Chapter 6: It has been twenty years

Chen Jing remembered his words this afternoon. So it was this easy to break a promise, huh?

Chen Jing inhaled a deep breath to calm down. She said, "Let's go."

"Huh?" Lu Man stared at her best friend wide-eyed. She clearly saw them. Then why did she not react? Suppressing the thousand why's in her heart, Lu Man followed Chen Jing.

Chen Jing pulled Lu Man into the nearest clothing store and browsed through their entire new collection for some comfy and cute pajamas.

Seeing her searching so seriously, Lu Man knew what was on her mind.

She said, "Jingjing, let me take you elsewhere."

Chen Jing was dragged by her to another store named 'Bunny'.

'What a cute name!' Chen Jing thought.

Once they stepped in, a cute girl wearing a hoodie and pajamas smiled brightly at them. "Welcome sis," she said.

The whole store was filled with very cute clothes. Usually, Chen Jing wore clothes of dark palette but she decided to change her style recently. And, this store perfectly fitted her mood and aesthetics.

Their buy-buy-buy mode was switched on and they spent the entire three hours selecting clothes for each other. After they bought the clothes, Chen Jing said, "Gurl, aren't you hungry? Let's go get some food."

Lu Man happily nodded as they strolled towards the nearest KFC.

"KFC? Are you serious?"

"Yep," Chen Jing answered as she pulled her best friend in.

They ordered two large chicken popcorns and sat down. Chen Jing browsed her Weibo while Lu Man tried to fix her makeup.

"Jingjing, what's up with Chen?"

"I don't know," she replied with a sigh. She dropped her head on the table and continued, "We met earlier. He said he got a call from his boss and left."

"Do you think he's cheating on you?"

"Nahh. I don't think he'll do that. I just think that the lockdown impacted our relationship in a way that I never thought was possible."

"What do you mean?"

"During those days, he was exceptionally clingy and I was very busy with work and studies. So, he would call or message me 20 times a day and I would only be able to reply to him half of the time. I think that kind of created an emotional disconnect between us. It led to fights often. But, I saw there was no use explaining it to him time and again, so I stopped giving him explanations of any sort. After a while, although the fights reduced, the gap between us increased."

"What about Ms. Zhao?"

"Although I don't like that girl, I don't think they're in a relationship or something." Chen Jing took a sip of the cola and continued, "Because Chen will never cheat on me. Plus, I think it's more like, Ms. Zhao is Chen's venting partner. They vent to each other about their respective partners. And, that's totally okay. I just kind of feel uncomfortable when I see him lying about her to me. I never stopped him from meeting with her or talking to her before today. But even then, he used to lie to me and he's still lying to me."

"Are you gonna confront him about today?" Lu Man popped the popcorn inside her mouth and chewed it while she concentrated on Chen Jing's explanation.

"Honestly Manman, I don't want to. I'm tired of the regular fights. I just want some peace, you know?"

"Understandable. Nevermind then, let's eat," Lu Man suggested.

At the Li Villa:

Li Xueyi leaned against the headboard of his bed and was reading a script with great interest.

"Xiao Yi, look at these," a voice came from the door.

Li Xueyi lifted his head and ran his fingers through his damp hair as he looked at the woman who approached him with a stack of papers in her hands.

He raised his eyebrows at her. The woman came forward and pulled his script with one hand and handed the bunch of papers with another.

Li Xueyi attempted to grab the script back, but she was faster. She jumped back and kept it out of reach. She pointed at the papers in Xueyi's hands and said, "Take a look at those. I've shortlisted them."

"For what?"

"Of course for you to marry the person you choose amongst them."

"Mom please." The woman standing in front of him was none other than Li Xueyi's mother, Lin Mei.

Lin Mei was from an affluent family but when she met Li Xueyi's father, Li Shan, she fell in love with him at first sight. She ran away from her home after that to marry him.

Although Lin Mei's parents accepted her children, they never forgave her and her husband.

Lin Mei encouraged her son to find the love of his life, but he remained unmoved. He only said one thing.

"Mom, I just want to focus on my career right now. There's no place for marriage in my plans right now."

Lin Mei shook her head. She sat down beside her son and tousled his hair, saying, "Now is the best time to think about it. You need a partner too."

"I know, Mom. But I'm not in the mood to. Plus, right now, I have too much work. I'll think about it after I finish this work, ok?"

"Okay. Also, Ruling is returning from Australia. Remember to pick her up tomorrow."

"Mom, why don't you and Pa go and pick her up instead? First of all, I'll be busy and secondly, I think she'll be happier to see you two first upon touching the ground."

"No can do. Cancel you shoot tomorrow. Your Pa and I have an important meeting tomorrow."

"What's more important than your darling daughter?" Li Xueyi asked casually. He got up from the bed to grab a t-shirt.

"Don't talk nonsense," Lin Mei chided. She leaned back against the headboard, taking her son's place and closed her eyes. She continued, "Your Pa and I are going to meet your Grandpa."

"Ah, that makes much more sense. Why don't you take him along? Even better, you can pick Ruling up and bring her to Grandpa's place."

"Although it's a good idea, Ruling is coming at 11 am tomorrow and your Grandpa called us at 10 am. Actually, I have a better idea…"

"No Mom. Absolutely not. Don't even think about it."

"Your Grandpa will be happy."

"Mom, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Lin Mei replied casually. She did not bother to open her eyes. But the room fell silent. She could not sense any movement from her son. She opened her eyes in a hurry to see him staring at her.

"Mom, Grandpa still hasn't forgiven you after all these years. Why do you still try?"

"Because he's trying too. Can't you see he's making efforts to forgive me too? Maybe he has already forgiven me but his ego doesn't let him admit it. But that doesn't mean we should stop trying. Sometimes, adults find it hard to go back or apologize for their unreasonable behavior. So, sometimes we children have to take it on us to make sure that they don't feel alone. Neither should we give up on them. As long as there's hope. Yi, are you thinking about that matter?"

"Mom, do you think Pa…. Forget it. I don't wanna know."

"Give him some time, Son."

"It has been twenty years, Mom. How much more time do you think is needed?" A sardonic smile graced Li Xueyi's lips.