50 The confession (2)

"She was being so mean to me because I was unable to bond with Yun. Not that I planned to because I wanted out. But then she started insulting me so much and talking shit to me…" tears poured out of her eyes as if even reliving that experience brought pain to her.

"She knows how to get under your skin. I had never felt so mentally drained before meeting that shitty woman like her! I knew about the plan but I was so angry that…" she gnashed her teeth with hatred, "I could stop myself from throwing that damn inhaler away!"

She sneered as she faced Jia. "After coincidentally meeting Wu Yue and her grandmother, I then understood why her grandma had to resign from the school. She was just born toxic! She makes life a living hell for anybody who comes in contact with her!"

The gush of heated emotions rushed throughout the theater akin to a dam breaking down.

Dai Meihui stared at the kneeling Dai Fengge and asked with a voice struggling to come out, "When…when did you learn of my plan…?"

With dull eyes and a numbness gripping his body, he replied mechanically. "Three days after Mom made the movie plan. Did Yun…tell you about it because it was supposed to be a secret."

"...Yes. Yun didn't know but I knew that I wouldn't be going. I realized what Mom was planning."

"You asked him to tell me that he wanted the last row seats anyhow, right?"

She pressed her quivering lips. "Yes…I told him not to reveal my name."

He faintly smiled. "I see…In the middle of the night, I saw you tiptoeing out of the house with your phone. I wasn't feeling sleepy. I felt odd and when I followed you outside, I heard you whispering to someone on the phone. I heard you had booked tickets for that person to sit beside Mom for her to trigger her allergy. Suddenly I realized…why Yun was so stubborn."

He inhaled a breath that felt painful and biting. "I was shocked…I couldn't believe that you were plotting Mom's murder. I wanted to confront you but strangely, I didn't. You were going to call me when it would be time for the grandma to kill her to make me step out. When I heard that…I thought that I c-could use your plan to get rid of Mom…Ever since I saw Chun a few weeks ago with her family, a strange fire and anger was burning inside me. The bitterness flooded inside me all over again and I…I just wanted her out of my life…"

He clasped the watch on his wrist, caressing the broken glass. "I was so thrilled to feel that I will finally get my freedom back. That I won't have to tolerate her obsession. But when I was holding her mouth shut, I saw her eyes…"

Dai Fengge shook his head slowly, closing his misty eyes. "I saw the betrayal in them. Her own son was killing her…I couldn't believe when she breathed her last. I felt so…so horrible. What have I done…? She was overbearing, but she was still my mother. I attacked Miss. Ma that day to let out my frustrations. To escape from reality. Just to m-make myself believe that Miss. Ma killed her, not me…I didn't want to be the killer…" he broke down, hugging his wrist to his chest and stroking the watch that was her birthday gift to him.

Jia asked in a quiet voice, "During the interrogation, all the things you and Miss. Yin said-"

"Were a lie," he admitted, "The love for Mom, the shock of her death, everything was an act so that we don't get caught."

"Yun didn't see you attacking Mrs. Dai?"

"When I realized Mom was waking up…I quickly stuffed Yun to Xiaoling's side and whispered to her to keep his attention away from me. He didn't see me doing anything."

"Why did you attack Miss. Ma in the park?"

He broke down. "I don't know…what took over me. I couldn't sleep the nights after that day. I felt miserable. I saw Mom ha-haunting my dreams, looking at me with her…accusing and disappointed gaze. I couldn't think straight. I j-just wanted to take my anger out on somebody. I was selfish in trying to harm Miss. Ma wh-when I…" he choked, "I am equally responsible…I am sorry…"

He stared at Dai Meihui and asked listlessly, "Why…after eight years of our marriage, why did you want to kill Mom now?"

Dai Meihui shared with him an equally defeated look. "It was a struggle, Fengge…every single day. Do you understand how it is to live like you are watched under a microscope every day? That's how your mother was. Questioning me everytime, poking me everytime, making me feel like I am worthless, the sarcasm, the contempt…I felt suffocating. I had become…suicidal at one point, Fengge."

His eyes slowly widened.

"I was cooking one day and looking at the knife, I suddenly had an urge to cut my wrist and just…What was the point? But thank God that I snapped out of it. My son needs me, that's what I thought. How can I leave him alone? What will happen to Yun if I am gone? I felt stupid. And your mother saw me doing that stupidity."

Desolation filled her gaze as she said, "Do you know what she had to say to me seeing me almost cut my wrist?

'What the hell are you doing! I don't care what problems you have but don't let my Fengge deal with this nuisance! Do you even understand what other people will think? They will think that Fengge was abusive or that I might not be treating you well and that's why she…Snap out of it and don't be stupid! My son treats you so well and this is how you want to repay him for his love?'"

Dai Fengge felt as if somebody shook the earth beneath him.

She mockingly laughed. "You heard it right, Fengge. Instead of talking to me and figuring out what was wrong, instead of trying to understand the pain I have been bottling all this time, the only thing she was worried about was getting you and her in trouble after my death. I didn't decide to take this step because she was overbearing but because she had truly become my enemy."

Jia asked after a pause, "What do you mean?"

"The day of my attempted suicide and after the bitter words spoken by her, I have had it. I told her that I would talk to Fengge about us living separately from her because my patience had run out. I also told her that I knew how Fengge is. He most definitely won't agree to this separation. But I will still talk to him. If he doesn't agree, then the only way left out for me would be divorce. I will take Yun with me and leave."

"What was Mr. Dai's decision?"

"It never got to that point because my decision had rattled her. She never thought that I would really think of getting a divorce and leaving with Yun. She told me not to act hastily. She apologized for being rude and to keep the matter between us. She even said that things will go the way I want from now on."

She gave a weak smile. "I couldn't believe that she agreed so easily to relinquish her control over our lives. But she acted well-behaved with me from then on and I thought the situation had really changed for the better. I will finally…live the life how I wanted to. But it was all a deception. That joy lasted only until I learned how she brought Yin Xiaoling into your life. She wasn't supporting his affair. She was the one who made him cheat."

With shaky breaths and a sniffling voice, she spoke, "She laughed at me when I had confronted her. She said that I deserved this after threatening her. She said that…no matter what, Fengge and Yun will always live with her and she would never let me take away any of them. If I tried to, then she would simply bring another replacement who would never go against her and I will never get to see Yun again…

I-I don't know how but even if I had filed for divorce, she had plans to throw me in the bad light as a bad wife and mother. She would have made sure that I would never get Yun's custody. I wanted to get out of their lives and take Yun away but she had closed all my ways."

She clenched her fists, fury ablaze her eyes. "It was then that she had crossed all her limits. Not only was she making Yun's and my life miserable, but she was stopping me to do anything about that too. She wanted to be in control no matter what. It was then I decided that she…has to die."

The harsh truth fell on Ma Wenyan's ears, and he asked Ma Zhilan with a voice still searching for her innocence, "Why did you help her, Mom? Please tell me that you didn't…"

"I did," Ma Zhilan accepted her guilt fearlessly. "I helped Meihui with her plan."

"Why…? You just met her once! Yes, she helped us find Juan but that didn't mean that you should feel so indebted to…!"

Jia sensed Ma Zhilan's difficulty in explaining her reason, so she took the cue.

"That wasn't the first time they had met, Mr. Ma. They had seen each other several times before. It was during the incident of losing Juan that they came together and formed the murder exchange plan."