Mingxi joined them for dinner. They had ginger steamed chicken, steamed sea bass, choy sum, bok choy, and stir fried beef.
The chicken was Evelyn's favorite, the sea bass was Chloe's favorite, and the beef was Ben's favorite. When they all had dinner together their father would instruct the kitchen staff to make this meal.
Ever since Evelyn married it, was rarer that they all ate together as a family and they treasured those times.
"So Ben, how are your studies?" Evelyn asked her brother. He swallowed his bite before answering.
"It's good." He seemed rather evasive.
"Ben," Evelyn's tone had a sense of warning.
"Jie Jie, he's doing great! He got perfect marks on his midterms. You know he's just being modest." Chloe said. Evelyn smiled, satisfied.
"And you Chloe?" Evelyn directed her attention.
"Ugh, I have to come up with my final portfolio for my class." Chloe said.
"What's wrong?" Evelyn asked.
"I don't like how things are coming out. It feels like something is missing." Chloe said.
They chatted the rest of dinner, catching up. Afterward Chloe went up to her room with Mingxi and the others went back to the study.
"Xiaoli," Deming began. He was thinking about it all through out dinner. He wanted his daughter to come work with him.
"I want you to come work with me at Wei's World Organization." He said.
"Ba, you know I -," Evelyn started before Deming cut her off.
"I'm not asking you to take over the company. But I would like for you to help me out." He had actually wanted Evelyn to take over the company. She was brilliant. When she made it clear she had no interest, he had turned to his son. He trained both of them but Evelyn had a natural talent for it.
"You should," Ben pitched in. Evelyn looked over at him.
"I've been working there during my free time. I could use a mentor." Ben said.
"Boy, I'm your mentor." Deming scoffed, he was slightly offended.
"Yes Ba, but I want to learn from Evelyn too." Ben said. Evelyn thought about it. She wanted Ben to inherit the company and he still had much to learn.
"Okay," she relented. This would be temporary. She knew this would give her the best opportunities.
"Really?" Deming was elated, he hadn't expected her to actually say, "Yes."
"Which position?" She asked. She braced herself.
"Temporary VP." He answered. She started to protest.
"It's a waste of your skill as anything else." Deming said. He never understood why his daughter didn't have an interest in running the company. They argued over it for a while before Evelyn finally relented. They finally came to an agreement that she would start when she was settled in at her new place.
Ben and Evelyn left the study together and went out into the gardens. It was dark outside now. It was after 7:00. They sat down at the swings and Evelyn gently started swinging.
"Why are so you against working at Wei's World Organization?" Ben asked. When they were young she always told him about how prestigious the company was. They had a hand in everything, entertainment, media, corporate business, but they had started as an investment company. They slowly branched out into the company that they were today.
"I'm not exactly against it. I just don't want to work there and not get a chance to do what I want to do." She told him. He looked at her. Evelyn had never told him about any other dreams that she had.
"What's that?" He asked her.
"I want to create something special. After going through my miscarriages it really got me thinking." She said, her eyes blazed with passion. Ben watched her as she talked to him about what she wanted.
"I want to open a hospital that is specifically set up to help women and their families to have children." He looked at her, that wasn't what he was expecting.
"A place to help women get pregnant, stay pregnant, and have a family." She said.
"Aren't there already hospitals set up for that?" He asked her carefully. She nodded.
"But they don't specialize in it. I'm talking about a place that specializes in mother, fetus, and baby care. So many babies have defects when they are in the womb, survival is so slim. But some can actually be treated, internally, giving the mother and fetus a chance at survival." She turned to look at him. He didn't know how to react.
"This is a mission of what, Evelyn?" Ben asked her. It's not that he wasn't supportive, it's just he didn't get it. He couldn't understand her passion for this project. She looked slightly dejected at his seemingly lack of support.
"Ben, imagine you want to be a father. But there are all these reasons that are preventing you from being one. Your hope to starting a family, to create life. What if you kept failing? But what if there's was a place designed to bring success? Designed to make families whole? Ben, I'm talking about a mission of hope. That's what I want to give. Not to myself, but to all the people trying desperately." Evelyn said to him. Ben still didn't really get it. He never witnessed the devastation of being unable to have a child. Evelyn had kept her pain from him.
