Stepping inside the penthouse she shared with her twin sister late in the afternoon, Li Chuntao stood frozen in the hallway, her gaze swept around the place she knew from the heart. This place was her and Ying"s safe haven. The moment she and Ying saw this place, they instantly fell in love with it. The penthouse was huge enough to allow them to set their own work s.p.a.ces. Ying"s paintings and sculptures easily filled her private s.p.a.ce while Chuntao"s vast collection of books was displayed in her private library.
"Miss Chuntao, are you hungry? I can prepare a light meal if you want," Hou Chen asked her, noticing the paleness on her face. Song Zexi was usually the one tending to their Miss but she was still in a deep coma from the head trauma she got during the accident.
Li Chuntao shook her head.
"There"s no need for that. Thank you for your concern but I"m going to take a rest," she responded but instead of going to her own room, Li Chuntao went straight to her sister"s room. It was kept clean as expected from her sister.
The sky outside was dark. Whether it was because the night was approaching or because of the rain clouds, it didn"t matter to Li Chuntao as she laid on her sister"s bed, curling her body on top of the sheets and sobbed quietly.
The pattering rain and the rumbling thunder outside drowning her sobs. Pearls of tears rolled down her face as she cried and cried.
When the words would not come, the tears did. The mourning period was usually a dignified and stoic period for her family, but Li Chuntao cried like a child, noisily, with a runny nose and choking sobs and she was not ashamed of it. No one could see her anyway.
"Ying, where have you gone? What am I supposed to do now?"
Of course, there was no one to answer her. There was no one who"ll listen to her now.
Her memories with Ying came to her at full force. Her twin sister, the only overprotective and loyal elder sister that Li Chuntao had. She scoffed inwardly. As if she needed to be baby-ed by Ying. between the two of them, she was the lioness and Ying was the lamb.
Li Chuntao couldn"t stop herself from thinking of Ying now. The wish for her to be here filled Li Chuntao with such rage and bitterness that she thought she would explode at any moment.
One day she will stop grieving for her, but first Li Chuntao would have to accept her sister was really gone - and though she witnessed Ying"s death herself there"s a part of her that"s holding the memory back. There"s a part of Li Chuntao that will never believe that Ying won"t come bouncing around some corner to laugh at her for falling for this elaborate prank on her.
This wasn"t a prank by Ying. It was fate who had turned against Li Chuntao.
It had barely been hours since Li Xiuying died and had left her behind; Li Chuntao had done nothing but cry, forgetting to look after herself. The food tray Hou Chen placed outside the door was left untouched.
Her hands moved over the bedsheets, towards the side where she knew Ying preferred to sleep, praying that there"s a chance she would be able to feel the warmth that her sister left, which was impossible right now. Her fingers sliding up the sheets towards Ying"s pillow bringing it close to her chest and inhaled Ying"s familiar scent.
Li Chuntao"s heart trembled as the all too familiar scent washed over her and how much she wished Ying was there with her, smiling at her.
Her face buried into the pillow of her dead sister, eyes closing as exhaustion finally caught up with her as her body curled in the center of the bed with her hair spilled behind her. Li Chuntao slept deeply that night, her dreams filled with the childhood memories she shared with her twin sister.
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Three days later, Zheng Yue arrived at the penthouse with food for her niece. Hou Chen and Su Ling welcomed her but Li Chuntao never stepped outside the room nor asked for any food to fill her empty stomach.
"How"s Chuntao?" She asked the two.
Hou Chen shook her head and glanced at Li Xiuying"s door with a sigh.
"Madam Li, Miss Chuntao locked herself in since we arrived. She didn"t even bother to touch the food I prepared for her," she told Zheng Yue worriedly.
"Do you mean to say that my Chuntao hasn"t eaten anything for three days straight?" Zheng Yue asked incredulously.
"Y-yes…" Hou Chen admitted in embarra.s.sment.
For the past three days, only Li Chuntao"s sobbing in the middle of the night could be heard inside Li Xiuying"s room. She and Su Ling guessed that Li Chuntao was probably sleeping during daytime.
Zheng Yue rubbed her temple in frustration before turning to Su Ling.
"Su Ling, get me the master keys. We can"t let Chuntao be like this for too long," she told him.
Su Ling immediately did what their madam asked and took the master keys and handed it to Zheng Yue.
Zheng Yue unlocked the door on Li Xiuying"s room and stepped inside alone, leaving Su Ling and Hou Chen standing outside the door, waiting for her next command.
"Chuntao? Darling?" Her voice called out to Li Chuntao who remained lying on the bed in a daze. She sat at the edge of the bed and gently ran her fingers against Li Chuntao"s hair. "Hou Chen said you haven"t eaten for days. Look at you. You haven"t even bothered to change your clothes."
It pained her to see Li Chuntao like this. Her eyes tearing at her niece"s pained form. Li Xiuying"s death had really left a huge impact on her husband and Chuntao. Li Chuntao"s eyes reflected nothing but grief and emptiness.
"Auntie Yue…" Li Chuntao turned her eyes to the older woman who was as heartbroken as she was. She didn"t feel hungry or any need to take care of herself but she also didn"t want to see her Auntie Yue like this.
"Chuntao, why don"t you have a quick shower while I prepare your meal? Can you do this for Auntie Yue?" Zheng Yue tried to convince her to move.
Li Chuntao stared at her for a moment before nodding her head in agreement. With the help of Zheng Yue, she slipped out of the bed and went to her room which was just next to Ying"s.
The heaviness was in her limbs as much as her mind. She"d cried until there was nothing left inside but a raw emptiness that nibbles at her insides. Her eyes were threaded scarlet and hung heavy in their sockets.
Her whole body hung limp as if each limb weighed twice as much as it had before and just moving it about was a slow, painful effort. The sun will still s.h.i.+ne in the sky, but not for her, the birds will continue to sing in bursts of melody, but not for her, for Li Chuntao there was no beauty left in the world.
Zheng Yue a.s.sisted her to go to the bathroom and removed her clothes before leaving her inside the shower stall.
The warm water sprayed on her naked body and she slightly s.h.i.+vered from the sudden change in temperature. Li Chuntao ran a hand through her dripping wet hair and rested her forearm on the tiled wall for support.