No Matter How Long Time Passes, I Still Love You Chapter 125: The Missing Stem 3

While the previous chaotic night flew by quickly for Zi Yan, things were rather slow at the hospital where Chen Mu spent the night massaging Susu's arm nonstop. His heavy eye bags looked like a girls' mascara nightmare.

In the middle of the night, Susu opened her eyes to meet a tired pair of eyes. He smiled and asked in a low voice after pointing around the room where four people were sleeping on top of another with weird poses that could be part of a paparazzi's front cover. "Did you sleep well?"

She nodded, "my arm doesn't feel as numb and it doesn't hurt either. But on the other hand, you should seriously get some rest. Look at those dark circles." She frowned as she traced the grayish shadows underneath his eyes with her thumb.

"I will when they wake up to watch over you. Are you hungry or anything? I'll go to get you something to drink." He stood up slowly but was held back by her warm hand.

"Stay here. I don't need anything but for you to take some rest. I'll be right beside you too." She insists with a serious expression that he could not turn down.

He yawned silently and whispered, "you have surgery in three days. I must get you prepared."

"Whether the surgery successes, I've already prepared myself for the worst, so don't worry." She said as she moved her body to one position and patted the empty space for him to get in bed with her.

"Actually, there are some things that you may not like to hear, but I still want to address it. But don't get mad at me for meddling in your business, okay?" He hopped into bed and leaned on one side of his body to face her eye to eye.

"Mmm. When have I ever gotten mad at you? You can say anything that's on your mind." He pulled the blanket to cover her shoulders before going on to the touchy subject about her family.

"I know how much you've gone through since young and the struggles you had, but I do believe that your grandfather and mother deserve a chance to explain what happened during these years. No mother would want to leave their child in a wolf's den and from their concerned tone from earlier, I am certain that they have a good reason."

"Whether or not you accept their explanation would be your choice and nobody will pressure you to acknowledge them. But if you think about it, for all the times you've wanted a family with someone who would dote on you, you finally have it now. You have a mother who would cry when she realized that you found a man who treasures you dearly. Also, a grandpa who respects your decisions and is willing to wait until you're ready to hear them out."

"Nevertheless, he came all the way across the globe and found you after these years. He had an open-heart surgery at such an old age and managed to get this far. That's a miracle. How many years will he live? It's hard to say. I think they deserve the chances so hear them out if you can."

"Then why.." she muttered in a sulking tone. Seeing the lines on her forehead made him rub that area with his thumb and plant a kiss there.

"Then why don't you ask them these questions that only they could answer? I'm sure you have plenty of these 'why and 'what's.' Just like our relationship, communication is the key. If you don't reach out, then they won't ever know how you feel."

"I understand. I'll hear them out." She snuggled closer to him and eventually shut her eyes. After speaking to him, she felt like a wall had disappeared between what's holding her back and her family.

'He's right...I should give them a chance and then decide if I should accept them back. Maybe they did have a very very very serious situation that delayed them for years.' She thought to herself as she fell back asleep.

He whispered words to ease her unsettled heart until she fell asleep. It was only after she had fallen asleep did he send that text to Zi Yan.

Text Message: "She's willing to hear your story. She just fell back asleep, so maybe you and grandpa should visit around the afternoon."

After that, he received a sticker with a bunny smooching a heart with the word, "okay," inside of it. He can now rest peacefully with her in his arms.

By the time everyone woke up, Susu and Chen Mu were still asleep. Lily stayed behind as Chen Nan and Ariana went out to grab some breakfast. Meanwhile, Lin Que went back to the lab to see if he could find more information about the drug.

Even though the reports came out with different types of immunosuppressant results, a part of him felt that something was off. Although he didn't understand what's not connecting about these reports, he still wanted to triple check just in case something was overlooked.

While he did that, Lily folded the blankets and stacked the pillows that they used last night. Lily took out her cellphone to edit some pictures and videos from last night, but noticed something unusual on Susu's right side between her neck and the collar that blocked off her shoulders.

The video only showed it for a few seconds, but there was clearly a mini shadow that appeared and then went away. She walked up to Susu and checked her right shoulder to make sure nothing was there.

"That's weird...I swear I saw something from this video." She scratched her head and rewatched her video.

As she swiped left and right to decide on which edits to use on the video to see the shadow clearer, Susu started frowning in her rest. Lily quickly woke Chen Mu up to check up on her while calling Chen Nan and Lin Que's phone.

Susu was in deep slumber and the more they tried to wake her up, the more she struggled with strong fists clenching on her blanket.

In her dream, she heard multiple voices calling her name. She wandered and followed the voices, but discovered nothing but darkness. A path appeared, and she decided to walk in the direction where steps started to form.

As she walked a step forward, the previous steps would disappear. She started seeing bits of memories as she continued up the steps. The memories reflected the times that she spent with her mother when she was young. She smiled as she recollected how her mother had taught her how to make the rose design.

Towards the end of these memory pieces, the steps also stopped developing. She progressed to the last step where the last pieces of memory floated around her.

Her mother's voice repeated, "remember. This rose will only be complete with the stem. Mommy will keep the stem, and you protect the flower. When we meet again, we'll put this design to make it one piece. When that time comes, mommy will tell you everything."

"rose?" She watched her mother place the blossomed rose in her hand and put the stem in a separate box. Her mother patted her on her right shoulder, and she felt a little sting. It was a light pinch to her, but she could see the bitterness in her mother's eyes when that took place.

Her eyes concentrated on her mother's lips as it mouthed, "go to sleep." Just when she wanted to take a step further, she realized that there were no more steps left. Not only that, the current step that she was standing on was about to disappear as well.

She could sense her body dropping from a high distance into a bottomless pit. A hypnic jerk startled her awake as she gasped and sat up after opening her eyes.

"Susu! You're finally awake. We were so worried about you!" Susu turned her sweaty forehead towards the source of the voice, "Lily? Chen Mu?"

"How are you feeling?" Chen Mu gave her a quick check up and asked followed up questions. Lin Que had prepared all machines and examination rooms for Susu after hearing about her deep slumber problem. Chen Nan and Ariana also rushed back from the bakery.

Susu's eyes widened and grabbed Chen Mu's arm, "rose! The rose!"

Chapter end