
"Are you done packing?" Oliver knocked on my bedroom door, barked to see me close my suitcase. He sat on the couch in my room.
"Already, there's not much I've brought this standard suitcase."
"I'll just take it with me, okay, if you need to wear it."
"Thank you."
"Not to thank me." Now he's pulling me into his lap. I'm stiff, a little uncomfortable with this, physical closeness kind of worries me.
"Sorry, are you uncomfortable?"
"I'm not used to it yet, sorry." He's handsome, and interesting, only I have a problem with his sudden physical closeness.
"What's wrong. If you're uncomfortable, you should say. Okay sit next to me, can you?" She smiles. I just nodded, thankful he was inconsiderate. I sat next to him by slipping my arm around his arm. He turned on the television in the guest room. Just sitting together is like this.
"Have sent your schedule to your mother."
"Had..."
"You're happy to meet him?"
"I don't know I don't think I'm gonna be able to sleep tonight thinking about it. But suddenly everything changed drastically, I had a mother, then I had a lover, a thing that a month ago never imagined suddenly today happened in one eye."
"It's something good, you'll be fine going forward." I looked at him, a question was on my mind... "Other species, when we split up in Hanoi I thought we were done, why exactly did you bring you here again." He's laughing a little now.
"Because you*nci*um my cheek, it underestimates me."
"What?"
"I can't forget that ciu*m*an days later." Now I'm the one laughing.
"How could you not forget the cheek ciu*man. Don Juan you're pathetic..." He grimaces me laughs.
"Don't you ask me, maybe you met a good spell in Hanoi that would make me think so. My fantasies are also upset with myself can't forget you. It's like a teen-year-old's kiss that makes me forget it."
Sometimes I half-believe what he's saying but come to think of it he's got a lot of choice than to go after me. Maybe he got karmic because I kissed him on the cheek, others didn't kiss him on the cheek...
Now I kiss her cheeks with a big smile. He stroked her cheek that I kissed. Don Juan this is so weird, he's looking for me again because he kissed his cheek.
"Like that?" I laugh.
"One more time..." He smiled, pulled me closer and pointed at his cheek. I laughed and gave it to him. But it turns out it was just a trick. Because he changed the direction of his face and hugged my waist tightly it became a real ciu*man.
I couldn't move for a moment, I jolted backwards, but I couldn't because he locked me up. Everything stopped in a moment. Our first kiss, smelling his breath for the first, I held him in my arms.
"I can repay you now." He smiled and I didn't know what to do but hide my hot face in his chest.
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The two-and-a-half hour flight to Shanghai allowed me to prepare. Imagine what I had to say to my mother. Even though I'm not sure it'll be useful.
Now that I walk out the gate quite crowded with pickers, I know his face and the color of the clothes he wears. I looked for him in the crowd.
"Sandra, .."a voice made me turn my head. There he is, with a face that wants to cry. I walked up to him, but he ran up to me so I was afraid he would stumble.
"My daughter, I can finally hold you again." He hugged me so strongly while sobbing. A mother who missed me all her life.
"Mom, ..." My tears finally fell as well, all the words that I had in my mind were wiped out imprudently. I could only hug her and cry with her there, forgetting all around us and just hugging each other.
"Daughter, I sinned against you, but now you're back. Please don't go again."
"Ma, I don't want to leave you either."
"Good boy...Good boy." It feels like the embrace is eternal. I don't know at what age we were separated but my record says it was at 10 months. In the record of the person who left me only my date of birth.
"We're gonna be a spectacle of people here." He laughed and let me go. "Let's go home. Have you been to Shanghai?"
"It's been a few times if there's a VVIP guest that I have to escort,..." I told her what my job was now for her when we reached her car and the driver started running the car later.
"How can you work in Hong Lung..." I told him how I ran away from the orphanage when I was 15, lived my life in Kowloon, and then I met Ko Derrick's group."
"It's your mother's sin..."
"It's Mama, time has passed, it's my destiny to walk there. What matters is that we've met."
She said she gave birth to me at the age of 18, because she was dating a schoolmate. His father who was his own match for him was very angry at that time, although his girlfriend was actually from a good family but his father did not apologize.
Finally my grandfather's men took the baby away to Hong Kong. I imagined how 11 months old was separated from my mother.
"I live alone, my son has a family..."
"Your husband?"
"We've split up the old house." Separating the house, means maybe they are still tied to marriage. "What matters is that you're here, we'll talk about you, okay...."
He asked how the locket could be with Derrick now, I gave him the full story. Mama now takes a long breath.
"I thought why you could take that jade off, maybe you hated me so much that our only link you sold. He said you sold it, turned out he took it from you, what a bad guy. Although I met you because of him but heard what he did, it felt... Mama doesn't want to give him anything anymore."
"Ko Derrick said if you want to give it to me, just give it up to let go of all the business between us, ..."
