Chapter 202: 201 - An Alarming Situation
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With the babies settling in well at school, life became quite routine for Ren and Fang. The next two months passed peacefully, and they had almost finalized their wedding venue.
The problem, however, lay in the difference of opinion between Ren and Fang. Ren wanted to outright buy one more private island as a wedding venue (and a gift to Fang), fly all the guests there and have a lavish wedding that'd be talked about for decades to come. He wanted to invite thousands of people and make it into a mega event so that no one in the world would be unaware that Ren and Fang had been legally and officially wed!
Fang, on the other hand, had geared himself to spend a lot of money and he had improved by leaps and bounds since he had become ultra rich and ultra successful with Zephyr – but at his core, he still wasn't able to digest spending so much money just for the wedding, especially since he felt that they needed to save up for the seven kids! He was trying to convince Ren that they could have a nice, big ceremony in one of Sirocco's resorts near Cosmopolis instead of going anywhere. And he was absolutely against the idea of buying yet another private island and inviting thousands of people!
"We already have a private island and a private jet," Fang said to Ren. "Why would we need another one?"
"The one we own is in a tropical zone," Ren pointed out. "It is quite warm there all year round – and it's not so big that we would be able to fit in the thousands of guests we need to invite."
Fang sighed. "We don't need to invite thousands of people, Ren," he said, rubbing his temples. "And even if we did invite that many people – don't you think that it would be best to host such a big event in Cosmopolis itself, where we have enough rooms in the Sirocco properties? And think about transportation – if we buy a big island just for the wedding, how are we going to transfer so many people there? We would have to charter multiple aircrafts, and then we would have to set up rooms and everything on the new island – isn't it just too much work? It will take a long time to have it ready."
Ren blinked. "But we have time, don't we? We are getting married when you turn twenty two – that gives us nearly two years, doesn't it?" he asked.
Fang rubbed his temples again. "Ren – what in the world are you going to do with the island once the wedding is over? It is too big to keep it within the family!" he pointed out.
"But you're the one who said you wanted the entire world to know that we're married!" Ren complained. "Why are you protesting when I want to do exactly that?"
Fang rolled his eyes. "We need to save money for the kids," he said.
"We have already set up trust funds for the kids; they are not going to be short of money in their whole lives even if they don't work or even if go bankrupt!" Ren retorted. "Don't bring up nonsensical reasons things like that!"
"But there's no need for so much frivolous spending!" Fang snapped.
Ren's face settled into an icy mask. "Frivolous? Our wedding has become frivolous for you now?" he spat coldly. "Why don't you simply tell me that you don't want to get married anymore and cut out all this crap? Have I ever put pressure on you to get married? Haven't I always said that I would wait for you no matter how long it took for you to be comfortable with the idea? You were the one who wanted to get married suddenly and make the wedding announcement, and now you don't want it?"
Fang realised quickly that he'd stepped on a landmine. "I didn't mean that," he said, throwing up his hands in surrender. "I just wanted to say that we can keep it low key so that we don't attract any unwanted attention and avoid unnecessary trouble."
Ren's fury had gone beyond Fang's expectation, though. "Oh, so you think our wedding is unnecessary trouble is it?" he mocked with a cold smile. "And exactly whose 'unwanted attention' are you trying to avoid?" His golden eyes narrowed menacingly. "Or, perhaps, the attention isn't unwanted at all...?"
"Nonsense!" Fang yelled. "How can you twist my words like this?! All I've been saying is that I don't want us to spend 5% of our entire assets just to get married!"
"All right, I understand," Ren said coldly. "We don't need to get married at all."
"Ren! Stop being ridiculous!" Fang yelled.
"Fine, I'll take my ridiculous self and get out of your hair," Ren said and turned to leave.
Fang caught his shoulders. "Don't run off like a coward again!" he hissed angrily.
Ren didn't respond. He simply looked away.
Fang's grip tightened. "Ren, look at me," he cajoled. "We can sit down and discuss this calmly, yes? Let's try and find a middle path with which both of us can be happy, all right?"
