"You"re here." Cixi stood up immediately she saw Sara approach.
"Aunt, are you okay? You look pale" She touched Cixi"s face and looked at her sadly.
She was still in the dress she had left the house in but also wore a big sweater she had never seen her aunt wear before.
"I"m good. Sorry for calling you out here. I did not think your father would want to see me now" She said in a low voice.
They both sat down and Sara held her hands rea.s.suringly.
"How can you say that? You should know better than anyone that Dad loves you a lot and would love to see you. He was only p.i.s.sed that day. Please come home. I miss you. We all did." Sara pleaded with her but saw Cixi still had an unsure expression plastered on her face.
"I"m really sorry Sara. I don"t know if you"ll ever forgive me."
Cixi began to cry and her eyes went down because she could not look at Sara.
"Please don"t be sad. I understand why you did all that. You were young and thought that was the best decision. I probably would have done same if I was faced with something like that. So it"s okay."
Sara took out her handkerchief from her pause and began to clean off the tears on her aunt"s face.
"I am aware about everything. Dad, you, Changyu. I"ve heard it all. So let"s let the past remain in the past"
Cixi was first surprised to hear that and raised her head to look at Sara.
"You...know about Changyu being your...."
She stopped since she was not still so sure whether Sara knew about that.
"My mother. Yes, I know about it"
Cixi began to cry even more and dropped her head to look at the ground.
"I so sorry Sara. I realised how wrong I was."
"Aunt please. It"s okay. Let"s just go home. You need to freshen up and eat something."
Sara almost.cried when she saw her aunt crying that way. It really did break her heart.
"It"s not just about that.." Cixi shook her head and lifted her eyes to look at Sara but she still could not.
"I am a bad person. I did not just hide the letters, I also did not want you in the family"
Cixi continued to cry and started narrating another incident that occurred many years back.
After Jianjun was discharged from the hospital, he did not seem to be his self anymore.
Any effort of their mother, Cixi or Helene to make him feel better proved futile.
They had known he loved Changyu. But they had not known he had loved her that much.
They thought it was only because she was very pretty and naive. And as time went by, his love for her would eventually fade out. But they had actually underestimated him.
After losing the house and everything a few months later, Mrs w.a.n.g felt there was nothing left for her family in that place. So they began to make plans to relocate.
"I"ll go with you people" Helene had dropped the bomb which shocked them all.
Helene was a sweet girl who was very loyal to their family. But was that not too much?
She had sacrificed a whole lot of her time and cared for their family. They believed it was time she left them and go focus on her life but she refused.
She had chosen to go with them and continue to help them out because the w.a.n.g"s had also helped her out when she least expected.
After the decision was made, Cixi had followed her to go empty and clean up her little apartment in preparation for their trip.
It was at that time that Cixi noticed Helene did not have much. Just a few clothes, and that was it.
When leaving that night, Helene begged Cixi to go with her to Happy Ending Orphanage for the last time.
That place was like a home to her and she did not want to leave just like that without seeing it for the last time at least.
"But it"s late already" Cixi complained but could not really show how unpleased she was by the idea. Helene was doing this for them after all.
That period, Cixi"s mood and att.i.tude turned sour.
She had not always been like that but after everything her family had gone through, after dropping out of school, and the guilt she bore, she could not also understand why her att.i.tude suddenly turned bad.
"Please. Just this once."
And with that, they had taken a late night train that enabled them get to Happy Ending Orphanage pretty fast.
Helene watched the gate for a while and a sad smile appeared on her face.
"One more thing..." Helene dragged Cixi with her to her favourite hidden spot from where she always watched the Orphanage.
She began to use a stick to dig one particular spot and Cixi had to curiously ask what she was searching for.
"I buried something here years back. I always used to sneak here when I was a kid. It turned to my favourite hideout." Helene explained and stopped when she finally saw the bottle buried on the ground.
"This is it." Helene cheered.
"And that is?" Cixi inquired.
"My wish."
"They bury wishes now? That"s weird."
Helene giggled before saying "I wished to one day leave this city with someone I can call my family. I think I have that now."
"Let"s just go back. We may not be able to return back if we continue playing around like this"
Immediately they both left the hidden spot, they b.u.mped into someone they had never expected to b.u.mp into.
"Miss Anna?" Cixi called first in surprise.
Anna had been startled and had even jumped in shock. It was as if she had been caught stealing or doing something she was not supposed to do.
Helene noticed a baby in the little baby basket on the ground and called Anna"s attention to it.
