A small voice said from behind Neil,"She is mine."
When Alicia saw her friend who had gone missing in country A appear here in country C,she almost thought she was hallucinating.She pinched Neil to check she wasn"t dreaming."Oww" howled the poor abused Neil Long."Al my pal!Why are you pinching me?Pinch yourself to see if you are dreaming!"Al turned her eyes away from Onita for a second and said to Neil,"Ha!As if I would hurt myself!I love myself!"And with that Alicia turned to Onita immediately to confirm that she had not disappeared again!And she had not.For a moment there was silence and then,"Squeaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllll""Onita!!!My bff.."WIth that Alicia ran to Onita and hugged her tightly while the others tried to rub their ears to soothe their ear drums.Even Little Alicia was looking shocked..her eyes widening in her small face and her lips trembling as if she would cry any moment.While Alicia and Onita hugged each other and cried,Ryu Long was talking to the air hostess who then went back to the airplane.After having hugged and squeezed her bff for all she was worth,Alicia finally gave a big hug to her ignored friend Neil Long and thanked him for the best surprise ever!To this Ryu objected,"I thought I was the best gift ever that he had given you!"Alicia rolled her eyes at Ryu and blew him a flying kiss,then amending her statement to the best gift of the year.As Ryu was about to protest this claim,Alicia turned to him and narrowed her eyes at him so he promptly shut up.Just then the air hostess returned with a thermos and gla.s.s and pouring some hot water from the thermos presented it to Al.Al looked at the water blankly and then curiously to the air hostess.The air hostess turned a bit red as she explained,"Sir Long is worried that your throat will be sore after so much squ..uhh excitement.So he wanted you to have some hot water to soothe your vocal cords.."
Onita:".."
Alicia:".."
Neil:Cursing his brother in his mind,Big bro you couldhave waited atleast a few minutes before serving us the dog food!
Ru Long(admiring his well trained father):Father is the best!
Just then little Alicia who had lost the attentionof all the adults,viciously pulled Ru"s hair causing him to shout in pain.This caused the little girl to let out a wail and she clutched his hair even tighter.Onita ran to the children and quickly distracted the baby so that she would not pull all of Ru"s hair out.
Only after witnessing this scene did Alicia realize what Onita had said.Little Alicia was Onita"s daughter...About to squeal again and bombard Onita with questions,Alicia"s mouth was covered by Neil.She turned frantic eyes to him and received a one word response,"Later."She nodded her head to indicate she understood and was about to say something when suddenly darted back to the plane.And suddenly the fear that had just struck her,came true.
Alighting from the plane was a very sleepy and disheveled,Qi Cheng who had yet to notice his surroundings.
He looked at the people around him who were standing on the ground and said a gentle hi.He then saw the little baby in Ru"s arms and foolishly muttered,"Alicia,you gave birth to a little girl so soon?"
Alicia wanted to roll her eyes but the sheer number of times she had already done it made her wary of doing it again incase her eyes permanently rolled back and bopping him on the back of the head said,"Science does not work that way!Even if you are a finance student,you should have common sense!" and pointed her head towards the girl who was standing next to the two children.
Qi Cheng"s mouth fell open in a comical way so that he looked like a person who had just stuck his hand in an electrical socket and frozen.
The little cupcake who had had eough excitement for the day tried to het into Onita"s arms almost toppling Ru and herself in the process.Onita turned to catch the two kids,this breaking the trance Qi Cheng had fallen into.
Qi Cheng couldn"t believe his eyes.The reason he had come to country C withthe intent to find her was now standing in front of him.His eyes then moved to the baby in her arms and his heart hardened.So it had indeed been her that night in the restaurant.So did that mean that the man she was with was also here.He looked around him to the people and his eyes stopped on Neil Long.Looking him over,Qi Cheng realized that this was the same man from the restaurant.
It was at this point that his brain realized the fact that something was very wrong with the scenario of Neil Long and Onita being a family.If Neil was the one who Onita had ran to when she went missing then at least Alicia would know of it!So he turned to the one person who could answer him and stalked towards her.
But before he could reach his goal,Neil obstructed his way.With a polite smile but cold eyes he said,"You all must be tired and jet lagged from the travelling!We can all catch up tomorrow.Qi Cheng the car to take you to your hotel is here and so is the driver for Big Bro and Al.Let us all catch up tomorrow."
Al had also understood Neil"s intentions and chimed in,"Yes let us go and get some rest."Though her mouth said this her eyes warned Neil to be ready with the truth confession.Then going to Ru.Alicia held his hand and said,"My big baby Ru!Come let us go and see how our house has been faring without us."
Ru who could be heard protesting that he was not a little baby anymore was guided into the car while Neil had turned to Onita and Alicia guiding them to his car.Ryu looked at Qi Cheng and then Neil but said nothing.Placing a hand on Qi Cheng"s shoulder,he nodded to him indicating that he understood but now as not the right time.