Three days after the funeral, Nana returned to Grandpa Li's house. She couldn't stay away. The empty building called to her like an open wound—painful but impossible to ignore.
Her eyes were swollen nearly shut from crying. She'd barely slept, barely eaten. Her mother had begged her to rest, but how could she rest when every time she closed her eyes, she saw Grandpa Li's smile? Heard his voice saying, "Come in, come in, child"?
The door was unlocked. She pushed it open slowly, half-expecting to see him in his favorite chair, newspaper in hand, teacup steaming.
But it was Zayne who sat there instead.
He looked different without his suit. Black shirt, sleeves rolled up, hair slightly disheveled. He hadn't shaved in days—unusual for someone so precisely put-together.
Dark circles shadowed his eyes. He'd been sleeping here, she realized. Couldn't bear to leave either.
"Miss Wang." He stood immediately, formally. Always so formal. "I... I was hoping you'd come."
"I'm sorry." Her voice was hoarse, barely functional. "I know I shouldn't just—I can leave if you need privacy—"
"Stay." The word came out more forceful than he intended. He softened his tone.
"Please. We need to talk."
Nana's stomach dropped. We need to talk.
Nothing good ever followed those words.
They sat at the small kitchen table—the same table where she'd served him soup just weeks ago. The same table where Grandpa Li used to tell her stories. Everything looked the same, but everything was wrong without him here.
Zayne reached into his jacket—the one draped over the chair—and pulled out an envelope. Aged paper, slightly yellowed, with his name written in shaking handwriting across the front."My grandfather left this," Zayne said carefully. "His last wishes."
Nana's hands trembled in her lap. "Okay."
"He wanted—" Zayne paused, clearly struggling with how to say this. "He had a specific request. About us."
"Us?"
Her voice was barely a whisper.
Zayne met her eyes. Those hazel eyes that usually looked so cold now held something else—uncertainty, vulnerability, a desperate kind of hope.
"He wanted us to marry."
The words hung in the air like smoke. Nana stared at him, waiting for the punchline, the explanation that would make this make sense. When none came, she laughed—a broken, disbelieving sound.
"That's... that's not possible. He wouldn't—why would he—
"Because he believed we could save each other."
Zayne's voice was quiet but steady. "Because he saw something in both of us that we couldn't see ourselves. He wrote that you see me as a person, not a doctor. That I could give you the life you deserve. That we both—"
His throat worked. "That we both carry too much alone."
Nana stood abruptly, chair scraping against the floor. "No. No, I can't. I don't belong in your world, Dr. Li. I'm just—I'm a girl from the countryside who barely graduated high school. You're a famous surgeon in the capital. Your life is—it's skyscrapers and awards and important people. Mine is... is washing clothes by hand and working night shifts and—"
"I know." Zayne remained seated, watching her panic with something that looked like understanding. "I know it seems impossible. I know we're from different worlds. But it was his dying wish, Miss Wang. His final request."
"That's not fair." Tears spilled down her already-raw cheeks. "That's not fair to use that. I loved him, but I can't—I won't ruin your life just because—"
Zayne's phone rang, cutting through her spiral. He glanced at the screen, jaw tightening. "My mother," he said quietly.
"I need to take this."
He stood, moved to the doorway, answered.
"Mother."
Even from across the room, Nana could hear the woman's voice—sharp, cultured, commanding.
"Zayne, I've arranged dinner with Melissa Chen next week. She's perfect for you—daughter of the Chen Medical Group founder, Stanford educated, currently heading their research division. Beautiful, accomplished, from an excellent family—"
"Mother, I—"
"You need to think about your future, darling. Your reputation. Your position requires a wife who can match your standing. Melissa understands the medical world, understands the social obligations. She's exactly what you need."
Nana felt herself shrinking with every word.
Exactly what you need.
Everything she wasn't.
Everything she could never be.
