"Still, it"s all Old Madam Liu"s fault. If she had just let mom and her older son have a happy life, there would have been no tragedy!" Rizie huffed. They were inside a van that was headed to the wedding reception party.
"Ouch!" she cried when her back was. .h.i.t by Grandma Terry.
"You! Spurting nonsense! If none of that had happened, do you think you would have still been born? What happened was tragic, but all things happened for a reason. Your mother met your father, then you were born… This brat…" Grandma Terry scolded her, and Rizie ended up scratching her head.
"Thom has suffered a lot too... He saved me first… I"m sure he was blaming himself for Charlie"s death…" Sheila mumbled.
Sheila remembered the look in Senior Liu"s face when their eyes met earlier at the church. She could see years of sorrow reflected in his eyes.
She knew Thom well... Even before she had reciprocated Charles" feelings, she and Tom had been good friends. Just like Charles, Thom had always treated her well. At one point, she had even gotten confused about her own feelings. Sheila was not insensitive not to have noticed Thom"s affections toward her. She did like him, but she loved Charles…
Sheila"s thoughts were interrupted by her mother, who was patting her shoulder and said, "Zach understands you well. Now you are free from that burden, from the truth…"
Sheila let out a long sigh… Her mother knew her so well. Hiding the truth from Zach had been a big load on her shoulders for as long as she could remember. She had been planning to tell Zach about his real ident.i.ty once he had settled down with his own family. But the truth had caught up with her instead. Before she could reveal anything to Zach, the truth had decided to show itself first.
Meanwhile, Keira and Zach decided to go home after their families had made sure that they would take care of their guests on their behalf…
But during their ride home, Zach suddenly ordered, "Jim, go to the reception hall instead."
Keira frowned and asked, "Are you sure? Aren"t you tired from everything that happened? We can just go home and rest. Dad will explain everything to the guests. He will tell them that we are just too impatient to celebrate our honeymoon…"
Zach smiled as he kissed Keira"s hand that he was holding. He responded, "Hmm, everything was really unexpected and overwhelming. I still need to digest all the information slowly... But I"m alright. They are our guests, and they have come to celebrate our big day with us. So we must be there and celebrate it with them. No one died, so I don"t see the point for us to sulk and rest…"
Keira smiled at her husband lovingly and gave him a kiss on his cheek. She just received a message from Thea, informing her that Old Madam Liu was doing well and would wake up soon. She pa.s.sed her phone to Zach to let him read it.
After reading Thea"s message, Zach looked at Keira and told her, "After this… I would like to know all about my real father. How he looked like and what kind of a man he was. I also want to visit his grave…"
Keira smiled and nodded.
At The Wedding Reception
"I still can"t believe Zach is Old Madam Liu"s grandson. Gosh… Look at the similarities," Lana sputtered, as she showed Charles Liu"s old photograph on her mobile phone to May, Drey, and Cielo.
"How did you get this? I"ve been trying to search for it, but nothing!" May complained with an arched eyebrow.
Lana laughed and boasted, "My intel network is much wider than yours…" to which May snorted.
Lana then added while still laughing, "I know a guy who can work wonders on this kind of stuff, as long as you give him the right incentive. Even though he is now living in a secluded island with a beautiful island girl, he still managed to send me this photograph when I told him that you were eager to find out."
"What the heck!? Using my precious name to your advantage… You should treat Riley and me to a good meal for it… You sly lawyer!" May vented.
"I"m not a lawyer yet, but, yes, I"ll admit. I"m indeed sly…" Lana grinned.
Then she added, "Old Madam Liu has shut down all the details about his older son ever since his tragic death. Because it would have otherwise created a scandal for the Liu"s, and my mom told me the old madam is really allergic to scandals in her family."
"Ohh, they are here," Cielo announced. Lana, May, and Drey, who were all seated in one table, looked toward the entrance and saw Zach and Keira enter the reception hall.
Torin was the host, and he immediately welcomed the newlywed by saying, "Aw, it looks like the newlywed missed us, so they decided to come and celebrate with us. Ladies and gentlemen, please give the newly wedded Mr. and Mrs. Lim a warm round of applause…"
The guests cheered as the couple walked toward their seats. Keira had already changed into an elegant and stunning but more comfortable evening gown for the wedding reception, while Zach had changed into a black dress s.h.i.+rt partnered with black trousers.
"To our couple, since we all thought that you have headed straight to your honeymoon, we have already begun with the most important program, which is, of course, eating…" Torin jested, to which the crowd responded with a hearty laugh. He gestured for the waiter to serve the couple who, he a.s.sumed, had been starving since they hadn"t eaten anything.
"Alright, while our couple is having their meal, how about we ask the bride"s father to give us some insights to our couples here on what they should antic.i.p.ate during their marriage life," Torin suggested while he looked at Field Marshal Chan, who immediately walked toward him to get the microphone.
Field Marshal Chan looked at the couple as he started his speech, "Hmm, you both know that this father of yours is a man of few words, unlike our host here…"
The crowd laughed while Torin grinned and shrugged his shoulders.
"From now on, the two of you are one unit. You will build a family together, and all I can advise you is: Family must always come first. Remember to always be there for each other. No amount of money or success can replace the warmth and security of a family..." said Field Marshal Chan before he returned the mic to Torin.
"Hmm… A man of few but heavy words indeed. How about Mrs. Chan? Ma"am, would you like to give them some words of advice too?" Asked Torin smiling, to which Mrs. Chan responded by shaking her head shyly.
Torin looked at Sheila and smiled as he said, "How about our mom, Sheila? Please share some of your insights to the couple, mom."
"Very shameless… Calling mom in the open like that. He"s been talking too much too. I wonder when his mouth will rest a bit," Rizie snorted as Torin had seemed to steal the spotlight from the couple simply by being the chatterbox that he was.