Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

The two mothers were still searching for Heya but they couldn't stop thinking about the scene they witnessed earlier. 

"Maybe Changyu is correct?" Heya's mother said but Hoy's mother shook her head immediately. 

"No. It... isn't possible. How can..." She placed a hand on her forehead and sighed wearily. 

"I will just talk to him later. I don't think that is possible at all." She said, still in denial. The possiblity of that was too weird to imagine. 

"But we saw how he looked earlier. He had a blush on his cheeks! I have never seen your son look that flustered before."

Hoy's mother stopped walking and glared at her. 

They were both the same age and even though Heya's mother was the first madam of the Li family, she was actually a few months younger than Hoy's mother. 

The Li family had a complicated relationship. People addressed Jiang Dana as the 'first madam' even though she married Li Fazhan who was the second son because they had gotten married first. Fazhan had also inherited the Li Corporation instead of his older brother Li Han so Dana got the glory as the first madam. After Li Han got married, the title could not be stripped off Dana so she maintained that title even though she was younger and also married the younger brother. Dana was naturally a proud and arrogant woman which was why she was liked less in the family. But Hoy's mother was able to put up with her since they were family and she couldn't simply leave her when they all cared about Heya. But she didn't like the fact that Dana was trying to make her believe her son had a thing for Joreen. That was simply unimaginable.

"Don't say something like that! What if others heard you and believed it." She snapped at her. 

"I was only stating the obvious. Why are you getting angry?" She asked irritably. "Besides, you've been worried sick about your son having a woman. Now you find him with a wo—"

"Joreen is not a woman! She is a little girl who deserves to experience young and adorable love. And she is like my daughter—" 

"Li Heya!" Dana called when she saw her daughter heading towards them, totally ignoring the other woman and walking towards her daughter. They both had different problems to deal with.

Dana was so worried that she didn't take note of the man beside Heya until she got closer and saw the familiar face. 

"Mum, what are you doing here?" Heya asked since they were supposed to be at the hall. 

Heya was still very tensed and uncomfortable but she tried to look like all was good with Shen beside her. Thankfully, he wasn't a chatterbox like his sister so he didn't say much to her. 

"Oh! It's you again!" Her mother smiled at Shen. Seeing how Heya was with this young man, she thought her worries were unfounded. Maybe Heya hadn't met Zhu Liang yet. And even if she did, she already had a young man so it didn't matter much. Hopefully, she would like this young man and forget about Zhu Liang. Dana had liked Zhu Liang a lot but if it wasn't going to work between her daughter and him, then there was nothing she could do about it. "Yan... Shen right?" 

"Nice to meet you Ma'am." He greeted her with a bow and proceeded to greet the other woman beside her. 

Hoy's mother smiled at him and looked obviously thrilled to see him. 

"You are Heya's friend?" 

Heya watched from the side. She remembered everyone was everyone's business in the Li family so as much as she wanted to go lock herself inside her room, she could only pretend like she was okay and watch all of them.

Shen smiled and shook his head as he answered Hoy's mother. "We aren't really friends." 

He didn't want to lie since Heya was still uninterested in being friends with him. 

"We should let them be." Heya's mother said with a smile. 

"We should." Hoy's mother nodded in agreement before both scurried away excitedly. 

Heya sighed and began to head towards her room. She was glad she had allowed Shen follow her or else, she would have had to talk a lot with her mother since she could guess they were looking for her because they had seen Zhu Liang or maybe his parents.

*********

When the ladies arrived their table, they noticed other people around their table. After taking a closer look, they recognized the people standing there but the young girl beside the Yan couple didn't look familiar. 

"There they are!" Li Fazhan said and pointed towards his wife and sister in law. 

Zhu Liang's parents, Yan Suyin and her parents turned to look at the two older women. 

Heya's mother gave her family a reassuring smile to let them know Heya was okay before turning her attention towards the others.

"We heard you were here and wanted to say hello. You... remember me right?" Suyin's mother asked with a smile as she looked at the two women. 