Ren finally looked up and Fang was shocked at the sheen of moisture in the gold eyes he loved so much. Fang hadn't seen Ren looking so fragile for a long time – he remembered how Ren had become before his twenty first birthday, before Ray and Rudy entered their lives…
A cold fist closed around Fang's heart suddenly, and an ominous feeling rose up from the pit of his stomach. Fang had worked hard to make sure that Ren became healthy and happy, and it had taken some time to get to that. And while everyone knew that Ren was naturally a bit delicate – at least he wasn't sickly like before, when he used to look like he was about to disappear into thin air.
"Let's just do what you want," Ren said tiredly. "You can tell me when and where you want me to turn up to marry you, and I'll be there," he said. "It's fine to continue as we are, too. There's no need to get married if you don't feel ready."
Fang was frightened by this abrupt change in Ren's attitude. He'd lost control of his tongue and he knew it was wrong of him to bring up the past like this.
He hugged Ren tightly. "I'm sorry, love," he said softly. "I shouldn't have called you a coward."
Ren didn't respond.
"I'm really sorry," Fang repeated. "Can you forgive me this once?"
Ren shook his head. "There's nothing to forgive. You were only speaking the truth. I am a coward and I do run away every time we fight," he said quietly. "I'm sorry about the wedding planning. Please go ahead as you please. I'll be happy as long as you're happy."
His face was tired and wan and his golden eyes, which usually possessed both the sharpness as well as metallic lustre of gold, were utterly dimmed with defeat.
Fang was immediately concerned and blamed himself for not noticing Ren's condition earlier. It was not possible for Ren to have gotten into this state in a day – it had to have been a few weeks, at least – how had Fang failed to notice it?! To think that he'd caused his precious Ren to become so upset...
Fang shook his head. "We'll have a big celebration, that's for sure," he told Ren. "Let's discuss it later, ok? When we're both feeling more rational."
"All right," Ren said.
Fang glanced at his watch. "It's almost time to pick up the babies from school," he said. "I'll go and ask the driver to get the car out. You wash your face and come down quickly, ok? We can take the babies for an outing later, too."
Ren nodded silently. Fang picked up his phone and ran downstairs. He decided that he would speak with his Big Sister Una again in the evening – she had become something of a love guru for Fang by now.
Ren went to the bathroom and washed his face. His shoulders hurt terribly where Fang had gripped them just now. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. His face was pale and drawn, and his eyes were red-rimmed, despite washing up with cold water.
Ren wondered if he was getting sick for real once again. He had been feeling a little uncomfortable for the last few days...
A shadow appeared in Ren's vision for a moment but disappeared the moment he tried to look closely. His left arm and his chest hurt suddenly.
Ren's first thought was that it was an impact from the reflection magic, which hadn't acted up for a long time. Had something happened to Fang?
A moment later, however, he realised (with much relief) that it wasn't Fang. Something was pressing against his own chest and making it difficult for him to breathe. He could vaguely hear his phone ringing and the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.
Then he knew no more.
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With the babies settling in well at school, life became quite routine for Ren and Fang. The next two months passed peacefully, and they had almost finalized their wedding venue.
The problem, however, lay in the difference of opinion between Ren and Fang. Ren wanted to outright buy one more private island as a wedding venue (and a gift to Fang), fly all the guests there and have a lavish wedding that'd be talked about for decades to come. He wanted to invite thousands of people and make it into a mega event so that no one in the world would be unaware that Ren and Fang had been legally and officially wed!
Fang, on the other hand, had geared himself to spend a lot of money and he had improved by leaps and bounds since he had become ultra rich and ultra successful with Zephyr – but at his core, he still wasn't able to digest spending so much money just for the wedding, especially since he felt that they needed to save up for the seven kids! He was trying to convince Ren that they could have a nice, big ceremony in one of Sirocco's resorts near Cosmopolis instead of going anywhere. And he was absolutely against the idea of buying yet another private island and inviting thousands of people!
"We already have a private island and a private jet," Fang said to Ren. "Why would we need another one?"
"The one we own is in a tropical zone," Ren pointed out. "It is quite warm there all year round – and it's not so big that we would be able to fit in the thousands of guests we need to invite."
