That Night Feng laid down in his bed not caring about his wet hair and let out a long sigh.
"I am so exhausted~" He said as he stretched his arms and legs in the same position. And as soon as he closed his eyes image of Ning crying and trembling today came flashing into his eyes.
"Ugh!! I should have hit that bastard more hardly." He said as he clenched his fist, showing his red knuckles.
" [He did nothing.... I was just..]"
"Just what is going through her head? She seems fine most of the time and then has emotional bursts suddenly..... and that scratch on her forehead, she must have done it herself just like the last time....The more I look at her the more mysterious she seems...out of every face she makes I wonder which one is her real face?" Feng talked to himself as several images of Ning smiling, crying and being angry flashed in his memories including the one when she jumped off the building.
.
*Tiling* *Tiling* A video call appeared on his phone screen and the frown on his face twisted into a smile as he sat up and received the call.
"Mom!" He said while showing all of his teeth.
"Wow, looks like my little baby is very much excited to see me." A woman in her early 40s said as she smiled. Her hair was tied in a proper bun, a pair of pearl earrings and a necklace around her neck and not even a single stretch mark and white hair to be seen.
.
"Of course, I am excited it has been so long since we last video called---"
"I get it. My baby boy misses me." She said while smiling and Feng nodded his rapidly.
"Then there is good news for you. I will be returning to China very soon!"
"Really!"
"Yes! And that's not all, but I will tell you about it later--"
"Miss Yang--" Someone in the background called and Feng knew well what came next.
"Feng, I am sorry but I have some work to do---"
"It's okay, mother, we will see each other soon, anyway. Just make sure to take care of yourself and don't drink too much. It's bad for your health."
"....I will take care of myself...and love you," she said before turning to her other side and ended the call without wasting a second.
"I love you too, Mother." He said as he lay on his bed smiling.
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"I am home," Ning said as she opened the wooden door freshly painted with brown colour and entered the house, which was big enough for a family of three to live. It had three bedrooms, including a guestroom, which was right next to Ning's room, which was upstairs, while her parents' room was downstairs right next to the drawing-room and they attached their kitchen with the drawing-room where they had their food in a small table all together binging to their favourite movies or shows. They painted their walls with baby blue colour which was actually dark blue but go faded with time.
.
"Welcome home. And why are you so late today?" A lady in her late 30s asked as she came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on her apron. She had her hair tied in a messy bun with a few white strands of hair visible because of the light. Her height must have been around 152 cm and her body was slim and extremely fit, with a few stretch marks near her neck and eyes..
"Ma (Mother) I told you I have sports practice today, didn't I?" Feng said as she opened her black canvas and sat on the white sofa while throwing her bag on the table.
"You did, but you didn't tell me about the time." She said while crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at her, "And you didn't even pick up your phone! Do realise how worried I was!"
.
"Oops! HeHe, I forgot to tell you about the time and my phone was in silent mode so I didn't realise you calling me." She said as she gave her a cheesy smile before pulling up her bag and running towards her room.
"Forgot, Forgot, Forgot! Just how can you forget such basic things? One day you might even forget your name, your house and even us!..." Her mother kept on lecturing her while doing her daily chores and Ning knew that it all came from her head and not from her heart so she ignored it and just laid on her bed, opened Spotify and started listening to some calming music as that was what she needed the most..
.
After that, she did her daily night routine and sat before her dressing mirror to look at the starch on her forehead and that was a pretty bad idea as looking at it made her think about today's incident and there was trembling once again...and the unwanted warm liquid didn't wait any longer and flew down her eyes.
"I almost lost myself today..." she said as she touched her forehead and then looked at the door. Her stomach started turning upside down and her body felt cold.
"When...jut when will I be free...just when?" She muttered while looking at her miserable reflection, which had nothing but lifelessness in her..
.
"Ning the food is ready! Come down!" Her mother, whose anger has long gone, called for her from downstairs as she kept the dishes on the table.
"Coming!" Ning said as she quickly wiped her tears, combed her hair, made herself look able, and went out of the room with a bright smile on her face.
.
"Wow! you made so many dishes today! Is there something special today?" A man in his early 40s commented as he looked at the delicious food before him.
"Your dear daughter is practising hard for the sports meet so I made this dinner to cheer her up but it all went cold---"
"So what? *takes a bite of meat* It still states delicious." He said as he showed his wife a thumbs up.
"Really?"
"Ba! Not fair. I wanted to be the first one to taste the food today!" Ning whined and pouted as she sat in the middle of the table.
.
"Don't worry, your highness, I have only tasted the meat. Everything else is still waiting for you." Her father said as he joined his hands and dramatically pointed toward the food.
"I am touched," Ning said in the same tone.
"Shut up and eat!" her mother, not being able to handle the craziness, said as she slammed her hands on the table, making the daughter and father duo to startle.
"As you wish, your majesty." Both of them said as they started eating, slowly followed by their day's to day activities, some lame and dad jokes, some bit of laughter and argument.
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"(This is what matters the most, my family.)" Both Ning and Feng thought as they forgot all there worries just by being with them.