526: Freedom?

Freedom?

"Ge!" Xiang Wai called out to her brother who had been gazing out the window in a daze since he got in the car. She could tell something was on his mind but he wasn't saying it.1

"Ge!" she called again.

She slapped his shoulder, "Would you listen please?"

Xiang Weimin finally looked at her and asked, "What? What happened?"

"I'm calling you," she said.

"Oh? I didn't hear you," he replied nonchalantly.

"Is something on your mind? Why are you so lost?" she finally chose to ask outright instead of guessing. "Are you that unwilling to go to mom's birthday party?"

"As if you're willing," retorted Xiang Weimin and turned his head on the other side. "And if it's a party, why are you dressed in that casual jeans and shirt?"

Xiang Wai looked down at her attire and shrugged, "It's not like she cares about what I wear. The only good thing about our mother dearest is that she'd never say anything about our choices. Even if she doesn't agree with it, she won't stop us."

"Like she didn't stop you from joining the military?"

Xiang Wai sighed, "Yeah. Just like that. Clearly, she was unwilling to see me join the army since you already joined the air force. But she still didn't say anything and let me be."

"Do you think that was the freedom she offered us or she didn't care about us enough to even bother saying anything?"

Xiang Wai was stunned silent for a minute. "If we are just guessing, I'll just choose to give her the benefit of the doubt that she really meant to give us freedom. It's you who always told me to look for the good in her."

"Right," he agreed. "Indeed, I told you to always give her the benefit of the doubt." He took a pause and added, "And maybe you're right. She wanted to give us the freedom that she didn't get to have. At least, I'd like to think it that way."

Xiang Wai smiled bitterly and stopped the car at the red light. She pulled out a piece of chewing gum from her pocket and started chewing lazily while she whistled carelessly. Her fingers tapped the steering wheel rhythmically. 

Xiang Weimin waited for a while before he suddenly told her, "I met Raelle."

Xiang Wai's fingers stopped and so did her whistling. She glanced at her brother and quirked her brow up. "Really? Where?"

"At the research center," he answered.

"I heard she is a genius," said Xiang Wai. "Mom would have loved her."

Xiang Weimin snorted, "Really?"

Xiang Wai shrugged her shoulders, "I'm just saying. If that kidnapping didn't happen and she didn't have to make a choice, she'd have definitely loved Raelle. After all, she wasn't quite impressed with both of our intelligence. Raelle would have made her proud and followed her footsteps to become the top scientist out there."

Xiang Weimin shook his head, "I still think it's better she didn't grow up as we did. She is born a ruler. Someone who has to stay in command. And someone who won't tolerate your tardiness. She is an interesting lady."

"Is she?" Xiang Wai was intrigued to hear such an evaluation from her brother whom she trusted the most. "Why would you say that?"

"She really knows where it hurts," he chuckled. "And she doesn't seem like someone who ever filters her words. She says whatever comes to her mind. I won't say I wasn't warned. Yue Fai did warn me about that but I still chose not to pay attention to those words. Who knew he was right. Raelle is brutal with her words."

"Did she say something to you?" asked Xiang Wai.

"She said a lot," he answered. He rubbed his hand on his face, "And I couldn't even deny anything she said. The two things that really struck me were; she had no place for an elder brother in her life. And she doesn't have feelings."

"So that doctor wasn't being overly sensitive when he said that something is wrong with her," commented Xiang Wai as she remembered what happened the other day in the interrogation room.

"I won't say something is wrong with her though," said Xiang Weimin. "Yes, she doesn't feel emotions, but is it enough to say something is wrong with her?"

Xiang Wai contemplated his words before shaking her head, "We get to see worse traumas and psychological conditions in the soldiers."

"Exactly," agreed Xiang Weimin. "So, I didn't really think anything was wrong. For a moment, I did feel bad for her. But then I also felt happy that she knew nothing about feelings. At least, in that way, she didn't have to suffer." He smiled bitterly, "But I was wrong."

"What do you mean?" she inquired.

Xiang Weimin looked at her side profile as she kept her eyes on the road while driving. "We weren't the only ones who heard people call her a jinx. Someone who couldn't protect her parents' relationship. She also heard some things much worse. Kids are supposed to be the threads tying the parents together but she became the child who cut that thread instead. But unlike us, she sees things a lot clearer."

"I feel like her words really got to you," Xiang Wai pointed out. She could see how much her words got to him but she won't deny that just hearing this much had struck her as well.

Their parents' marriage had never had anything to do with them. Much less, Raelle who was just born. She might have been the last straw but she definitely wasn't the reason for the divorce. 

"Ge, don't think so much," said Xiang Wai. "If you want, I'll go with you and apologize to her for blaming her once. We were young and a bit naive as well. Although it's not enough of a reason, still it can't be denied that we didn't know many things back then."

Xiang Weimin smiled at her, "I wish she needed an apology. It'd have made things a lot easier for me."

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