Imperfect Desires

Even though it had been so many years since he last saw her, Han Yiheng could still say that Francesca looked exactly like she did in her early twenties. It was like time had frozen for her. However, it wasn't frozen for him because he had to face a lot of things. So, he averted his eyes away from her.

"Cali, this is Ying Jie's aunt, Su Feifei." Dylan enthusiastically introduced his girlfriend to Yan Ying's aunt. "And this Calista Novell, my girlfriend."

Su Feifei greeted Cali politely. Her manners and even her smile involuntarily reminded Cali of Yan Ying and she blurted out, "I can see the similarities between you and Ying."

Su Feifei was certainly pleased to hear it as she replied, "That's a given! After all, my niece inherited her good looks from me."

Hearing that 'someone' snorting beside her, she glared at Han Yiheng who innocently said, "What? I'm just amused at how thick your face is. Obviously your niece got her looks from her mother. It has nothing to do with you. Stop trying to claim the credit for things you had no contribution in!"

Su Feifei narrowed her eyes at him and bared her teeth saying, "Yes, the credit goes to Su Family's ancestors for passing on such high-grade genes. It's a pity that your Han Family's ancestors forgot to pass on some sense to you!"

Seeing how these two were busy in a staring competition, Dylan felt awkward. With a cough, he tried to divert their attention as he added, "Aunt Fei, did you cry? Why are your eyes so red?"

"It's all his fault," Su Feifei dumped all the blame on Han Yiheng.

"Me? Don't just run that mouth of yours just because you can. People might misunderstand your words."

"How can anyone misunderstand? What's there to misunderstand? Didn't you tell me that we are gonna be relatives now?" Han Yiheng nodded at her words as she went on, "Didn't you also said that my Yingying is gonna leave me one day?" He hesitated because that's not how he said it but eventually chose to nod. "Didn't all this give me a fright?"

Han Yiheng rolled his eyes at her and said, "I only informed you about the current affairs. Don't blame me for your tears."

"Xiao Heng..." she had yet to continue when she was interrupted.

"Aunt Fei!" Dylan suddenly spoke up. "Why is Ying Jie gonna leave you?"

Su Feifei's mood dropped another low at the reminder as she replied, "Because she has started dating. Eventually, she'll marry off and leave me behind. How cruel this world is!" Rubbing her eye, she looked at Han Yiheng and suggested, "Xiao Heng, how about this? Instead of our family's Yingying, you send your family's Bohai to us. I promise I'll treat him well!"

Han Yiheng gaped at her in disbelief. "So, you want my family's Bohai to marry into your family?" Su Feifei nodded her head agreeably. "Not happening! Stop daydreaming!"

"Excuse me! But who is Ying Jie's boyfriend?" asked Dylan once again.

Su Feifei pointed at Han Yiheng saying, "His nephew!"

Dylan finally scrutinized Han Yiheng and frowned, "Mr. Han? Han Yiheng, right?" 

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Qiu Hedi!"

Dylan also smiled politely as he said, "I'm sorry I didn't notice it was you. I just never thought you'd be acquainted with Aunt Fei."

Han Yiheng laughed it off saying, "It's my bad luck that this uncultured woman was once my classmate. Now, I'm stuck with a friend like her."

"If you're so against this friendship..."

Han Yiheng gave her a challenging look as if urging her to finish that sentence.

With a humph, she completed her sentence, "Then I'm gonna stick to you till death! Let's see how you get rid of me."

Francesca who had silently been watching this exchange with a furrowed brows mumbled, "Han Yiheng? Why does this sound so familiar? And you even look very familiar. Have we met before?"

Han Yiheng's smile froze while Su Feifei's eyes widened. She leaned close to her friend and whispered, "Poor you! Xiao Heng, the woman you kept in your heart doesn't even have you in her mind. Tsk. Tsk. Such a pitiful thing you are!"

"Feifei, shut up!" gritted out Han Yiheng in low voice.

"I'm just trying to offer some consolation," said Su Feifei.

"You're making it worse!" he replied so Su Feifei tacitly decided not to pour salt on his wounds.

Instead, she turned to Francesca and said, "Ms. Salvay doesn't remember that you worked with Xiao Heng back when you first settled in China?"

As if a lightbulb lit up, Francesca's expressions changed, "Oh, that's right! We were colleagues back then. I have such bad memory. I'm really sorry for not recognizing you instantly."

"It's okay," said Han Yiheng with a forced smile. "It's been a long time. I can't blame you for not recalling it."

They exchanged a few words before settling around the same table. Getting curious about why Francesca was here, Su Feifei strikes up a conversation with the person she was familiar with. "So, Hedi, what are you doing here?"

"My girlfriend wanted to buy a dress for my sister's wedding. So, she called me and France out for our opinions. But since she didn't like our opinions, we called for help. Now, we decided to eat while waiting for that help to arrive." Dylan didn't hesitate at all before explaining everything in detail to her. 

He took a small pause before saying, "But Aunt Fei, I never thought I'd meet you here."

"Huh? Why not?"

"I don't know. It doesn't sit well with your image," shrugged Dylan casually.

"What image do you have of me in your mind?" asked Su Feifei curiously.

"Workaholic," answered Dylan without even thinking. "From a young age, I always heard the eccentric taste of Su sisters. While the elder sister loves to travel to far off places, the younger one loves to work until she loses the sense of time and place."

Han Yiheng gave Dylan a thumbs up as he said, "Whoever said it, wasn't kidding at all. That's the best way to describe both Su sisters."

Su Feifei didn't mind these words as she said, "I do love my work. But now I'm getting old. So, I specifically try to find some time for myself. Self-healing..."

Han Yiheng snickered beside her making her purse her lips in annoyance. He was really looking for a beating before these young people!