After making Amiah leave, Raelle went inside and joined Shui Koshing at the dinner table. The latter was looking at her face but as always couldn't figure out much.
"Bà, start eating already. Weren't you really sleepy earlier?"
Shui Koshing nodded his head and picked up his chopsticks to eat. As for Raelle, she found a problem now that she sat down at this familiar dinner table. Something was missing. Oh, her husband wasn't here to pick the food for her and put it in her bowl. What a tragedy!
But she didn't spend too much time thinking about it and finally, picked the food for herself. Strangely, even though she had been married to Shui Xian for over a month, it was her first time to pick the food for herself at this table. For some reason, her husband had always been enthusiastic about serving her food.
"Was she particularly rude to you?" inquired Shui Koshing cautiously. Raelle looked up at him. "I'm sorry! Maybe, I didn't raise her well. She has a different temperament and can say some mean things. But trust me, she isn't like that. She is a nice and sweet girl."
"Nice and sweet?" repeated Raelle. She wondered if one could really use these words to describe the girl she just met. Because she didn't think so!
"She is," insisted Shui Koshing. "She just forgets everything before her anger."
Raelle didn't comment on that. As a father, of course, Shui Koshing would try to justify his daughter's actions no matter how upset or hurt he was because of her.
"You don't have to apologize to me for anything, Bà," said Raelle. "I usually don't take people's words seriously. Her words weren't even enough for me to remember. So, stop stressing yourself over it. Are you planning on ignoring your health even more now?"
Shui Koshing pursed his lips and focused on eating.
There wasn't much talking between them during the dinner since Raelle wasn't a fan of talking while eating and also because Shui Koshing had too much on his mind right now. He excused himself after dinner. He was tired and wanted to just go back to rest. Raelle didn't try to stop him either.
But when she came upstairs to her room, she found it quite empty without Shui Xian. There was no one peeking glances at her from some corner of the room. There was no one trying to come up with some random thing to talk to her. She was all alone in this room tonight.
She wanted to take a book to read when Shui Xian's words rang in her mind that she's not supposed to spend her time with books while he is gone. But at this moment, what else could she really do?
Since she didn't know when Shui Xian would reach his destination so she couldn't call him. From the message on her phone she knew that Hyson was busy playing chess with Opa so she couldn't disturb those two either. So, she finally called Mu Chenyan.
"What a pleasant surprise!" even before she could see Mu Chenyan's face on the screen clearly, she heard her voice. "Am I dreaming? How come my Elle is calling me at this time?" Looking at Raelle's face, she inquired, "Is everything alright? Did Xian do something?"
"What can he do?" retorted Raelle. "It's nothing like that."
"You can tell me if he did something, I'll teach him a lesson for you," said Mu Chenyan patting her chest.
"Don't you think I can teach a better lesson?"
Mu Chenyan smiled at Raelle, "Indeed, my Elle can do it better." She took a pause and added, "Enough with the jokes. Tell me seriously, where is Xian?"
"He went on a business trip," answered Raelle.
"I knew it!" said Mu Chenyan. "I knew that he must not be there or else you would never call me at this time."
"Why can't I?"
"Isn't it, your husband's time?" asked Mu Chenyan.
"You really know me way too well," said Raelle.
"My dear Elle, you're like a riddle which has no right answer."
"Really?"
"Really!" replied Mu Chenyan and looked at Yue Yue asking, "Am I right, Yue?"
As she moved the screen, Raelle was able to see Yue Yue nodding her head in agreement. It seemed even in her family everyone considered her a riddle.
Raelle took a moment and called out, "Yanyan!
"Yes, my darling!"
"I have something to ask."
"Go ahead."
"Imagine, one day I raise my voice at you and vent all my anger on you. How would you feel?"
"I'd be over the moon!" replied Mu Chenyan without even thinking.
"Huh?"
"If my Elle darling learned to actually vent her anger, it'd be the day for me to celebrate. I don't give a fuck whether you yell at me or beat me up! I'd be just content with the fact that you finally showed some emotion. Even it's just anger."
Raelle was left staring at Mu Chenyan's genuine smile through the screen. She meant everything she said. She'd really be over the moon if one day, Raelle snapped at her.
"I guess you're the wrong person to ask this question," said Raelle. Then she looked at Yue Yue, "Yue, what about you? What if Hyson ends up raising his voice at you or say something really hurtful? How would you feel?"
Raelle had a purpose for asking this question. The purpose was simple. She wanted to understand the look she saw in Shui Koshing's eyes. From everything she learned, she just couldn't define that look in his eyes. There was disappointment, exasperation, suppressed anger, guilt, and what else?
Yue Yue tapped her chin thoughtfully before saying, 'If my son did that, I'll first beat the hell out of him.'
"Oh, good one!" added Mu Chenyan. "A son who can't respect his mother should be beaten up. I'm with you on it."
Yue Yue stared at Mu Chenyan, 'You'd be the first one to save him from me.'
Mu Chenyan smiled sheepishly, "Well, our Fai is so cute. How can you even bring yourself to hit him? Besides, that cutie pie of ours can never say anything hurtful to you."
Raelle watched them getting deeper into this argument of whether Hyson could do it or not and didn't know what to say. Perhaps, she really chose the wrong people to ask this question. Since neither Mu Chenyan nor Yue Yue had any such experience, both of them couldn't possibly explain to her what Shui Koshing was feeling.
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