#zhoury

Prompt taken from otp prompts

Prompt: Imagine Person A calling Person B on the phone really excited and happy, but when Person B answers it’s just a voicemail. Person A freezes, drops the phone, and breaks down into tears because Person B died a long time ago, but they still call them because voicemail is the closest thing they have to hearing Person B’s voice.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hi Henry!"

"Hi Mimi!"

"I'm just calling to tell you I'm on my way home... oh Henry! I bought you a gift in China, and one for Lihwa of course! I couldn't forget about our little princess!"

"That's great to hear, did you have fun?"

"The trip was great! My parents were so excited to see pictures of Mei and what she was doing. They also asked a lot about you and if we were going to have another baby! Well, are we Henry?"

"I don't know, maybe Zhou Mi..." Henry starts to trail off

"Anyway, I'll be home soon..." Zhou Mi starts to say before Henry ends the call and throws the phone across the room

"Dad? Are you okay?!" Lihwa asks, running into her father's room

"I'm... I'm fine Lihwa." Henry lies as he tries to hide his tears from his daughter

"Dad, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing..."

"No! It's clearly not nothing if you're crying like this! Just tell me dad! Baba would tell me...."

"Please don't... don't say that..." Henry whispers as tears collect at the corner of his eyes

"Is this about Baba again?"

"I said not to say that."

"Dad! Baba passed away years ago!"

"I know that! Can't you tell that I know?! I've never been the same since he's left me..."

"Dad, I'm not a child! I remember Baba too, don't you think I miss him too?! He was just as important to me as he was to you. I lost my dad in that plane crash. I'll never have him to disapprove of my choice in boyfriends, he'll never be able to help me get ready for prom, he'll never be there to escort me down the aisle and warn my to-be husband not to mess with his precious daughter. You might have lost the love of your life, but I lost all these moments that a dad gets to spend with his daughter!"Lihwa shouts at her father, her tears falling to the floor in seconds "Just because I was young when he died doesn't me I don't feel like I'm missing something in my life! Just imagine all the things he's missed in my life just because some idiot decieded that making it on time was more important than his passangers lives!"

"Stop talking right now!" Henry yells over his daughter "That's enough, I can't take this heartbreak anymore."

"Then you know what you need to do."

"No, I'll never do it."

"I'll delete it then."

"If you delete it..."

"You'll do what to me dad?"

"I'll... I'll..." Henry sputters, any threats he wants to make are completely empty

"Dad, you need to get rid of it, it's not helping you."

"It's my last piece of Zhou Mi, I would rather die than let you delete it."

"Dad! I know you love him, but for f*ck sake, you need to delete that! I'm not asking you to move on and find a new boyfriend, I just want to see you happy again. Think about how many times you've let this damn voicemail get in the way of you living your life!"

"It's never done anything but comfort me!"

"You missed my orchestra concert, one of my friends mom's had to come back to the school and pick me up! The day I competed in my first track meet, you missed it and when all the other parents were praising their kids, I watched them and kept my tears to myself, because I knew they wouldn't care. You wouldn't drive me anywhere because leaving the house made you think of Baba. I had to tell friends I was busy, so I didn't have to tell them that my dad couldn't drive me! I've practically had to raise myself because you were so trapped in this fantasy world that Baba was still alive and waiting for you at the airport or something! This voicemail has never consoled you! It's only kept you stuck in the past!" Lihwa screams, furious at her father

"Just... let me listen to it one more time..." Henry pleads

"Together?"

"Fine..." Lihwa relents

"Hi Henry!" Zhou Mi's cheerful voice greets as Henry's silent tears start to flow again "It's just me, your Mimi. I'm just  calling you to  tell you I'm on my way home... oh Henry! I bought you a gift in China, and one for Lihwa of course! I couldn't forget about our little princess! I just can't wait to come home and hold Lihwa in my arms and tell she groans and tells me she's too old for that, but anyway, the trip was great! My parents were so excited to see pictures of Mei and what she was doing. They also asked a lot about you and if we were going to have another baby! Well, are we Henry? Oh my god, Henry something just happened... oh my god, we're going to die. Henry, if I don't make it back to Canada, I love you and Lihwa so much, don't you ever forget that, and don't you dare forrget..."

"Mimi..."

"It's time dad."

"I know. Do it."

"Message deleted, you have no new voicemails..." The emotionless robotic voice says

"... and in the summer, it'd be really nice and cool, and we could invite everyone over to go to the beach and have a waterfront party!" Zhou Mi looked over at his late night companion, before gracefully leaning over and smacking a napping Henry on the nose. "Seriously, you fell asleep before nine, like some sort of old man. It's been five hours, that's plenty of sleep. Naptime's over."

Henry could just barely make out Zhou Mi's blurry smile, as radiant as it was. On any other day (or night), Henry would have bent over backwards for that smile, but given his grogginess, he really was not feeling all that generous.

"Mimi-ge, I love you and all but did we really need to have this conversation about your dream home at this time of day? I kind of like sleep. In fact, I really love it. I would marry it right now, if it proposed to me."