When Hli Ja left, Grandma turned to Mua Kong to study him. Her gaze sharpened looking at the familiar tall handsome man. Her eyes soon slowly widened after a minute like she realized who he was.
Mua Kong smiled gently and greeted, "Hi Grandma. It's been a long while."
Grandma smiled and invited Mua Kong to the back of the house. "You sure have grown! Go have a seat. I need to help these two customers first and I'll come to make you some tea."
Mua Kong followed grandma and walked inside the house. His eyes fell upon the lobby area with a counter. There was a big tall shelf with mini drawer boxes behind the counter. A small hallway led past the counter to the back that had a kitchen, living room and stairs to the second floor. There was a backdoor in the living room that led to the backyard where the bathhouse and outhouse were. Mua Kong went to the living room and sat on a chair, waiting to catch up with grandma.
It had been just a while when grandma came back and lit the stove on. She took the cups and the tea kettle out from the shelf, ready to brew tea. Her back faced Mua Kong. "How long are you in town for? Have you fixed the place to stay?"
Mua Kong did not want to say that he was just passing through and was on his way out of the city until he saw Hli Ja arguing with a man. He decided to put up a lie. "I'll be in town for two weeks."
"We have one extra room upstairs so if you haven't found a place, you are welcome to stay if you want."
The water came to a boil and grandma finished brewing tea. She took the kettle out of the stove and poured some in a cup. She walked over to Mua Kong with a teacup in her hand and handed it to him.
His hand reached for the cup. "Thank you." He smiled and waited for the tea to cool down a little. "Grandma, I've been looking for you two for a long time. I pretty much can guess what happened by the sight of the place," he added with a guilty expression. He was referring to the hut when assassins raided it.
"The result was that we managed to escape. No need to beat yourself over it. I'm getting old and I didn't want Hli Ja to live in isolation. We found a place to settle down after we escaped." Grandma went back to the stove and poured another cup before leaving the cup on the table to cool down.
It was then that Hli Ja came out of the bathhouse in the back. She brought the cloak and her clothes she had washed and hung it in the back yard.
Mua Kong glanced outside through the window to look at the beautiful Hli Ja. The timid and reserved tomboyish girl had bloomed beautifully. If one did not know her personally, one would mistake her for royalty, for she radiated an aura of a royal princess.
After hanging the clothes up, Hli Ja went inside the house and grandma asked her to drink the tea while it was still warm.
Hli Ja saw Mua Kong sitting on the chair and grandma standing by the stove. She walked across the room, took the teacup and gulp it down in one go. "Grandma, I still have to go to work for a few hours as it gets busy during dinner time. I'll bring back dinner."
She turned to Mua Kong. "Thank you again for helping me earlier. I have to leave. If you have something else to do, you can go take care of your stuff and come back later to pick up your cloak."
"Okay," Mua Kong replied as he nodded to Hli Ja.
With that, Hli Ja rushed out and headed to the restaurant.
Curious, Mua Kong turned to Grandma. "She works? She doesn't help you run the shop?"
"She's helping cover for short staff. She will be done soon and should be back to help me with the shop."
*
At Lotus Flower Restaurant, Hli Ja was distracted the whole time. She kept thinking about the man who had saved her. The smile and aura felt so familiar to her but she just could not remember where she had seen him. The answer was just at the tip of her finger but she was unable to recall.
On her way back home, she overheard a short, warm conversation between an older woman and a young man. "Not long ago, you were just a little boy and now you're all grown up!" The older woman patted his back.
She looked at the two people who walked past her thinking of what she just heard.
Little boy... grown-up… It was then that the answer hit her.
The image of Mua Kong always smiling at her when he would accompany her to fetch water... the smile from earlier was similar to Mua Kong just in a grown man's body. She gasped at the realization and ran home.
She burst into the house but no one was in the back living area though she could hear someone chopping woods in the backyard. She rushed through the back door.
Mua Kong and Yee Len were sitting on the bench, drinking tea while the other bodyguard was chopping woods.
She looked at Mua Kong and rushed up to him with her breathing labored due to running. "You... you still owe me a promise!"