Crashing into an Old Flame
Chapter 211: Qin Zehan

Chapter 211: Qin Zehan

While Logan left to retrieve the chessboard, Hazel crossed the hallway and placed the shopping bags on the wall-mounted chairs. She smoothened the creases in her black dress. But just as she was about to take a seat, a familiar face entered her sight.

From the corner of her eyes, she could see that distinct figure that was imprinted somewhere deep in her memories.

Her whole body froze and she stood rooted to her spot.

Only a few seconds had passed yet it felt like an eternity.

Hazel slowly turned around.

’It’s impossible. Impossible. It can’t be him. Can’t be him...’

Her mind seemed to be chanting those words on a loop until she stood while facing the man.

’Boom’

Her mind exploded the moment she saw the face.

It has been over two decades yet it only took one gaze to ascertain that she had not gotten the wrong person.

There were only the two of them in the hallway in front of the Director’s office. A few hospital staff were passing by yet nobody stepped in the hallway.

The man who was standing in front of the Director’s office was facing the door and there was an air of aloofness around him. He had donned a black tuxedo that seemed to be highlighting his muscular body, just like the first time they met. His jet-black hair was coiffed to perfection and one could see the strands of striking silver hair amidst the black.

Hazel could clearly remember the question she asked when she first noticed the man’s hair.

’What kind of trend is this? If you were dying your hair anyway, you should have dyed it whole silver or you should have left it black. What is this combination?’ she had mocked him.

’Nonsense,’ The man had looked at her coldly as if he was offended by her question, ’I got it from my late mother.’

Yet, the black-silver hair only seemed to be enhancing how stunning he looked. He was in his early 20s back then and she was barely 19. And even after all these years, his charms did not seem to have diminished in the slightest.

’Wasn’t this why I was easily charmed back then?’ Hazel’s face looked like she was about to cry.

As the man moved, Hazel turned around without second thought.

’’Excuse me,’’ his voice was cold yet Hazel was not foreign to it.

She could almost hear Maxim’s voice overlapping with this voice. Strange. She was proud that her genes dominated but she realized how wrong she was now that she faced this man again.

’’Are you a staff?" Qin Zehan glanced at the woman’s back as he asked expressionlessly, ’’Where is the Director?" He had knocked on the door twice yet no one had responded. His father had lost his temper quite a few times lately so it worried him to some extent.

Hazel thanked her ancestors that she had put on a hat, and sunglasses, and even her son would not recognize her from her back, let alone this devil whom she had met only once decades ago.

Without responding to him, she walked away from there, her pace increasing gradually until she started running.

Her heart was bleeding for the shopping bags that she abandoned. She had handpicked every dress keeping Diana in mind. But life was more important. As long as she breathed, she had many opportunities to pamper her future daughter-in-law. Her daughter-in-law would be heartbroken if she as her mother-in-law, sacrificed her life over a few clothes. A smart man knew when to retreat and when to advance.

With that thought in mind, Hazel did not slow down at all. It was as if her legs had a consciousness of their own.

When her heels obstructed her, she abandoned her stilettos and threw them in the hallway. Pressing the hat tighter on her head, she ran faster.

’’Stop!" As soon as Qin Zehan snapped out of his reverie, he realized that something was wrong but when he followed the woman, she disappeared from the hallway like she was never there in the first place.

But the stilettos that hit his chest and fell said otherwise.

Qin Zehan walked back towards his father’s office, his cold face was enshrouded with a hint of confusion. His footsteps slowed down when he saw the shopping bags lying on the wall-mounted chairs.

He looked at it for a moment before opening one of them. His fingers held the bill in his hand and the name on it was unfamiliar to him.

’Logan Parker’

The person earlier was a woman. And this name was unfamiliar to Qin Zehan so he could be certain they had no reason to run away at the sight of him. So, even if this ’Logan Parker’ was her family, he could not figure out why she would run away like that when they had nothing to do with each other.

He clicked a picture of the bill and sent it to his secretary with one word ’Investigate’.

’’Brat, what are you doing?"

When he heard the voice, Qin Zehan turned around and bowed to the old man, ’’Father.’’

’’Hmph!" Old Master Qin had just returned after cajoling Maxim to attend the board meeting. Before every meeting, he would have a headache about how to discipline Alex and how to coax Maxim to attend it.

While Alex attended the meetings without complaints, he would not be restrained in the presence of those old goats of the Artemis Hospital. If he was not smoking with the legs on the conference table, then he would be watching those po...cough...obscene videos on his phone or chatting with some random woman.

As for Maxim, he was more obstinate. To him, the hospital only meant saving patients. Attending any meeting was a waste of his time and breath. And so, he simply would not budge from his office at all.

And both of them would collectively annoy the old goats to death who would then come to pester him, the Director of Artemis Hospital. According to them, no matter how talented these young men were, they had no right to be so disrespectful towards seniors and veterans like them.

