MTLNOVEL Chapter 1059: Live the happiness that she couldn't
The elevator doors opened with a chime and the man hitting on Alix stepped out with trembling legs. One of the nurses looked up and down and said, "Sir, you don't feel so well."
"Huh? N-No, I-I am completely fine," Sweat slid down the side of his ears as he stammered.
A shadow approached him a moment later and he felt Jinhai's cold side glance at him. His expression paled.
"A-Ah! My friend must be waiting for me! W-what am I doing here wasting my time?" And he ran away as if his pants were on fire.
Alix rushed outside and almost slammed into Jinhai's back when she managed to put a break on her legs.
"Mr. Liu!"
Jinhai turned and arched his brow.
"It's a misunderstanding."
He blinked questioningly.
"That…" she slightly heaved breathlessly. "Saying that I am Jin's fiance was only to make him back off. It wasn't…serious."
"I know."
"...I am sorry," she bit her lip hard, cursing her stupidity.
"Don't be."
She was taken aback.
Why is he so cool about this?
"Aren't you angry that I…lied like that?"
Jinhai stared at her as if he couldn't really understand her confusion. "What is there to be angry about? I believe Jin would be really happy if he learned that you used him as your fiance."
"..."
He smiled. "We are simple men, at least when it comes to love."
"Jinhai! Alix!"
They saw Nana brightly waving at them from a distance.
"Please come and meet her."
"Me?"
"She waved at you too."
Before she could protest further, Jinhai had already started walking towards Nana's checkup room. She stood uneasily for a while before slowly following him.
"Alix, dear. How is your mother now?" Nana asked, concerned.
Alix maintained some distance from her bed and cleared her throat. "She is fine now."
"Good, good," she nodded. "We were so worried for you."
Jinhai frowned and adjusted the pillow behind her for her comfort. "You were not sitting properly. What if you faint?"
Her brow twitched. "It was just a regular checkup. Why would I faint?"
"They drew a lot of blood I saw."
"That was just a regular amount of blood for testing."
"I felt it was a lot," he remained stubborn.
Nana pouted and beckoned him forward. He dutifully did so and she pinched the center of his forehead with her fingers.
"You don't look handsome with that frown on your forehead, hehe," she chuckled.
Jinhai smiled and pecked her forehead. "I won't frown if you are healthy."
"I am always healthy~"
Alix stared at the happy couple from a distance, thinking back to the past when she had seen a completely different and monstrous side of Jinhai. A man devastated by his wife's and children's deaths now shone with warmth.
She thought back to how cold and ruthless he looked while warning that man in the elevator. That same ruthlessness was shown to her at one point when she died by his hands but never imagined that one day he would show that same stance to protect her like she was his own…
Daughter…that's so ridiculous to think about.
But watching them together bugged her mind with another melancholy.
"Excuse me, Sir? Can you please come out for a moment? Just need your signature here."
Jinhai patted her head. "You don't move."
"You don't have to tell me like I am a child," she sighed.
She looked at Alix. "Oh, why are you standing so far away? Come here," she patted the chair beside her bed. "I will show you some pictures until Jinhai returns~"
Alix hesitated but couldn't do much before her insistence. Nana opened her phone's gallery and proudly showed her the pictures of her children of their young age.
"Hehe, don't they look so cute?"
Alix took a glance and for the first time saw the younger versions of Jian, Nian, Jun, Nuo and Jin. She swiped through a plethora of happy pictures and guilt struck her heart once again.
There was one family picture of Jinhai and Nana with the five siblings in one frame all happy and joyful. Alix stared at in silence, her eyelashes faintly trembling.
"You are really lucky, Mrs. Liu. To find a husband like Mr. Liu. It was hard for me to imagine what a loving husband looked like but it became clear when I met your husband. Dad too."
She exhaled shakily, her slight glassy gaze fixed at the picture. "Then there are some for whom…life sucks so much that finding a loving partner seems like a luxury. It seems that I have inherited that fate."
Nana peered into her misty gaze. "Are you talking about your mother?"
"Mom? She is lucky just like you. Dad cried when she fainted."
Nana pressed her lips. "I meant to ask…your mother. Zhan Kai-Ming."
It felt like time had come to a complete halt as Alix slowly turned to face her. She said after a long beat of silence.
"Sorry?"
"You were thinking about her, didn't you?"
She stared into Nana's beautiful brown irises who were looking back at her with a calm understanding. But it was that calmness itself that made Alix freeze to her spot.
"Before you misunderstand it, Jin didn't tell me anything, nor Ai. Dad had heard you two talking in the corridor the day you brought lemon blueberry cake for us. He told Jinhai and Jinhai told me."
Suddenly, even breathing had started to feel like a laborious task for her. An urge to escape rushed in her feet but it was as if they were frozen to the floor, making her feel paralyzed. Her mind was a mess and chaos. Though she had confessed the truth to Jin, she had hoped that it would only remain between themselves and never spill out to the Liu family.
"I thought…" Nana slowly said, "it was a sad thing to say that you inherited your mother's fate. Yes, your mother didn't get the happiness she deserved but that is why she wants to see you the happiest. She faced that harsh destiny which is why she doesn't want you to face the same. I am a mother too, so I know. We always want our good fortune to pass onto our children and keep the bad luck only to ourselves."
She softly held her hand. "That's why you should live the happiness that she couldn't. I am not saying that happiness must be with Jin just because he confessed to you. It's for you to decide, Alix. Who is that man you see your future with."