Imperfect Desires

-Jing Family House-

Xiu could already perceive the tense atmosphere in her surroundings as soon as she had stepped inside the house. The eerie silence was uncomfortable because she had never seen this house so quiet at breakfast time.

"Xiu! Come, have some breakfast," Clara called out to her with her usual affectionate smile as soon as she saw Xiu. It wasn't that difficult for Xiu to see that she was faking that smile.

"Did you take a taxi here?" asked Jing Ge as he looked at her.

Xiu shook her head, "No. Regan just dropped me off here."

Jing Ge grunted, "How careless and irresponsible!" Xiu raised her brow at him as he went on complaining, "How can he leave from the door? That's disrespectful! With this kind of attitude, I really don't think I can accept him as my son-in-law."

Clara rolled her eyes at her husband, "Stop being childish and petty, husband!" Clara brought Xiu to the dining table as she told her, "This uncle of yours had been trying to find faults in your boyfriend but since he couldn't find a single flaw. He is actually being petty by calling him mannerless."

Xiu couldn't help laughing. "Uncle Jing, did you really tried to do that infamous 'background checking' of aristocrat families?"

Jing Ge put his newspaper down saying, "Of course I did. How can I not? My daughter's life and happiness are at stake here." Xiu smiled widely as she hugged his neck.

"Uncle doesn't have to worry at all. Regan is amazing. I told you; he is the best."

"I know you did, but I raised you like a father for seven years. I can't just be careless now."

Xiu was genuinely happy to hear him say that. The way he always tried to do everything like a father for her was really something she felt indebted to. And since this family gave her all the sincere love, their happiness mattered the most to her.

"You're just being overly possessive of your daughter now, husband," Clara spoke up as she sat down beside him. "Besides, I can assure you this daughter of yours didn't let my son-in-law come inside. There is no way he'd leave without saying hi to me."

Xiu gaped at him in disbelief. How did she know that? Hold on, did she call Regan as her 'son-in-law'? What is going on here?

"Clara mom, son-in-law? What's going on?"

"It's a secret," Clara winked at her playfully and went back to eating her breakfast.

"It's a secret? Even from me?" Clara nodded her head in reply. "That's not fair."

Clara passed breakfast and said, "You eat something. You're looking thinner."

"How come you always say the same thing?" Xiu really couldn't tell how she was getting thinner now? Wasn't she eating more these days? Yes, she fell ill and lost a lot of energy but she really didn't think her weight had gone down. 

But since Xiu only ate fruits with Darren, she decided to eat breakfast. While chewing her dumpling, her mind suddenly recalled why she actually came here. How forgetful of her! She mentally facepalmed herself. "Oh, where is Jackie? And what about Nora?"

Xiu saw how both of their expressions changed as soon as she mentioned Nora. However, she neither found anger nor found disappointment in their eyes. In fact, all Xiu saw in Clara and Jing Ge's eyes; was sadness. It was as if they both were hurt and felt broken.

"Jackie left early for school," replied Jing Ge after a short pause. "And..."

"And?"

"Your best friend is locked in her room," answered Clara in place of her husband. She had no intention of hiding anything from Xiu. Besides, she could tell that Xiu was here for Nora. She looked straight at Xiu and squinted her eyes suspiciously, "You knew?"

Xiu smiled awkwardly, "In my defense, I only got to know on Saturday night when she came running to me as a crying mess." 

"Crying mess?" Both Clara and Jing Ge asked simultaneously.

"Yeah. It was all Ah-Si's fault for saying the wrong words. And she felt so broken that she kept crying and crying and crying. It was the same day she got to know that Ava is her daughter otherwise she was gonna assume her dead even now."

Xiu only stopped talking when she saw Jing Ge standing up in fury. "Where is my bat? I'm gonna teach that boy a lesson for making my daughter cry!"

Xiu almost burst out laughing at his reaction. Oh, so she developed that impulsion of violence from this family? No wonder it seemed so foreign to her previous self.

She held his arm and pulled him back to the chair saying, "You don't have to. I, Bai Xiu has already used my infamous bat on him."

"You did what?" Xiu scratched her head sheepishly at Clara's reaction.

While Jing Ge patted her head proudly, "I feel proud of raising a daughter like you."

"Oh, shut up, husband! This is serious!" 

"He deserved it though," retorted Xiu. "He made my Nora cry so much. I thought she was gonna die. So, I lost my sanity for a minute."

"You do realize that he is not the only one to blame in this whole matter, right?" 

Xiu was slightly taken aback to hear that. Instead of carelessly blaming Ah-Si for everything, Clara was still insistent on thinking like a lawyer. She wouldn't blame anyone until she knew the whole truth.

"For making Nora cry, he deserved it," Xiu still insisted. She wasn't gonna back off from this. "And don't worry, I apologized to him later on. But if you're at my place, you'd also beat him."

Clara couldn't argue with Xiu about this. As a mother, at first, she'd have really taken Nora's side. It was after thinking for the whole day and night that she came to conclude how Nora and Ah-Si were both in the wrong. Their relationship began on a shaky start. They both just kept hurting each other.

Xiu crossed her arms over her chest and went on, "And by the way, you both have such a strong reaction before me then why are you upset with Nora?"

Clara and Jing Ge shared a look and frowned before they asked, "Who said we are upset with her?"