At Oriental Tea Dessert Spot
Susu arrived before Shen Wen and ordered for both of them. Ever since young, Susu treated her like her own mother and they would often hang out for some afternoon tea. Oriental Tea was one of their favorite spots to chill and talk about random topics.
While waiting for both the tea, dessert, and Shen Wen to arrive, Susu checked her social media and frowned when she came across a post that Tian Yuo uploaded an hour ago. It was a letter from Karen. Even though her name was blurred out, she recognized the rose stationery that Karen stole from her.
'How could I not recognize my own design? I got so angry that time that I actually yelled at her for going through my laptop. Who knew that she took my design because it was pretty and made it a print for her exclusive stationery set.'
Tian Yuo's message: "I'm not sure if you are seeing or reading this post, but if you are, I just want to tell you that I love you and will forever wait for you."
The picture that he uploaded showed Karen's letter to him saying, "I'm sorry, but it is best for me to leave. I love you, and it is too difficult for me to stay here. If I do, I will only be your burden and stand in everybody's way. One day, I will be back and hopefully ..."
The letter was never finished and only trailed off with dots. Susu smirked while reading the letter, "So this time she is playing the fishing bait game. Interesting. Using a letter with just a few words as the bait and the hook ending to lure the fish. Hah. Very well played. Victim once again."
"Susu~ You're here earlier than expected!" Shen Wen sounded surprised when she called out to Susu.
"How could I make a beautiful lady wait for me? Hehe, I haven't seen you in a while~ How are you doing?" Susu got up from her seat and spread her arms wide to give Shen Wen a big, tight hug.
"How could I be well when my favorite daughter haven't hit me up? Tian Yuo almost made me puke blood when he said disrespectful things too! Geez, Honey, you've lost some weight. You need to eat more!" Shen Wen caressed Susu's cheeks.
Shortly after settling down, the waitress served the tea and dessert. Susu elegantly poured the freshly brewed fruit tea for Shen Wen and smiled, "Here auntie, I remember you always liked this tea from here. See if you need to add more teaspoons of sugar. I told them to add two teaspoons when making the tea already."
"This child... you remember everything about my likes and dislikes. What about yourself? You ordered just this teapot of fruit tea and a platter of cakes. Is this enough for you?" Shen Wen observed the table of pastries and tea. Everything that was ordered was to her liking and not Susu's favorites.
"I'm fine. Lately, I don't have much appetite, so I wanted to limit myself from tea and sweets." Susu stirred the fruit tea in her cup gently with a spoon.
"Oh dear, could it be that you are..." Shen Wen was hoping for a grandchild, but never thought that the possibility of having one would be this high.
As if understanding Shen wen's thought, Susu shook her head and denied, "I've been feeling like this even before that night. I think it's my sleeping habits and irregular meals, but I'm okay. Really. Anyways, Auntie, I know that you loved and doted on me like I'm your own daughter. I also treat you as if you're my mother."
Shen Wen held Susu's hands and interrupted, "Wait, before you say anything further, I want you to see this and listen to me first."
Shen Wen took out an old photo album and handed it to Susu. Inside the album were pictures of Zi Lan and Shen Wen during their pregnancies. Susu recognized her mother instantly as their facial features resembled each other greatly. She was like a mini version of her mother.
"This... this is..." Susu mumbled.
"That's right. You see the woman smiling happily next to me as if she has gotten the whole world under her foot? She's your mother, Zi Lan. These were the pictures that we took every step of our way until our labor. Your mother loved you dearly. Everything that she loved to eat had to be cut off from her diet because she said it could've affected your health if she continued eating it."
"Here, look. Over here, she always hated hand crafts and crochets, but she said that you will be born in the middle of Winter and it will be cold. So even though she had zero talents in knitting, she spent weeks learning how to knit baby sweaters for you. As her stomach grew bigger, her smile was also brighter because she knew you were growing healthily inside of her."
Susu touched the pictures through the protective covers and tears started falling. There were short descriptions of what they were doing when the pictures were taken and finally, when Susu reached the last page, she saw her father and mother hugging each other lovingly.
There were multiple pictures of them. The first picture showed them looking into each other's eyes with their hands on her mother's tummy. The second picture showed a laughing smile that she has never seen her father had on his face. He looked younger with fewer wrinkles and had his head against the big belly. It was a blissful moment that the photographer managed to capture.
The third picture showed her mother on the hospital bed, anticipating for Susu to arrive. She looked tired and pale, but extremely excited and happy while touching and staring at her belly. Her father was smiling by the bedside and looking at her belly as well.
The last picture ever taken for this album was a heartbreaking one. It was a picture of Yin Zin Leung holding Susu in his arms and kissing his wife for the last time. After that kiss, Zi Lan never woke up again.
Susu wiped the tears that were falling uncontrollably from her eyes with a tissue, "A..auntie, why did you show this to me?"
"Child, I know for all these years, you've thought that if your mother never had you then she wouldn't have died. The truth is that your parents loved you more than you could ever imagine. You saw their vibrant smiles in the pictures and how much they looked forward to your arrival. I showed you this album because one of these pictures had Zi Lan thumb stamping my thumb."
"Sweetheart, your mother and I wanted you and Tian Yuo to marry each other even before you two were born. This was her last wish and I know that she would be happily cheering for you two if she was here right now. I know that Tian Yuo kept repeating how much he loves Karen, but he will figure it out sooner or later that he was tricked into everything."
"Anyways, I just want to tell you that as someone who watched you grow up and doted on you like my own daughter, I can't let Tian Yuo get away with taking responsibility for you. How will I tell your mom when I see her after I die? I won't have the face to face her at all. Your mom gave birth to you, her precious princess and now, I must have Tian Yuo suck up responsibility like a man."
Shen Wen held onto Susu's hands tightly, "I promised your mother that I would take good care of you, but I couldn't protect you well. Please give the marriage a try. If it doesn't work out at the end, at least you've tried your best till the very end."
Susu stared at the pictures and thought quietly for a while before replying, "Auntie, I'll marry him, but it is not because I want him to return my feelings nor would I want to continue loving him. This is for my mom. I've done nothing for her, so this is the least I could do. Since it is a wedding that Tian Yuo and I both don't want, can we just sign marriage papers and call it done?"
"That... how about this? If you and Tian Yuo end up having mutual feelings, then we will have the wedding in the future as a make up. As for now, just signing papers would do."
Susu let out a deep sigh, "Okay. I'll let my dad know, and everything else will be up to you."