"How are you feeling now, Ms. Lin? I want to begin by apologising for the accident. It was completely my fault. I should have not insisted on coming back the same night or else should have called the chauffeur or…" Hui started to speak.Jia Li interrupted him gently and tried to lighten the atmosphere, "there is no need to apologise, Mr. Ying. I am absolutely fine and it wasn"t as if you deliberately caused it. As for being guilty, I guess, it was partially my fault. Maybe it was my horrid singing which put you on the sleep mode."
Before Hui could react to her words, Eric exclaimed, "singing? You were singing in the car? Why was the privilege accorded to Hui and not me?"
Jia Li gave him a humorous look and replied, tongue in cheek, "after discovering that my singing can be near fatal, you still want a taste of it?"
Eric grinned at her words, "if you think that I am going to get scared by those words, you can think again. We must have a performance by you as soon as you get out of this place."
He was aware that she was a good singer and had been a part of a band with her friends. What he hadn"t known was that she had sung for Hui, the night before. This seemed like a promising beginning already.
Two kilometres away, London Hospital
"Your father has a fair chance at full recovery if this surgery goes well. We are extremely optimistic that tomorrow"s operation would be successful. We shall be taking him in to the operation theatre during early hours. The nurse shall explain the Do"s and Don"ts prior to that. Good Luck!" the surgeon told Wei.
He had been in London for more than two weeks now along with his father. His mother had landed an hour ago and was headed towards the hospital now. Much to his surprise, she had informed him yesterday that she was going to be present for Mr. w.a.n.g"s surgery. Wei had initially thought of dissuading her but had held back, thinking of his father. Maybe a part of him was hoping that she turns up. So, Wei had sent a chauffeured car for her at the airport this morning. Irrespective of her motives for coming here, he had no intentions of sticking around when she came in.
If her behaviour with Jia Li hadn"t been enough, her near apathy towards her own husband surely was, for him to keep his emotional distance from her.
"Dad, she has arrived. I am going to leave the two of you to do some catching up," he addressed his father gently.
Mr. w.a.n.g asked him to stay back but he shook his head and told him that he wanted to get some fresh air. Walking towards the nearest garden, he bought a loaf of bread on his way, to feed the pigeons. His father had been s.h.i.+fted from the doctor"s clinic to the hospital for the surgery, a couple of days ago. Little did he know that Jia Li was currently in the same building where his father had been residing for the past couple of weeks.
Wei sat down on a bench and started crumbling the bread when his phone rang.
"What did the doctor say? When is the surgery scheduled to happen?" Tang"s impatient questions boomed in his ears.
He replied, providing the details, including the fact that his mother had arrived this morning.
Tang digested it all and asked, "let me guess. You are nowhere near where she is, am I right?"
Wei told him to keep his nosiness away from him. Instead, he launched into a detailed discussion about the new product line which they were trying to develop in their company. Tang had been keeping him abreast of all the new updates at work.
"It seems that you are on top of things there. I know it must be exhausting for you with the increased workload. I am really thankful to you for supporting dad and me during this phase," Wei said.
"Ahhh, there you go again, with the stiff words of grat.i.tude. Everything is under control here. In fact, things are running smoothly due to err… dad helping around enough. Between the two of us, we seem to be doing ok," he replied.
"Wait, did I hear that correctly? You and Uncle Xie are working together? How did that happen?" Wei exclaimed.
Tang replied in an apologetic tone, "you have been so preoccupied with Uncle w.a.n.g"s health. Hence I didn"t mention the developments taking place here."
"Right now I have all the time and I am not preoccupied. Tell me what has been happening. I want to know it all," Wei insisted.
Tang began by narrating the incident with Mei Zhen and her new beau at the restaurant.