"You've got a big brother guard huh, your Ko Derrick it looks like he's really nice to you."
"Yes he is good. I'm lucky to have someone I can consider Brother."
"I hope you can thank her yourself."
We then got to a pretty big house in Pudong. One housekeeper greeted Mama and brought me my suitcase.
"This is Mama's house, there are only 3 housekeepers one driver here, the house is not too big but a large land behind for the garden. Mama just lives alone, this is enough." The size is not large here is very different from Hong Kong. I'm 35 years of life1 in Hong Kong is a little sensitive about the size of square meters and square feet.
"This is your room... You likey?"
"Yes Mama, I live in HK, some apartments are smaller than my room." She smiles.
"I'm sorry Mama, just found you now, has some private detective mama's hired but can't find any trace of you. Your grandfather carried the secret of your existence until he was buried."
"Mom, Mama's husband knows Mama has kids."
"Our marriage was just an arranged marriage, I gave birth to a child for her, then we just tried not to fight with each other, and yes trying to make us look okay."
"My father..." My mother looked at me sadly.
"Your father is dead. He's trying to find you, too. Your father is Liu Nen Hao, the Liu family and Zhao did not have a good relationship in your grandfather's lifetime, but we met and then fell in love... We were planning to go to Taiwan after we had raised money, started a business in a new place, which was important we became a family, but it turns out I got caught first. Just a week before we left, .. and then it turned out I was pregnant."
My mom and dad had a hard-fought love.
"After that Mama was set up, with the money and the help of your aunt, Mama then sold textiles and became an exporter in Shenzhen with her own hands without the help of family. Mama was married to someone who had a position in the military to support the family, but it was clear she did not like marriage with Mama especially she knew Mama had had children. Finally Mama made a deal that we would get married but live apart, she was free to have the woman she loved, and Mama only had to give birth to one child, taking good care of her for the family face. And pretend we're a happy family as long as he's involved with his son's life. While your father also married another woman..." I heard it with the trench.
"On the other hand, Mama's business increased, Mama could return all your Uncle's capital, borrow again for other businesses, until he had the largest stake in a clothing manufacturing company that Mama partners with, until he had the largest stake in, then finally ventured to plant about 20% majority into Ping An which was engaged in Real Estate Developer about nine years ago, it was a little risky but in the hands of the CEO who at that time Mama believed Ping An to be one that counts now. Your boss met Mama at Ping An probably about a year ago."
"Great business woman mom,..."
"Mama wants to stand alone, apart from your grandfather, Mama is so vengeful she took you somewhere, and thinking about your dead life, you have to live a life so hard because Mama is not able to protect you. Mama didn't expect you to be dumped by your grandfather all the way to Hong Kong. How far away she was from separating you from Mama just because she hated Lui's family, she begged to cry twenty-five years of blood until the day she died she wouldn't tell you where you were. Only the pendant that your father gave you secretly at that time Mama knew you were wearing it to be a sign, even if it was not sold by people. But it turns out the sky still pity Mama at the end of Mama's life..." He took my hand.
"Please stay with your mom longer. Mama only carried you for 10 months...You can't even call Mama." She was crying again. I can't stand her tears.
"Mama, whatever Mama wants... Don't cry anymore, haven't we met." I hugged her to calm her down later.
"I'm sorry Mama, mama's just too emotional. Hearing you have to live what you live, it feels... The tortured mother." He tried not to cry anymore, I saw him speechless.
"It's my destiny Mama, not Mama's fault, only my fate may be so, my life karma is so."
"You're not married, Mama thinks and prays you might live a good life with a family with you and a kind husband with you. Not like Mama..."
"Mom knows I actually just received a lover yesterday..."
"Tell me to Mama..." I told you how our story, Mama gawked at hearing what I experienced from beginning to end.
"Looks like he's bad..." I laughed at Mama's conclusion. "You're sure you want to be with him, you know Western.I don't know." He looked at me with a skeptical look, I knew what I was going through was making no one put a good line on Oliver. But he's done a lot to be with me.
"He's a good Mama, he's working on a lot for me..."
"All right, forget him. We chatted for a long time, we have to eat, Mama cooks for you from the morning Mama has prepared." I smiled as he pulled my hand, ate my Mama's cooking, it felt like it was only in a dream but now that's the case.
And helping her in the kitchen was just the two of us there, warming up the food, I who was not too used to the cooking saw it with interest, the food was good, the food was good, almost moved to get her to bribe me to try her food with her own hands. Too many tears come with happiness today.
"Mom don't be too busy, it's been a lot. I can't cook, let me buy you what you want to eat." He smiled at me hearing me.
"I wish I had a longer life to pay for the time I've missed."
I hope so too. Getting it 40 years later is a miracle. Maybe I can be devoted to him now to pay for the time we passed
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up next at 12am fixed.