7. Aftermath.

They should have let him die.

Chen Kamman woke up in a hospital ward two weeks after the incident, feeling dead inside and bitter. The room was annoyingly bright, and he hated everything about it. He hated himself most for pulling the trigger; he could never forgive such a crime.

His grief had driven him to unconsciousness; his body had refused to go on. Everyone was worried: Auntie Long, Gwen, Rei, and his other men. He didn't care; in fact, he hated them for saving him. They should have let him die.

He was in the VIP ward, so it was usually quiet, except for Gwen constantly nagging him to eat or Liang suddenly bursting into tears like a grieving old woman who had lost a son. Rei was even tired of him.

"Why are you crying? Did someone die?" Rei snapped angrily.

"Young master must be feeling so much pain! If only I could bear it for his sake! Oh! How sad!" Liang cried out dramatically.

"Okay, so it's pain you want? Wait right there; I'll show you pain." Rei said, getting up from his chair, cracking his knuckles with a deadly look on his face. 

Liang scurried away from the room in fear.

Moments like these made Kamman slightly chuckle, but most of the time, he was drowning in depression. He couldn't even be at his father's funeral.

Auntie Long always wore a worried look on her face. She sighed more often now and would constantly break down in tears at his bedside, begging him to return to his old, bubbly self. Chen wanted to comfort her, but his own pain was too much, so he cried with her instead.

He also knew that Gwen was having the hardest time. She lost her mother when she couldn't even walk, her father when she was so dependent on him, and now it felt like she was losing her brother, too. 

He wanted to tell her to hang in there, that everything was going to be alright, and that he was going to be alright, but he couldn't even tell himself that.

However, Gwen had coped surprisingly well. She did cry often and threw tantrums like she normally would, but her grief was not as bad or as draining. She was only ten years old, but even she was forced to mature over that short period of time.

She began to make appearances for her family in her brother's stead. As Auntie Long said, she was now growing into young Lady Chen. 

During the burial, she represented the family on her own, receiving guests and making speeches. People praised her for being so responsible when she was so young, but they didn't fail to criticize her brother for lacking responsibility.

This had annoyed her, and she had gone straight to the person who said that and asked him to watch his tongue or she'd make him swallow it. 

Everybody was clearly taken aback by this. When Auntie Long narrated that incident to Kamman at the hospital, she was laughing so hard that tears came out of her eyes.

"Can you even imagine?! She was so tiny, and the man was as big as a giant, but he looked like he was about to piss on himself, haha."

"I worried about her for nothing. She makes a better head than I," he said proudly. But at the end of the day, she was still Kamman's baby sister.

Every day, she would whine in his ears until they almost bled, but for her sake, Kamman tried to pull himself together. He started to eat. He started to listen to the doctors. In a month, he was back in the Manor but still unable to go outside.

During that time, a lot had happened in the organization, which was the reason his uncle drove all the way to the mansion just a day after his discharge. In the study, people could hear them arguing.

"Why can't you attend the meeting?! You are your father's heir! It is only natural that you take over!" His uncle's booming voice exploded throughout the property.

"Who would want a seventeen-year-old to lead them? You just want my presence to stay relevant." 

Kamman was calm, but his words still carried equal weight.

His uncle was slightly taken aback by this. He struggled to compose himself.

So what if I do? As your guardian, I expect to be obeyed!"

Kamman was already so used to these power charades. He had been around his father and Dian for the longest time, and they had taught him everything he knew. 

They were the main players of such games.