Heya's mother returned her smile. "Of course I do. It's a pleasant surprise seeing you here. When was the last time we saw each other, Madam Yan?"

Suyin's mother smiled pleasantly. She was beyond happy that they had recognized them. 

"Been a really long time. We aren't always available here since our children live in a different country." She giggled. 

Heya's mother's gaze moved from the woman to the others beside her. She greeted them with a smile and bow before looking pointedly at Madam Zhu. The woman looked uncomfortable and nervous. Dana could guess why the woman was uncomfortable. They had once thought they were going to be in-laws but unfortunately, their children broke up. But she couldn't understand why the woman was nervous. Unless... 

Her gaze left Madam Zhu and she looked at the young lady who had a pretty smile on her beautiful face. 

"Pleased to meet you First Madam Li." Suyin greeted Dana before she did same to Hoy's mother. 

"This is my daughter Yan Suyin. She is unfamiliar to you because she hasn't been in the country for a really long time."

"I see. She looks well cultured and pretty." Dana complimented the girl who began to blush.

Suyin's mother giggled again. "She is engaged to Zhu Liang. He is their only son. You should know him." The woman said and looked at Zhu Liang's parents. 

Dana had suspected it but hearing it now made her feel very sad and heartbroken. It was really true that he had a woman?

The others were also really surprised to hear it. 

Dana looked at Suyin again and this time, she was extra careful not to look at her with annoyance. 

"But I don't see her wearing a ring." Changyu who had been sitting quietly finally pointed out, making the others look at Suyin's fingers. 

"About that... we haven't had the engagement party yet. We have only just agreed for our kids to get married so—"

"So it's an arranged marriage then?" Changyu asked again. Her husband pinched her thigh gently to remind her to keep quiet but the question had already been dropped. 

Suyin's mother's smile faltered but she tried to not look too flustered. Even Zhu Liang's parents became very uncomfortable. 

"We do love each other." Suyin suddenly said with a calm smile. "I think that is the most important thing." 

Heya's mother feared that she was going to transfer her aggression to Zhu Liang if she ever bumped into him during this trip.

She wasn't sure what had led to their break up or who broke up with whom, but why was Zhu Liang happily trying to tie the knot with someone else when her daughter was still unhappy?

Suyin's mother recovered and the smile appeared on her face once again. "I think God made it possible for all of us to be here together. Maybe we can just have the official engagement party during this trip?" She turned to look at her husband and the Zhu elders. This was a perfect opportunity since the Song, Wang, Li family was here. It didn't matter if other friends and extended family weren't present. This family was the deal! News about it was going to spread and everyone would think they were really acquainted with the family. 

"Honey, let's talk about that later." Suyin's father told his wife. He sounded a bit embarrassed. 

"I think that is a great idea. I would love for you all to grace it. Also, Li Heya is like my BFF now. I would love for her to be present and if she would agree, sing for us on that day. She told me she's a singer." Suyin said with a smile as a thought popped into her head. She was going to make a big deal out of this engagement and ask for Heya's help and her presence all the time. That way, she can always make Heya and her brother spend time together without being obvious about her intention. Aside from that, she would really love to have her engagement party as soon as possible because the more she waited, the more she felt like Liang was slipping away. 

"You've met Heya?" Hoy's mother asked first in surprise. 

"She has. My oldest son already met her too. I think they are friends already." 

"Your oldest son?" Li Fazhan asked this time before his wife could. He wasn't having a good feeling about any of this. 

"Yan... Shen?" Dana asked in surprise when she remembered that boy's name and quickly linked it.

"Oh my! She already told you about him?" Suyin's mother asked excitedly. 

Everyone member of the family was currently thinking about the same thing. 

Zhu Liang was getting married.

His girlfriend sounded like she was already Heya's best friend.

His girlfriend's brother had befriended Heya.

Obviously, both sibling didn't know about Heya and Liang's past.

But the question they were curious about was, 'Is Heya aware about all this?'