Novel Bin Chapter 214 - Lies That Doesnt Hurt
"Give me a sec," Ye Jie excused himself and went to a quiet corner to make a call.
It was about midnight when Xu Mey’s phone rang by her side. In her sleep, she tried to find the phone and answered it, "Hello!"
"Hey, baby! How are you?" Xu Mey heard Ye Jie’s sweet voice and she rubbed her eyes to look at the clock.
"Ah-Jie isn’t it too late for you to call? Why are you even awake at this time?" Ye Jie’s smile stiffened at the other side.
"I wanted to talk to you. I’m missing you." Ye Jie’s voice was a bit lower than usual.
Xu Mey smiled in her sleepy state and replied, "I miss you too. But Ah-Jie, I’m really tired today. Can we talk in the morning?"
"Alright! Go back to sleep and take care of yourself." Ye Jie hung up the call and stood there looking at the phone screen. ’Baby, how am I suppose to lie to myself when you didn’t even bother asking me if I’m alright?’ He shook his head, took a deep breath and came back to sit beside Zhu Chen.
Zhu Chen glanced at Ye Jie’s dull face but stayed quiet. "Hey, Dr. Chen I forgot to ask, what brought you to a bar? I didn’t take you for someone who particularly liked drinking." Ye Jie tried to divert his mind away from Xu Mey as he asked Zhu Chen. It’s easy to lie to your heart but the mind is very meticulous. It just doesn’t listen. Therefore, Ye Jie was avoiding thinking about it further.
Zhu Chen took a sip of his drink and stayed silent for a moment before saying, "I’m here for the same thing you came for." Ye Jie knitted his brows at his reply. "I came to forget something."
"What do you have to forget?" Ye Jie peered at him with curiosity.
Zhu Chen tilted his face and stared straight at Ye Jie’s face saying, "Today is the day, I lost my son." Ye Jie went blank at his statement. "He would have turned 31 today if life would’ve given him a chance." Zhu Chen’s eyes turned red and Ye Jie could see the unmasked sorrow clearly. Zhu Chen didn’t notice Ye Jie’s odd look and turned to order another drink for himself.
’I wonder if I should say happy birthday to myself on turning 31 or not? Seeing you this sad, my heart doesn’t even want to hear a single happy birthday now.’ Ye Jie thought to himself as he couldn’t bear to see the melancholic look on Zhu Chen’s face. "Shouldn’t you be with your wife today of all days?"
Zhu Chen inhaled a deep breath saying, "I avoid Susu on this day. I can’t bear to look at her. Somehow I feel like it’s my fault that our son was born dead." He gazed into a distance saying, "Today is the day when I can’t stop her tears from falling and I also can’t bear to see her cry. Therefore, I choose to avoid seeing her altogether."
Tears had pooled up in his eyes. Ye Jie had to bit his lower lip to avoid the tears in his eyes from falling. "I’ll be right back," he excused himself again and briskly walked towards the comfort room.
In his hurry to hide his emotions from Zhu Chen, Ye Jie left his cell phone at the counter beside Zhu Chen. When it rang, Zhu Chen darted his eyes around but couldn’t see Ye Jie. After pondering for a while, Zhu Chen decided to pick up the call.
Before he could say, "Hello!" he heard an extremely familiar voice from the other side, "Happy birthday, Jie Ge-Ge!" Azalea’s voice was a bit hoarse because of the cold she caught suddenly.
’Oh, it’s Jie’s birthday. That’s why he’s feeling so lonely.’ Zhu Chen thought to himself as Azalea continued to talk, "I’m just calling now since I figured that you’d want sis Mey to wish you first. Oh, and Ge-Ge when are you coming back? I’m missing you a lot. And I’m missing my Chen dad a lot as well."
Zhu Chen stuck for a while hearing her say ’Chen dad’, that was what his own daughter called him. "Azalea?" He asked in disbelief.
Azalea was taken aback at the voice she heard from the other end. But she shook her sleepy head and added, "Ge-Ge, I know that you’re a spitting image of dad that doesn’t mean that you have to even talk like him. I’m already missing him a lot. But this is not fair huh... Why do you have all the features like dad and I have none?" Azalea whined for a minute more before Zhu Chen heard the sound of her steady breaths. He knew his daughter’s habit of falling asleep while talking.
’That was Azalea for sure!’ Zhu Chen thought, looking at the caller id on the phone screen, ’Little sister’. He couldn’t be wrong about recognizing his own daughter’s voice especially when he heard it after more than a year. ’But how did Azalea and Jie get acquainted? And what did she mean by all that?’
Zhu Chen saw Ye Jie walking back towards him and he couldn’t shift his eyes away from him. Looking at Ye Jie, he noticed all that he didn’t pay attention to before; his face, his style of walking, his demeanor, and most importantly his eyes.
’Is he really... my son?’ Zhu Chen’s heart shook at the possibility of this.