She moved toward the door, trying to leave quietly, trying to disappear the way she always did when she didn't belong—
Zayne's hand shot out, catching her wrist. Gentle but firm. His eyes met hers, and she froze.
"Mother," he said into the phone, still holding Nana's gaze. "I need to tell you something."
"What is it, dear? Is this about your grandfather? I'm sorry we couldn't attend the funeral, but your father and I had that conference in Geneva—"
"Grandfather left a letter." Zayne's voice was calm, clinical, but his hand around Nana's wrist trembled slightly.
"His dying wish. He wants me to marry someone."
Interest sharpened in his mother's tone.
"Oh? One of his friend's granddaughters? The Wang family from Linkon? They have excellent—"
"No. A girl from the countryside.
The one who took care of him. Angelina Wang."
He paused.
"She has no connections, no prestigious background. She's eighteen years old, just graduated high school. She works in a supermarket to support her family."
The silence on the other end was deafening.
Then:
"Zayne. You can't be serious."
"He was very specific in his letter."
"Your grandfather was old, sentimental, clearly not thinking straight in his final days—" His mother's voice had gone cold, sharp.
"You're twenty-five years old, chief of cardiology at the most prestigious hospital in China. You cannot throw your future away on some random girl just because your grandfather felt charitable toward her—"
She's not random," Zayne interrupted, his voice harder now. "She saved his life once. She visited him weekly. She cooked for him, cleaned for him, cared for him when none of us did. She loved him more than—"
His voice cracked.
"More than most of his actual family."
"That's very touching, but it doesn't make her suitable as your wife! Zayne, think about this logically. Think about your career, your reputation. What will people say when they find out the great Dr. Li married some poor village girl? What will your colleagues think? The board of directors?"
Nana pulled at her wrist, trying to free herself.
This was exactly what she'd feared. Exactly why she knew she didn't belong. She was an embarrassment. A liability. A mistake waiting to happen.
But Zayne's grip tightened. He wouldn't let her run.
"Mother, I need to go—"
"Zayne Li, you listen to me. I know you're grieving, but you cannot make life-altering decisions based on a sentimental old man's dying whims. Meet Melissa. Give her a chance. She's perfect for you. This village girl—I'm sure she's lovely, but she's not from our world. She doesn't have the education, the breeding, the social skills necessary to be by your side. You'd be doing her a kindness by letting her go back to her simple life—"
"My grandfather,"
Zayne said slowly, each word measured and deliberate.
"never forced me to be strong when I was breaking. Never chose his career over me. Never left me alone when I needed someone."
His hazel eyes were burning now, locked on Nana's face.
"He was there. Always. When you and Father were in Geneva, or Boston, or wherever your research took you—he was there. And he never asked me for anything. Not once. Until this."
His mother's voice softened, manipulative.
"Darling, I know you loved him. We all did. But you're not thinking clearly—
"I'm thinking very clearly."
Zayne turned away from Nana, releasing her wrist, pacing to the window.
"For the first time in years, I'm thinking clearly. He believed I would live my whole life without feeling real love. Without being seen as anything more than a doctor, a title, a career. He believed this girl—"
He glanced back at Nana, something vulnerable in his expression, "—could see who I actually am."
"And can she?" His mother's voice dripped with skepticism.
"Can this uneducated village girl understand your work, your world, your life? Can she stand beside you at hospital galas and medical conferences? Can she hold conversations with board members and international colleagues?"
Zayne was quiet for a long moment. Then:
"I don't know. But Grandfather believed she could teach me something I've forgotten. How to be human instead of just functional."
"Zayne—"
"I have to go, Mother. I'll call you later."
"Zayne Li,if you do this, if you throw away your future on this girl, don't expect—"
He hung up.
The silence that followed was suffocating. Nana stood frozen by the door, tears streaming silently down her face.
She'd heard everything. Every word of why she wasn't enough, would never be enough.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. Your mother is right. I would ruin everything. Your career, your reputation, your life. I can't—I won't—"
"Stop." Zayne turned to face her fully. "Stop apologizing for existing."
