Bai Meiyue ran right towards the corner where the teddy bear was lying. She snatched it from the floor with trembling fingers, and when the tips of her fingers rubbed against the once soft fabric, she could sense that it had turned coarse and hard.
But when her eyes darted to the specks of blood and flesh that were sticking to the soft fabric, Bai Meiyue knew that it wasn't due to the long period of negligence that had turned the fabric so prickly.
"No…no…" Bai Meiyue refused to believe that the blood and the small pieces of flesh belonged to her son. There was no way her little Cai was gone. Her son was so obedient and loving; he loved his mother so much—how could he bear to leave her?
This blood didn't belong to her son. No, it couldn't belong to her son; however, just as she was filled with a strong sense of denial, her fingers rubbed against something hard. Startled, Bai Meiyue turned the teddy bear around to see what had nudged against her fingers.
The teddy bear fell onto the ground with a soft thud. Bai Meiyue staggered back before her legs buckled and her knees hit the ground with a harsh bang.
"No…No… my —Cai… no," the light in her eyes disappeared and her lips started to quiver as she continued to stare at the small rotting finger sticking to the back of the teddy bear. "No… NO…MY SON… MY SON….ARGH, GIVE ME BACK MY SON! GIVE ME BACK MY LITTLE CAI CAI! ARGHHHHH!"
Bai Meiyue was caught up in her nightmare when Meng Guo knocked on the door. But when he didn't hear a response, he pushed the door open and peered inside the room. "Auntie Yue, are you inside?"
Meng Guo looked at Bai Meiyue who was lying on the bed with scrunched-up brows and frowned. He picked up the bowl of rice and walked over to where Bai Meiyue was lying and shook her lightly. He said to her, "Aunt Yue, are you scared?"
When Bai Meiyue heard the voice of a child, she opened her eyes and looked at the little boy who stood next to her.
Bai Meiyue sat up suddenly. She looked at the boy and in a trance, the past became the present. She reached out and hugged Meng Guo in her arms as she sobbed lightly.
"Don't be scared; don't be scared. Mom is here.. Don't be scared. I am sorry. I shouldn't have left you in the hands of those beasts. I am sorry. Mom will take care of you now. Don't worry."
It was all her fault. Her son tried to tell her that Bai Qingshi and his family were not good things, but she didn't listen to a single thing that he was telling her. She thought her son was being too anxious because of her absence. If she hadn't left him alone in the hands of those bastards, her son would still be alive.
And she could never make up for it.
Meng Guo, who was hugged, suddenly was startled. He couldn't help but cry when he saw Bai Meiyue cry.
He was just three years old; he couldn't understand why this aunt was suddenly crying. She was even hugging and apologising to him. Meng Guo cried when Bai Meiyue cried and soon the cries of the big and the small attracted the attention of people outside the house.
The first ones to rush inside were the Bai brothers and Lei Qian.
"Yueyue, why are you crying?"
"What's going on?" Lei Qian crouched next to Bai Meiyue and tried to take Meng Guo from her arms but when she didn't let go, he frowned and let go. "Don't cry."
However, when Bai Meiyue didn't calm down, Lei Qian had no choice but to hold her by her shoulders and yell at her, "Bai Meiyue! Look at me."
"Don't yell at her." Bai Jixuan was annoyed when he saw that Lei Qian was shouting at his sister but when he saw that Bai Meiyue had stopped crying and fussing, he didn't say anything.
Bai Meiyue, who was yelled at, looked at Lei Qian in a daze. She then lowered her head and saw Meng Guo in her arms. This—where was her son? Where did her son go? Bai Cai was right here, in her arms.
Seeing that she had calmed down, Lei Qian took Meng Guo from her arms and handed him to Jiang Haidai, who was just as confused as the rest. What happened? Everything was alright just a few minutes ago, so why did Bai Meiyue start crying all of a sudden?
Bai Meiyue looked at her empty arms and started sobbing. Tears fell down her cheeks like broken pearls.
"What's going on?" Bai Jixuan was simply bamboozled by the sight in front of him. What happened to his sister? Why did she start crying out of nowhere?
Bai Zhan on the other hand sat down next to Bai Meiyue. He said to her in a comforting voice, "Yueyue, are you alright? Can you hear me?"
When Bai Meiyue didn't reply to Bai Zhan, Lei Qian frowned. He cupped her cheeks and then turned her face towards him such that Bai Meiyue was looking at him.
"Yueyue, Yueyue? Wake up, sweetheart. You were having a nightmare; it's not real," Lei Qian anxiously tried to calm Bai Meiyue down. "Take a deep breath; look at me. Don't look at anyone else; just look at me, okay?"
Bai Meiyue continued to stare at the face, which was more or less similar to her son and followed what Lei Qian told her. As Bai Meiyue calmed down, her mind started to clear up, and soon she remembered that she was reborn and she was no longer living the same life as before.
Her son was yet to be born and he was still inside her womb.