At Liu villa, Nana asked Jing, “Jing, I need your help.”
Jing brightly smiled, and he gave a wide grin, reaching till his eyes. “What help? I will do anything. Your one and only cute brother-in-law is at your service.”
“Do you want me to beat someone up? Is anybody harassing you!?”
She looked at him speechlessly. “Huh? No.”
“Oh, then did you fight with bro? Do you need my help in making up with him? Oh, I have many ideas!”
She smacked on his head. “No. We didn’t have any fight.”
“Oh, oh! I got it! That pervert old man must have done something! Don’t worry. I will help you in dealing with him!” He spoke righteously.
“No, no, no.” She shook her head.
“Then what?” He pouted.
Nana’s mouthed twitched.
Why did it feel like he wanted the last reason to be true?
Nana said, “Listen.” She told him about her plan.
Jing raised his eyebrows in amusement. He stared at her and slowly nodded. “Okay.”
—
Grandma Liu was taking a walk in the garden. She remembered how everyone was joyfully discussing the baby’s name. But, somehow…she couldn’t join in. And somewhere in her heart, she felt a pang of sadness surge inside.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the laughing and talking of two people coming towards her.
Nana was holding her sonography report. She stretched her hands and held it upwards. “Look, Jing; this is the baby.” She pointed. They seemed not to notice Grandma Liu.
Jing whined. “I cannot see it, sister-in-law! It’s really tiny! Where is it?”
“Why can’t you see? I have kept my finger on it, right here.
“It still looks black and white to me.”
She puffed her cheeks. “Your nephew or niece would feel bad to know that their uncle cannot recognize them!”
“But what can I do! I really can’t make him or her out.”
She angrily kept the report on the table and said, “Forget it. I will tell this to Jinhai that you cannot even recognize him or her.”
He panicked and started to act cute. “Sister-in-law~~ Please don’t do this. Aren’t I your favorite brother? We are on the same team.”
“Hmph!” She turned her head to the other side and walked away.
“Sister-in-law, don’t go! Please don’t say anything to bro. I will try again.” He frantically ran and followed behind her.
Grandma Liu saw them leaving. Her sight went onto the report that Nana forgot to take back.
She lightly coughed and started to walk in the other direction, but stopped. She hesitated and turned. She seemed to think for a long time, staring at the report. She would take one step forward, but then her mind would change, and she stopped again. After doing this for God knows how long, she finally made her decision.
She looked left and right and picked up the report. She carefully examined the ultrasound and exclaimed. “There he is!” Her eyes turned a little misty.
She pursed her lips. “Jing is so stupid. It’s a little difficult since it’s tiny, but my great-grandson or granddaughter is definitely visible.” She scoffed. “Men are useless.”
Somewhere hiding in the corner, listening to Grandma Liu, Jing felt terribly wronged.
Nana patted his shoulder. She stepped out and said, “Ah, there it is!”
Grandma Liu got startled and hurriedly wanted to keep it back, but she was late. She felt like a thief being caught doing something wrong.
Nana smiled. “I was looking for it everywhere.”
Grandma Liu steadied herself and cleared her throat. “Hmph! Is this how you take care of your things? You were lucky that I found it. I cannot believe that Jinhai married such an irresponsible girl like you.”
Nana solemnly said, “I apologize, it was my fault. I will be careful from next time.”
Silence.
Grandma Liu was finding it odd to stand there, so she started to leave, but Nana asked, “How did you find the names that I chose for my baby?”
“Names?”
“Yes. Jiaozi and Chunjuan!”
Grandma Liu’s face turned sour. “You call those names?”
“Aren’t they cute!?” She looked proud.
Grandma Liu looked at Nana, stunned.
Is there a screw loose inside her head?
“No, they aren’t! You want to keep your child’s name after food?”
“Why not? They are different.” She pursed her lips.
She looked at her incredulously. “Are you faking it or is your common sense really that bad? People will make fun of his name. He will be a joke among his peers! It is better to give him a rather common name than giving him a ridiculous unique name.”
Nana was stunned.
