Chapter 29: An Unexpected Phone Call
Liang JianAmal fit the woman's small hand in his and led her out of the apartment. Walking into the bright sunshine with her, he noticed it seemed far brighter and crisper than it had for a while. As if the whole world had changed overnight.
Walking to his rental vehicle, parked across from the complex, Liang JianAmal frowned as he wondered why she had been alone the previous night. The man she lived with had seemed to be rather protective of her, yet she had been alone at a dangerous time.
"Chang?"
"Yes, Jian?" Looking up from their hands, Chang answered in surprise, having been lost in her thoughts.
"Where was that man you live with, Justin was it, last night? Why were you walking home alone dressed as you were? Were you not aware of how dangerous that can be, or was he?" Chang felt a little chagrined under his admonishment, and scratched the back of her head awkwardly with her free hand.
"I was the first to get off last night, so I left by myself. I thought I could handle myself if anything bad happened because of what my Dad taught me, and everything I had learned, but we know how that went. Thank you again for saving me Jian, it won't happen again though." While speaking she looked up at him with pleading eyes, begging to be off the hook. Jian gave her a grunt in response and did not speak further on the matter.
'She has not spoken truer words.' That was the last time he would be letting her be in that position. Not only would he not have her return from work alone on her own, but she also would not be returning to La Vie En Rose, where she could be ogled so freely by so many eyes. If he had his way, he would lock her up where no one could see or hurt her, and have her be exclusively his. Liang JianAmal knew she would not accept that easily, but at least she would not be returning to that place.
Liang JianAmal walked her to the sleek black Maybach, opening the passenger door, and secured her in her seat before walking to the driver's side. Starting it up with a low growl, Liang JianAmal punched into his GPS and followed the directions for around twenty minutes. During the drive the both of them were silent. He, as he focused on the unfamiliar roads and his navigation, while Chang studied his side profile. His jawline seemed to have hardened over the last year and was more defined, other than that he looked unchanged. Smiling to herself Chang still could not believe the dreamlike situation she found herself in.
'When I'm with him it is so unreal, almost like a fairytale. How many people get to live that not only once but twice.I must have saved a world in a past life or built up a ridiculous amount of good karma or something to be able to have this. Not only did he sweep me off my feet once and turn my world on its ear, he came when I needed him most. As if he knew that I needed him.' At the thought of any of the strange things that could have happened for her to be deserving of him, Chang giggled.
Liang JianAmal heard her small giggle and looked at her from the corner of his eye, feeling a smile come to his own face at her silly look. Loosening his grip on the steering, he felt himself becoming more and more at ease as things came back to how they should be. Pulling his car up to a curbside parking strip, Liang JianAmal let her out of the car, holding her hand as she rose up. The sun shone down on her hair, causing a light glow over her dark locks. With her dress, light make-up and simple makeup, she looked so young and fresh, like a rosebud just starting to open. The light blue of her dress complemented her eyes, which stared up at his. Holding her hand, Liang JianAmal felt her taking his breath away with her bright smile.
'I was lucky enough to find you once in my lifetime, I will not let you leave my side so easily. No one will ever steal you away from me again either.' Holding her hand tightly they walked to the small cafe together.
While Chang had holed herself away in the bathroom, readying herself, he had Luo Jun come by the apartment. While Liang JianAmal had him bring him a change of clothes, he had the man bring him information on the men from last night as well suitable places to take Chang for a breakfast date. After looking over a couple he decided on a small café, simply named the café, that had amazing reviews.
He ordered them both some orange juice and coffee once seated as she surveyed the menu deciding. Even something as mundane as her ordering gave him joy and he waved for her to order for both of them so he could enjoy his silent reverie.
He loved the little fold that came between her brows as she deliberated seriously as if it was of far more important than what it was. As they were sitting there, his personal cell phone in his breast pocket began to vibrate, disturbing him. Liang JianAmal ignored the buzzing disturbance until it stopped, but then it started right up again. The number of people who had his personal cell phone was few and far between, anything work-related went through his assistant first. Wrinkling his eyebrows he pulled out the phone wondering who it could be. Noticing the 1-415 area code, the man immediately took the call to Chang's surprise.
Chang watched his joyful relaxed expression quickly fall into a worried one, and he spoke in a quiet, terse tone. Her heart could not help but feel a twinge of worry hearing it.
"No. I understand, we will be there as soon as possible. Thank you." After speaking quickly into the phone, he succinctly hung up and stood up, putting on the grey jacket that had hung on the chair behind him.
"I'm sorry Chang but we will need to postpone this something urgent just came up."