Fang sighed. "We don't need to invite thousands of people, Ren," he said, rubbing his temples. "And even if we did invite that many people – don't you think that it would be best to host such a big event in Cosmopolis itself, where we have enough rooms in the Sirocco properties? And think about transportation – if we buy a big island just for the wedding, how are we going to transfer so many people there? We would have to charter multiple aircrafts, and then we would have to set up rooms and everything on the new island – isn't it just too much work? It will take a long time to have it ready."
Ren blinked. "But we have time, don't we? We are getting married when you turn twenty two – that gives us nearly two years, doesn't it?" he asked.
Fang rubbed his temples again. "Ren – what in the world are you going to do with the island once the wedding is over? It is too big to keep it within the family!" he pointed out.
"But you're the one who said you wanted the entire world to know that we're married!" Ren complained. "Why are you protesting when I want to do exactly that?"
Fang rolled his eyes. "We need to save money for the kids," he said.
"We have already set up trust funds for the kids; they are not going to be short of money in their whole lives even if they don't work or even if go bankrupt!" Ren retorted. "Don't bring up nonsensical reasons things like that!"
"But there's no need for so much frivolous spending!" Fang snapped.
Ren's face settled into an icy mask. "Frivolous? Our wedding has become frivolous for you now?" he spat coldly. "Why don't you simply tell me that you don't want to get married anymore and cut out all this crap? Have I ever put pressure on you to get married? Haven't I always said that I would wait for you no matter how long it took for you to be comfortable with the idea? You were the one who wanted to get married suddenly and make the wedding announcement, and now you don't want it?"
Fang realised quickly that he'd stepped on a landmine. "I didn't mean that," he said, throwing up his hands in surrender. "I just wanted to say that we can keep it low key so that we don't attract any unwanted attention and avoid unnecessary trouble."
Ren's fury had gone beyond Fang's expectation, though. "Oh, so you think our wedding is unnecessary trouble is it?" he mocked with a cold smile. "And exactly whose 'unwanted attention' are you trying to avoid?" His golden eyes narrowed menacingly. "Or, perhaps, the attention isn't unwanted at all...?"
"Nonsense!" Fang yelled. "How can you twist my words like this?! All I've been saying is that I don't want us to spend 5% of our entire assets just to get married!"
"All right, I understand," Ren said coldly. "We don't need to get married at all."
"Ren! Stop being ridiculous!" Fang yelled.
"Fine, I'll take my ridiculous self and get out of your hair," Ren said and turned to leave.
Fang caught his shoulders. "Don't run off like a coward again!" he hissed angrily.
Ren didn't respond. He simply looked away.
Fang's grip tightened. "Ren, look at me," he cajoled. "We can sit down and discuss this calmly, yes? Let's try and find a middle path with which both of us can be happy, all right?"
Ren finally looked up and Fang was shocked at the sheen of moisture in the gold eyes he loved so much. Fang hadn't seen Ren looking so fragile for a long time – he remembered how Ren had become before his twenty first birthday, before Ray and Rudy entered their lives…
A cold fist closed around Fang's heart suddenly, and an ominous feeling rose up from the pit of his stomach. Fang had worked hard to make sure that Ren became healthy and happy, and it had taken some time to get to that. And while everyone knew that Ren was naturally a bit delicate – at least he wasn't sickly like before, when he used to look like he was about to disappear into thin air.
"Let's just do what you want," Ren said tiredly. "You can tell me when and where you want me to turn up to marry you, and I'll be there," he said. "It's fine to continue as we are, too. There's no need to get married if you don't feel ready."
Fang was frightened by this abrupt change in Ren's attitude. He'd lost control of his tongue and he knew it was wrong of him to bring up the past like this.
He hugged Ren tightly. "I'm sorry, love," he said softly. "I shouldn't have called you a coward."
Ren didn't respond.
"I'm really sorry," Fang repeated. "Can you forgive me this once?"
Ren shook his head. "There's nothing to forgive. You were only speaking the truth. I am a coward and I do run away every time we fight," he said quietly. "I'm sorry about the wedding planning. Please go ahead as you please. I'll be happy as long as you're happy."
His face was tired and wan and his golden eyes, which usually possessed both the sharpness as well as metallic lustre of gold, were utterly dimmed with defeat.
