Dinner

Shun had caught Madam Li completely off-guard, but the cunning woman recovered gracefully and even had the audacity to act embarrassed. "I'm sorry Shun", she said walking up to him and giving Mei a look of contempt. "What she did to you … what she did to this family is unforgivable. I hope you don't fool yourself into thinking that you have any future left with her. Especially now that you're about to become engag …"

"Mother!", Shun stopped her again before she could get the whole word out. He couldn't allow her to say it in front of Mei. Especially since he hadn't agreed to it yet. "You and I will talk about that later", he growled with displeasure. "But right now, we will sit and have dinner".

Madam Li took a step back. She knew when she was about to cross a line with her son and the look on his face right now told her not to push her luck. "Oh dear, I have dinner plans with Mrs. Gao", she announced, her personality suddenly becoming as sweet as honey. "I only stayed back to get a glimpse of you before I left. I missed you. And now if you'll excuse me, I'll get going", she said walking past Shun before stopping to turn around again to look at Mei, scrutinising her outfit. "Mei may no longer be your wife, but make sure she is presentable. After all she is still connected to this family", she squeezed in one last barb before finally disappearing towards the front door.

Shun looked at Mei and noticed the sudden stiffness in her body as she sat in her chair. "Please don't let what she just said get to you", he told her as he made his way to the other end of the table and sat down. "You have to understand, what you did hurt her a lot".

Mei remained quiet for a few seconds, before lifting her eyes to meet Shun's. "You're getting engaged?" she asked.

Shun's heart panged with guilt as he registered what looked like hurt in Mei's eyes. "I recently decided to remarry", he said. "But I haven't …"

"Congratulations", Mei smiled brightly. "I'm happy for you. I hope she is everything you ever wanted".

Shun watched as Mei held her smile until Mr. Wu, the butler came in to serve their food. She then switched her attention to the old man, whom she hadn't seen since she left the mansion and asked him how he was doing. It bothered Shun, her smile and her words. Did she not realise that everything he had ever wanted was her? And yet she said those words as if she really meant them.

Mei, lifted her knife and fork and positioned them to cut into the tender roasted quail in front of her. She had to eat to show Shun that she was okay, but deep inside she didn't know whether she wanted to laugh or cry. No doubt she would be doing both later.

She had expected this to happen someday. Shun moving on. She had spent the last four years preparing herself of news of Shun's new relationship, his new wife and family. But she had hope it would be through a magazine or TV, not in person like this.

Her heart ached, and she felt confused. If he was going to marry someone else, then why had he kissed her earlier? It didn't make sense.

"Tell me", Shun's voice brought her back to the room. "What have you been up to in the last four years?"

Mei hesitated for a moment. How much could she really tell him?

"I've been studying art", she replied. Deciding to stick to something that wasn't too personal.

"Ah, that's right. At ENSBA", Shun said.

"You knew?" Mei asked with surprise.

"I picked up a brochure at some charity event a while back and you were on the front of it. So, yes", Shun explained. "I wasn't aware that art was something you were interested in".

"I wasn't, until grandma Li recommended it", Mei explained. "I actually started painting in this house".

"You never told me", Shun said with a hint of resentment in his voice.

For some reason his tone triggered Mei. "You were never at home", she pointed out, with more anger in her voice than she intended, airing some of the frustration she had felt all those years ago. "And when I did try to see you or speak to you, I was blocked off by your mother or your great wall of secretaries. I was bluntly and harshly told to not cause a scene by demanding to see my husband. Do you even realise that in the last three years of our marriage we spoke to each other less than half a dozen times?" she said putting her cutlery down. "How could I tell you?"

"Surely you're exaggerating", Shun tried to dismiss her.

"No. There were so few, if you would like, I can list when and where we had each conversation", she looked at Shun, challenging him with her eyes. "In fact, I think we've spoken to each other more in the last two days than during most of our married life. If I had known before, perhaps I would've divorced you earlier".

"Perhaps if you weren't having an affair with my brother, then I wouldn't have blocked you out. Do you realise how humiliating it was for me to been seen with you?" Shun's voice boomed across the table as his hands dropped his cutlery. "Do you know how it feels to be betrayed by your wife? To find your wife in another man's arms – your own brothers' arms?"

Mei closed her eyes and took a deep breath before speaking again calmly. "You keep bringing that up as an excuse for everything that went wrong between us. But if you had even paid any attention to me at all up to that day, you would've noticed the tears in my eyes. You would've noticed how upset I was at that moment", she said opening her eyes as tears uncontrollably streamed down her cheeks. "Then you would've first asked what was wrong before even thinking about punching your brother. You would've helped me".

"Help?" Shun repeated to himself softly.

Mei wiped her cheeks with the back of her hands and stood up from the table. "Let me know when you need me to be ready tomorrow to go to the hospital", she said leaving the dining room.

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

© 2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

A kind reminder to please refrain from cutting, copying, pasting or reproducing the contents, themes and ideas of this story without approval.