"But I—
"Do you want to know what I see when I look at you?"
He moved closer, not touching but near enough that she had to meet his eyes.
"I see someone who works herself to exhaustion to feed her siblings. Who walks dangerous streets at midnight but still smiles in the morning. Who saved a stranger in a park and loved him like family. Who made soup that tasted like home even though she'd never tasted that home herself."
Nana shook her head.
"That doesn't make me suitable to be your wife—"
"Maybe not by society's standards. Maybe not by my mother's standards."
Zayne's voice dropped, rough with emotion.
"But my grandfather's standards? He saw worth in people others overlooked. He saw me—really saw me—when my own parents couldn't be bothered. And he saw you. He believed you were wonderful."
"I'm not wonderful," Nana said brokenly. "I'm just... surviving."
"So am I." The admission seemed to cost him. "I've been surviving for fifteen years. Existing but not living. Successful but not happy. And my grandfather knew that. He knew I was drowning in a life that looked perfect from the outside." He paused. "He thought you could teach me how to breathe again."
They stared at each other across the small kitchen—two people drowning in different oceans, both terrified of reaching for the lifeline being offered.
"I don't know how to be what you need,"
Nana whispered.
"I don't know how to be what you need either," Zayne admitted. "I don't know how to do this—any of this. Relationships, emotions, being a person instead of just a doctor. I'm terrible at it. Clinical. Cold. People call me a robot and they're not wrong."
"You're not a robot." The words slipped out before she could stop them.
"You're just... protected. Like you built walls so high no one could hurt you again."
Zayne's breath caught. "Yes," he said softly. "Exactly like that."
Silence fell again, but this time it wasn't suffocating. It was heavy with possibility, with the weight of a decision that would change everything.
"What do we do?" Nana asked finally.
"I can't just... marry a stranger because your grandfather wished it. That's insane."
"I know." Zayne ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "But I also can't ignore his final wish. He gave me everything—love, stability, a home when I had none. He asked for one thing. One thing." His voice broke. "How do I say no to that?"
Nana understood. She'd do anything for Grandpa Li. Even now, even when he was gone. Even something as impossible as this.
"Maybe..." She hesitated, wrapping her arms around herself. "Maybe we could try? Not marriage right away. Just... getting to know each other? See if—if there's any possibility that this could work before we commit to something so permanent?"
Zayne looked at her, surprise flickering across his usually controlled features.
"You'd be willing to try?"
"For him." Nana's voice was firm despite her fear. "I'd try for him. Because he believed in it. Because he was never wrong about me before." She met Zayne's eyes. "But I need you to know—I'll probably fail. I'll probably embarrass you. I don't know how to be in your world, and I don't know if I can learn. So if you want to back out now—"
"No." The word was immediate, forceful. Zayne stepped closer. "If you're willing to try, then so am I. For him. For—"
He paused, something shifting in his expression. "For us. To see if maybe, possibly, he was right about this."
Nana nodded slowly. This was crazy. Absolutely insane. But Grandpa Li had never steered her wrong before. And looking at Zayne—really looking at him—she saw the same loneliness she carried, the same exhaustion, the same desperate hope that maybe life could be more than just survival.
"Okay," she whispered. "Let's try. Let's honor his wish. Let's see if two broken people can somehow make one whole thing."
Zayne extended his hand, formal even in this impossible moment.
"To trying."
Nana placed her small hand in his larger one. His palm was warm, steady, surprising gentle.
"To trying."
They shook on it—a promise, a pact, a leap of faith into the unknown.
And somewhere, somehow, they both felt it—Grandpa Li's approval, like sunshine breaking through rain clouds.
Yes, the universe seemed to whisper. This is right. This is what I wanted. Now learn to love each other the way you deserve.
Two lonely souls, taking the first terrifying step toward each other.
It wasn't love. Not yet.
But it was a beginning.
.
.
.
.
.
To be continued __