Fang was immediately concerned and blamed himself for not noticing Ren's condition earlier. It was not possible for Ren to have gotten into this state in a day – it had to have been a few weeks, at least – how had Fang failed to notice it?! To think that he'd caused his precious Ren to become so upset...
Fang shook his head. "We'll have a big celebration, that's for sure," he told Ren. "Let's discuss it later, ok? When we're both feeling more rational."
"All right," Ren said.
Fang glanced at his watch. "It's almost time to pick up the babies from school," he said. "I'll go and ask the driver to get the car out. You wash your face and come down quickly, ok? We can take the babies for an outing later, too."
Ren nodded silently. Fang picked up his phone and ran downstairs. He decided that he would speak with his Big Sister Una again in the evening – she had become something of a love guru for Fang by now.
Ren went to the bathroom and washed his face. His shoulders hurt terribly where Fang had gripped them just now. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. His face was pale and drawn, and his eyes were red-rimmed, despite washing up with cold water.
Ren wondered if he was getting sick for real once again. He had been feeling a little uncomfortable for the last few days...
A shadow appeared in Ren's vision for a moment but disappeared the moment he tried to look closely. His left arm and his chest hurt suddenly.
Ren's first thought was that it was an impact from the reflection magic, which hadn't acted up for a long time. Had something happened to Fang?
A moment later, however, he realised (with much relief) that it wasn't Fang. Something was pressing against his own chest and making it difficult for him to breathe. He could vaguely hear his phone ringing and the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.
Then he knew no more.
With the babies settling in well at school, life became quite routine for Ren and Fang. The next two months passed peacefully, and they had almost finalized their wedding venue.The problem, however, lay in the difference of opinion between Ren and Fang. Ren wanted to outright buy one more private island as a wedding venue and a gift to Fang, fly all the guests there and have a lavish wedding that'd be talked about for decades to come. He wanted to invite thousands of people and make it into a mega event so that no one in the world would be unaware that Ren and Fang had been legally and officially wed!Fang, on the other hand, had geared himself to spend a lot of money and he had improved by leaps and bounds since he had become ultra rich and ultra successful with Zephyr but at his core, he still wasn't able to digest spending so much money just for the wedding, especially since he felt that they needed to save up for the seven kids! He was trying to convince Ren that they could have a nice, big ceremony in one of Sirocco's resorts near Cosmopolis instead of going anywhere. And he was absolutely against the idea of buying yet another private island and inviting thousands of people!"We already have a private island and a private jet," Fang said to Ren. "Why would we need another one?""The one we own is in a tropical zone," Ren pointed out. "It is quite warm there all year round and it's not so big that we would be able to fit in the thousands of guests we need to invite."Fang sighed. "We don't need to invite thousands of people, Ren," he said, rubbing his temples. "And even if we did invite that many people don't you think that it would be best to host such a big event in Cosmopolis itself, where we have enough rooms in the Sirocco properties? And think about transportation if we buy a big island just for the wedding, how are we going to transfer so many people there? We would have to charter multiple aircrafts, and then we would have to set up rooms and everything on the new island isn't it just too much work? It will take a long time to have it ready."Ren blinked. "But we have time, don't we? We are getting married when you turn twenty two that gives us nearly two years, doesn't it?" he asked. Fang rubbed his temples again. "Ren what in the world are you going to do with the island once the wedding is over? It is too big to keep it within the family!" he pointed out."But you're the one who said you wanted the entire world to know that we're married!" Ren complained. "Why are you protesting when I want to do exactly that?"Fang rolled his eyes. "We need to save money for the kids," he said."We have already set up trust funds for the kids; they are not going to be short of money in their whole lives even if they don't work or even if go bankrupt!" Ren retorted. "Don't bring up nonsensical reasons things like that!""But there's no need for so much frivolous spending!" Fang snapped.Ren's face settled into an icy mask. "Frivolous? Our wedding has become frivolous for you now?" he spat coldly. "Why don't you simply tell me that you don't want to get married anymore and cut out all this crap? Have