"Where is Yun?"
Jia, along with Huojin, drove at the social services center first thing in the morning to visit Yun where Mrs. Shen was already waiting for them.
"Superintendent Song. Superintendent Mo," she politely greeted them.
They gave a small nod. "Can we et Yun?"
A somber look flashed past her face. "Of course. Yun hasn’t been in a good state since though. He hardly ate last night and didn’t get any decent sleep either. We tried our best, but he is missing his mother a lot."
’Mom...Dad...Where are you?’
’Mom, I miss you...’
’Dad, I am all alone with Lihua. I don’t know what to do. We are really missing you, Dad.’
’Please co back, Mom, Dad. Please co back...’
"Jia?"
Unbeknownst to her, Jia’s grasp had tightened on her wrist. Slightly shivering, her stupor fell apart, and she gave a dazed look to Huojin for a mont. But it quickly disappeared. "Yeah, I am listening."
He let his irises remain fixed at her, studying her expression. But he didn’t delve into it. He whispered, "I was thinking if we should let Yun et Dai ihui."
"It is...I don’t know, Huojin. Of course Yun will be happy. But letting them et and then taking him away from his mother again will just make it...miserable for everybody. Plus, it will take a while before the judge sets the rights for Dai ihui and Dai Fengge to et him."
Huojin released a sigh. He knew this already, but he still hoped to see him smiling.
They stepped into the room where Mrs. Shen’s assistant was playing with Yun, or at least was trying to. The room’s decor was warm and comfortable, filled with many soft toys and plushies for Yun to play with. But none of those attracted him.
"I want to play with Mama!" He pushed the toy away, his eyes reddened with crying and pleading. "Where you take Mama? I want Mama...She always tell story at night."
Jia watched the tears staining his chubby cheeks, making her inhale a silent, shaky breath. She couldn’t hold back her vision from getting blurry, seeing herself in Yun. Years ago, she was in the sa place as him, desperately wishing for her parents to co back and hug her.
How nice it would have been if it was a dream...
But neither her and Lihua being left alone was a lie nor the reality happening to Yun right now.
She slowly approached Yun and sensing her presence, he looked up. But he was unresponsive despite seeing the cop who had been in-charge of the investigation.
His small, teary face twisted her heart and she inwardly pressed her lips. She bent on her knees and held his shoulders. "Hello, Yun."
He gasped and sniffled at the sa ti but strangely remained silent. Jia read the burning questions in his watery eyes that urged to know about Dai ihui, but he didn’t ask those questions to Jia or Huojin.
This is difficult...
She felt her heart tear apart to explain the truth to the little boy. How could she bear to say that his parents were being punished for a serious cri?
How should I start...?
Huojin understood Jia’s struggle, and he contemplated talking to Yun and taking over. Instead of that happening, the light in Yun’s eyes flashed for a second and he withdrew from Jia’s hold. He jumped off the bed and straight towards the door from where they had co in.
"Yun, wait!"
Mrs. Shen was on alert as she assud that Yun might be trying to run away to et Dai ihui, but the truth was different. Instead of making his way out to run away from the building, they saw him crashing ahead to hug a pair of legs. "Mingshen!"
Jia’s eyes widened, noticing Mingshen’s tall figure casually standing outside the door with his hands inside his coat’s pockets. She glanced at Huojin, who was confused with his presence as well.
"Mingshen, Mama...Take to Mama...Where is Mama?"
"Hey kiddo~" He bent and picked him up in his left arm, a charming smile curling his lips upwards.
"...What are you doing here, Mingshen?" Jia cautiously asked.
"I was sure you needed my help so I ca to make your lives simpler~"
He placed Yun back on the bed and took a chair in front of him. "You know your Grandma is not coming back, right?"
Yun nodded.
"When I say not coming back, you do understand in a sense that she was living before, right? But now she is dead."
"Dead?"
"Mingshen! What are you-" Jia urgently tried to stop him, but he simply raised his palm, signaling for nobody to interfere.
Mingshen kept his gaze fixed at Yun and grabbed the small flower pot from the bedside. "You see this flower?"
"Yes."
"This flower is living. It was a tiny seed at first. Then it sprouted into a stem, then into a leaf and eventually into a flower as ti passed. This is what we call growing.
You were a baby at first, and now you are six years old. Then you will turn seven, eight and so on. You couldn’t talk and walk at first but now you do. Why? Because humans keep growing just like this flower. Living things constantly grow. They age as they grow and then cos a point when your body just becos too tired. That is called dying. Have you seen a wilted flower?"
He nodded.
"This flower is going to wilt just like that once it reaches enough of its age and once it will beco too weak. It simply ans to die. You don’t breathe anymore. Once you cannot breathe, you don’t live anymore and things that don’t live anymore are gone forever because everything stops for them. Sa thing happens with humans. Sa thing happened with your grandma. She is never coming back. So now do you understand what dying ans?"
Yun nodded very slowly. "Evything stops?"
"Yup."
"What stops?"
"Heart stops beating in your chest. You stop breathing through your nose. Everything in your body stops working."
"It cannot start again?" He tilted his head.
He shrugged. "We can try but only upto so ti limit. Sotis it’s possible to make it start, sotis it’s not. If you have ridden a cycle, you will know that there is only as much your parents can do to repair it if it breaks. If it’s too broken, nothing can fix it. Eventually, you have to throw it away. You don’t get it back once it breaks too much, right? Sa happens with life."
Yun bead as he was able to relate with that analogy. He nodded hard.
"Smart boy," Mingshen praised. "Now coming back to dying. There are different ways to die. Usually, it cos naturally when you beco an old person. You understand that part now."
"Yes."
"But sotis and for so reasons, so people choose to make soone dead. Your grandma is one of those people who died because sobody else wanted it. It wasn’t natural."
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