28_Took Her So Long

Mu Lihai was awaken with the ring of his phone calls instead of his alarm at exactly 5.30 am.

"What's up with you? It's Saturday for God's sake!" he grumbled in annoyance. But the other person didn't have the time to entertain him.

"Wake up, my young master. There seems to be a problem with our materials in country X port. Our subsidiary there is facing setbacks." Zhu Kang's urgent voice woke Mu Lihai up instantly.

"What?" he sat himself up in his bed as he ruffled his bed hair. Mu Lihai immediately felt so cold and he instinctively bundled his upper body with the thick quilt again.

"I've booked a plane ticket for you to head there immediately. Please get ready and I'll come pick you up in exactly 30 minutes."

Mu Lihai despite the curses under his breath, got himself ready in less than 20 minutes as he strode down the stairs with his usual business attire.

Ever since he took over Mu Enterprise, his parents had never participated themselves in the company affairs anymore as they were focusing on their new branch abroad. When he was still in overseas, Mu Lihai's parents were the one to take action in this type of situation. So having this sudden emergency in the middle of his sleep on Saturday wasn't common for Mu Lihai.

On the next few hours, he was already in the plane towards country X. Mu Lihai didn't get to call his girlfriend due to the sudden emergency.

*

Li Yao woke up fairly late this particular morning. She was having trouble sleeping as she was preoccupied with her thoughts.

And she purposely ignored Mu Lihai's call too.

She didn't want to talk to him. At least not for now. Her head was too muddled. She didn't want to end up bursting out at him. She loved him. So she didn't want to be harsh with him.

Li Yao had breakfast and she prepared herself to go somewhere. She needed to know something about her mother. But she didn't know where to start.

But she already had a hunch. So she planned to visit their home in Merry Waters. The last place where they spent their time together before her mother went out to buy groceries and got into the accident.

Li Yao didn't really want to go back there because now it was her relative who was living there. She loathed seeing their faces again but she didn't have a choice.

When she arrived, Li Yao rang the bell and a woman past forty opened the door. Her face turned into a scowl after she saw Li Yao.

"Hello aunty. I need to get something from here." Li Yao said coldly while she wore her professional smile.

"What is it that you need? I think there's nothing here that will be of importance to you." the so-called aunty answered with a hint of disdain.

"Please excuse me." Li Yao didn't have the time to play with others so she invited herself in.

When she walked inside, her eyes roamed around to see that everything in the house didn't change that much. But that was not of her concern anymore. She went straight to her mother's study where she didn't get to come inside very frequently in the past as her mother had restricted her to do so.

Li Yao tried opening the door but it was locked. She looked at her father's second sister. But the woman didn't say anything except letting out a scoff.

"I didn't have the key. You have it." the woman said matter-of-factly. Li Yao raised her brow to ask further but then she remembered.

She managed to get her hands on all the master keys of this house before her relatives snatched it away. Li Yao wore a smile as she rummaged her hands through her handbag.

She found it. The key. She even forgot that she had it all this time and that she brought it with her whenever. It had been so long.

When Li Yao opened the door with the key, her aunty raised her voice suddenly.

"Make sure you get out of here immediately after getting what you want." she said and she soon left Li Yao alone to make a call upstairs.

Li Yao stared at her aunty fo so long before she went inside the study. Everything was in place. It was still the same.

Li Yao tried remembering the moment before her mother went out that day. Nothing out of ordinary happened.

But maybe she was just trying to lie to herself.

Pretending that nothing reallly happened.

Li Yao heaved up a sigh as her feet took her near the desk where her mother did her work.

Li Yao tried to brush off the memories but today it was hard to do so.

Li Yao actually knew that her mother was acting strange a few days before the accident. Her mother would space out and she would appear tired.

Li Yao thought it was normal and that her mother would be fine again after some time. But it was just a wishful thinking.

"Mom.." her voice broke. This place did a good job in making her emotional. She could feel her mother's trace and scent in this room.

".. I'm sorry." it took her so long to come back.