Liu Suya focuses her efforts on avoiding the other Liu's and Mo Ting for the next couple of weeks. The latter being much easier after her last semester ended. The first one was challenging not only to carry out but also on her own conscience, she still loved her father after all. She knew that he had tried to become closer with her, but the disconnect between them never seemed to go away.
Not only that but lately Liu Suya didn't have the gall to face him after her train wreck of an engagement to Zhou Wei. The project between the two mega-corporations had yet to be officially put in the works but the severance of the alliance between them had still left an impact on both companies. Zhou Corp. however had been better off having gotten help from the even more powerful Mo family.
Fortunately for her, she'd been able to avoid seeing that woman and her grandmother too. She had recently taken to staying in her apartment reading web fiction, watching one piece and fretting over what she was going to do going forward, whilst occasionally being forced out by her wayward friend.
It was not that she wouldn't have been able to get a job, after all, she had a degree in Communication and Media studies, that she had gotten at one of the most prestigious universities and plenty of work experience at Zhou Corp. Most companies looking for fresh graduates would in fact take her, it was just that with most things in her life things just weren't that simple. Working at her father's company was out nor were any of the other 4 major families, which included the Zhou and Mo of course, mostly due to her position as her father's daughter. She didn't want to put An Meiyu in an awkward position either. The last family, the Su's, had more of an indifferent relationship with the Liu's but it still wasn't ideal.
Other smaller companies wouldn't be able to house her either. Rong Nuan would never leave her off after all and would probably do everything in her power to ensure that she doesn't live well. None of the smaller families of the capital would dare take her in and potentially make an enemy of her grandmother and Rong Nuan.
There was the entertainment industry where her family didn't have much influence. But then it was a matter of what she would do, the idea of acting on a screen made her feel uncomfortable, perhaps due to the likeness she felt between it and her day to day life. She couldn't sing all that well and she wasn't tall enough to model, not to mention her tendency to become as stiff as a board in pictures.
Nevertheless, she at least had time to decide and wasn't in a rush as she could essentially live off the company shares her father had given to her for her twentieth birthday after all. She just didn't want to live that type of lifestyle, not that she thought there was anything wrong with it, it was more just personal preference.
After radio silence from her father the last couple of weeks, she got a call from him this morning. He had called her saying that he'd like to have lunch with her and normally she would have tried to find an excuse not to go but was stopped in her tracks when he told her that it would only be the two of them.
Not having much of a reason to decline anymore Liu Suya was soon on her way to a fancy Sichuan style restaurant in Xicheng. Her new willingness to meet with her father however would not change how awkward she knew the encounter would be.
Still, she was surprised at just how much she underestimated the awkwardness after they sat at their table in silence after a small greeting.
The waiter came and left after taking their orders and Liu Suya seemed to have found a sudden interest in the pale grey linen table cloth in front of her. Liu Suya could tell that it was of excellent quality which came as no surprise after seeing the prices of the food here. She quietly sighed. This was going to be a long lunch.
***
Liu Feng was an exemplary man in almost all aspects. From a young age, he'd always been top of his class, had graduated from an Ivy League American university, had helped further develop the Liu family into what it is today, all whilst being filial to his parents which included marrying the girl they had selected for him. It was just too bad that he and Rong Nuan never fell in love choosing to divorce her more than twenty years ago, mostly because Liu Feng no longer felt the need to stay in such a relationship. He'd finally had full control over most of the company assets at that time. His parents could no longer threaten him.
Who would have known that after all that he would meet the love of his life, a half Chinese, half English foreign lady? It was sad that after fighting to marry her and bearing him a child she sadly passed away, leaving him with his now-estranged daughter.
Perhaps he was simply paying for shoving his daughter to a nanny to raise her now. But the shock of having lost Mei had been too much for him to handle. It didn't help that Suya looked just like her even as a child with the same jade green eyes and distinctive straight nose.
It was only after she had become a little older and that incident that Liu Feng finally managed to look his child in the eyes but by then the damage had already been done. He could only hope to mend their broken relationship one day. Perhaps today would be the start. He steeled his resolve.
***
Liu Suya finds herself walking up the steps to the Liu family's main home. She wanted to be in and out of this place as fast as possible, she was a woman with a mission after all.
She was greeted by a butler who had been informed of the reason for her arrival. He led her through several corridors to a little room on a more desolate wing of the mansion. The middle-aged man turned to face her. His black hair had a couple of greys and was combed back revealing a plain face. She didn't recognise him.
He held out the key for the room in front of them before bowing. "If that'll be all Young Miss." Liu Suya casually waved him away before turning her attention to the door, discretely filing away the unknown butler to a corner of her mind. Her father had always been meticulous in his choice of staff for the main house and would never hire anyone without giving her a heads up first. But she didn't recognise this butler. The metal key felt cool in her hands. She thought about the meal she'd had with her father earlier that day.
