Thinking that the employee had made a mistake, Ning asked, “Are you sure it’s Mo Yihong?”

The employee nodded her head and answered, “Yes boss, I double checked.”

Scrunching her brows, Ning wondered why Yichan’s father wanted to see her. Given that they were not in talking terms, it was quite weird.

Contemplating for a while, she asked the employee to send him inside.

Though she knew it wasn’t a great idea to entertain him, she wanted to know what he wanted from her.

After a few minutes, Yihong entered the office.

Closing her laptop, Ning asked him to take a seat.

“I hope I didn’t disturb you,” Yihong said before taking a seat..

“It’s alright, I have thirty minutes to spare.” Keeping quiet for a couple of seconds, she asked, “What brings you to my office today?”

“I—I just—” he hesitated. Yihong had no idea how he was supposed to start the conversation he wanted to have with his son’s wife.

Ning on the other hand had vaguely guessed why he was there and what he wanted to talk about but she decided to wait for him to speak up.

Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself first. “I wanted to talk to you about Yichan and—Yichan and my situation.”

Pausing for a while, he explained, “You know the entire situation and how things are between us. I know that I have made a mistake—a huge mistake. The step I took many years back wasn’t appropriate and I shouldn’t have done that, I really regret doing it.”

“No you don’t,” Ning stated. Without waiting for his reply, she added, “Neither you nor my parents genuinely regret what you had done several years ago. And I also know that if given a second chance, you people will do the exact same thing you now claim to be regretting over.”

“I—”

Cutting him off, she explained, “I am not blaming you or my parents, I am just stating the facts. Whatever you did several years ago was because you thought it was the best option. For you, at that moment, leaving your son and family was the only option you could think of. If you could think or do something else, you would have done it at that time itself.”

When Yihong did not say anything, Ning sighed, “I know you are here to ask me to help to mend things with Yichan. But I am sorry, I can’t help you.”

Keeping quiet for quite some time, he said, “He will only listen to you Ning—”

She nodded her head in agreement. “I know—I know that if I tell Yichan to talk to you, mend things with you, he will definitely do it.”

Pausing for a while, she added, “He always listens to me and does everything I ask him to. He does that because he loves me, respects me. But that doesn’t mean I will make him do things he clearly doesn’t want to. I will never force anything on him just because I know he listens to me.”

Without waiting for his reply, she further explained, “But someday if I feel he wants to talk to you or at least wants to maintain a stable relationship with you, I will surely give him the push just like he did to me.”

When Yihong did not say anything, Ning remarked, “You can’t just expect him to forget everything and act like nothing happened. You have to give him the time he needs to at least give you an opportunity to be a part of his life again.”

“What if he never gives me that opportunity?” he asked. Yihong wanted to meet Ning to convince her to talk to Yichan but after listening to what she had to say, he realized that she was right. He couldn’t just expect his son whom he had abandoned years ago to accept him all of a sudden.

“Only time will answer that question.” Pausing for a while, she added, “I am not gonna give you any false hope neither am I trying to demotivate you nor make you sad. No one better than you knows what you have done and to what extent it is wrong. I don’t have to tell you how you made your son or your father feel when you decided to just leave them behind many years ago. You understand how the situation is, I don’t have to tell you anything about it.”

Without waiting for his reply, she added, “Honestly, I am mad at you for whatever you have done. If not for you, Yichan would have never been through whatever he has when he was still young but that doesn’t mean I resent you. Please don’t think I am not helping you because I have some hard feelings for you. What I do or what you want doesn’t matter here, the only thing that matters is what Yi wants. And if someday he decides to let you in his life again, I will also welcome you with all my heart. But until then, don’t expect anything from me.”

Though whatever Ning told him pinched his heart, he knew it was the truth and no matter how many times he tried to deny it, it would never change.

After so many years, Yihong did regret leaving his son and family behind only to live somewhere far away and start a new family, but if given a chance, would he really change his decision?

At that time, he did what he felt was the best but if given a chance again in the present situation, would he still choose what he feels is the best?

The answer was still unclear in Yihong’s mind and he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Did he even deserve an opportunity to make his way in his son’s life after everything he had done?

Just then a knock at the door brought him back to reality.

“Boss, we are ready for the meeting,” the employee informed Ning.

“I’ll be there in a minute.”

…..