60 60_Buried Secret

"I don't know what to say." Mu Ruan shook her head.

After listening to Li Yao for quite some time, she still couldn't believe it. How could a girl like Li Yao- who was just 17 years old at that time, survived all these years?

"At first, I did hold grudges against the killer- I mean the one who hit her on the accident. But I soon found out that it wasn't the case at all. She committed suicide. It was her own choice, I couldn't blame anyone. It was my own fault." Li Yao said in a low voice. If she really had a choice, she really wanted to turn back time and paid more attention to her mother.

"I'm so sorry for the trouble my mom caused your family. She was selfish, I admit. And I am too. That's why I told Mu Lihai to forgive himself since it wasn't his fault to begin with- it was mine." she failed to be there when her mother needed her the most. She wasn't a good daughter.

"To think that it was suicide all along.." Mu Zhi sighed as he also shook his head.

"But it wasn't. It couldn't be.." Mu Ruan broke the silence. Her hands gripping onto her casual dress.

"What are you talking about?" Li Yao furrowed her eyebrows when she heard it wasn't a suicide. She provided evidence to Mu Lihai's parents. Why did madam Mu say that it wasn't?

"Listen to me, Li Yao. You must never come close to my son again. It's for the best of you both." Mu Ruan told Li Yao. She stood up to close their distance.

Now she was holding onto Li Yao's hands in hers. She pleaded for Li Yao to leave her son.

"Please.." she said. She looked broken.

"Stop it, Ruan!" Mu Zhi took a few steps towards his wife and he held her in his arms.

"What are you doing?!" he asked her.

"This is the only way. I don't want it to be repeated again!" she told him with her eyes in crystal. Tears almost threatening to break.

Li Yao became silent. She didn't understand what was going on. She stood up and asked what was happening. Her face showed myriads of different emotions. She was utterly confused.

"Stop asking for the impossible. Don't you see for yourself that she and Mu Lihai are in love with each other?" Mu Zhi was the one who unexpectedly said this.

"But.." his wife wanted to say something but he wasn't finish yet.

"Listen to yourself, Ruan. Lihai has gotten along with his past. He knows what he's doing. I think that's why he's much happier now." Mu Zhi patted his wife back gently.

"Lihai is not like what he used to be anymore. He's not the same teenager we once knew." he continued.

With some consolation words, only then did Mu Ruan decided to take a seat back. She apologized to Li Yao for acting without thinking. She was just afraid of something happening to her only son. Hearing this, Li Yao knew straightaway that something wasn't right. She sat down in silence and she didn't move a muscle.

"I respect your courage to come tell us the truth about six years ago. And I'm really surprised to hear that you also suffered from it. It must be tough on you." Seeing his wife not wanting to talk, Mu Zhi decided to take the matter in his own hands.

"But that isn't what we're worried about." he said. His words literally asked for Li Yao to pay full attention.

Mu Ruan faced her husband with a conflicted gaze but he assured her that it was fine.

Mu Zhi went outside of the study for a bit to ask for aunty Zhu. She was asked to go to the bedroom and retrieve a file in their closet. When she came in the study again, the file was in her hands.

"Where's Lihai?" Mu Zhi inquired as he took the file.

"He's taking a call by the entrance." aunty Zhu said and he nodded.

Mu Zhi went back to his seat and he gave the file to Li Yao. Li Yao looked at it for a while before she reluctantly opened it up. It was a health record from Xu's First Hospital.

Surprisingly, it was Mu Lihai's record. The date here traced back to six years ago. But that was just the beginning. As she trailed her eyes down and to the next page, Li Yao realized that this record was peculiar. It was all about mental injury- not physical ones.

"What.." as she stopped at a particular spot, Li Yao couldn't contain her rapid beating heart as her chest kept drumming in frenzy. She started to disbelieve her eyes.

AS PER THE CONDUCTED TESTS, PATIENT MU LIHAI, 18 YEARS OLD IS HEREBY DISCOVERED TO BE SUFFERING FROM MAJOR MEMORY ALTERATION (ARTIFICIAL). DUE TO THE SAID DISCOVERY, PATIENT MU LIHAI IS SUBJECTED TO NEGATIVE SIDE EFFECTS SUCH AS DISTORTION IN MEMORY, DECLINE OF IMMUNE SYSTEM, SEVERE HEADACHE, EMOTIONAL INSTABILITY AND MULTIPLE MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS.

".. What's this..?" Li Yao looked at Mu Zhi and Mu Ruan. Her eyes were clouded in perplexity. She didn't know that what she was about to hear next would make her shed tears not for herself, but for Mu Lihai.

"It's just as you read." Mu Zhi said. A look of resignation appeared on his face.

"Six years ago.. Lihai went missing for a day, a complete 24 hours. But we weren't worried. Because he was always like that. He usually didn't come back home to hang out with his friends. But during those 24 hours- he was actually no where in sight. As if he disappeared." Mu Zhi continued.

"When he came back, he immediately told us that he had killed someone. He looked totally different from what we remembered the day before he went out. He trashed everything on the floor. His face full of tears. He looked haggard. Then he fell on his knees, apologizing. It's like he was a totally different person. We were in shock. We didn't know what exactly was happening with him. He kept repeating that he had killed someone- a woman who he hit with his car."

"We immediately called someone whom we could trust to investigate the accident. And it was just as we heard from Lihai- he really did hit someone with his car. But things didn't just end there, he became more violent as hours passed. We had no choice but to send him to Xu's First Hospital. We ran many tests on him and he was unconscious for several days. They didn't know what caused him to have different personality until this report came out." the master of Mu family said. He didn't say anything after that anymore as he closed his eyes then he sighed.

"It is supposed to be a buried secret. We haven't talked about it ever since." this time the one who was talking was Mu Ruan.

She finally turned to face Li Yao. With a sad smile, she wiped her tears away.

"I'm so sorry for telling you to leave him. It's just.. that I.." she stopped talking about it. She felt horrible. She never really wanted to open this topic again. It was supposed to be a secret. A secret she should hold for the rest of her life.

Only then did Li Yao get the gist of it. Why madam Mu wanted her to be away from Mu Lihai. It was because by him being with her- whose mother was directly involved with Mu Lihai six years ago, might trigger some unwanted memories in his head.

"So it's a forced memory alteration?" she questioned with her fist formed. Her heart hurt to the extent of unbearable. Like she was caged in thorns.

"Yes. Someone out there did that to him. And we think that they're also involved in your mother's death." Li Yao's heart shook when she listened to the words.

"But after listening to you, we might have to reconsider. Your mother's diary is proof that she really had the intention to kill herself." Mu Zhi told Li Yao.

Now they all had no clue what was really happening. And the only person who knew the truth was none other that Mu Lihai- who was now clueless about his own condition.