"That's ok, maybe next time we can go out together, take care of whatever you need to." Trying to contain her disappointment, Chang smiled up at him while remaining seated.
"You do not understand, we both need to go."
"Both of us really, where to, why?" Completely confused now, Chang cocked her head to the side.
"I promise to explain on the way." Standing beside her, Liang JianAmal took hold of both of her hands and took a deep breath before continuing. "It has to do with your mother."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Kayalicia
Kayalicia 1-415 area code is San Francisco, California. United states calling code
Chapter 30: Wait What
Chang sat in her chair unmoving. The words repeated themselves over and over in her brain, yet she could not seem to make sense of them.
"My mom... what?" Chang stared dumbly at him. "What did you say?"
"I know you have a lot to process, but you can do that on the flight over." Jian calmly told her as he offered her his hand, pulling her out of the seat she sat numbly in. Pulling a large bill out of his pocket, more than enough to cover the bill multiple times over, Jian left it on the table. Without waiting for his change, Jian started to hustle to his car, with Chang in tow, led by her hand. Along the way, he was stopped short by the weight attached to his hand.
"Jian this can't be right. There's no way my mom...No there must be some kind of mistake." Standing in the middle of the walkway Chang tried to deny what he said, a stricken look haunting her face.
Looking at her, Liang JianAmal kept his face as calm, trying to mask the sadness he felt. Putting a protective arm around her shoulders, Liang JianAmal ushered her to his car. After securing her in the passenger seat, he called his assistant to have him help make the necessary flight arrangements so that they could reach San Francisco as soon as possible.
From the corner of his eye, as he spoke in a terse tone with Luo Jun, Liang JianAmal watched Chang as she looked out the window lost in thought. After ending his call, Liang JianAmal reached over and took one of Chang's hands that lay neatly folded on her lap. Giving it a comforting squeeze, he held it over his knee, rubbing his thumb across the back of her knuckles.
"Everything is fine, do not overly worry yourself over this. It is not good for your health to worry too much." Chang gave him a weak smile in exchange for his comfort, still feeling like an anxious mess inside. The guilt from all the time that had passed without seeing her mother had piled on her now, gnawing away at her slowly.
'How can I not worry though? From the way he was speaking it sounded really bad... What if this is the last time I will see her?' Shaking her head Chang tried to empty her head of those kinds of thoughts. 'No, I can't think like that, my mom is fine. Everything will be ok.'
"I should let Justin and my boss know what's going on."
"Already taken care of. You do not have to worry about anything" He succinctly replied, ending the subject quickly. Chang tried to think of another topic to talk about but could not, so she reached forward to turn on the radio. Every song though made her mood worse and worse until she finally turned it off. Letting out a long sigh, Chang turned her head to the window, trying to lose her thoughts in the dizzying blur on the way to the airport.
Fairly soon they arrived, before she realized. Since they did not have luggage, they only needed boarding passes and identification. Chang remembered then about her lost wallet and phone, having other thoughts pressing it from her mind. Whipping her head to look at him, Chang grabbed his arm worriedly.
"Jian, I lost my ID the other day, I can't board the plane."
"Do you mean this?" Reaching inside his jacket, Jian pulled out an old, faded tan leather wallet. Out from which he pulled her ID.
Astonished Chang reached out and grabbed the wallet. "Oh, my baby! Thank you, I was so heartbroken over having lost this. Wait how did you come to have it?"
Gleeful at first, Chang clutched her wallet to her cheek before catching a whiff of it. Quickly she pulled it away and admired it at arms length with a tear in her eye. After rejoicing at he return of her prodigal accessory, Chang looked at the man beside her suspiciously.
"In an alleyway dumpster, strangest of places, it is not as if you were actually in there either right?" As he spoke in a playful tone, Jian gave her a crooked glance.
"What, me, in a dumpster? Hahaha, no way, I would never do that." 'I will never admit to that!' "I must have dropped it somewhere and it got thrown out accidentally!" Laughing a tad too loudly, Chang waved her hands in front of her vigorously,
Liang JianAmal gave her a grunt in reply, a slight smile tugged at his lips at her vehement denial.
Within a half-hour, they were boarded and the plane started to take off. Looking out the window, Chang watched as Los Angeles became further away and eventually disappeared from sight. It had become special to her over the last year, a safe harbor.
'Goodbye, I wonder if I will ever return again.'
Chang thought of the last time she had seen her mother over a year ago. She had come home to visit, right before she had left for Shanghai. Her mother, LiHua, had been as healthy and energetic as usual. Equally doting and scolding her daughter who was always traveling and rarely came home to visit.
Her mother was a strong figure in her eyes, able to keep carrying on, no matter what. There was no way anything could happen to her...
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