Be My Strength 208 You need to leave

However, her less than discrete movement was caught by Kai Xin who chuckled at the thought of her mother dating again after all these time.

"Who is he?" asked Kai Xin as she glanced at the man behind her mother curiously. Even though it was dark outside and he was indoor, he was wearing a sunglasses.

With a slightly flushed face,An Qi Yan introduced him to her daughter. "This is Sima Erden... An old friend of mine."

While the two nodded at each other in acknowledgment, An Qi Yan took off her jacket and asked, "Where's your brother?"

Before Kai Xin could answer her, Kai An stomped out of his room while muttering something inaudible.

"What's wrong with you now?" asked An Qi Yan as she frowned at her son's choice of words.

When Kai An saw Sima Erden, he raised his hands up and groaned, "I'm not changing another man's pants! Come on! I'm a hetero man!"

Hearing him, An Qi Yan facepalmed herself as wondered what crime had she committed in her past life to give birth to an idiotic son like Kai An.

On the other hand, Sima Erden found the entire situation completely amusing. He patted his waistband and said, "I can change my own pants but thank you very much, Kai An."

Kai An stared at him for a second before asking, "Have we met before?"

Sima Erden nodded, "We met a couple of times when you were very young.It had been quite some time so I should reintroduce myself. I'm Sima Erden but everyone else calls me Erden."

Before Kai An can ask any other questions, An Qi Yan spoke up first. "What do you mean by another man's pants? What are you doing with another man?"

The thought of Ghost's being naked in front of him sent a shiver down his spine. Glaring at his sister, he sat down on the couch before answering his mother's question, "Don't look at me! Look at your precious daughter. She brought him back!"

When An Qi Yan turned to her daughter, Kai Xin merely shrugged, "He's a friend."

"What kind of friend? How come I have never seen him before?"

"A special friend," answered Kai Xin.

"What about your PREVIOUS special friend?"

Kai Xin groaned, "DX is an even more special friend. Don't worry about me. I'm surprised YOU brought a man back." While she kept her eyes on Sima Erden, she asked her mother, "Who was the one who said that she would never date again?"

An Qi Yan blushed when she heard her daughter's question, "He's just a friend."
Both Kai Xin and Kai An looked at Sima Erden as if they were trying to weigh him up.
Grinning, Kai An joked, "What a great world I am living in where women brought male friends home while a man like me has to deal with loneliness...Tough life...Tough life indeed..."

"Shut up!" snapped both of them.

Flustered, An Qi Yan cleared her throat before explaining, "Erden is just here for a visit. Don't be ridiculous."

A loud sound from Kai An's room caught their attention and Kai Xin cursed before she rushed in. What she saw was a floor covered in broken shards and vomit.

It appeared that Ghost had accidentally broken the reading lamp on the nightstand when he leaned over to vomit.

Carefully, she walked around the broken shards and climbed onto the bed from the other side. As she rubbed his back to comfort him, she wondered how much he drank to get this drunk...and why?

"My room!" yelled Kai An when he saw the mess and the vomit.

"I'll clean it for you later…" said Kai Xin as she continued to rub Ghost's back to make him feel better. His face was pale as she helped him back onto his back.

Without looking up, Kai Xin knew that her mother was at the door and she pleaded, "No questions, please…"

An Qi Yan thought about her request for a moment before agreeing not to ask any questions. Turning to her son, she ordered, "Zhen Kai An, clean up the mess."

When Kai An wanted to protest, he saw the glare from his mother and sighed, "Fine, I'll clean."

Once he was done cleaning the floor, he brought over some clean water and a wet towel for Kai Xin. Touching Ghost's forehead, he frowned and said, "He's a little warm…"

"It's fine. He gets fever easily," said Kai Xin as she placed the wet towel on Ghost's forehead. Once the wet towel was on his face, the frown lines that was on his face earlier slowly disappeared.

Unconsciously, he held onto Kai Xin's hand and murmured, "Don't leave me…"

Even though Kai An had a lot of questions, he decided to hold back for now. Before leaving the room, he said, "I'll leave the door open. If you need anything, just give me a call."

After Kai An left the room, Kai Xin looked at Ghost. He seemed to have lost some weight since the last time they met. Furthermore, when she saw his eyes earlier, there was a hollowness. The arrogant idiotic man actually looked as if he was lost.

"Where have you been, you idiot…" thought Kai Xin before pulling up the blanket to cover him. She had to take off his shirt because of the vomit that accidentally landed on the shirt.

"Mama…" murmured Ghost as he shivered in his sleep. His grip on Kai Xin's hand tightened to the point where it hurt and she cried out softly.

However, instead of pulling it away, Kai Xin gently patted him on his chest to calm him down, "I'm here, Xiao Ying...I won't leave you…"

It took her a while to calm him down. Eventually, he released his grip on her hand.

Once she was sure that he would be fine, she went out to the living room. By then, her mother was already asleep but Sima Erden was sitting at the dining table. "You are still here..." He raised his eyes towards the direction of her voice and smiled, "Your mother was worried about me."

She glanced at the cans of beers on the table and smirked, "You are quite a drinker."

