Chapter 20: Collision

"Who is the father?"

The question hangs in the air.

I can’t answer. My throat has closed completely, my hands are still frozen halfway behind my back, clutching evidence I can no longer hide. My heart is pounding so hard I can feel it in my skull, in my fingertips, everywhere.

"Runze." Mother’s voice sharpens into something I’ve never heard before. "I asked you a question. Who is the father of that child?"

I shake my head, the movement feels disconnected from my body.

"Answer me!"

"I..." The word scrapes out of my throat like broken glass. "I....."

"You what?" She takes a step toward me and I flinch involuntarily. "Speak clearly."

My mind is racing, spiraling, crashing through impossible options. Tell the truth? Bael’s name? My sister’s fiance? Destroy Feifei’s wedding, the business partnership, everything?

I can’t.

Lie and buy time?

...There’s no good answer.

There’s no answer at all.

"...I don’t remember," I force out, and the lie tastes like absolute shit in my throat. "I don’t remember who he was."

For a moment, nothing happens.

Mother just stares at me.

Then her face transforms into something I don’t recognize. Anger.. no, something worse,something that looks like her entire world just shattered and reformed into something unbearable.

She crosses the room so fast I don’t have time to move.

Her hand cracks across my face.

The slap echoes in the small room like a gunshot.

Pain explodes across my cheek, white-hot and blinding. My head snaps to the side, neck wrenching, and the metallic taste of blood floods my mouth where I bit my tongue.

My ears are ringing. I can’t hear anything except that high-pitched whine and my own heartbeat thundering.

"You don’t remember?" Mother’s voice sounds distant through the ringing. "You got yourself pregnant and you don’t even remember who?"

I can’t answer, can’t think past the pain radiating through my face, my neck, my skull.

Her hand comes up again.

I see it this time but I’m too slow, too shocked to move.

The second slap catches my other cheek and stars burst behind my eyes, my vision blurs with tears I can’t control.

"Mother, stop!" Feifei’s voice cracks with horror.

But Mother isn’t listening. She grabs me by the collar with both hands and yanks me off the bed.

The test results fall from my numb fingers, scattering across the floor like accusations.

"How could you?" She’s shaking me now, hard enough that my teeth rattle, hard enough that my brain feels like it’s sloshing inside my skull. "How could you do this?"

"I’m... I’m sorry..." The words are automatic, meaningless, choked.

"Sorry?" She shoves me backward and I stumble into the desk.

My hip slams against the edge and pain shoots down my leg. I grab the desk to stay upright but my hands are shaking so badly I can barely grip it.

"Sorry doesn’t fix this!" Mother’s voice breaks on the last word.

She lunges at me again, nails digging into my arms as she drags me forward. I can feel skin breaking under her grip, sharp stinging pain layered over everything else.

"Mom, you’re hurting him!" Feifei grabs Mother’s arm, trying to pull her back.

Mother shakes her off like she weighs nothing. "Look at what he’s done!"

"I know, but please, you need to calm down..."

"Calm down?" Mother laughs, high and sharp and wrong. "Your brother got himself pregnant by some stranger and I need to calm down?"

She hits me again.

This time her fist connects with my ribs and all the air leaves my lungs in a violent rush.

I double over, gasping, choking, can’t breathe can’t breathe can’t—

She grabs my hair and yanks my head back.

Pain explodes across my scalp. Tears stream down my face now, mixing with blood from my split lip.

"Where did you meet him?" Her face is inches from mine, eyes wild. "When? How long ago?"

I can’t answer, I can’t get air into my lungs.

"Answer me!"

"I was..." I force words out between gasps. "Drunk... at a bar. I don’t... I don’t remember..."

"You don’t remember." Her voice drops to something cold and deadly. "You were so drunk you let some stranger fuck you and get you pregnant."

She says each word slowly, carefully, like she’s trying to make them real by speaking them out loud.

They don’t feel real.

None of this feels real.

"I’m sorry," I say again because what else is there?

"Stop saying you’re sorry!" She shoves me hard.

I fall.

My palms hit the floor, skin scraping against wood, and before I can get up she’s on me again. Grabbing my arm, nails breaking skin, dragging me up.

"Mom, stop!" Feifei is sobbing now, full-body sobs that shake her voice. "Please, please stop!"

Feifei’s face is blotchy and red, tears streaming down her cheeks. She looks terrified. Not of Mother, but for me. Like she’s watching something she can’t stop, something that’s spiraling out of control.

"I’m not stopping!" Mother’s voice breaks completely.

That’s when Father’s voice cuts through the chaos like a blade.

"Li Meifeng."

Everyone freezes.

Father stands in the doorway, still in his work clothes, face completely expressionless. He must have heard the screaming from downstairs.

His eyes sweep the room methodically. Me on the floor with blood on my face. Mother standing over me, breathing hard, hands shaking. Feifei sobbing against the wall. The pregnancy test on the floor with its two pink lines facing up like an accusation.

"Explain." His voice is flat and empty.

That emptiness is somehow more terrifying than Mother’s rage.

Mother’s hand is still gripping my arm. Her fingers tremble. "Your son is pregnant."

Father’s expression doesn’t change. Not even a flicker.

He steps into the room, movements slow and deliberate, and the air seems to get colder with each step.

"I can see that." His eyes find mine. "And the father?"

My throat has closed up again. All I can do is stare at him and try to remember how to breathe.

"He says he doesn’t remember." Mother’s voice shakes. "Claims it was some stranger at a bar."

Father’s jaw tightens, just barely, that’s the only sign he’s heard her.

He looks at me for a long moment.

"Stand up," he says quietly.

I try, but my legs won’t cooperate. They’re shaking too badly, I make it halfway up before my knees buckle and I have to catch myself on the wall.

Father just watches with those empty eyes as I struggle to my feet.

When I’m finally standing, swaying slightly, he speaks again.

"You don’t remember." It’s not a question.

"No." The word comes out broken.

"You got drunk and let some alpha you’d never met get you pregnant. And now you can’t remember his name."

"...Yes."

Father stares at me, the silence stretches until I think I might scream just to break it.

Then he turns to Mother. "Downstair to the sitting room. Now."

"Li Chen..."

"Now, Meifeng." His voice doesn’t rise, doesn’t need to.

Mother’s mouth tightens but she releases my arm finally, she grabs Feifei’s hand. "Come on."

"But Runze..." Feifei looks back at me, face crumpling. "He’s bleeding..."

"Downstairs."

Mother pulls her out.

The moment they’re gone, Father turns back to me.

"You’re lying," he says quietly.

My heart stops. "I’m not..."

"Yes you are." He says it with absolute certainty. "I don’t know why. But you are."

My mouth opens but no words come out, my body refuses to move, each breath feels like dragging air through concrete.

"Follow me downstairs," Father continues in that same quiet voice. "You will kneel in the sitting room. And you will think very carefully about whether your lie is worth what it’s going to cost."

He doesn’t wait for a response, he just turns and walks out.

I stand there, blood dripping from my lip, ribs screaming with every breath, and try to make my legs work.

Eventually they do.

I follow him downstairs on shaking legs, one hand on the wall for balance.