Flash Marriage: The Domineering Wife

Yan Mei spilled her parts of the story, parts he was no privy to but the retelling had more depth than what she had explained to him before. This time she truly unburdened herself and it was his turn to hold her hand and offer silent support and strength.

His mother listened silently, her eyes having that curious quality of being lost in thought but also perfectly grounded in the moment.

When he told her about being a white witch and meeting the Devil and the children they would have and their peculiar situation, she betrayed no emotion, she waited until he was done, completely drained.

"I am sorry" those were her first words

"For what mother?" Lei Zhao was confused

"For not protecting you better" she replied summarily, her eyes stark

"It's not your fault at all, it's more mine than anything. I caused this...." Yan Mei argued

But she cut her off with a curt shake of her head, "every mother does, no matter what, you'll find out soon enough yourself. I had my intuition running about that girl but I thought she was a threat to your happiness and marriage, not your life. I should have known better."

"Mom, what are you saying."

"I'm a practicing witch my dear and I should have taken more care of my family" Yan Mei didn't react but even though he suspected, he couldn't hold back his reaction.

"I know that's your family line but I didn't think, I mean there was no sign..." Lei Zhao trailed off and tried again "how come I never saw anything"

His mother replied with an arched eyebrow that made him feel very foolish, but her next words spoke of so much pain, "it's done me very little good no matter how much I tried, I've lost one child and almost lost another" 𝗳𝙧𝐞𝚎w𝗲𝚋n𝚘𝙫𝑒𝘭.𝑐om

"You know that's not true, it's not your fault" he countered this time

"Maybe but, having power means having responsibilities and with those responsibilities comes guilt."

"Mother"

She continued as he hadn't said a word "it's our family's responsibility to protect people from demons and demonic influences and I couldn't save my own family."

"Don't do that, we are here, we survived" Yan Mei cut in with a soft reprimand.

"I know darling but my heart"

"I miss him too" Lei Zhao knew she was regretting more profoundly the son she couldn't save, the empty casket filled with crash debris they had buried

She nodded at him before assuming a more businesslike mien "we are descended from the original witch herself Hecate. There are many families but we are the head family tasked with policing ourselves and the supernatural world. We protect people from demons, send demons back to hell and destroy their influences or their compulsion, which can be very difficult"

Then she scoffed at herself, "demons have gotten better at hiding themselves and I guess I missed her."

"We were all fooled but we survived" Yan Mei countered

"Thank you but I hope you realize that you can't stay here anymore, Your children, they are one of a kind and that energy surge the other day is going to draw every type of power even if it is just to satisfy their curiosity."

"We can handle that, we can't just uproot our life here and run like we are scared of them before we've even met them." Lei Zhao deflected casually

But his mother was having nothing of that "think about it, look at your wife, she's battle-weary"

Lei Zhao turned to see a look of guilt on her face as she mumbled "I'm sorry"

"No, I'm sorry for being stupid. You're my number one priority, not my ego. I'll start making plans." He soothed her, thoroughly chastened.

"Even the family would be curious" Lei Xiao Tong cut in with an introspective look

"You don't mean your family," he asked sharply

She waves him back casually as she cuts in, "unfortunately yes, but you must understand that this has never happened before and they will want to get to the bottom of it. I cannot guarantee that a belief of a lifetime will change just because it's my own family. Even if it is for your safety child, even I can feel the enormous power brewing in you right now, you don't want to do this on the run from them and I will do my best to make sure you don't." It was a promise of love and Yan Mei took it with a teary smile.

The look on her face at that moment struck him as familiar, she was floundering but she would continue being strong until it nearly broke her

"You should tell me these things" he groused

"I did want to..."

"Disturb me? You are my life. We need to have a long talk about what that means" Yan Mei blushed at those words

His mother laughed and got off her seat, seems like this conversation is over

"Thank you for everything" Yan wthanked her with a smile

"No, thank you for allowing me to love you" Lei Xiao Tong countered

The trio walked back into the house through the family gallery and Yan Mei who hadn't had a tour of this part for this house paused at every picture.

Yan Mei froze in front of one of them and pointed at something. "Who is that?"

Lei Xiao Tong froze, a look of panic paired with irredeemable heartbreak flared in her eyes. "That's my son, that's the one that died in the accident with the real Yue Yan"

"She doesn't know, she's never seen him before today" Lei Zhao jumped in trying to salvage the situation

"It's alright, it seems like today is a day for revelations" his mother countered in a tight voice

"But he's not dead" Yan Mei replied

There was a moment of shocked silence before his mother screamed "What!"

"Yan Mei !" He couldn't stop himself

"I know him, he works for me and my father, he's worked for me for the past two years but he retired recently after getting hurt in an assignment for my father . He was one of my security guards and he preferred protecting from the shadows." She insisted, her eyes begging him to believe.