Liang JianAmal was sitting on the bed, waiting for her when he watched Chang come in like a ray of sunshine brightening his world. The dress suited her well, bringing out her innocence without making her look like a child. Smiling to himself, he could not help but be entranced by the view as she came up to him with a bounce in her step, a bright smile lighting up her face.
"Thank you for the dress, I absolutely love it!" Grabbing the hem, she did a small twirl, outwardly showing her delight. To see a reaction like that from her, he would buy her a million dresses.
"It suits you perfectly." Standing, Liang JianAmal brushed a stray wisp of hair behind one of her ears.
Blushing Chang looked down at her bare feet, he was simply too much for her poor heart at times! When he looked at her with such a beautiful smile and the look he had in his mesmerizing eyes, it almost felt like her soul would be sucked away.
All of a sudden there was a knocking at the door, interrupting their moment. Looking at the door Jian immediately went to answer, calling to her from the doorway once he did so.
"Ah. Chang come and see who is here." Curious, Chang quickly padded over wondering who it could be.
In the doorway, a graceful slender woman who only came up to Chang's shoulders stood. Her fine black hair was tied into a tight bun and she wore a pair of semi-rimless glasses, enhancing the severity of her no-nonsense expression. With her charcoal grey pantsuit, the woman was all business without appearing robotic. It was Hao Jin Ying, Jian's secretary.
"Jin Ying!" Seeing who it was Chang exclaimed loudly as she rushed past Jian to give the woman a tight hug. It had been so long since she had last seen her and she was delighted. She had always really like Jin Ying, to see her now seemed surreal.
Laughing Hao Jin Ying gave the younger woman a hug back. When she had first met her it had taken her a while to get used to Chang's openly friendly nature, the younger woman had quickly grown on her though.
"Shouldn't you be in Shanghai? What are you doing here in San Francisco? Not that I'm complaining, it's so good to see you again! When did you get here? Did Jian call you here as a surprise?"
Seeing as his poor secretary was bombarded by Chang without being able to get a word in edgewise, Liang JianAmal decided to intervene. If he was honest with himself he could not stand the fact that his wife was clinging to another, even if she was also a woman. Glowering at Hao Jin Ying, Liang JianAmal reached forward and grabbed one of Chang's wrists.
Looking up Hao Jin Ying saw her boss glowering at her and quickly stepped back removing herself from the hug. As she stepped back Chang found herself off balance especially once there was a sharp pull on one of her wrists. Stumbling she felt the room spin before she found herself with a graceful of Jian's chest.
Jian had changed into a crisp white shirt, and she could smell the starch on it as well as his musky manly smell mixed with a little bit of his cologne. It was entirely too sudden and too much for her.
"Jian you beast, let me go!" Pounding his chest with a stray fist, Chang felt put off that he had interrupted hers and Jin Ying's reunion as he did.
Hao Jin Ying blanched hearing her boss called a beast. It might be best if she came back later or waited at the hospital... She then saw her boss bend down and start kissing Chang in front of her without waiting for her to leave.
'Ah my eyes, please have mercy!' Hao Jin Ying turned her head away, she wanted to leave but had been summoned by her boss.
"Is everything set for us to leave." Hao Jin Ying heard her boss's voice from over her shoulder. She turned back around hearing him discuss business and composed herself.
"Yes sir, everything is set up for departure."
"Mm good." Liang JianAmal looked down at the woman who looked like she was melting in his arms. "Put your shoes on.. or would you prefer I carry you?"
Shaking her head, Chang steadied herself and slipped on her flats from yesterday. Gathering her clothes and toiletries she stuffed them in the bag her dress and pajamas had been in. Once sweeping through the room like a whirlwind she went out in the hall with Hao Jin Ying, avoiding looking at him the whole time
Liang JianAmal chuckled seeing her flustered reaction, she always painted his world brightly with her animation. Everything she did livened up his life, even if she was trying to avoid him.
Grabbing his phone and jacket from yesterday, Liang JianAmal closed the door and headed to the hospital with the two women. As they left the building and headed to the vehicle Hao Jin Ying had driven there, Hao Jin Ying and Chang chatted. Hao Jin Ying told her that she had been in San Francisco for the last 8 months on specialty business for the boss. She was here to accompany them on the journey, in particular, Chang and her mother.
'Bizarre. Why would we need Jian's secretary to go with us?' Chang wondered to herself.
Chang sat in the backseat with Jian, while Jin Ying drove them to the hospital. Looking out of the corner of her eye at Jian, she wondered about the secretiveness surrounding her
'How much is he keeping from me, and what about?' Chang vowed to be patient for now, she would know it all soon enough. There was no way they would be able to keep this secret from her for long.
Once they arrived at the hospital, Hao Yin Jing went to the discharge receptionist to pay the bill for Li Hua Dumont, while Chang and Jian went to retrieve her. Along the way to her mother's room, Jian grabbed a wheelchair for her mother.
Chang knocked on the door and heard a crisp clear "Come in!" from inside. Inside the room, her mother sat on the edge of the bed, clear-eyed looking eager to leave. Someone had already brought her a change of clothes or she had some already waiting for her, as she was no longer in a hospital gown.