I ever put pressure on you to get married? Haven't I always said that I would wait for you no matter how long it took for you to be comfortable with the idea? You were the one who wanted to get married suddenly and make the wedding announcement, and now you don't want it?"Fang realised quickly that he'd stepped on a landmine. "I didn't mean that," he said, throwing up his hands in surrender. "I just wanted to say that we can keep it low key so that we don't attract any unwanted attention and avoid unnecessary trouble."Ren's fury had gone beyond Fang's expectation, though. "Oh, so you think our wedding is unnecessary trouble is it?" he mocked with a cold smile. "And exactly whose 'unwanted attention' are you trying to avoid?" His golden eyes narrowed menacingly. "Or, perhaps, the attention isn't unwanted at all...?""Nonsense!" Fang yelled. "How can you twist my words like this?! All I've been saying is that I don't want us to spend 5% of our entire assets just to get married!""All right, I understand," Ren said coldly. "We don't need to get married at all.""Ren! Stop being ridiculous!" Fang yelled."Fine, I'll take my ridiculous self and get out of your hair," Ren said and turned to leave.Fang caught his shoulders. "Don't run off like a coward again!" he hissed angrily.Ren didn't respond. He simply looked away.Fang's grip tightened. "Ren, look at me," he cajoled. "We can sit down and discuss this calmly, yes? Let's try and find a middle path with which both of us can be happy, all right?"Ren finally looked up and Fang was shocked at the sheen of moisture in the gold eyes he loved so much. Fang hadn't seen Ren looking so fragile for a long time he remembered how Ren had become before his twenty first birthday, before Ray and Rudy entered their livesA cold fist closed around Fang's heart suddenly, and an ominous feeling rose up from the pit of his stomach. Fang had worked hard to make sure that Ren became healthy and happy, and it had taken some time to get to that. And while everyone knew that Ren was naturally a bit delicate at least he wasn't sickly like before, when he used to look like he was about to disappear into thin air."Let's just do what you want," Ren said tiredly. "You can tell me when and where you want me to turn up to marry you, and I'll be there," he said. "It's fine to continue as we are, too. There's no need to get married if you don't feel ready."Fang was frightened by this abrupt change in Ren's attitude. He'd lost control of his tongue and he knew it was wrong of him to bring up the past like this.He hugged Ren tightly. "I'm sorry, love," he said softly. "I shouldn't have called you a coward."Ren didn't respond."I'm really sorry," Fang repeated. "Can you forgive me this once?"Ren shook his head. "There's nothing to forgive. You were only speaking the truth. I am a coward and I do run away every time we fight," he said quietly. "I'm sorry about the wedding planning. Please go ahead as you please. I'll be happy as long as you're happy."His face was tired and wan and his golden eyes, which usually possessed both the sharpness as well as metallic lustre of gold, were utterly dimmed with defeat.Fang was immediately concerned and blamed himself for not noticing Ren's condition earlier. It was not possible for Ren to have gotten into this state in a day it had to have been a few weeks, at least how had Fang failed to notice it?! To think that he'd caused his precious Ren to become so upset...Fang shook his head. "We'll have a big celebration, that's for sure," he told Ren. "Let's discuss it later, ok? When we're both feeling more rational.""All right," Ren said.Fang glanced at his watch. "It's almost time to pick up the babies from school," he said. "I'll go and ask the driver to get the car out. You wash your face and come down quickly, ok? We can take the babies for an outing later, too."Ren nodded silently. Fang picked up his phone and ran downstairs. He decided that he would speak with his Big Sister Una again in the evening she had become something of a love guru for Fang by now.Ren went to the bathroom and washed his face. His shoulders hurt terribly where Fang had gripped them just now. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. His face was pale and drawn, and his eyes were red-rimmed, despite washing up with cold water.Ren wondered if he was getting sick for real once again. He had been feeling a little uncomfortable for the last few days...A shadow appeared in Ren's vision for a moment but disappeared the moment he tried to look closely. His left arm and his chest hurt suddenly.Ren's first thought was that it was an impact from the reflection magic, which hadn't acted up for a long time. Had something happened to Fang?A moment later, however, he realised with much relief that it wasn't Fang. Something was pressing against his own chest and making it difficult for him to breathe. He could vaguely hear his phone ringing and the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.Then he knew no more.
