even depended on.
But amidst the rants, the outbursts of emotions, and the tirade of his parents, Hua Ze Lei found it extremely strange that not once, not once, did he hear anything in the lines of: How could you have fallen in love with someone so poor?
Not that, of course, he actually wanted to hear it from his parents, but at least, he knew, or prepared himself, how to deal should that particular scene arise. Defending Shan Cai, he could handle. It was second nature to him—breathing, the first. But having his parents rejoicing the fact that he finally found someone he loved, and had the words to tell them personally, regardless of the girl being a part of the world they looked down upon was…unnerving. Scary, almost.
"Hua Ze Lei! What have you to say for yourself?"
He blinked in the general direction of his father, and met slightly unfocused eyes whose color was only slightly darker than his. 'He was asking me something?'
"Forget it, dear. He's not listening." Was the cryptic and amused remark of his mother.
His father sighed. "I know. The moment we stopped ranting, he started dozing off."
Lei raised his brows. He had indeed started dozing off when his parents stopped ranting. He allowed a small grin. 'Strange.'
His mother stared at him, then at his father, then back at him, before she sighed wearily and pressed a couple of fingers to her temple. "Alright, since you both know each other so well that you make me feel an outsider, why don't you," she said, pointedly staring at Hua Ze Lei's father with a raised brow, "Answer for your son?"
Lei turned to his father expectantly, arms crossed over his chest. 'Let's see him get out of this.' He thought profoundly, delighting in the fact that there could actually be someone in this world that could intimidate his father.
"Don't you think it unfair, anata, that you are not giving your son the chance to answer for himself?" His father stated, smiling amusedly at his mother, who was, to say the least, not amused.
"I would, if he was listening to me."
"He was, he just couldn't differentiate what the rant and the questions were."
"Are you telling me that my oratory skills are of no match to yours?" Her mother stood, her weight on one leg, hands on her hips. Lei wanted to laugh, but he knew if he did, then it would be him on the grilling pot, not his father. That wouldn't even remotely be entertaining. It would be downright scary.
"Now wherever did you get that idea, koi?" His father started, palms up to placate his mother. "If you should be blaming someone it should be our son here who," the business conglomerate started, pointing to his direction, "I daresay is having a good time seeing us argue for his sake."
Lei opened his mouth to protest, but closed it shut when he saw his mother face him. He fell back to the plush cushion and searched for something interesting to look at on the carpet. Like its pattern…three squares on interloping pattern, alternating with five, which is connected to another three…
"What, pray tell, my dear son, is so interesting with that pattern of the carpet? Are you trying to count the number of the squares? There are one-hundred fifty-five squares in groups of threes, one-hundred and fifty-six in groups of fives, and they cover the area of one-thousand thirty five square meters…"
"We all know your IQ is well beyond 200, anata. There is no point in flaunting that." There was barely covered sarcasm in the tone of his father's voice that was also mockingly said that Lei had to chuckle out loud. His mother turned to face his father, an evil glint in her eyes.
'Uh-oh.' Was the only eloquence he could think of as he saw his mother start towards his father.
"I still love you, koi, even if your IQ is merely 200 flat."
"Your point being?" Was the heretic answer.
"What intelligence our son has is because of me, you couldn't possibly have enough to share to your son since what you have is barely enough for you." His mother answered back flippantly. How exactly could a forty-something woman married to a forty-something-almost-fifty man answer back so flippantly? The only thing missing is a flip of the hair and his mother could well pass to be a Ying-De student. A student!
If there had to be a sore spot to his father, it was the fact that his wife was fifteen-points, IQ tests-wise, higher than he was. And it was then that Lei took his cue to intervene. This IQ-thing with his parents had not really ended, ever since it started. Eh? Scratch that—he also had enough of their smart-ass comments that were a tad bit too close to being teenagers themselves. It just rubbed the heir of the Hua Ze family the wrong way that his parents acted way he should act.
"Actually, my being autistic back then was due to having too much of the intellectual genes, and none of the emotional genes."
His father heaved in a sigh of relief. "How long were you planning on not actively participating?
"Until you could still answer back. Besides, it was nice seeing you on the defensive."
"That's my boy! I knew there was another reason why I was given someone like you."
"Mother, my bank account is not large enough to buy you the entire collection of Swarovski for the next five years."
The brows of his mother furrowed, as she took her former position. "Which bank account is that? We'll have fix that, shouldn't we, anata?"
"It would pose no problem. We'll fix it as soon as Lei fixes this scam."
Lei's mother blinked. "Right." Swarovski collection forgotten, she turned back to his son. "Well? We've been dragged from the conversation long enough. What have you to say for yourself?"
"Regarding what? Why your spies had not reported everything? Or the part where why I had to fall for Ah Si's girlfriend? What the consequences were? Or am I ready to throw everything I had all my life for her?" Lei said, holding up four fingers. "There are six, seven more, but we'll start from these four."
"I asked all that?" His mother directed at him, eyebrows raised.
Lei shrugged. "For someone who's IQ is 215, you can forget fairly fast. But yes, you did ask all of them, and more, if I am allowed to disclose."
He was answered with a similar shrug. "Alright, and no, you are not allowed to disclose."
Lei smiled unabashedly. "If you say so, mother." He paused, gathering his thoughts, before speaking again. "Your spies…have been blocked by the intelligence of Ah Si's family's special police. As of the moment, Mei Zhuo contacted me and informed me that Ah Si has been incommunicado for at the least seventeen hours. I talked to him a couple of hours ago. I'm due to fly over in three hours. Regarding the scam, I was able to find out where the error has been done, the people responsible, and who are concerned, and those wrongly accused. We have been cheated 2.7 Billion dollars. The report is right here," he said, patting the folder beside him, before he went on, the hardening look in his father's eyes not escaping his own. Lei chose to continue, the punishment of those who had crossed his father's path was not his business. At least, not yet. "Falling in love…falling in love is not falling in love if you know. I did not know how I cared, did not know how much I meant every word I said then, which I thought I had only spoken to provoke Ah Si, until it was too late. I thought I loved Chin, and I did. It just wasn't love…" He trailed off, unsure of where he was heading. He did not know these things himself…how could he bare his soul to others when he himself is unsure?
His eyes met his mother's. It was smiling. Encouraging. "We understand, Lei."
He smiled back, nodding his head. "Why I had to fall for Shan Cai…is because of Shan Cai. If perhaps she was a tad bit different than who she was, then maybe…but she wasn't. And the consequence was to let go. Ah Si needs her more than I could ever do. She is the only happiness he could turn to, could ever come close to holding. In some ways, I'm luckier than he is, in some ways, he's luckier than I am…I am contented to be the pillar she leans on when she stumbles, when she feels she needs to catch her breath, when she feels she needs to rest, to just feel…"
His father peered into him. "To be Ah Si's shadow? Are you satisfied of that?"
He met his father's eyes, and nodded. "It's enough for me. It is as close as I can get…I would rather watch her from the edge of the world than lose sight of her altogether."
"And what of Ah Si? How certain are you that he would be better for her than you could be? And who are you to decide whoever would be better for her? Whether it be Dao Ming Si or Hua Ze Lei, don't you think she has the right to think for herself?" His mother hurled the questions at him without mercy, and Lei could feel himself snap, begin to regret his decision. Again.
"Because I have hurt her…broken her in the most vicious way a man could ever break a woman."
His mother turned to her. "And how is that?"
Lei closed his eyes, feeling the pain wash over his entire being. "I let her go."
Notes: Thanks to all those who reviewed…to pam (caramel), for her unfaltering support…