CHAPTER 31: LIFE IMPRISONMENT

Peace of mind is the mental condition in which you have accepted the worst. Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.(QUOTE OF THE DAY)

After about 2 hours of sleeping, whimpering sounds were heard in the bedroom. Ru Lan was crying in her sleep. She was having a nightmare again. In her nightmare she kept seeing the scene of how her mother died two years ago. She kept shouting mother No... mother No... and then her mother was shot, she died in her arms. Then she woke up with a start. She was already drenched with sweat.

She looked at her alarm clock on the bedside table, it was barely 2 a.m. no one knew of the pain she has kept deep within her heart, or the pain that eventually made her the person she was today. All they saw was the carefree Ru Lan, the happy go lucky Ru Lan. But the truth is all these were just her defense mechanism. No one knew because she didn't tell anyone and she didn't want anyone to be worried about her. During the day, she was the one who was always trying to make people see that she was okay. She had many hobbies, and she tried to build up on them and make new ones, but did she really pull a wool over everyone's eyes?

What Ru Lan didn't know was that her mother, now Mrs Ru was just standing in front of her door crying and trying so hard to not make a sound. they knew that Ru Lan has had insomnia for over two years now and they also knew how proud her Ru Lan was. She took everyone's burden on her shoulders, she always wants to be everyone's hero who always makes people happy which is the reason why she has many friends, but she as a mother knows the many scars Ru Lan was carrying and bearing with alone. She might not have given birth to Ru Lan or any other child in her lifetime, but Ru Lan made her know what it truly feels like to be a mother and both Ru Lan and Ru Lei were the biggest blessing of her life.

She hoped and pray that her daughter would soon find somebody she could lean on, one who could help her let go of her fears and heal her pain, because as much pain as Ru Lan felt, she also felt twice as much as her mother. Ru Lan's father came to hug his wife and bring her back into their room, this has become their routing for over two years, whenever Ru Lan was staying over at the Mansion, her mother always came to stay by her door. She didn't dare go into her room though, because she didn't want to give Ru Lan a reason to stay away from home entirely.

Don't worry she'll be fine. Our daughter can definitely take care of herself. He said to his wife.

Do you really think so Zhehan? She asked her husband as she wiped away her tears.

I don't think so, i know so. He said and dragged her back into their bedroom. Now let's go to sleep. You need to rest, you also had a stressful day.

Ru Lan had heard her parents, she was now sitting on the ground with her back resting on the door with tears streaming down her cheeks . the thing she hated the most was been weak and helpless like she was feeling right now. She knew that her family had found out about her but since they didn't say anything, she didn't mention it either. She was hurt to know that she was the reason her mother was crying but she couldn't do anything about it.

Now that she was awake, she didn't know what to do to kill the time since it was still going to be a few hours before morning. She just sat there on the ground with her knew folded upwards and her elbows grabbing hold of them. Her scars were too deep and she knew there was no hope for her just yet. Even dating Jason for her was not something she took seriously, she knew he was going to see the real her pretty soon and they were going to break up anyway. But she was going to enjoy the relationship for as long as it lasted so that she would have no regrets in the end.

Thinking of that, she got up and walked to her table where she had kept her phone before going to bed. She picked it up, opened the phone and she saw one unread message. She opened the message and it read...

Hey girlfriend today was the best day of my life. I know you have so many options to choose from and you choose to end up with me. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you don't regret the decision you had made today. Thank you for choosing me. I wish you'd have sweet dreams of me though. Goodnight my fierce lady. There was a kiss on the cheek emoji attached to the end.

Unknown to Ru Lan, her lips had curved up and she was smiling so deeply, and the deep pain she felt in her heart earlier had subsided. The message was from Jason and it seems she had received it after the call they had that night. She quickly typed a reply...

Hey Mr Romantic, don't get me wrong because i didn't choose you, my heart did. It just couldn't not fall for your royal hotness. Anyway, it seems like we did make a wise choice, looking forward to experiencing this new partnership with you Mr Li. You asleep yet?

She ended the text with a question, she was waiting for his reply, but Jason was asleep so he didn't even see her message. She waited for a while for his reply, and when she didn't get it, she headed to her study. She decided to make a few designs for next season. Her DBK fashion house was a high end fashion brand and it only catered to the top socialites in the entire country including the international market, what you needed to own a piece from DBK was not just money and status. She owned DBK label and she was the chief designer.

She suddenly had the urge to customise a suit for Jason, so she immediately went down to it. She had to make sure the suit was also ready before her uncle K's wedding since she plans to bring Jason along. She wanted to make one that would match with her gown in a subtle way so that they will both feel like a couple. She had not asked Jason yet though but she plans to do it before leaving next week. The wedding was next week. She immediately got down to it and started designing the suit. She didn't even realise that she had started planning for the future with Jason. She worked until the wee hours of the morning before coming out of the studio.

She yawned in tiredness, she wanted to catch a little bit of sleep so she just jumped straight on the bed, but before she could even drift off, her morning alarm was calling.

Good morning Miss Kelton, it's time for your morning run she heard Serene say.

F**k off Serene she screamed and covered her face with a pillow. I just want to sleep. She said in an aggrieved tone.

Like you said, the only way to have a positive day is to start your day with an early morning activity such as a run. Serene continued, but you can sleep though, it's not like Mr Li Jaesun would mind you been fat. Her voice was laced with sarcasm.

Aaaaaa!!!! She screamed and jumped of the bed. The moment she heard Jason's name and fat in one sentence, she had already lost interest in sleeping again.

She had made Serene when she was still in the north with her birth parents and they also use the system there. She configured her system to mimic normal human interaction and made it to speak like she would in situations like this. She had used some of hers', Li Mei's, and Ru Lei's characteristics when building this AI, and now she deeply regrets all the sarcasms she had put into it. It was now talking to her like this and there was nothing she could do about it.

She got off the bed grumpily, and said Gee thanks Serene, thank you. Because Serene was an AI, she also couldn't detect the sarcasm in her voice so she said, anytime Miss Kelton, you're welcome and i'm just doing my job.

Ru Lan rolled her eyes and walked straight into her closet, she was not about to engage in a battle of words with an BOT she created, first she'll never win and second, she didn't even have the time.

She wore her black with a tinge of lemon green coloured running outfit, she also put on her lemon green and black coloured sneakers, strapped on her watch that could also connect her to Serene. She tied her long reddish blonde coloured hair into a ponytail and wore a lemon green colour head band. Lemon green colour was her second favourite colour after sunset yellow which was her favourite colour. She was looking so picture perfect that one would think she was a sports wear model. She took her wireless headphones but didn't wear them yet, she just wore them around her neck like a DJ would. She was going to wear them after she left the house.

As she was about to leave she saw her reflection on the dressing room mirror, so she turned and faced the floor to ceiling mirror, then she took a good look of herself and said

Daisy Brianna Kelton, how dare you look so hot and sexy? You're so lucky been to beautiful is not illegal in this state or you would be jailed with lifetime imprisonment and no hope for bail. Then she tsked tsked and said right Serene? But before Serene could answer, she quickly said, don't answer that... don't answer that.

Serene answered anyway, Miss Kelton, I've checked my database and every law book and law cases available on the internet, there is no such thing as jailed for been too beautiful and it is certainly not practiced in N Nation, so you can rest assured girl, no one is coming for you. If Serene was human, she would have given Ru Lan a smug smile right about now.

Ru Lan gritted her teeth and said, thanks for raining on my parade Serene. You are such a mood killer. Are you sure i made you? Because i know i'm not that boring. Then she proceeded to leave the room and go for her run. Thanks to Serene, she now felt like a deflated balloon.