Sara had a long day and so, she slept immediately she was done freshening up.
Joreen also slept off after waiting for her mother to call but the call never came in.
As for Jianjun who was lying on the couch with a blanket and pillow, he could not sleep.
How could he sleep when the woman he had loved all his life was just right inside his room?
He had been trying to have a lone time with her so they could finally talk because an issue as sensitive as that, they could not just raise it when the kids were around.
He looked at the direction of his room"s door and considered going in to speak with her now that the others were asleep. But he just could not bring himself to go meet her now.
As for Changyu, she was sitting on the bed with her injured foot elevated with a pillow.
With her phone in hand, she went through the news with a dark expression.
Everyone was busy talking about the Songs and how they had fallen completely.
Most people rejoiced because the Song elders were known for acting c.o.c.ky. Now that they were finally out, all they could see was their daughter and the Li family.
"As Ramen is best served hot, so should Justice be served" She said in a low voice.
A few days ago when she had still been looking for a way to find her daughter, she had gone to look for Anna"s family.
After searching, she was finally able to locate Anna"s daughter, who was living in the countryside.
She sighed when she remembered how the lady had sent her away and said she did not want to see any Song in front of her.
After pleading with her to speak with her, she told Changyu how her mother had lost her husband barely a year after marriage. He was not even able to see their child before he died in an accident.
Ever since then, her mother, Anna, dedicated her life into working for the Songs.
She had left her daughter with her younger sister and only went to see her when she was allowed off by the Songs.
She did not have enough time with her mother because the woman was busy taking care of someone else"s daughter.
One day, Anna was unfortunate to be involved in a hit and run.
No one cared. She did not see any Songs who came to offer their condolences. No one came for her burial ceremony.
She had tried to meet with the Songs at several times but when they finally saw her, they gave her some wads of cash and asked her to take care of herself.
That was it. That was all!
She was bittered because she always watched the news and kept seeing how the Songs were soaring. Even Changyu was living well in the states and even though no one saw her, everyone knew her name.
She cried a lot as she poured out everything she had buried in her heart for decades.
In her thirty-six years of life, she could count the number of times she slept by her mother"s side. She would not have felt really bad if the Songs had cared but because they did not, she felt her mother wasted her life helping those ungrateful bunch of rats.
Now, she was busy taking care of her sick aunt who had raised her. They were poor, helpless. And she was also unmarried.
All effort of Changyu to help was rejected.
Everything that kept happening reminded Changyu of how childish she had been.
Anna had practically raised her like her own child yet, she knew nothing about her.
And no matter how much she tried to offer her a.s.sistance to Anna"s daughter, the woman sent her out of their little apartment.
As she dropped her phone and relaxed her body on the bed, she suddenly remembered the little box.
Quickly, she sat up and raised the pillows but found nothing there.
"s.h.i.+t! He must have seen it" She realised Jianjun must have seen it when he was arranging the bed.
"Ah! You can"t hide it from me" There was a sudden glint in her eyes before she stood up.
In case he did not know, her second name was Miss Curious.
She put on the light and checked to make sure the door was properly locked before she began her search hunt.
She searched every nook and cranny of the room and even under the bed but she did not still find it.
The last place to check was his wardrobe.
She was a bit skeptical about it because she did not like going through people"s things. But now, she had no other choice. She wanted to know what was inside that box. She was curious to know how his treasured items looked like.
Slowly and carefully, she opened one side of his wardrobe.
Her face unconsciously frowned when she saw how scanty it was.
There was almost nothing inside except for two clothes on the hanger, a luggage box and a little wrapped gift box.
She recognised the gift box as the one Sara had used to place the clothes she bought for him on the day they both went shopping.
"Why is it so empty?" She asked herself as her eyes scanned his wardrobe.
She did not want to believe that those were all he had and that he did not take care of himself.
She led a miserable life but her wardrobe was bigger than their entire apartment. So why was his like this?
She knew he had never been a fan of fas.h.i.+on but he should at least have a minimum of a hundred clothes right? She thought before saying in a whisper.
"I am going to smack some sense into his dumb head."
She tried to open his clothes box but kept withdrawing her hand.
"Just open the d.a.m.n box already. It"s not like you"re stealing from him." She a.s.sured herself before she moved her hand to the zipper.
She closed her eyes and slowly began to unzip it.
Once she opened it, she saw the box and the disappointing sight of a few clothes inside.
"What do you think you are doing Jianjun w.a.n.g?" She bit her lips and continued to look inside the box with a sad expression.
It did not take long before she quickly snapped out of it and carried the box back to the bed.
"Please be it.. Please be it.." She chanted silently as she tried to unlock the box with the only code she could think of.
"1922" That was the only code she could remember he used.
One day when he was going through a cook book, he had been narrating to her how a chef formed a recipe in 1922 but all she could think of was that it was the combination of both their ages.
"1922. That"s my age, 19. Plus yours, 22." She said excitedly before hopping on his back.
Jianjun laughed and held her properly so she would not fall. "Is that why you are so happy?" He asked her.
"Yes. I like 1922. Let it always be our number from today."
"Okay" He willingly agreed because even if he declined— well, he could not decline anyway.
"Don"t just say okay. Make sure you change every pa.s.sworded device you have to 1922."
"Yes ma"am. Are you happy now?"
"I am happy." She laughed and began to jiggle up and down on his back.
"If you continue that way we are both going to fa—"
Before be could say "fall", he missed his step and fell on the couch with Changyu directly behind him. They both laughed heartily while Cixi who had been busy reading a novel shook her head at the both of them.
A smile appeared on her face as she reminisced the past.
*1922*
And surprisingly, it worked.
Her heart thumped faster as she lifted the lid.
And when it was finally opened, she looked at the items inside.
Her eyes went first to the rumpled sheet of paper that was carefully folded inside.
She lifted it and after she slowly opened it, she immediately recognised her own handwriting.
She stared at it in shock when she realised that was the particular letter she had sent to Jianjun.
Her eyes were wide opened and her hands shook as she read the letter she had written with her own hand.
Before she knew it, tears began to spill from her eyes. Now that she knew he had not sent her that letter, she was even more heartbroken.
No matter how much she tried to suppress her tears, she could not. All she could do was to cry out. She had really been crazy. Why did she do something like that? Why did she send him this kind of letter?
As she dropped the letter on the bed, her hand accidentally pushed the box which caused it to fall on the floor with every item inside, spilling out.
With tears still in her eyes, she bent to pick them up and that was when she saw three pictures. She first picked up the one closest to her and saw it was an old picture of the w.a.n.gs and the Restsurant"s staffs before she started working with them. It looked like it was Cixi"s birthday.
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and looked at it for a while before picking up the next one. The other picture was also taken inside the restaurant. Then, she was already working with them and so, she was in the group photograph this time and she was standing beside Jianjun with a bright smile on her face.
She almost laughed when she remembered how she had forced her way there. At that time, it was still a one-sided love on her part, or so she thought.
The last picture was of a baby girl.
She realised that this was probably Sara"s baby picture. She admired it for a bit and was about dropping it when she saw a necklace on the ground.
Her eyes widened when she saw it and quickly lifted it to take a proper look.
"Why is my necklace here?" She asked herself in confusion. She never gave it to him. Even when she was locked up at home, out of anger, she had asked Anna to throw it out since her mother had given it to her.
"Did he make a similar one?"
Although she asked herself that, she still felt it was hers.
As she was about to drop everything inside, Sara"s picture slipped from her hand and turned to the back.
She saw some numbers written on it and lifted it to take a closer look.
A year was written on it. But something did not feel right. If Sara was twenty four years old, then why was the year written behind the picture a year before Sara was supposed to be born?
As her brows furrowed in confusion, she picked up the last paper that was folded and was even more startled to see it was a DNA test result between "Jianjun" and "Sara".
"Why did he conduct a paternity test for his wife"s daughter?"
Everything was already beginning to confuse her.
When she looked at the date, she saw that it was the same year that was written at the back of Sara"s picture.
She looked at the picture again and then, at the year. Finally, her eyes went back to the necklace.
Quickly, she stood up with the necklace, DNA test result and picture in hand.
Immediately she opened the door to go meet Jianjun in the sitting room, she saw him standing just outside the door.