She had really given a lot of thought to those names. She wasn’t joking when she suggested them. She wanted to hear Grandma Liu’s praise for coming up with such brilliant names. She even asked Jing, but he somehow avoided the topic.
“Jing, how are the names I chose?”
Jing exclaimed. “Oh, look how lovely the day is! So bright and sunny. I just got the inspiration for my new design. I should jot it down before I forget.”
“But the names-“
“Bye.” He scurried away.
She remembered it. “I…I…But Jinhai really liked it.” She refused to give up, but her tone was getting weaker.
“He was polite! He didn’t want to hurt you, so he went along with it. Get a clue!”
Her mood turned downcast.
Grandma Liu panicked. It was not good for a pregnant woman to be sad and depressed.
“I-I mean to say…they are not that bad. How about we give it as his nickname?”
Nana’s face bloomed into a beautiful smile. “Really?”
“Yes…just let Jinhai choose the names, okay?”
It was a matter of Liu family reputation now. She never thought that there would come a day when she had to worry about her great grandson’s name.
“Okay!” She felt satisfied.
Grandma Liu felt relieved.
A crisis is averted.
“Good.”
“And keep the picture safe. It’s your baby’s first picture. You should treasure it instead of dilly-dallying with it. What face will you show to Jinhai saying that you lost it?” She scolded.
“En!”
She suddenly realized that they were talking like real family members. She forgot that she actually doesn’t like Nana.
She glared at her and left huffing and puffing.
Nana softly chuckled.
Jing came out and asked, “Why are you doing this? Don’t you hate her?”
Nana said, “No. I know that what she did was very wrong, and she is already facing punishment.”
He frowned. “What punishment?”
Nana faintly smiled. “Nobody now talks to her, right?”
He hesitated. “But that is what she deserves.”
“Maybe, but today at the breakfast table, I saw the sadness in her eyes of being isolated, of being left out. It didn’t sit right with me. And now I’m the daughter-in-law. It is my duty to at least try to get her to like me. Maybe we can slowly sort out our differences.”
Jing sighed. “Are you sure? She is very stubborn. It won’t be that easy to melt her heart.”
She smiled. “Well, then I will be just as stubborn. A family is complete when all the family members are happy in it. Otherwise, it’s just sad and lonely. Nobody likes being ignored.”
—
In the underground cell, Jinhai continued.
“I knew your last strike would be at Chen banquet. That is why I had already prepared to lax security.”
Suyin looked dumbfounded.
“Otherwise, why would you get an entry? Did you think your stupid mask was enough to cover you up? Do you seriously think our security is that weak?”
“Y-you planned everything…” Suyin was stuttering.
“From A to Z.” He chuckled sinisterly. “Even the rooms were interchanged by me.” He raised his hands in the sign of a cross, indicating a swap.
“And poor you….you had to suffer the same plight once again. But, I guess it was alright. You were quite enjoying it, after all.”
“Nooo!!!! You bastard! How dare you! I won’t forgive you! I will take my revenge!” Suyin was mad in rage, shouting loudly.
“Do you think you are in any position to take revenge? The Chen’s wanted to hand you over to the police, but I secretly kidnapped you. You deserve a much worse punishment than a mere jail.”
He looked coldly. “Twice. So, in total, you hired ten men to violate Nana. But, I always pay back with interest. So, I ordered twenty men to rape you every single day.”
“No, no, no! I won’t live like this! I want to get out!”
One man sneered. “You cannot get out even in your dreams.”
Jinhai smiled. “You always thought that you were the one playing games, but actually, you were just a small part of a much bigger game of mine. You were only being used.”
Jinhai stood up to leave.
“No! Please let me go…Please forgive me. I won’t ever show my face. I won’t harm Nana again. Please…Please…” she was sobbing hard.
He looked at her in disdain. He was about to leave when Suyin asked, “When…when did you start to have feelings for her?”
Jinhai stopped.
The memory of their first meeting flashed in front of his eyes. How they collided into each other.
He looked into those deep brown eyes of hers, and something tickled his frozen heart. He could hear a faint sound of it melting into spring.
His chilling gaze softened.
“Always.”
