Imperfect Desires

"Well, I would also like to know the answer to that," Xin Zimen looked at Xiu inquiringly.

"To arrange the wedding of someone else's daughter, she is abandoning her own daughter!" Xiu pointed at Francesca accusingly. "She should be worried about her cute daughter but no. She is busy having fun buying the wedding dress for someone else! What about my wedding?!"

"Xiu..." Francesca wanted to say something but Xiu refused to listen.

"Mom, I'm not falling for it. You said you're here for me. Well, guess what? You just ran off at the first chance you got. Shouldn't you be worried about my wedding instead?"

"I'm doing it all for practice," said Francesca while Xiu frowned. "I'm an inexperienced person. I don't go to weddings and I really know nothing about weddings. But I want my Xiu and Regi's wedding to be perfect. So, I'm trying to gather some experience."

Xiu scoffed, "Excuses!" She looked at Xin Zimen as if to complain, "Do you know Xiao Zi? I didn't even see her in days. Apparently everything else is more important."

"Okay, my dear daughter. I will only focus on you now. Give me a way out this one time, okay?" Francesca sat beside her and hugged her shoulder trying to coax her like a kid. She indeed didn't get a chance to meet Xiu in days and she also knew Darren wasn't around as well. No wonder this adorable daughter was acting so broody.

Xiu thought about it for a while before saying, "I was kidding though. I'm not that petty to hold something this against you."

"What? You scared me." Francesca pulled her ear.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! That hurts!" Xiu rubbed her ear when Francesca loosened her hold on Xiu's ear. "By the way, why are you here? Did you already knew that I'd be here?"

Francesca pinched her small nose like Xin Zimen did earlier and shook her head, "No, I didn't know it. It came as a pleasant surprise to me as well." Xiu nodded her head. "And I'm actually here to see Brother Zimen."

"Oh..." Xiu again nodded and got up saying, "Then you talk to Xiao Zi, I'm gonna look for some food."

When she left, Francesca took her tablet from the table and passed it to Xin Zimen. "Sister Wei said you asked for the guest list. So, here it is."

Xin Zimen's eyes looked at her face and then at the tablet in her head. Even though he took it with a shake of his head, he couldn't help saying, "If it was a digital copy, you could have just mailed it to me."

Francesca's face stiffened. How come she forgot that? She knocked on her own head saying, "Aiyo! It's all Sister Wei's fault. She told me to come here and give it to you. And I had been so busy with other stuff that it didn't even cross my mind that I could just mail it to you."

"It's okay, even the smartest of people tend to make dumbest of mistakes," said Xin Zimen as he scrolled through the names on the guest list. His hand paused as he read something and asked, "Why these names are here? Who is inviting them?"

Francesca read the names he pointed at and replied, "I think it's Xiaoli. He asked Sister Wei to add these names on the list."

"My son?" She nodded her head. He took a deep breath to calm himself before asking, "What about this one? Are you really gonna invite Regan's father? Did you ask Regan?"

"What's there to ask? It's not like he and his dad are arch enemies or something. As long as he doesn't bring his wife along, Regan will be fine."

"He and his dad might not be arch enemies but Regan and Zhou Jinhai hadn't been on good terms lately. Even Dylan is not on good terms with Zhou Jinhai. Why is he also invited then?" questioned Xin Zimen.

Francesca sighed out, "Can you not ask me about these generations fights? I only know that Zhou Jinhai is Liu Nuan's husband and Liu Nuan is Meihui's best friend. It'd be weird if we just invited the wife and left out the husband, right?"

"I guess you all are looking for a battlefield rather than a wedding," said Xin Zimen as he got up and left not before adding, "Don't leave without having dinner."

"I wouldn't," answered Francesca.

Xin Zimen went straight to his eldest son's room and knocked at the door. As soon as he opened the door, Xiaoli was surprised to see his father standing at the door. That was not a common occurrence. 

"Dad, is everything okay?"

"The guests you're inviting to your wedding. Are they necessary?" Xin Zimen didn't dilly-dally and straight got to the point. He only came to know the answer to this question.

Xin Xiaoli frowned a bit in confusion before saying, "I just called grandmother and grandfather."

"And I am asking about them. Are they necessary?" 

"Dad, they are your parents."

"So? If I'm not inviting them why are you?"

Xin Xiaoli found it difficult to talk to his father. Why would he always turn into a strange person whenever his parents' name was brought up? Even as his son, Xiaoli knew nothing about why his father hated his own family so much.

"Dad, I think these are the occasions to reconnect with family."

Xin Zimen snickered, "I don't want to reconnect or reconcile with them. Why is it so difficult for my own sons to understand that I can't stand anyone of them?"

He turned to leave when Xiaoli spoke up from behind, "But why?" 

"What did you say?"

"I'm just asking why? You always leave leeway for elder uncle. You have a good relation with aunt Huan as well. But then why your own parents are an exception? Why your sister is an exception? Why can't you talk to them nicely? Do you even realize how much grandmother and grandfather misses you?"

Xin Zimen touched his chin as he said, "It's a pity that my own son doesn't want to stand by my side. Do whatever you want. It's not like you ever listened to me." Saying that he walked away without turning back. 

However, Xiaoli felt like he could see the disappointment in his father's eyes.