Chapter3
1164 Words
Zhao Yun attempted to rise to his feet, wanting to embrace Mei, whose face was covered with sorrow, but his paralyzed legs couldn’t maintain his balance, and he collapsed back onto the floor.
Zhao Yun lay on the cold marble floor, breathing heavily, his arms shaking as he tried to push himself up. The room was silent, leaving him alone to struggle on the floor.
Mei stood a few feet away from him, her hands crossed and her eyes betraying a storm of emotions. “You shouldn’t even try,” she said, her voice covered with mockery. “You will only embarrass yourself further.”
Zhao Yun froze, his arms locked as he tried to push further. He looked up at her, his face disappointed but determined. “Mei… please help me,” he pleaded.
“Don’t even mention my name, you deserve nothing from me. I have given you all I can,” she cut him off sharply. Picking up her bag, she pulled out a check and tossed it onto the floor in front of him. The light sound of the paper hitting the marble.
“That’s one million dollars,” she said harshly. “Consider it my final gift to you. My family tradition provides ten million dollars each for young adults as startup capital when we come of age. I took that money, built a company worth billions, and poured my life into it. Now?”
“Thanks to my grandmother's schemes, everything has been taken from me and handed to my brother, Wei, like a prize. This,” she gestured at the check, “is all that’s left for me to give you. It’s the last thread tying us together.”
Zhao Yun looked at the check, then back at her. “You are throwing this at me like it’s some kind of… payment? Do you think I care about your money alone?”
Her lips twisted into a bitter smile. “It doesn’t matter what you care about, Zhao Yun. This is me severing the last bond between us.”
He tried to pull himself up again, his arms shaking as he dragged his knees under him. “Don’t do this, Mei. Please, just give me one more day. Let me…”
“Did I hear you?” She exclaimed. “One more day for what?” she snapped, stepping closer. “You want me to watch you struggle like this? To let my family humiliate you more than they already have? I can’t do this anymore, Zhao Yun. I can’t keep fighting battles I have already lost.”
“I have lost my company. I have lost everything I worked hard for. And if I stay any much longer with you, I will lose the last shred of dignity I have left.”
Zhao Yun gripped the edge of the sofa with his hands, his legs shaking as he tried to lift himself.
“Don’t you see?” Mei’s voice softened. “You deserve someone who can fight for you without dragging you down. And I…” She swallowed hard, her voice trembling now. “I can’t be that person anymore.”
“You don’t mean that,” Zhao Yun said through gritted teeth. “You are stronger than anyone I know, Mei. You have built empires out of nothing. Don’t walk away from this. Don’t walk away from us.”
Her shoulders stiffened, and for a moment, she looked away, as if his words had gotten into her. But when she turned back, her face was impassive again. “Goodbye, Zhao Yun.”
She turned on her heel and walked toward the door. Every step she took clicked the floor hard, “Mei,” Zhao Yun tried to call out to her, but his voice failed him. He couldn’t do anything but watch the only woman he loved walk through the door, leaving him alone in the room.
He collapsed back onto the floor, the sensation in his legs was now more serious than before, a sharp pain spreading through his thighs. He clenched his fist and pushed himself again, his body shaking, trying to obey his will.
“I can’t give up,” he muttered to himself, his voice barely audible. “Not like this.”
The door slammed open, and Mei’s mother, Lian, walked in. Her eyes were twisted with fury as she looked around the room.
“What is happening here?” she demanded, her voice cutting through the silence in the room like a whip. Her eyes moved from Zhao Yun on the floor to the crumpled check lying nearby. “Is this how you repay my daughter’s kindness? By groveling on the ground, dragging her down with you?”
Zhao Yun didn’t respond immediately. He tapped his hand firmly on the sofa, sweat pouring down his face as he attached himself to the sofa and finally forced his body upward.
His legs vibrated violently but remained firm as he straightened himself and stood fully for the first time in three years.
Lian froze, and her mouth fell open in shock.
Zhao Yun stood tall, his silhouette illuminated by the light of the fire behind him. His figure seemed to radiate an almost tangible power, his presence commanding the room.
“I haven’t let Mei down,” he said, his voice calm and deep, carrying an aura that silenced Lian instantly. “And I won’t let her walk away from me without a fight.”
Lian took a step back, her anger gradually melting away. “Your legs…” she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Zhao Yun took a shaky step forward, the muscles in his legs screaming in protest but obeying his will. “I have been undergoing rehabilitation in secret,” he explained. “I knew this day would come. The day when I will have to prove that I am not a weak man your family sees me as.”
Although Lian was surprised, she spoke up again, “Mei has made her choice and there is nothing you can do about that. I trust she is leaving you for good, this doesn’t change anything.”
“That’s not true,” Zhao Yun challenged her. “She is leaving because she thinks that would help me. She doesn’t need to protect me anymore, I am strong now, and I will take good care of her.”
“And how are you going to do that?” A slight smirk formed on Lian’s lips. “You have been completely useless all your life, you have no investment, nothing she could hold onto.”
“I can’t allow my daughter to make the same mistake twice unless you have good evidence to convince me to allow her to go with you.” She yelled.
“That’s not for you to worry about, take me to her.” He snapped, his voice gradually rising. “I have something to tell her.”
- Writer
