Alicia entered the dining room with uncle Ye and received another surprise.Milling about and chatting were all familiar faces...There were friends from the bakery she used to work at,some people from the organisations where she volunteered and there were about 10 kids between the ages of 5 years and 12 years.These kids were from the orphanage that she frequently went to..
Everyone came to congratulate her and chat with her.The girls from the bakery were both teenagers but somehow had bonded in a friends.h.i.+p with the older Ms Pan Xinlei,Neil"s a.s.sistant and her only friend in the office...
Overwhelmed with attention and congratulatory messages,Alicia had a big smile on her face as she proceeded to get her breakfast.The buffet was laden with national and international breakfast cuisines..As soon as she separated from her group,she was accosted by her young friends who had dragged along a reluctant Pan Xinlei. They reached her just as she placed her order for cheese omelette that was being made on a live counter.The girls squealed and hugged Alicia until she was red and couldn"t help but want to gossip with her.The girls were called w.a.n.g Xiao and Li Xingming.
w.a.n.g Xiao held Alicia"s hand and said,"We couldn"t believe that you were getting married to such a handsome dude.And we wondered that why you never fell in love with that handsome Neil...now we know...you had set your sights on an even more handsome fish.Sigh!!!"
Li Xingming had wound her hand around Pan Xinlei"s and whispered,"I was so excited that I wanted to shout to the world that I would be attending the great Ryu Long"s wedding but this missy here made us sign a non disclosure agreement.But I am going to have so much fun and report to the others at the bakery...they are going to be so jealous.."
Alicia chatted with them for a while,laughing at their antics and then collecting her omelette moved to sit with her family.On the way she saw a little girl waving at her with a smile on her face and she waved back.For a few moments,her thoughts turned melancholy when she thought of the girl"s past but soon she returned to normal after thinking about a smile on the face.
Uncle Ye,Ryu and the three brothers were sitting at a table and laughing about something...She observed them for a minute from a little distance and then smilingly joined them.It seemed Ah Hai was being teased about something since his face was all red and full of frustration.
Alicia sat on the chair next to Uncle Ye,who harrumphed when he saw her choice of western breakfast.Before she could receive a stern lecture,Neil said,"Ah Hai,come on the girl is so cute and adorable.Where will you get a bride like that?"
Alicia"s ears perked up at this and she asked Neil what he was talking about.Neil grinned like a fool and in his dramatic way announced,"Ah Hai received his first ever marriage proposal today!The girl is beautiful,pretty and smart.Only thing she could be lacking is her eyesight since she found Ah Hai more handsome than me."
Alicia grinned at that,looked at Ah Hai and said,"So did you accept?"
Ah Hai glared at the two of them resentfully but Matt answered,"He couldn"t. The girl has asked him to wait until she grows up..She said that Ah Hai is her prince charming!She is only 9 years!!"Matt guffawed at that causing the people at the table to erupt into laughter.
Ah Hai glared at them all and said "I am done with breakfast.Call me if you need me."
Neil immediately answered to his back,"The groom is not needed now as the bride is yet to grow up!Don"t be impatient!"
With a withering look in his direction,Ah Hai left the table.
Alicia shook her head at his antics and moved to eat but....half of her omelette was gone. Ryu,who had been sitting opposite her had forked down from her plate and was still busily eating.
Before Alicia could scold him for eating her food,she saw something in her plate that made her go quiet.She decided to get herself a fresh omelette..She was about to excuse herself to get a fresh one when Uncle Ye saw that Ryu had almost polished off Alicia"s food..He glared at Ryu and said,"Why are you eating her omelette?You could have just gone and gotten one for yourself.Lazy boy!"
Ryu calmly finished the bite he had taken and said,"It has black mushrooms...Alicia does not like to eat those."Alicia"s head whipped towards Ryu. She had never once mentioned anything about mushrooms and there was only once when they had eaten together and she had taken out the mushrooms...
Uncle Ye frowned at that and answered,"Still you should have brought one for her then.She likes them but cannot eat them as she is allergic to black mushrooms!Don"t even know that!Now go and get her one."
Before anyone could say anything,a waiter approached the table with a dish in hand.He went towards Ryu and said,"Sir this is the cheese omelette without mushrooms you ordered."
Ryu gestured towards Alicia and the waiter placed the plate in front of her.
Alicia was about to thank him when Uncle Ye again said,"Hmpf,lazy boy!You ordered instead of bringing it yourself!Now do you want my Alicia to feed herself.Come on,cut the omelette and feed it to my Alicia!
Alicia who was about to protest stopped when she saw Ryu"s subtle gesture and so she happily ate when he cut the omelette into small bites and fed it to her and forced dog food on everyone.
What she did not know was that there was a camera that was capturing their photos and this picture where they were staring into each other"s eyes was going to be one of their most precious memories.