"Where did you two go?" Nicolette asked them as soon as Luo Jingyi sat on the chair Yun Jinghan pulled for her.
Luo Jingyi briefly glanced at Aunt Alice before she responded, "We forgot something in the car."
"Come on, let's eat. I'm feeling hungry." Uncle Robert complained, patting his stomach.
That was everyone's cue. Perhaps because she was feeling hungry herself, so Luo Jingyi never protested when Yun Jinghan kept putting food on her plate. Only when there was a pile that she told him off.
"Stop, I can't eat all of this." She complained in a hushed tone, bobbing her head closer to his ear. With a gentle expression settling on his face, Yun Jinghan pushed a small bowl of soup to her side. "You have to."
Luo Jingyi didn't know where this strange idea came from. Opening her eyes a little wide, she stuck the bottom lip out and tilted her head on the side while looking at him.
Yun Jinghan's movement stilled. She looked at him innocently as if she was pleading to be saved. His heartbeat fluttered.
"Okay. Eat half of it and I'll finish half." Yun Jinghan cave in even though he wanted to eat more.
Luo Jingyi smiled yet, an imaginary line was drawn on her forehead. 'That's rather unhygienic. You want to eat the food with my saliva?'
"Look at them. They are so adorable." Laughing, Nicolette's father commented.
As they were having dessert, all of a sudden Aunt Alice asked, "When do you plan to have the wedding?"
Luo Jingyi nearly choked. Yun Jinghan passed a glass of water which she took and gulp its content down.
Marriage?!
Yun Jinghan placed on her back to assure her. It stayed for three seconds there before he took it away.
"We just got engaged Aunt." Luo Jingyi pouted. She nervously glanced at Yun Jinghan. Earlier, they discussed together what they have to say in front of the couple to get their stories straight.
"Isn't that where engagement leads to, marriage?" She gave Yun Jinghan a quizzical look.
"If it would have been up to me to decide, we would have gotten married the day I popped the question. But regarding the wedding, it's up to Jingyi to decide. Anyway, she's tied to me till the rest of our lives. She's not allowed to run." He said possessively. At the same time, he lifted their hands which were clasped together, planting a kiss on her knuckles.
Nicolette's twin sister and another female cousin giggled… No shrieked in excitement was the appropriate word.
Luo Jingyi was stumped for words. Hiding her unhappiness towards Yun Jinghan's actions, she dug a nail on his skin to warn him and he released his grasp.
Is he a wolf?
"If you are going to wait for Jingyi, you'll have to endure for the next 20 years. Right, Jingyi?" Uncle Robert teased. But everyone knew there's truth in his words. Luo Jingyi had been very vocal about her views towards marriage.
Luo Jingyi laughed awkwardly. What she uttered next wasn't even well-thought of.
"Tomorrow we'll go to the Civil Affairs Bureau and get married."
"Really?!" Stunned, Nicolette jerked to her feet, her chair falling behind.
She wasn't the only one who was surprised. Each one in the room was.
Uncle Antoine called out everyone's attention with a clearing throat. He advised, "While we all loved to see you get married, marriage is a serious subject Jingyi. You shouldn't take it very lightly. "
Antoine Lacroix wanted Luo Jingyi to decide for herself, not because of the pressure she was in. He didn't want it to be a case of haste makes waste. In the beginning, he dissuaded his wife from forcing Jingyi yet she never listened.
"Why don't you give it some time? Anyway, both of you are already engaged. It takes the worries off my chest. Moreover, you still need to discuss your marriage with your father." Aunt Alice added, to everyone's surprise.
Wasn't that just contradictory to what you wanted? Everyone surmised, Aunt Alice didn't approve of Yun Jinghan.
"Why aunt? Are you kicking me out of the family already?" Luo Jingyi humored.
"Of course not!" Her voice was a decibel higher than usual. "You are a member of our family. Whether adopted or not, you are my daughter. So your happiness matters much to me."
Luo Jingyi suffered from an intense feeling of breathlessness. She struggled to form a response because happiness clouded her brain. Yun Jinghan's touch on her knees jolted her up. She stretched her leg forward so he retracted his hand and reached for the glass before emptying its content, quenching his sudden thirst.
'Thank you for being my mother in this world Aunt Alice.'
Aunt Eloisa who was quiet for the whole time spoke. "Jingyi, I told you many times, haste makes waste. Moreover, marriage isn't the same as changing clothes. That, when you get tired of it, you can buy a new one."
Silence filled the room.
Listening to Eloisa Tan, curiosity budded out inside Yun Jinghan. Of all the people he met tonight, she was the only one who gave the most acerbic treatment towards him. Which made him wonder why?
"I know Aunt." Luo Jingyi agreed. But with the meaningful look Aunt Eloisa shot her and Yun Jinghan, she understood what her words implied. Recalling Yun Jinghan's information, things made sense to her. The rivalry between Yun Yi and Aunt Eloisa existed for a long time. What happened between them wasn't something that could be washed away by a simple sorry.
….
After dinner, they moved to the living room. Luo Jingyi watched helplessly as Uncle Antoine and Uncle Robert whisked Yun Jinghan to the corner where the bar was.
"He'll be fine. It's not like dad will swallow him alive." Nicolette tapped her shoulders.
That's the last thing Luo Jingyi was worried about. She was more concerned with what Yun Jinghan would tell the two.
'I hope he won't make any mistakes.'
On the other side of the room, Yun Jinghan pulled a stool and settled on it.
"What kind of business did you say you are in?" Antoine Lacroix quizzed, filling the glasses to the brim before handing one to him.
Someone asked Yun Jinghan this when they eating and he gave his answers already. But still, he replied unhurriedly, "I ran a company that manufactures interior parts for aircraft."
"What is it called?"
"Aerospace Ltd." Yun Jinghan replied casually before he sipped the content of the glass slowly, enjoying every drop. At the same time, he studied Antoine Lacroix's face waiting for his reaction.
"It's relatively small." Yun Jinghan added. Aerospace Ltd was his only company that was not a subsidiary of Terra Firma Corporation. Until he achieved his goals, he would remain as an owner of a small company.
"Not planning to take part in your family's business anytime soon?" Antoine Lacroix raised his brows. Aware of his identity, he asked to gauge the man in front of him. In fact, Alice neither approved nor disapproved of Yun Jinghan. But who Jingyi had to marry wasn't something both of them could decide on. So towards this man, Antoine's attitude was to wait and see.
"Not really. I want to start my own."
His words jogged Antoine's memory. A dreamer as he was, he told his father that he wouldn't become a soldier nor a doctor. His father warned him off yet, he went to start his own business which eventually became a big corporation. Presumably, Yun Jinghan's honesty and determination to venture out on his own way—albeit being born with a silver spoon— evoked Antoine's admiration, putting away his reservations towards him.
Yun Jinghan's attention was suddenly pulled away by the laughter that rang to his ears. It was crisp. He shifted his position to find its source. It was from Luo Jingyi who was conversing with Nicolette and her twin sister. This is the first time he'd seen a different side of her, carefree and laughing at her heart's content.
"Beautiful, isn't she?"
"The most." Yun Jinghan couldn't peel away his gaze on her. At that moment, a thought sprung his mind. He would do anything to make that beaming smile permanent on her face.
Sensing someone was staring at her, she looked around. Upon meeting his eyes, Yun Jinghan flashed a mega-watt smile.
"Damn! That can definitely make anyone fall in love." Nicolette's twin sister touched her chest exaggeratedly like a cupid's arrow hit her heart.
Shaking her head at the other woman's antics, she shot him another look before turning away.