7 Father

"Aunt Li, is Dad back?" Qing Yue walked into the open-island kitchen and withdrew a bottle of water from the fridge.

She hadn't had anything to drink before leaving home, and she never drank at parties; who knew what they added in them.

And after her sudden explosion of anger, she felt as parched as if she was a fish laid out to dry in the sun.

Carrying the bottle in one hand, she set her purse on the kitchen counter and moved to the glass cabinets.

"No, honey, your Dad isn't home yet. You guys returned early. Have you had dinner? What would you like to eat tonight?" Aunt Li followed her into the kitchen and held her hand, leading her back to the kitchen counter before returning to the cabinets.

"Qing Qing, I told you many times not to enter the kitchen. It's beneath your status. But you never listen." She brought out a glass cup and walked to Qing Yue's side, and unscrewed the cap as she gently scolded.

Qing Yue smiled.

"Sorry, Aunt Li. You know I don't like troubling others."

"Honey, am I a stranger? Why would I be troubled in giving you a glass of water when I work for your father?"

"Aunt Li, you..."

"No need to say anything. Even if I am more than a servant to you, it doesn't change the fact that I am a servant of this house. I might be your Dad's cousin, but that's where our relationship ends. The Li family has no space to house divorced daughters." A forlorn look entered the middle-aged woman's eyes as she gently patted Qing Yue's head.

Sighing dejectedly, she withdrew her hand and continued pouring the water in the glass cup.

"Your Dad gave us mother and daughter shelter. For that, I am thankful to him. But I can't ask for more. Here's your water, dear." Handing the cup to Qing Yue, she turned and expectantly smiled at Yei Yi.

"Yei Yi, did you celebrate Qing Qing's birthday well? What did you guys do?" Yei Yi was in the midst of unbuckling the belts of her steel heels, her face scrunched in annoyance when the hook refused to give.

Upon hearing her mother's questions, her figure froze for an instant, before she resumed her action. Seeing the steel hook still stuck in the rubber belt, she straightened her figure and forcefully slammed her foot on the marble floor.

Bang! Bang!

"Yei Yi!"

Aunt Li was terrified. What in the world was her daughter doing? Did she want to get them kicked out? With a horrified expression, she rose out of her seat and rushed towards her.

Qing Yue finished her water and turned to watch the scenery outside the glass walls.

Night hadn't descended yet.

In the distant city, the towering, 900 feet tall skyscrapers were cast under a dark shadow as the hovercars and hoverships, with the 3D holographic advertisements swarmed above them.

The green fields of the Li property, under the setting spring sun, glowed like a sea of emerald jewels. A few birds flew over the land, their soft and gentle tweets rippling through the open glass windows as a gentle breeze swept by and flapped the pristine, exquisite curtains.

Qing Yue rested her head on her palm and enjoyed the melody of nature in peace, ignoring the scene at the door.

When Yei Yi entered one of her sulking moods, Qing Yue always calmed her down. But today, Qing Yue wasn't in a good mood herself, so how could she care about Yei Yi?

As the only friend she had, Qing Yue usually ignored and turned a blind eye to the girl's controlling behaviors.

Even though she preferred the quiet and wanted to keep her birthday simple, for Yei Yi's happiness, Qing Yue suppressed her discomfort and went along with her plans.

As long as Yei Yi was happy, she could endure a few moments of discomfort.

Besides, it was only for a day.

However, she didn't anticipate Yei Yi to make a careless remark about her and Tang Fang.

As much as she hated to admit it, Qing Yue had been badly shaken by the familiar incident.

So she spoke and interacted with Aunt Li normally, but her anger towards Yei Yi hadn't abated. She didn't forgive the girl and nor did she forget the incident.

With another bang, the rubber belts went loose and Yei Yi annoyedly kicked off the heels to the side. Her sight inadvertently shifted to Qing Yue, but the girl sat serenely gazing out the window, an unconcerned expression on her face.

Yei Yi's brows furrowed.

What was wrong with Qing Yue? Why was she behaving so...differently?

