Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

"I want to speak with you... about your cousin." 

"Joreen?" Sara asked. 

"Yes."

"Did something happen?" She asked again, looking worried this time. It was strange for him to come talk to her about Joreen since it has never happened before. 

"Nothing really serious... well, I hope." He started. "I think I may have made a mistake." As much as it killed him to admit, he had to be sincere with himself that his overprotectiveness over wasn't a good thing. 

Sara paid close attention to him and waited for him to continue. 

"Since she spent more time around my company, I believe I was supposed to teach her a few things, which I didn't. I am afraid adulthood is going to be quite challenging for her since she didn't learn much."

"I understand. I do." Sara Sara immediately.  "She is far more naive than I was at her age, which appears to be a lot troubling." She sighed. "But I will speak with Joreen and also let her mother know about it." 

"Most importantly..." He was embarrassed so say it because it directly involved him, but he had to. "She needs to learn how to relate with the opposite sex. Any little action from her could he interpreted wrongly. You understand what I'm saying?" He added when he noticed the confused look she was giving him. 

"For example?" She asked. 

"Like hugging... winking..."

'And saying stuffs like 'I miss you' or 'You smell nice' or 'Your body is warm' or jumping into a man's bed.' He added in his head, not bothering to tell it to Sara. 

"Ahhh! Yes! I know. You shouldn't get mad at her too much. You know how she grew up so she's really too innocent for her own good. But I promise I'll speak with her today. I sincerely apologize for any trouble she must have caused you." 

"Thank you." Hoy was relieved Sara was going to talk to Joreen. Hopefully, she would stop getting too clingy around him because he was becoming more uncomfortable with each passing day. 

"Is that all?" Sara asked. 

"Uhm.." He touched the back of his neck and quickly removed his hand when he remembered that was Joreen's habit. 

He looked around to be sure no one was within earshot and after confirming, he still inched closer. He was thankful for his friendship with Sara because he was the only one he could talk to freely. 

"She saw me with a girl earlier... and got angry then she said she didn't like her." He confessed. He seriously could not stop thinking about it and what it could mean. 

"What? Wait! Why?" Sara's eyes widened curiously. 

"I... don't know. Maybe it's like those single fathers with daughters. So when the father wants to get married, the daughter doesn't want a new woman in his life?" 

Sara didn't say anything for a while. Was that the case? Something told her there could be more to it.

"Do you really think that is the case?" 

He knew that probably wasn't the case but he wanted to believe that was it. He also wanted Sara to agree that what he said made sense.

"What if..." 

'Please don't say it. Please don't say it...' He chanted in his head. 

Sara suddenly stopped talking and drew back. 

"You know what? I'll speak with her. You don't have to worry about anything." She assured him with a smile. 

If her guess was correct, then it would be best she didn't say a word to Hoy about it until she heard directly from Joreen.

Hoy sighed in relief and nodded. "Thank you." He said again before they departed. 

**********

Later that afternoon, Joreen's temperature was back to normal. She got a message that her cousin would like to hang out with her so she happily got dressed and head to the upper floor where Sara said she was. All the floors looked similar so there was nothing particularly eye catching there. She called Sara to let her know she was in the hallway and saw Sara come out from the last room in the hallway. Sara waved at her and invited her since for a moment. 

"Sorry. We asked the nannies to have a bit of fun and take over watching the kids later this evening, so I'm kinda stuck here." Sara apologized as she welcomed her inside. The place did look like a childrens' room with toys, games and comic books in almost every corner. Three kids were inside while their mothers, Eva and Sara looked after them. 

"Hi sister Joreen!" The three kids greeted her and continued what they were doing. Li Queen and Li Tian, Eva's son were busy playing a video game while King was reading a comic book.

"Hello to you all too." Joreen said to them before saying Hello to Eva too. 

"Where is uncle Muchen?" Joreen asked. 

"You know it's impossible for him to stay an hour without working? So I asked him to remain inside our room and make sure he's done with everything business related because tonight, we are going to have fun!" 

Joreen chortled as she sat down on the couch, "Since when did you like partying?" 