"What"s that baby doing there?" Helene pointed at the basket and hurriedly carried it when it seemed like the baby was going to cry.
Anna continued to look behind her like she was scared of something or someone was monitoring her.
"I have to leave now. Please."
"Is this what I think it is?" Cixi moved closer to ask with cold eyes.
"Is this Changyu"s child you are leaving here?" Because she could not think of anything else. Changyu had been pregnant, Anna was trying to abandon a baby in the middle of the night while acting like a thief.
Anna did not have the time to say anything before Cixi pointed out again. "This necklace belongs to Changyu so you cannot deny this"
The little baby who seemed to be sleeping wore a neclace that seemed to be bigger than her body.
The child was so tiny that you could barely see her in the clothes covering her.
One proper look, Cixi knew the baby was not yet mature and needed medical attention immediately.
"Please. I have to leave now. I"m glad I met you here. Please take good care of her"
Anna said before running away.
"Wait. Wait!" No matter how Cixi called or tried to catch up, Anna continued to run from there. When she rounded the corner Anna had taken, all she could see was the rear lights of a vehicle speeding off.
"Don"t give me that look. You better leave her here" Cixi said to Helene immediately she got to where she was standing with the baby.
"What do you mean leave her here? She is obviously your brother"s daughter!" Helene shot back in annoyance.
"Are you crazy? Didn"t you see those people abandoned her here? Are we just suppose to take in this Song blood and raise her when my family is on the verge of breaking down? Do we even have the funds to care for a child? Look at her, do you think she is going to survive?"
"Just shut your mouth!" Helene was older than Cixi so it was not difficult to reprimand her.
"So now you want to make decisions for your brother? I see how well the last one turned out to be. We are going to take her to the house whether you like it or not."
"Even though she is a Sing, she is also a w.a.n.g. Your nice!"
"Easier for you to say since you are not a part of our family." Cixi also shot back with clouded eyes.
She was a bit conflicted. She was torn between carrying the child and leaving her there. She did not think the little girl was going to survive. Plus, they did not have the money to take care of a weak child especially now that they were relocating.
"Just pray I am not alive when you get your doctor"s license because I"ll rip it apart."
Maybe because she was an orphan. She did not wish for any child to grow up that way.
How could this little girl stay in an orphanage, waiting everyday for a family she did not know to come pick her from there, when she had a family somewhere.
She was never going to allow the child experience what she had experienced.
So she had taken the child back home to show Jianjun and Mrs w.a.n.g who were shocked to stupor.
"I... I am so sorry Sara. I did not know I was that despicable. I was wrong" Cixi began to cry and begged Sara. She tried to kneel down but Sara quickly pulled her up.
Sara simply stared at her with an unreadable expression before she continued to dab her aunt"s wet face with her handkerchief.
"I heard I ate a lot as a child. You must have been really offended" Sara joked.
"It"s okay Aunt." She looked into her aunt"s teary eyes and said
"There is nothing you would have done in the past that would make me hate you now.
Those were all in the past, I don"t care about any of it now. Look at me, I am all grown up and surrounded by lovely people. Thanks to you and Mother who went there that night"
Sara could not stop calling Helene her mother, and Changyu as Miss Changyu. She believed with time, she would adjust.
Hearing her words even caused Cixi to cry the more. "It would have been better if you hated me"
"I can"t hate you aunt. Even if I tried. You were my mother, my sister, my friend. Maybe you did dislike me at the beginning. But I know you showed me a lot of love which were pure and genuine. I don"t even want to start mentioning everything you did for me. How you had even quarrelled with dad for days because he made me take fighting cla.s.ses. You had even asked me to act like I was sick so I wouldn"t go and said ladies were not supposed to fight."
"Aunt. I love you. And there is nothing I cannot forgive you for"
A shaky smile appeared on Cixi"s tear-streaked face. She felt free at last!
She wrapped her hands around Sara in a hug and said in a low voice.
"Thank you Sara. I am so proud of you."
She was glad Helene had been there that night to rescue Sara. She could not imagine how her life and brother"s life would have been like in Sara was not in the picture.
"Of course you should be proud of me. Mr Li would call you Aunt forever."
Cixi paused and pulled away from Sara to ask inquisitively.
"What do you mean by that?"
"He asked me to marry him."
"Oh my G.o.d!" Cixi screamed in excitement.
"Please tell me you said yes. Please say you said yes!"
Sara flashed the ring in front of Cixi"s eyes and grinned widely. "I thought you might kill me if I hadn"t said that"