***
"Liu Suya, I'm not upset about what happened with Zhou Wei. After all, it was him that was disloyal and frivolously chose to start a relationship whilst already having a fiancé." Her father's voice surprisingly held some helplessness to it. Something that she would have never associated him with. She didn't know how to respond to the sudden confession and decided to simply nod in response.
"I just want you to know that ..." Her father sighed.
"Come to the mansion after this. There are some...things that your mother left for you. I think it's time you knew more about her."
If Liu Suya was surprised before, it's safe to say that she was now flabbergasted. Her mother was a topic her father and the rest of her family when they weren't insulting her (Rong Nuan and her grandmother especially), had avoided for as long as she can remember. She looked into her father's eyes, who let out a small but wry smile at her shock.
"Thank you."
But as she had learnt in her years of education as a young heiress, she reined in her wild emotions in front of her elders and Liu Suya didn't see the sadness in her father's eyes at that.
***
Behind the door was an empty room save for the antique flowery curtains, a couple of boxes placed in the centre and lots and lots of dust. She flung open the curtain taking an appreciative note of the various pink and yellow orchids that seemed to be embroidered onto it. It was an expensive piece.
Sunlight streamed into the room bathing it in a warm hue and lighting up the floating dust particles. It was an ethereal scene, the tan embossed wallpaper that Liu Suya had often thought to look tacky only added to the space. Or perhaps Liu Suya saw immense beauty in these things due to the sole fact that this room contained the only traces she had of her mother. Even the old wooden flooring seemed perfect in her eyes.
She stopped dallying and went straight into the main course. There were three boxes in total. Liu Suya was disappointed but wasn't surprised to see that so little of her mother's things remained in this house, recalling her grandmother's disdain for anything remotely to do with her mother. That aside, she thought it was good enough that her father had been able to save at least this much.
Whilst two of the larger boxes seemed to be made of basic cardboard, they also had an assortment of flowers very skilfully painted on the sides. Liu Suya studied the designs, the intricate detailing putting her in a slight trance. One, in particular, caught her eye, they were smaller in comparison to the others but much more abundant. They were dotted around the place in a way that made them look to be floating, dynamic in an otherwise static picture. The bright orange petals were lined with purple near their centre, starkly contrasting the other more muted colouring of the others.
It's important to note that the traces of smudged dust in the shape of hand marks didn't escape Liu Suya's eyes no matter how enamoured she was with the designs. This room was supposed to have not been touched in years.
She opened the two bigger ones first to see them filled with various books, VHS tapes and even several baby toys. The books included an assortment of sketchbooks and storybooks. She assumed that the toys were for her. It was sad that she was unable to put them to good use having long passed that age but intended to keep them. She even spotted paintbrushes and paints as well.
The smallest box was more decorative, with an actual lid in place of a couple of flaps. It had a floral pattern plastered onto the main part of the box while the lid was solid baby pink. A small smile crept onto her face. It seemed that her mother had a thing for floral.
Slightly more confident Liu removed the dusty lid and peered into its contents. There wasn't much inside other than an album, some more jewellery and a couple of loose pieces of paper. Liu Suya flipped through the album which depicted her mother mostly as a young woman, pictures of flowers and she had even spotted a photo of her mother and father. Her father's face held a gentle smile and they looked like they were in some sort of community garden.
Her mother's curly brown locks were tied back away from her pretty face which was morphed into a large grin. She looked so familiar. Alby Mei was a lively person, somewhat diametrically opposed to your typical upper-class woman. Rong Nuan and her grandmother often called her mother a barbarian - and by extension her the daughter of one - for her excitable demeanour. Her father on the other hand had fallen in love with her for it. He had even once mentioned, on the rare occasion that he did, how everything in the room seemed to come alive in her mother's presence.
She'd never had the chance to ascertain whether or not these claims were as her mother had passed before she was old enough to remember. Not to mention she'd only ever seen one image of her mother that had been professionally taken. So, Liu Suya had never been able to even catch a glimpse of her mother's personality through pictures in the 20 years that she had lived.
She sat in comfortable silence before placing the album back into the box. After briefly looking through the paper which mainly consisted of old letters and a few pieces of jewellery, she went to close the box, but a photo she could have sworn wasn't there earlier had fallen onto the floor next to her. Intending to put it away she picked it up. But stopped in her tracks when she saw that she didn't remember looking at this particular photo.
The picture depicted a beautiful English manor. She held the photograph in her hands. The manor itself had cobblestone walls and had green ivy covering a good portion of them. It had a large yard with a grand fountain in the centre leading up to what looked to be a large entrance. It was beautiful.
The wear and tear around the corners of the photograph made Liu Suya curious about the significance of the manor to her mother. She turned it over to look at the back to see something written in English. It read '4 Westborough Lane, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, HP9 3GP'. She felt it was safe to assume that this was the address of the house.
In that instant, something in her moved. It was a small, dismissible feeling but it was there, nonetheless. A sense of anticipation filled her. Liu Suya found herself outside the room calling over a maid to help her bring the boxes to her car. They weren't safe here after all.