But this time, luck was on Old Master Qin’s side. Alex was rather docile due to the recent incidents and he was further suppressed when he heard that his father was coming to LA. As for Maxim, Old Master Qin usually collaborated with Hazel who would act pitifully to get him to agree but after a few months, that trick was ineffective yet this time, another person did the job. Diana’s presence in this hospital was like a heavenly blessing to Old Master Qin. He just had to mention the first letter of her name, and Maxim agreed to attend the meeting without hesitation.

But Old Master Qin was rather surprised to see his ’unfilial’ son. He had not expected him to drop his work and come here as soon as he called him. When his gaze landed on the shopping bags on the chairs, he frowned, ’’What is this?"

’’Shopping bags.’’

’’You think I am blind?" Old Master Qin was infuriated.

Qin Zehan explained the incident briefly.

Old Master Qin’s face darkened when he heard that. He noticed the bill that his son was holding. He moved closer and when he saw the name on the bill, his face shifted slightly. It did not take him much to understand who these bags belonged to and what exactly transpired here.

’’A lady left her things here and you shamelessly browsed through it? Is this how I raised you?" Old Master Qin looked at his son disapprovingly.

"She was suspicious.’’

Seeing his son’s wooden face, Old Master Qin wanted to punch him to his heart’s content. No wonder those brats...

He sighed, ’’Drop the investigation if you have started one.’’

"Father?" Qin Zehan was surprised. It was not hard for his father to figure out his intentions but what surprised him was that his father never meddled in his decisions.

After he started handling this hospital, he handed over the family business to him and he never interfered in those affairs no matter how much Qin Zehan tried to convince him.

He emotionlessly dropped the bill back in the shopping back and sent another text to his secretary.

’Don’t’

Even though he did not intend to investigate it further, but he had his own suspicions.

When Old Master Qin noticed Qin Zehan’s calm gaze, a hint of guilt crept into his chest but he pressed it down, ’’What? Are you upset about my decision? You are the Master of the Qin Family yet you want to breach a lady’s privacy. How do you think, I, as your father would face our ancestors after I die?"

There was no shift in Qin Zehan’s expression but his eyes flickered when he heard that, ’’Just the way, I, as your son, would face our ancestors after my death.’’

Old Master Qin was startled. An ominous feeling rose in his heart. Looking at his son’s calm countenance, he felt like he was falling into a trap. But curiosity killed the cat. He could not hold himself back from asking, ’’What... What do you mean?’’

Qin Zehan thrust a hand in his pocket as he noticed the cautiousness and curiosity mixed on his father’s face, ’’I, as the Master of the Qin Family might be trying to breach a lady’s privacy. But you, as the Old Master of the Qin family didn’t just try it, you ’breached’ a lady’s privacy.’’

Old Master Qin’s beard trembled with rage, ’’What are you slandering me for?"

’’Father, did you forget that you stalked Mother?"

"_" Old Master Qin’s face turned ashen.

Although Qin Zehan seemed to be talking about the weather, the undertone of mockery in his tone did not go unnoticed by the old man.

Stalking his mother...

Wasn’t his son insinuating that he was the greatest scum in here?

Back when Old Master Qin was young, he had fallen for his wife at first sight. To talk to her, he ended up following her to her university. But on the way, she encountered some hoodlums who cornered her seeing that she was from a rich family. And being trained in the military, Old Master Qin became a hero who saved the beauty.

After that, he had wanted to approach her again, but he lacked guts. He could only follow her quietly, to protect her and to look at her from afar. One day, he was caught by her and what shocked him was that she had long known about his presence. Her guards had noticed him from the day he started following her. Old Master Qin did not waste a breath to ask his father to propose marriage.

Back then, terms like ’stalking’ and ’stalker’ were not a thing. And love used to be simpler, especially in the prestigious aristocratic family like theirs where it ended up leading to marriage rather than dilly-dallying unlike kids these days who had trends like ’one night stands, open relationships, situationship, friends-with-benefits and what not’ going on.

He never thought his wife would jokingly mention it to their children. And this fox son of his knew right where to hit it.

Qin Zehan was in his 40s and he had a muscular built but compared to Old Master Qin who was more brawn in his younger days, Qin Zehan relied on his brains. That’s the reason the Qin Family’s business grew by leaps and bounds since he took over. His opponents were always wary of his almost demonic intelligence and schemes.

It could be said that while Old Master Qin preferred playing chess on the board, Qin Zehan lived his daily life like a game of chess taking living beings as pawns.

Noticing his father’s silence, Qin Zehan did not say anything. But he understood that his father knew this person, ’Logan Qin’, whoever he was, and more so, he was acquainted with that lady, or else he would not have ordered him to stay back from this matter.

Qin Zehan twisted the signet ring on his finger, deep in thought. No one could tell what he was thinking.

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