"Since I learnt how to dance. You should see my dope moves now." Sara said proudly making them all laugh. 

"You are still a terrible dancer mummy." Queen said without moving her eyes from her game. 

"But she's better than daddy at least." King took her side while Sara blew her son a kiss. 

"What about uncle Minde?" Joreen turned to ask Eva.

"I think my husband is busy playing games somewhere." Eva said with an eyeroll that made Joreen laugh. 

"I love your braids, Jo. I have been admiring it since I saw you yesterday. I think I'll try something like this when we get back home."

"I also want braids, mummy." Queen said, finally looking away from her video game. 

"Aww...everybody wants my hair." Joreen smiled smugly as she whipped her hair to both sides, obviously showing off by flaunting it. 

"I don't want your hair." Li King said, looking up at her from the superhero comic book he was reading. "Your natural curly hair is prettier."

"Really?" Joreen asked, almost surprised a young boy like him would take note of something like that. Especially when he was the type to always mind his own business. 

"I think so. Uncle Hoy thinks so too in case you are doubting." He said, surprising Joreen but most importantly, Sara.

"Uncle Hoy?" 

"Who told you so?" 

Joreen and Sara asked almost at the same time. 

"During the last meeting we had before this trip at the hotel, sister Joreen was happy about her new car so Uncle Hoy asked me if I thought sister Joreen was prettier with her curly hair down than tying it in a bun." He shrugged. "She looked really pretty especially when she was excited so I nodded and he said he thought so too." King shrugged again before facing his comic book. 

Joreen tried to remember when that happened and thought back to that day when they were inside the hotel. She had been really excited about the car and was hugging everyone but when she looked at Hoy, he shook his head, indirectly telling her not to come hug him. So she winked at him instead but he just looked away from her and whispered something to King. King took a moment to look at her before smiling. That was probably it! 

So he thought she was pretty and also loved her curly hair when it was down? 'I shouldn't have braided my hair.' Joreen thought to herself but remembered how Hoy had told her her new hairstyle was pretty. 

Sara looked at Joreen carefully and could see her cheeks heating up even though she was dark skinned. 

"Eva, can you look after the kids? I need to speak with Joreen for a moment. Eva had a suspicious look on her face as she looked between Joreen and Sara but she nodded. "Make it quick, and we are going to talk when you get back." She said in a matter-of-fact tone. 

Sara nodded before pulling Joreen with her outside the room. 

"We need to talk." Sara said. 

Joreen didn't like the vibe she was getting. What's with everyone wanting to speak with her all or a sudden?

"Okay." 

Sara didn't want Joreen to be uncomfortable so instead of just sitting in a spot and telling her how to act and how not to, she thought strolling around was better. 

Joreen took in everything her older cousin told her. Was she really not acting like a lady? From all Sara was saying, it seemed like she wasn't. 

"Remember your character as Xi Mingxi in the drama 'All around me'?" 

"Yes?" 

"Good! You should keep that attitude."

"But it's boring." 

"Look dear, maybe it would be boring for you now, but along the line, you will get used to it. There are some people who would possibly be uncomfortable by your actions but won't tell you for fear of hurting your feelings."

Joreen began to wonder whether Hoy had ever been uncomfortable around her but didn't tell her because he didn't want to hurt her feelings. The thought of him being uncomfortable around her made her heart hurt. 

"Are you okay?" Sara asked. 

"Yes." Joreen managed to nod. "Thank you for telling me this."

"I... I didn't mean to hurt you." Sara said, sounding worried when she noticed Joreen was sad. 

Joreen shook her head. "I just didn't realise I was probably making some people uncomfortable with the way I act. Thanks for telling me this sister Sara." She forced a smile at Sara even though she looked sad. 

"Jo?" 

"Hmm?" 

Sara wanted to ask her about her feelings for Hoy but she couldn't bring herself to. Hopefully, by adopting Xi Mingxi's character, and learning how to keep her distance from the opposite sex and especially Hoy, whatever crush she was having for him would slowly fade away. 

"You'll come party tonight right?" Sara asked instead with a smile. 

"Sure! I'll see you tonight." Joreen said, but she didn't sound as excited like she usually would.