Chapter 7

At the hospital, Lin Ying sat beside her father's bed and rubbed his hand gently. Sigh... "By the time you wake up, I might have been married already. I'm sorry father, I wanted to wait till you were awake to witness our wedding but..." she couldn't come up with an excuse and decided to say something else.

"Don't blame yourself for this marriage. I am very happy with this arrangement." her voice was breaking as though she was about to cry for the first time since she heard about this marriage arrangement.

"Remember Fù Meilin? It turned out he wasn't the one for me. Chen Zhen on the other hand is... okay even though he has a cold aura..."

Finally, she gave in to her tears and cried. "What am I going to do father? Fù Meilin looked like the typical nice guy but turned out to be... married with a son... and... and... Chen Zhen looks like an arrogant rich kid. What do I do father?" she held his hand tightly and cried with her head bowed.

"What do I do?"

Time passed and Lin Ying got back home from the hospital tired her eyes were swollen but she had concealed them with makeup to make it look less obvious.

She had made it her duty to take care of her father as much as she could before the wedding date is set.

As soon as she got in, she went straight to her room. Just as she was about to relax, a knock came on her door.

Dragging her feet, Lin Ying walked to her door and let the person standing on the other side in.

"Grandma..." she tiredly spoke before going back to her bed to sit.

Song Ting was holding a tray with different types of food for Lin Ying. As she drew closer, she spoke. "You haven't eaten, I'm sure you must be tired." Song Ting walked to Lin Ying's bed and placed the food on the table beside Lin Ying's bed.

Song Ting sat beside Lin Ying and caressed her hair while Lin Ying hugged her tiredly like a tiny pampered child.

"Um... It's been a while." Lin Ying commented as she snuggled in her grandmother's embrace even more.

Song Ting chuckled slightly. "You still look like my little granddaughter. I often forget your age."

Lin Ying broke the hug and laughed at her grandmother's statement. "You always say that whenever you visit me in Florida." she teased and her grandmother laughed in sync with her.

Soon, the room became silent. It was obvious to Lin Ying that her grandmother was not just here for a chat nor was her sole aim to bring her food.

Just as Lin Ying had expected, Song Ting began to talk. "Lin Ying... Your mother and father are supposed to be taking care of themselves and not the other way around. I understand that you want to do your best for your father's health but... but... you don't have to do anything you are not comfortable with." Song Ting knew that going against her husband could be a problem but at the same time, she wanted her granddaughter to live her best life.

Lin Ying sighed softly then placed her hand on her grandmother's hand. With a smile, she spoke. "This isn't me going against my will. I've seen Mr Chen and he looks like a nice man..." she held her grandmother's hand tightly and smiled even more brightly, "I'm fine..." she spoke with a reassuring voice.

Song Ting knew that Lin Ying was only saying this to make her feel better but all she could do was support her granddaughter.

She sighed and removed a customized envelope from behind her. Passing it to her granddaughter, she spoke, "This came in this evening. It's from the Chen family."

Lin Ying raised a brow confused then took the envelope from her grandmother's hand and read through it.

As she read the content, she didn't reveal any expression. It was really difficult for Grandma Song Ting to fathom what she was thinking at that moment.

Sigh..."Seems the Chen family are in a haste to have a new daughter-in-law." she was worried that they were trying to steal their precious Lin Ying away from them.

"Your grandfather has already agreed to the date but..." Song Ting wanted to say that she could still protest about the date if she wanted to but Lin Ying interrupted her.

"The date is fine by me." was her quick and short answer.

Grandma Song Ting wasn't surprised by her answer. After all, Lin Ying had also said that she wanted the wedding to happen as soon as possible.

Song Ting sighed and didn't have anything left to say. She held her granddaughter's hand and showed an encouraging smile before standing to leave.

As soon as grandma Song was out of the room, Lin Ying sighed. "It doesn't matter anymore. This is partially for me."

Apparently, she was doing this not just for her sick father but using it as an opportunity to move on from a relationship that just ended.

***

In his apartment, Chen Zhen was in from of his computer working past time as usual. It had been his habit to be engrossed in work even now that Lin Ying was coming into his life, he didn't plan to stop.

Still busy with his work, his phone beeped. It was a notification from a private number.

Reluctantly, he tore his eyes from his system and looked at the message. Chen Zhen took his cup of coffee then unlocked it and in the next minute, he spat the coffee in his mouth out.

His brow furrowed and the grip on his cup tightened. On his phone was the photo of Lin Ying and another man kissing.

He scrolled to another picture and saw the duo laughing with their fingers locked.

The anger was visible on his face as he saw different pictures of Lin Ying and the unknown man together in a lovey-dovey manner.