Imperfect D_e_s_i_r_es

*Flashback Continued*

Xin Zemin didn't want to talk to whoever was on the other side of the phone, so he hung up in frustration. However, his words left Destiny in shock. She was reeling in disbelief from what she heard.

"Carina... Surrogate..." These words kept repeating in her head like alarm bells. As an outlandish idea formed in her head, she instantly shook her head to deny it.

She looked back at Xin Zemin and found him on another call as he was instructing someone, "Help me find the details about Wen Ai's friend Carina Novell and her daughter." After he hung up, he looked even more distressed. Standing before the door of the operating room, he was saying, "Huanhuan, how nice it would have been if our daughter didn't die... We never even got to see her."

Destiny felt her body shaking. She leaned against the wall as Carina Novell's last words rang in her mind, 'Family... Look... For... Your... Family...' After that, she never spoke as she never woke up from the coma.

At that time, Destiny might not have understood her words but now, everything seemed very clear to her. She waited in the hospital until the doctors said that Zhao Huan's condition was stable but she was unconscious. But hearing them say that Zhao Huan might never wake up again, made her heart sink.

Disguising herself as a nurse, she entered Zhao Huan's room in the middle of the night. She found Xin Zemin sitting on the bedside with his hand holding Zhao Huan's. He kissed her hand as he said, "Please wake up, okay? I only have you... Even though everyone says I have the world, only you know that I only have you. So don't you dare leave me alone."

Seeing him crying like this Destiny didn't dare look up. She slowly took Zhao Huan's blood without any hitch. First, her disguise was pretty good. Second, Xin Zemin wasn't mentally in the state to notice anything odd. Especially when all she did was take a little blood.

The next few hours that Destiny spent in the lab waiting for the paternity test result had to be the worst of her life. If her conjectures turned out to be true... She didn't know how she'd be able to face anyone.

And when she did receive the paternity test report, she finally felt like someone pulled the earth right from underneath her feet. Or maybe it was the sky crushing her down. Whatever it was, it didn't feel good.

She slumped down in the hospital corridor without any care. She had finally lost. She actually tried to kill her own mother. Her heart felt like it was being squeezed. It was painful and suffocating and yet she couldn't scream out her pain. She brought it all on her own. 

She ran back toward Zhao Huan's room. Since she was still wearing the nurse's uniform, the bodyguards didn't stop her. Xin Zemin wasn't inside when she came. Walking up to her bedside, Destiny looked at Zhao Huan's pale face. She lifted her hand to touch her face but her fingers trembled.

She had tried to kill her own mother with the very same hands, now how could she touch her with these dirty hands? Destiny had never thought about the consequences. She was always very rash and impulsive. She always thought she was the smartest and maybe that's what led her to this point. 

Her biggest problem was that she never gave anyone the benefit of the doubt. Unlike Xiu. While Xiu would even look for goodness in the worst of people, Destiny would rather believe in evil. When everyone said that Zhao Huan was simple, but a good person. She only took it as her facade. 

It was just how she had seen the world. From a young age, Carina Novell had taught her to be strong. Fight for what's yours. Don't believe in people. Even the kindest of people have the evilest of hearts. All these things she had been taught from a young age. And she chose to let it all engrave deeply on her soul.

"I'm sorry..." she choked out as she kneeled beside her bed. "I really am sorry. I know I don't even deserve to say this because it won't change anything but I still want to..."

"What are you doing?"

Hearing Xin Zemin's voice from behind, Destiny was startled as she jumped to her feet and without thinking chose to run. She didn't know if she could face him right now. She had seen with her own eyes how deeply hurt he was right now. If she came before his eyes, he might even not be able to take this blow.

"Stop!" Xin Zemin tried to catch her but her movements were nimble as she was young. Taking advantage of both her age, speed, and lithe body, she jumped out the window. "What are you all doing?! Go and catch that person!"

As she came out of the room, she could see how much chaos she caused. Everywhere she was being searched. With ease, she made an exit from the hospital and looked up at the building as her eyes narrowed dangerously, "It seems like I had it all wrong from the very beginning. It was never my game. I was just a pawn on someone else's gameplay."

"Little girl, isn't it too late to realize that?" 

Destiny turned her head to see who spoke but before she could, someone blindfolded her and bonded her hand. All her struggles were in naught. No matter how she tried to escape, she was just a 17-year-old girl before these experienced people. She was really like a helpless little lamb that was asking for a wolf to come and eat.

*To be Continued*