"Yei Yi, what are you doing? What if you damaged the floor? Your loser of a father can't even afford an inch of this marble!" Aunt Li, having finally reached her obnoxious daughter, breathlessly scolded and pushed her aside before going on her knees to check the marble for dints.

"How can you behave like this? Your loser father gambled his money away. If you..."

"Mom, can you not call that man my father? I told you so many times that I don't consider him as my father. So why are you still calling him my father?" Yei Yi, irritated by Qing Yue's strange behavior, exploded when she heard her mother mention the shame of her life.

"I hate him! Understand? I hate him, so don't ever mention that man again!" Picking up her purse, she side-stepped the stunned Aunt Li that remained crunched with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

With a lowered head and clenched fists, she raced towards the room behind the spiral stairs.

Bang!

Yei Yi leaned on the door, her breath coming out in rough gasps as she suppressed the shameful tears in her eyes.

Why?

Why could Li Qing Yue's father be so noble and outstanding? So powerful, majestic, and awe-inspiring while her own f...no!

She didn't consider that man anything but that man...

He was so embarrassing, shameful, and disgusting!

Why were the heavens so unfair? Obviously, Li Qing Yue and her both had Li blood in their veins, so why...?

Why were their statuses so different?

Why was Li Qing Yue the moon in the sky while she, a mere firefly gliding under her radiance?

Just why...?

It was all her mother's fault! Of all the men in the world, she had to find a gambler!

Yei Yi's eyes turned red. She slid to the ground, wrapped her arms around her body, and buried her head in her knees.

Her pitiful sobs resounded in the silent room, muffled and suppressed under her trembling hand.

Aunt Li raised to her feet and returned to the kitchen with a dazed expression.

Standing next to Qing Yue, she grabbed her hand. Her anxious gaze returned to the closed door and she worriedly asked.

"Qing Qing, why did Yi'er react so strongly? Did something happen today?"

"Aunt Li, calm down. Maybe Yei Yi is tired and needs some time to herself." Patting the elder woman's hand, Qing Yue stood and gently withdrew her own.

"Aunt Li, I am also tired. I will head up and get a little rest. Let me know when Dad arrives." Grabbing her purse, Qing Yue turned and headed towards the spiral stairs.

Aunt Li blinked and looked at her empty hand.

"Qing Qing withdrew her hand?"

Since Li Qing Yue was little, she always stuck to her side, clutching her hand like Aunt Li was her lifeline. Today was the first time in 17 years that the girl withdrew her hand out of her own volition.

Aunt Li felt strange and she turned to see the girl's straight receding back. Shaken by the act, she lost her composure and ran after her.

"Qing Qing! Qing Qing!"

But as if she couldn't hear her, the girl didn't stop. She continued her ascent without a backward glance.

Aunt Li paused with a dazed look, finding the whole incident surreal.

A few heartbeats later, her kindly eyes turned fierce and she bristled in rage.

"It must be Yi'er! She must have done something to upset Qing Qing. This Da** girl! She and her loser father are exactly the same, always creating trouble for me." Gritting her teeth, the woman angrily stormed towards Yei Yi's room.

Back in her room, Qing Yue threw her purse and flapped on her bed.

She was tired.

Living in a world where everything was different, where everyone behaved differently, sapped her energy, leaving her tired and drained.

She was confused.

If the heavens wanted to give her a chance at life, why did they keep the memories of her previous life intact?

Why did they send her to this strange world with the memories of her original world?

Why...this world at all?

As her violet eyes roamed over the luxurious room with its splendid decorations and purple lavender petals strewn around, loneliness and desperation oozed off her slender frame in surging waves.

"How long...? For how long will I continue to live in the illusions of this dream?"

With a heavy heart and disoriented mind, Qing Yue fell into a deep slumber.

*

"Save us! Somebody save us!"

"My baby! My baby is in the fire!"

"Someone save my wife! She got left behind!"

"Uwahhhh! Mommy! Mommy!"

Qing Yue blinked, her face filled with confusion before dread clenched her stomach in knots.