Li Hua wore a pale blue, almost white silk cheongsam shirt with a dark navy blue lining and stenciling, paired with a dark navy blue skirt that reached her ankles. Her hair lay neatly braided over one shoulder, hanging almost to her waist. Li Hua was elegant and poised, looking as if she had been born a noblewoman, instead of a second-generation shopkeeper. Standing to leave LiHua looked at the wheelchair pointedly with disgust.
"I will not be needing that." LiHua turned her head away proudly crossing her arms.
"Mom, please, just for us, you're just being discharged, don't wear yourself out." Chang pleaded with her mom, still worrying for her.
"I'm only here because of a worrywart, I'm fine," Li Hua looked at Jian with a raised eyebrow. "Yet if it puts your mind to more important things." Li Hua sat down smoothly into the wheelchair with a smirk at her daughter, enunciating her point.
Jian pushed Li Hua out of the hospital, Chang walked beside them, purposefully looking anywhere else but at the two of them. Outside Hao Jin Ying was waiting by the large black sedan that they had arrived in.
Jian helped Li Hua into the front passenger seat beside Hao Jin Ying. While he helped her mother, Chang rolled the wheelchair back to the entrance quickly. When she came back Chang saw Jian standing beside an open back door, waiting for her. Avoiding eye contact with him still she hurried into her seat, feeling awkward.Chang reached to grab the seatbelt when she felt him grab it first, leaning over her, brushing her slightly as he buckled her in. After securing her in he came to the other side and told Hao Jin Ying to take them to the private airstrip.
"Where are we going?" Chang generally liked surprises but she was starting to get a little impatient.
"Someplace special." Jian answered her.
Chang pouted with a mulish expression on her face. 'That's not an answer..' She complained inwardly. The man next to her couldn't help but chuckle seeing her adorable childish reaction.
"Xiao Jing will you be coming with us?"
'"Xiao Jing?"' Chang thought to herself, when did her mother come to know Jian's personal secretary? And get to know her enough to give her a pet name.
"Indeed I shall be going to accompany you LiHua."
"Oh that will be wonderful!" Clapping her hands together, LiHua exclaimed delighted by Jin Ying's answer.
"How do you two know eachother?" Unable to stand the mystery anymore, Chang piped up from the back.
"Xiao Jing has been staying with me for the last 8 months, she's been helping me with some stuff. Ah'Jian introduced us."
"'Ah'Jian?" Oh my god that so doesn't suit him' Chang snickered to herself hearing the name her mother gave Jian.
"What has she been helping you with, why didn't you tell me you needed help with anything?" Leaning forward, Chang put a hand on the side of her mother's chair .
"Oh the daughter who's always gallavanting around never taking the time to come visit her dear old mother, that one? And just when would that daughter have been available to help?"
Chang cringed hearing her mother's mocking airy tone, yep, she deserved that one. Li Hua turned in her seat to look at her daughter. "She's been helping me with some of the estate stuff your dad left me, it's all nonsense to me."
"Oh." It seemed like a stretch that Jian would send her mother his personal secretary who was like an omnipotent office goddess to help her mother with just some inheritance papers, but then again...He also was the man who literally chased her down on the street halfway across the world, just because she left without explanation.
'I can't put anything past him.'
After an hour or two of fighting through traffic they pulled up to the private airstrip where a smaller black jet plane sat. Hao Jin Ying gently pulled the car up beside plane. Liang Jian Amal and the ladies quickly descended from the vehicle and headed towards the plane's entry steps where a young man waited. He bowed low to Liang JianAmal and took the car keys from Hao Jin Ying, leaving without a word.
"After you ladies," Jian smiled and gestured with his hand, holding a hand out to help assist Li Hua and Chang up the steps. Li Hua gracefully laid her hand on Jian's and alighted the stairs fluidly. Chang put her hands on top of Jian's, copying what her mother did, but when she felt him lightly squeeze her hand back she stumbled on the first few steps. The only reason she did not fall completely was from the pressure under her hand.
'How embarrassing! You have to get it together!' Chang mentally chastised herself.
Jian stepped up behind her as the last to enter the plane. "Careful now."
"Mm thank you." Chang turned and said with a small smile once inside. Jian was stunned for a moment by her words and warmly smiled at her causing her heart to flutter in her chest.
'Damn this man for his sinful good looks, he has to be bad for my heart.' She had been getting reused to his constant presence over the last couple days, but his touch was like electricity.
'Not to mention this morning's scene', she started to drool inwardly thinking about it. 'Ah at this rate I'll be as bad as he is!' Chang shook her head clearing the "bad" thoughts. Turning from him Chang went to sit in one of the plush comfortable chairs near her mom and Jin Ying.
Liang Jian Amal walked to the cockpit and spoke to the two flight captains who waited inside to let them know they were about ready to take off. He then chose the empty seat next to Chang and captured one of her tiny hands in his. She looked at him with an embarrassed and shocked expression, under her gaze he kissed the back of her hand.
Slowly color bled across her face from her cheeks, he loved doing that to her. Turning away from him, Chang looked across the aisle at the other two women, who conspicuously looked away, offering no help.
A flight attendant came out from a small area separating the cabin from the cock pit and closed the hatch. She checked to make sure that everyone was strapped in before signaling the pilots and strapping herself in. The plane came alive with a loud whine before taking to the sky. Chang became glad that Jian was holding her hand through takeoff. Even though she was excited for what was to come, she hated the sudden dropping sensation in her stomach.
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT