December 25, 20XX (Wednesday)
Xue Manor"Grandma!" Mei Lin"s loud voice echoed into the halls of Xue Manor, surprising the elder lady sitting alone on the living room.
Turning her head, Grandma Xue was face to face with her granddaughter. Smiling, she replied, "Good Morning, dear. You are here early."
"Morning!" Mei Lin added, "I wanted to talk to Father."
Seeing the older man ambling with his cane towards them, Mei Lin waved her hands and greeted, "Hi, Grandpa! Good Morning."
The two elders were surprised at Mei Lin"s highly enthusiastic greetings. She had never behaved like this in front of them before; never this carefree and wild like a teenager.
Grandma Xue and Grandpa Xue immediately doted on her, dragging the painter to eat with them as the father and son would probably take more hours to sleep in. As usually, Mei Lin accepted the offered food into her plate. Who would deny free and delicious food?
When the day started to pa.s.s, Mei Lin left Grandma and Grandpa Xue"s company. She asked a servant to show her the way to her father"s room. Mei Lin was in the Xue manor for a purpose, and d.a.m.n if she left without accomplis.h.i.+ng her objective! Arriving in front of a white door, Mei Lin knocked three times. Hearing no reply, she knocked on the door again. Hearing nothing, Mei Lin tried to open the door with the k.n.o.b. When it opened without a problem, the grin on Mei Lin"s lips grew in length.
She tiptoed inside as quietly as she could. Once beside the large bed, Mei Lin saw her father sleeping deeply. After reaching down to take off her slippers, Mei Lin slowly climbed on the side of the bed where it was empty. Counting down from one to zero, Mei Lin started jumping and making waves on the mattress.
"What the f.u.c.k?!" Jerome Bonaparte cursed as his eyes widen. His body bounced with every jump from the source. Jerome s.h.i.+fted his body so he could look at the man that he wanted to kill. He had slept late last night because he was too busy annoying Elizar, so he was not in a good mood.
"Mei Lin?!" Jerome shockingly asked, in disbelief.
Seeing her target wide awake, Mei Lin stopped jumping to roll into the arms of her father asking for cuddles. She needed more brownie points from Jerome so he would say yes to her request. Aside from that, Mei Lin always likes cuddles. Although Uncle Wu had been like a father to her, he was not tactile.
Surprised at her actions, Jerome froze, unknowing on how to react. He had never been close with Chang Min and Mei Lin because of his work, and it felt new to touch her more intimately on the head. Mei Lin dragged his hand to rest on her shoulder as she demanded, "Pats, please?"
Surprised once again, Jerome followed his daughter"s instructions and patted her shoulder without complaints. Jerome saw Mei Lin"s eyelids grew heavy and closed. Unconsciously, Jerome had started humming the song that Mu Lan used to hum endlessly so that she could irritate him. Once Mei Lin entered her dreamland, Jerome was filled with nostalgia. After a while, Jerome started to use his phone instead of going back to sleep. He took a photo of his daughter like a true creeper dad.
"Dad, I heard Mei Lin is-" Chang Min stopped himself with his jaw dropping on the floor. Never had he expected Mei Lin to be this close with their father. Everyone thought that Mei Lin would forgive their father, but she would always remember.
Mei Lin began to stir awake. Jerome glared at his son and clicked his tongue to show his displeasure. Chang Min scratched the back of his head in helplessness. Once Mei Lin"s eyes were open, she looked straight into her father"s brown eyes and said, "My eye color is like yours."
"Yeah, you took my coloring the most," Jerome said as he tucked the hair strands covering her face.
"I have your coloring too," Chang Min interrupted.
Mei Lin gestured Chang Min to lay beside her so that she could be sandwiched in warmth. Chang Min grinned at his father, who clicked his tongue in annoyance with his son. This was supposed to be a father-daughter bonding, not a father-daughter and a stupid son bonding.
"Why are you here so early?" Chang Min asked once he was comfortable lying on his side and looking at his sister"s side profile.
"I wanted to invite Papa to Zhao Manor. Mother Zhao needs help with the spy, and I know that papa is an experienced intelligence officer, so I told Mother Zhao that I would ask him." Mei Lin answered without any filters.
Jerome snorted, "Did that Xing lady told you to tell me that?"
Mei Lin pouted and looked at her father with eyes widen and blurry with fake tears, "Please, Papa? Help me?"
Chang Min knew that their father would not deny Mei Lin anything, especially when faced with a formidable puppy pout. Not a minute had pa.s.sed, and Jerome already nodded his head in agreement. Mei Lin shrieked and hugged her father"s waist and putting her chin on his shoulder. Jerome hugged his daughter tight because he might never have the chance do so again.
Their impromptu family bonding was interrupted when Elizar slammed the door open with so much force that made the three of them sit in surprise.
"Commander Alfonsi is at the hospital! We need to hurry back to France; he is in critical condition!" Elizar shouted.
Jerome stood up fast, ushered his children, "Let"s go. Come with me and see your great-grandfather. You might never have the chance again."
"I don"t have my pa.s.sport," Mei Lin said in dismay.
Elizar urged them to hurry, "The France Government had issued an all-clear for everyone to enter without any visa or clearance for three days. Hurry! Every second count!"