Chapter 1242 [Bonus chapter] Stronger
"Here is your lemonade slushie," Xiang Weimin extended the cup towards her.
Raelle looked at the blue-colored slushie in his hand then at the clear one he offered to her.
"This is a blueberry one and it'll definitely leave some color on your tongue. Do you wanna swap?"
"I don't swap things," said Raelle as she hurriedly took the lemonade slushie from him making him smile at her helplessly.
"Shall we sit down somewhere?" asked Xiang Weimin.
"Too many people," answered Raelle.
"Well, it's summer vacations for people. And even if it isn't a weekend night, people still like hanging out at night. Just because you don't have a nightlife doesn't mean others don't too."
"Was that sarcasm?"
"Why would I be sarcastic with you, Raelle? Just take my words as it is because I am no different. So, I really don't get to be sarcastic with you about anything. Do you understand that?"
"Understood."
"Good!"
They walked around together aimlessly as Raelel asked, "By the way, how is it?"
"What?"
"Being a father?"
"Easier than being your elder brother, I'd say," said Xiang Weimin.
Raelle looked at him as he smiled back at her.
"I'm serious. It's way easier than being your elder brother. Makes me wonder if it'd have been easier to be your elder brother if we had met when you were Justin's age."
"No," answered Raelle. "I was even more difficult back then."
"You remember that?" he asked.
"I remember," she told him. "That was the age when I was the most curious and most stubborn about my views. I did not like people telling me that the world outside of the books was a different place and I could not treat it the same way. I had no concept of feelings making it commonplace for me to say things that weren't very nice. And that's me putting it mildly."
"Aren't you still the same?" asked Xiang Weimin.
"The other day I was looking at my reflection in the mirror trying to figure out if I was really the same person. However, I can assure you that I am not. Even I could tell that I was no longer the same person that I once was. There are a lot of things that happened in the last year that made me change subtly without realizing it. By the time even I noticed the changes, the change was done."
"So, are you unsatisfied with this change?"
"I'm not sure whether I'm satisfied or not with it. But I know I'm more accepting of change than I ever was," told Raelle. "If you ask any person who had been with me. No, you just ask Cloe and you'd realize that my life had been the same in the past ten years since she was with me. All because I didn't like changes so everything had a routine and everything seemed repetitive in life too. You can even say I was living the same day over and over again. Time was stuck for me and everything was the same until last year."
"What changed? Xian?" asked Xiang Weimin.
"The biggest change was actually when Opa said he wanted us to move back to his home country. He said he wanted to die in the familiar land where his ancestors shed blood and gave their lives and where he also sacrificed a lot. I guess at that very moment, I knew that life was gonna change from now. I also knew that my frozen time was about to start ticking again. Whether I'd like it or not, I could do nothing about it."
"You didn't refuse when he wanted to come here. After all, it's not easy to suddenly pick up your whole empire and move to a whole new continent to start again."
"The number of times I have refused my Opa can be counted on one hand," said Raelle. "I never had the habit of refusing when it came to him."
"The way people spoke about you, it was hard for me to tell that you'd turn out to be someone who really value family."
"I don't value family. What I value is people who I know have done a lot for me. It doesn't matter whether it's Opa, Yanyan, Hyson, or even Yue. It's because I value their love and care for me that I consider them family. There is no other factor involved."
Xiang Weimin took a deep breath, "Sometimes I wonder what if mom's character was like you just as her personality is."
"Then you shouldn't have those thoughts. What if is one of the most useless expression in the world. Because you know it's never gonna happen. Besides, Professor Xin'ai and I are very different. I'll tell you what I told her. Maybe, we are the same kind of people. Like mother, like daughter. But the biggest difference came when she grew up in a big family feeling lonely and I grew up in a small family that revolved all around me. I was shaped into who I am with love. If she had that love and attention as I did, maybe some choices of her life would have been different and maybe she would have been a different person today."
Xiang Weimin fell into deep thought and couldn't refute her words. He had to agree with everything she said.
"By the way, didn't you grow up with your dad?" asked Raelle. "But why I do get the impression that you worry more about your mother?"
Xiang Weimin looked at her, "Maybe because I'm the eldest son of the family and I got too much love when I was born. I also saw a lot more than you and Wai. It's not that I don't think about dad but it's just that, I think dad is stronger than mom."
"You think so?"
"I know so," said Xiang Weimin. "You know that our dad is a very generous person in life? He is such a nice person that you'd be shocked. Because it's hard to tell from his face that he could be that kind. But the fact is that he is. Even when mom was trying to pull away from him back then, he did everything possible to make sure that she doesn't fall apart and shatter. He knew everything but he still went along with her wishes. And he never let go of his habit of checking up on her. Because he knew once she entered the lab, she'd forget everything and if he also forgot her, then perhaps, no one will bother remembering her at all."
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