Nostalgia

Mrs. Ping recalled an incident that happened when Lina was a child.

Both the Yang children were brilliant from a young age and had started their studies much earlier than other children.

They read many books that were higher than their class curriculum. Though Wind would just read the bare minimum needed, Lina would always go a step further. She believed in giving it her 110% once her attention was on something.

The same happened when she was introduced to the world of novels by one of her friends in class. 

Being in the top school in the country and in the advanced class, Lina's parents did not bother her when she told them that she was going to a friends house to read books.

One day she came back home and found her parents flirting in the hall. She went straight to her father and stood in front of him with a pitiful look.

"Daddy, when are you going to get my step mother home?" She told in her sweet childish voice with tears forming in her eyes.

Mrs. Ping who was serving the young miss a glass of water, stared at Simon Yang as if she had just heard something shocking.

Diane Yang, who was feeding Simon fruits, looked at him with her eyebrows cocked up.

Simon Yang choked on the piece of pineapple that his wife had just fed him  and looked down at his little daughter who was going to get him killed. 

"What are you talking about, doll?" He asked with a face that looked like he was about to cry.

"I know everything daddy! Tell me! Do I have a half brother or half sister?" Not being able to control her tears, she jumped into her mother's embrace and started bawling her eyes out.

Diane just held her daughter and stared at Simon like he was the scum of the earth.

"What stepmother? What half sibling? How come I don't know?" Though he was distressed to see his doll crying her eyes out, he was more bothered by the look that his wife just gave him.

Not giving him a chance to explain himself, Diane picked up Lina and walked up the stairs.

Simon just stared at them leaving him, midway she stopped and looked back at him.

"Don't even think of entering the bedroom tonight."  She spat out those words and made a 'Hmph' then walked away.

The smile that had appeared when she turned to him, changed into a sad face like a puppy who was hated by his master.

Mrs. Ping just patted his back and walked away.

Later at dinner, when both Lina and Diane walked down, Simon ran up to them and tried to carry Lina but Diane did not let him.

She placed the pouting Lina in her seat and sat to her left while Simon sat on her right.

The three boys had decided to spend their day outside with their uncle Ace and hence they were not at home to witness the drama.

Patrick, who had just come down from his room, noticed the gloomy atmosphere and questioned Butler Ping about what had happened in his absence.

"Pffft…" He let out a snort when he heard what had happened.

He walked up to Lina and rubbed her head.

" Who told you that you have a stepmom?" He directly asked her.

"I read it." She declared.

"Wow big bro, your gossips have already been published. How come I did not know about this? Thank God that Ace isn't here. Or else he would skin you alive for cheating on this monster." He pointed at Diane, who immediately held his finger and twisted it hard. 

"Ouch!" Pulling his finger away, Patrick sat beside Simon.

Of course, Uncle Ace would skin him alive. After all Ace was Diane's twin brother.

"Shut up! What cheating? Squirrel, I never cheated!  I swear!" Simon hurriedly defended himself.

"I know." She replied with a smile.

"But I want to know why Lina thought of you as a cheating man?" She looked back at Lina.

She couldn't ask Lina anything earlier because Lina had already cried herself to sleep by the time Diane could calm her down.

"Because I read that all Presidents of big companies bring back another mommy home who kills the real mommy and you said that daddy is also a big president. I don't want another mommy!" She looked at her mother and started crying again.

"Hush, baby. I'll break your daddy's bal.. Ahem.. bones if he brings home another mommy for you. Okay?" She tried to placate her daughter.

Lina looked at her father who was nodding his head like a chicken pecking it's head.

"Promise?" She extended her pinky.

"Promise, doll" He pinky swore.

"But where exactly did you read this news?" Patrick the gossip queen asked, destroying the sweet family moment.

"The Sexy President wants his lover back." Lina told them the name of the novel with an innocent face.

"Pfftt..!!" This time it was Diane who choked and spat out the water onto Simon's face.

"Disgusting! " Patrick who was hit with a few drops immediately moved his chair away.

"Baby, where did you get that book?" She asked with a stern face while handing Simon a tissue as she ignored Patrick.

"From the library." Lina answered truthfully.

Diane understood what had happened.

'Lina must have taken the Josei novel that I had recently bought and left in the library after I finished reading it.'

Diane had bought that book just because the male lead in the book was also named Simon.

'So that book caused all these problems?' She facepalmed.

She explained everything to her husband and to Patrick.

Simon pouted for being wrongly accused while Patrick laughed his ass off at this beautiful misunderstanding. 

But he did not know that a similar misunderstanding would soon bite him in the ass.

-----

Coming back from her trip down memory lane, Mrs. Ping remembered how Diane and Simon told Lina that she shouldn't touch her mother's books because they were not meant for children.

Getting up from the couch, she walked back to her room to teach her husband a lesson on how to behave in front of the kids.

-----

Back in her room, Lina was happy that she wasn't yelled at. 

'I don't know how I escaped so easily today.'  She high fived herself and sat on the bed.

She then decided to finish the drafts that she planned on showing Wade, when she joined work on Monday.

"Let's finish the work today itself, cause Sunday is my rest day." She motivated herself.

Switching on her laptop, she launched the app that her Brother Wayne had programmed for her. 

This app kept a track of all the gems and precious stones that she had in her company warehouse which she would use in her designs.

It also showed her a virtual projection of how her designs would look with the different gems that she had.

She uploaded the three main sets of jewelry that she had planned to release for her new collection.

She tried matching the different pieces with various precious stones until she was satisfied with what the final result looked like.

"Hmm..? I feel like I'm forgetting something here?" She scratched her head, trying to remember.

She tried checking her emails to find what she had forgotten but her attention was soon diverted by her ringing phone.