She licked her lips, her muscles tightening, as she raised her ashen face and fixed her fearful sight to the scene around her.

"Another rotten dream!"

The words passed her lips in a strangled hiss, her violet eyes swimming with tears of despair and a deep haunted look, as she raised an illusionary hand to her head.

Ever since her first birthday, Li Qing Yue's peaceful life had shattered and crumbled apart like a stack of cards.

For all the wealth and glory, the only daughter of the richest man in the New World Formation suffered from horrendous nightmares.

On her first birthday, the day she turned one, Li Qing Yue regained the memories of her previous life!

The one-year-old Qing Yue, though in the body of a child barely able to speak coherently, started dreaming of a world engulfed in blood and gore.

If that was all, it wouldn't have been so bad.

But as she grew older, the dreams grew more brutal and savage. Where before she only saw blood and severed limbs, with the passage of time, she began to witness masses of people burnt, crippled, poisoned, lacerated, and tortured to death.

The horrific dreams were so awfully similar to her ending that she crumbled and cried to anyone who would listen, to bring them to an end.

She begged to just kill her and stop the cruelty.

But as if she was only an outsider viewing a film, her pleas went headless, her cries ignored.

And so it went on and on and on. Without any sign of stopping, the nightmares continued and the tormenters never stopped.

The only daughter of the richest man in the New World Formation lived her days like she was in a dream, while she spent her nights with nightmares of blood and gore.

"Ahhhhh! Husband!"

The shrill cry was a knife, sharp and filled with deep anguish that pierced her heart.

Against her better judgment, Qing Yue's eyes unwittingly flew in the direction of the cry and her breath caught.

In a sea of corpses, a woman sat on her knees clutching a lifeless corpse to her chest.

The dead man's skin was blue, evidence of poison.

But what caused Qing Yue's breath to catch was his horrific state.

From the man's seven orifices, a swarm of maggots and slimy worms crawled out, eating and gnawing on his flesh as they spread to the rest of his body.

Lower down, on the man's belly, was a large, bloody gush where blood-soaked parasites and leeches latched onto his innards and feasted with relish, wriggling and cleaving more skin as they moved further up his body.

And that was only one person.

The many, many corpses littering the ground were all in similar, horrid conditions.

Qing Yue turned and gagged.

"Uuhhug!"

*

"Ah!"

Qing Yue woke with a start, her heart pounding violently in her chest as her wild eyes confusedly swept around the room. Seeing the familiar furniture and decorations, her tense muscles relaxed.

Her head throbbed, beating violently as if a war drum was being banged beside her ears. Taking long, deep breaths, Qing Yue placed her hand on her chest and tried to calm her racing heart.

"It's okay, Qing Yue. It's okay. It was only a dream...nothing more than a mere nightmare." At least, that's what she hoped.

Because she didn't want to think of it or consider it as anything more than that. A mere nightmare.

Qing Yue descended from her bed and walked to her queen-sized mirror. Her pale face and haunted eyes reflected back to her, making her cringe in distaste. Her grey blouse stuck to her body, defining her curves, as sweat poured down her forehead to her bloodless lips and down her chin.

"...Nothing more than a mere nightmare..." She whispered again, tried to believe it. But her weak and uncertain voice made it difficult to do so.

Sighing dejectedly, she ran her hands through her sticky hair and was focused on at least keeping them untangled when a shout came from outside her door.

"Qing Qing! Qing Qing! Your Dad's back. He wants you to join him for dinner."

"Coming sister Na!"

Hurriedly straightening her skirt and fixing her blouse, Qing Yue took one last cursory glance at her appearance in the mirror.

"Will have to do for now." Satisfied...well, at least finding herself presentable...she turned and rushed out the door.

The spiral stairs were long, wounding around like a sinuous snake with glistening scales as it loomed disdainfully over the miniature creatures below.

Qing Yue was gracefully descending the last third, her heart pounding in her chest and her hands soaked with nervous sweat, when her anxious sight fell on the black-clothed figure of her Dad, Li Chen.

"Father..." Timid and weak, her voice sounded like that of a frightened bird before a hungry lion.