"Your brother tried to challenge me…" said Sima Erden before pointing to the couch with his chin. Since his room was taken over by Ghost, Kai An had to resort to sleeping on the couch. With a chuckle, Sima Erden said, "I guess he inherited his ability to drink from your mother. Your father is definitely a much better drinker."

"You know my father?" asked Kai Xin as she poured out two glasses of water.

There was a short silence before he answered with a voice full of regret, "Yeah, we were childhood...friends. He was one of my best friends."

Kai Xin placed a glass of water in front of him and took a seat opposite him. "My mother, she got drunk once and told us that she knows an amazing psychic who can see better than a seeing person..." Narrowing her eyes at him, she continued, "...I have no idea who she was talking about then, but that was you, right? Someone who can see better than a seeing person."

He smiled gently at her bluntness. She was definitely her father's daughter. "I supposed I am the person she was talking about."

"Can you see the future?" asked Kai Xin.

"Not everyone's future. Some people's aura is too strong for me to see. Why? Would you like me to see your future?"

Kai Xin thought about it for a while before shaking her head.

When he did not hear any sound, he called out softly, "Kai Xin?"

Scolding herself inwardly for forgetting about his blindness, she shook her head and replied vocally, "Ah no...I don't think knowing the future would do me any good."

He agreed. Truth be told, he was afraid of seeing her future as well. He did not want to keep so many secrets from An Qi Yan.

"You are a smart one. Some things are best left unknown."

"Can I ask you a question?" asked Kai Xin.

"Sure..."

"Where do people go after they die?"

He shrugged, "Hell, heaven. Some say limbo. Who knows?"

Kai Xin frowned at his less than helpful answer. "What kind of answer is that? You are not much of a psychic."

With soft gentle laughter, he pointed out, "If I can see everything, I would be God and not psychic."
"I guess he's right..." thought Kai Xin as she watched him reached out for the glass of water and took a sip.
When Kai Xin did not say anything, Sima Erden continued, "I cannot tell you where people go after death but some of them might be stuck on Earth in some sort of limbo…"

"Limbo? Can you see ghosts?"

"Not really...But my late grandfather was able to see and talk to souls...He told me that the only reason a soul lingers around is because it has unfinished business..." said Sima Erden. He took another sip before continuing, "...However, there are some souls who linger around because they are unable to move on...For example...The souls of children and those that died in their mothers' wombs."

Hearing that, Kai Xin felt uncomfortable. She hesitated for a moment before asking, "Why? What is so special about their souls?"

He glanced at the little black figure who was standing nearby. When he said "Not really…" earlier, he meant it. He could not see the souls clearly nor could he communicate with them. Even now, the little black figure's appearance was unstable. One moment, he would be there and the next moment, he would be gone. As he watched the figure, he wondered what was the connections between the two.

When he took a long time to reply, Kai Xin said, "Uncle Sima, I'm asking you a question."

He shifted his eyes back towards her voice and shrugged, "I'm not too sure why...Erm... Grandfather said that sometimes the young souls would harbor guilt from leaving their loved ones, and equally, their loved ones would feel the same guilt. After all, premature death is something that is hard for one to accept and somehow, this mutual feeling of guilt tied them down to this world."

Kai Xin frowned as she tried to dissect his explanations, "You mentioned that the souls could be the souls of babies who died in wombs. In that case, they are just fetuses. How did your Grandfather talked to them?"

Sima Erden chuckled, "You know...Like you, I questioned him about it before. You see, he likes to mess with my head so I would advice you not to pay too much attention to my words..." "...My grandfather's explanation was that the souls don't actually look like a fetus. Once they reincarnated, the souls would forget about their previous appearances. When they passed away and if their souls linger, they would take on the appearance from their loved ones memories...Similarly, for a stillborn, the child would take on the shape of what their parents imagine them to be if they had survived."

"What if..." Kai Xin was glad that he could not see her. She did not need to hide her emotions behind a mask when she asked, "...What if the child was aborted?"

He took a quick glance at the little black figure who was still lingering around, and he realized who it was. With a smile, Sima Erden explained, "There is no mother in this world who would not think about her own flesh and blood. Even if the mother does not want the child - no, even if she hates the child for some reason - every now and then, she would think about how their child would look like. You know how people said that it is the thought that counts? In this case, it's that one fleeting thought that forms its soul."

In a low voice, she asked, "That seems...farfetched. Are you sure your grandfather is telling you the truth?"

Sima Erden laughed as he answered her, "Who knows...He's always drunk…" Before she could ask about anything else, he stood up and stretched his body out before pulling out his walking cane from his pocket. He went to sleep on the mattress that An Qi Yan prepared for him out in the living room. When she heard his even breathing, she thought that he was asleep. In a soft voice, she called out, "Zi Han... Are you still here in this world?" Obviously, she was unable to see or hear him. She scolded herself for being silly and went back to her room. When he heard Kai Xin walking off, he opened his eyes. He saw the little black figure and said softly, "You need to leave...Don't worry too much about her..." Without saying a word, the little black figure disappeared.

Chapter end

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