"I'm not going to lie to you and say I get it because I don't. But I'll do whatever I can to help you." He said. She smiled at him. That's all she would ask of him.
"I'll train you. Ba is going to need someone he can rely on to take over." Evelyn told him. She may be excellent at what she does but this was no longer what gave her life purpose.
"You think I'll ever be as good as you?" He asked her. She nodded.
"You are already good at it, you're just still green. You need to pay attention to not just details but you need vision. You forget to project your mind to see what may happen in the future and drawbacks that don't need to happen if you fix them at the drawing board." She told him. He listened carefully. It was similar to what everyone has told him. But it was the first time someone truly gave him a solution. He smiled.
"Okay," he said. She smiled back at him.
"I look forward to working with you." He said.
"Me too," she responded. They went back inside for desert. When they finished they agreed that Ben would accompany her tomorrow when they looked at apartments the following afternoon.
Afterward, Driver Chung drove Mingxi and Evelyn back. He dropped off Mingxi before Evelyn. She made him goodnight and instructed him to pick up Mingxi the next morning and meet her at the hotel at noon.
When she got to her room it was 9 o'clock in the evening. She set her purse and briefcase down and grabbed some clothes and went to wash up.
When she finished she blow dried her hair and applied her nightly skincare. Then she went back downstairs and plugged her phone in to charge and sat with it on the couch. She had a missed call from Zain.
She called him. He picked up on the first ring.
"Hey Evelyn," he said in a cheerful voice.
"Hi Zain," she replied.
"How are you feeling?" He asked her.
"I'm feeling better." She answered.
"How did things go today?" He sounded concerned and she smiled.
"They were okay. I went to go see my Uncle and he's going to help me with the divorce. I didn't tell you this yet, but I'm contesting it on the basis of my third miscarriage." She relayed. She knew he would be bothered that she didn't tell him.
"Jinhai told me about it. I'm so sorry Evelyn." He said. Evelyn was taken aback. Jinhai?
"Why did he tell you?" She was angry at the invasion of privacy.
"Don't be mad at him. You know how he is about trying to control everything." He replied realizing he probably shouldn't have said that Jinhai told him.
"He doesn't control me." She retorted.
"He's just trying to be equipped to help you. Knowledge is a weapon. Please don't be mad at him." He pleaded. Evelyn knew deep down that he wouldn't hurt her. After a moment she let it go, feeling drained.
"Fine," she said.
"I'm sorry, Evelyn." He said.
"You said that already." She replied.
"What else did you do today?" He asked her.
"I went to go see my family. I just got back to my hotel room." She replied.
"How did that go?" He asked.
"They're mad. My father convinced me to work with him and Ben at WWO. Ben's going apartment hunting with me tomorrow." She told him.
"I see." He replied. She wasn't sure what he thought. After a moment he spoke up again.
"Do you want to have dinner tomorrow? He asked.
"Sure," she replied.
"Great, I have to go but I'll text you with details tomorrow." He said.
"Okay. Good night." She said.
"Good night," he said before hanging up.
She was going to watch a movie before going to sleep but now she felt so tired. She grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and brought her phone and climbed up the stairs to the bedroom. She plugged her phone into the nightstand and placed her water bottle on the table.
She slipped under the covers. In the dark room she felt sad and a little scared. For five years she almost never slept alone. On the days that Shawn and her were apart, she had difficulty sleeping. It would take some getting used to sleeping alone again.
Now that she was thinking of Shawn her eyes teared up. She didn't have to pretend to be strong for anyone right now. She was sad but wasn't overwhelmingly sad about Shawn.
She loved him but they had grown apart over the years. The first time they lost their baby it brought them closer together. The second time he was there for her but he had also been more distant. When she was feeling better he started to become so busy with work. He worked longer hours and was home less. Now she understood why. He had someone else. It infuriated her that while she was healing alone and he went to find comfort in someone else's arms.