CHAPTER FOUR: FIVE MINUTES
863 Words
I returned to City A with evidence burning a hole in my bag.
Bank statements. Recordings. Testimony. Enough to destroy Shen Yiran completely.
But I needed more. I needed to understand how deep this went.
Did Jingchen know?
The question tormented me. If he was part of this conspiracy, he was as guilty as Yiran. But if he was deceived like me, then he was also a victim.
I didn't know which answer I wanted.
The next morning, an unexpected visitor arrived at my hotel.
"Miss Vivienne, Lu Jingchen is here to see you," Xiao Lin said nervously. "He's very insistent."
My blood turned to ice.
"Let him in."
The door opened.
He looked worse than before. Dark circles. Stubble on his jaw. A man who hadn't slept in days.
Good. Neither had I.
"Wanwan." His voice was hoarse. "We need to talk."
"That's not my name anymore."
He flinched. "Please. Five minutes."
I considered refusing. Considered calling security.
But I needed information.
"Talk fast."
He stepped inside. The door closed.
"That night," he said quietly. "The night you left. I made a mistake."
"A mistake?" I laughed bitterly. "Is that what you call it?"
"I didn't know the truth. The photos looked real. My mother was screaming. Everything happened so fast—"
"You believed them over me. Your wife. The mother of your children."
He went pale.
"I know I failed you. I should have fought for you. That night has haunted me every day since."
"Has it? Because from where I stood, bleeding in the rain, you looked unbothered."
"I wasn't unbothered. I was in shock. By the time I came to my senses, you were gone."
"So you moved on. Adopted children. Built your empire."
"Perfect?" He stared at me. "You think my life has been perfect?"
"I don't think about your life at all."
The lie tasted bitter.
"I searched for you," he said. "I never stopped looking."
"Yet you never found me."
"You disappeared completely. New name. New everything."
"Su Wanwan didn't exist anymore. She died in a hospital holding two tiny blankets."
Something flickered in his expression. Confusion. Pain.
"The babies," he said slowly. "You mean—"
"Your five minutes are up."
I moved toward the door but he caught my arm.
"Wait. The children. Xingxing and Xiaobei. They haven't stopped talking about you."
My heart hammered.
"Xingxing cries every evening because the pretty lady hasn't come back. Xiaobei asked if you were the woman in my photos."
"What photos?"
"Old photos. Of you. Of us." He swallowed. "I kept them all."
"That's not my problem."
"The woman I married wouldn't look at two children and feel nothing."
"The woman you married is dead. You killed her."
He recoiled like I'd slapped him.
"Get out. Don't come back."
He didn't move. His eyes searched my face for a crack in my armor.
He found nothing.
Finally, he turned toward the door. But he paused.
"I found them in an orphanage. Three months after you left. Two abandoned babies. No records."
I held my breath.
"When I saw them, something pulled me toward them. Like I recognized them somehow."
My nails dug into my palms.
"I named the girl Xingxing because of you. You always loved stars."
Tears burned behind my eyes.
"I've tried to be a good father. But they've always felt incomplete." He looked at me. "When Xingxing met you, it was the first time she felt complete."
I couldn't speak.
"I don't know what that means," he said softly. "But I'm going to find out."
He walked out.
The moment he was gone, I collapsed.
Yebai found me twenty minutes later.
"He was here," I managed. "He doesn't know they're his biological children."
"Then he's a victim too."
"I don't want him to be a victim. I want to hate him without complication."
"Hate is rarely uncomplicated."
I laughed bitterly.
"This changes things," I said. "If Jingchen didn't know, then Shen Yiran acted alone. Or with his mother."
"Lu Meifeng had the most to gain from removing you."
"She threw me out. Called me a w***e. Slapped me while pregnant with her own grandchildren."
"The question is whether she knew about the babies."
"The doctor said she was there. She watched them being taken."
Yebai's jaw tightened. "Then she's as guilty as Yiran."
I stood up. Determination replaced despair.
"I have evidence. I have witnesses. Now I need to decide my next move."
"Confront them?"
"Not yet. I want them comfortable. Unsuspecting." I smiled coldly. "Then I'll burn everything they built."
"And Jingchen?"
I thought about his haunted eyes. His desperate voice. The way he said he named our daughter after stars because of me.
"I haven't decided yet."
Part of me wanted to tell him everything. Watch his face when he learned the truth.
Part of me wanted him to suffer first.
"Take your time," Yebai said. "But remember — the children are caught in the middle."
Xingxing's face flashed in my mind. Her bright smile. Her tight hugs.
My daughter.
My son.
For five years, they asked where their mummy was.
Now mummy was here.
And she was coming for them.
- Writer
