SOLID GOLD
(final to ASIB)
Author: Cynthia Muak
After
Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei retired to their East Sea Commune bungalow, they enjoyed
a very quiet lifestyle; they seldom visited Seoul. Three of their children
lived in Seoul, the eldest son BB (Bao Bao) taking care of Wen Rong Group
Holdings, their other 2 children, BR (Bao Rong) and BZ (Bao Zhu), running MBS.
Their youngest son BA (Bao Aun) lived in Busan in charge of Wen Rong Shipyard,
and MY Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company Ltd.
This year in May, to celebrate MBS Founding Day dinner, Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei
were in Seoul. That day also happened to be the birthday of their second son,
BR.
Seeing the weather this early morning, being exceptionally cool and perfect for
the month of May by Seoul’s standard, Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei decided to walk to
a public park near their house, for some morning exercise.
==
“Old man, hey, wait for me!”
Shan Mei was panting by the time she caught up with Xiang Zhe.
“Why did you walk off without letting me know?” Shan Mei reproached her
husband.
“You were busy chatting up that man exercising next to you, smiling so sweetly
to him, I didn’t want to disturb you. How many times have I told you not to
give that smile to anybody else but me!” As Xiang Zhe said that, he held out
his hand to his wife, to help her along. His eyes fell on her face, all glowing
and rosy, her delicious dewy mouth had trace of a slight pout.
“What do you mean chatting up that man? I was trying to get a soup recipe from
him. He told me he never has a cholesterol problem even though he eats a lot of
meat. He takes a special herbal brew every day.”
“Well, did you manage to get it? We can go to Dongdaemun herbal market and get
the herbs later in the afternoon. Now you won’t have an excuse not to feed me
your delicious pork stew.”
“He was just about to name the last few ingredients when you walked away.” Shan
Mei’s gaze drifted away from him.
“Tomorrow you must get the recipe from him.” His heart was filled with
sweetness. Shan Mei was thinking of him, even when she was doing her exercises.
She knew how much he enjoyed good food. Since his bronchial and lung problems,
which Dr. Kim and his team had in the beginning suspected were early stages of
cancer, she had put him on strict diet. That was almost 14 years ago. A year
ago, Shan Mei had introduced more meat and variety into her cooking so he
wouldn’t find his meals so boring.
“Didn’t you just jealously accuse me of chatting him up?” Shan Mei answered.
Xiang Zhe detected a tinge of playful teasing in his wife’s tone.
Yet, he couldn’t help but sound disconcerted, “I told you to get the recipe
from him. I did not ask you to chat with him!”
Shan Mei smiled secretly to herself. [“This Xue Zhang, already 72 years old,
yet still so easily prone to little, senseless jealous fits.”]
Xiang Zhe didn’t like it one bit. This was their first morning at this park,
and his wife had already made some friends. They arrived 2 days ago in Seoul,
to attend MBS Founding Day Anniversary dinner. Their children wanted them to
stay longer, so the family could celebrate their mother’s birthday on the 7th
of next month, 3 weeks away. Also, BR and Suzanne were expecting their 3rd
child in two weeks’ time. This child would be the first Yin grandchild from
them. Their first two, a girl and a boy, were surnamed Sung, and spoilt
hopelessly by the Sung family.
=
Brother Sung took the grandchildren everywhere with him, sometimes even sitting
in on his high level business meetings. Xiang Zhe used to laugh at the silly
vision of nannies, nappies, feeding bottles and pacifiers in Bansung’s
conference rooms. Brother Sung frequently called the couple on his mobile,
saying how the babies reminded him of BR when he was little. Such a proud
grandfather! Sometimes, when talking to Xiang Zhe or Shan Mei, he forgot it was
‘our grandchildren’, and rattled on about ‘my grandchildren’.
==
Earlier in the park before Xiang Zhe went off in a huff.
In another section of the park, on higher ground, where Xiang Zhe was standing
by the swings, doing his usual stretching exercising routine, his eyes were on
his wife doing her hip swiveling routine. He found her so beautiful and
captivating, her smiles were just as sweet and dazzling. He continued watching
her from where he was, and was shocked to discover he was aroused and seized
with desire for her [at this hour of the day and away from their bedroom, at
his age]. She had the kind of inner beauty and outer serenity that could only
come with age and she did not look anywhere near her 66 years. Next month she
would be 67, yet she looked almost the same as the day they celebrated her 50th
birthday. Didn’t people usually describe the elderly as ‘old and ugly’? Shan
Mei didn’t look ‘old’ at all; in fact, she was looking more and more beautiful
and younger since they moved to the East Sea area. Unbelievable!
They held on to each other’s hands, after Shan Mei caught up with Xiang Zhe, as
they strolled along. Xiang Zhe turned to look at his wife indulgently, his
mouth curving in a contented smile. Shan Mei could feel his eyes on her. A
feeling of warmth crept into her being. After all these years, Xue Zhang could
still affect her in the same way as the evening they celebrated her 26th
birthday at the Pier Restaurant, and she was moved but she had to think of him
first. She didn’t want him to slip and fall. This path was not even. After she
got the recipe from that kind man, it would be safer to exercise in their own
garden. “Old man, your eyes should be on the path and not on me. Watch out for
the loose pebbles.”
Xiang Zhe gave her an understanding smile, and, in a solemn tone, reminded her,
“Tomorrow morning, no more hip swiveling exercise from you. You look too sexy
and suggestive from where I was standing. Just stretching exercises will do.”
“Won’t you then complain I’m trying to show off my figure?” As she said that,
she stopped in her stride, placed her hands on her waist, and struck a pose.
Xiang Zhe gave her a barbed glance and decided that was not a good idea too.
“Okay, too many people walking around. Just do slow running on the spot.”
“Don’t you think my bouncing breasts will surely drive all the men crazy ?” She
reminded her husband impishly, her eyes laughing at him with mischief.
“Yes…erh.. you’re right. Okay, just walk sedately around Mr. No Cholesterol
until you get the recipe from him, then we leave. No more exercising for you in
any public park. You’ve been kept in our East Sea commune too long, you don’t
know how to behave properly any more in a public place.” Xiang Zhe looked at
her with laughing eyes; his mouth had a teasing grin too. He waited for
retaliation from her, it didn’t come.
Shan Mei must be tired to take his jibe so sedately, so he suggested they sit
down on a park bench under the shade and rest a bit before going home. After
they sat down, Shan Mei took out a towel from her small tote bag and wiped Xue
Zhang’s face and neck of any perspiration.
Her husband drew her closer next to him. In a soft whisper, he asked her,
“Darling, did you notice the man in the yellow track suit, exercising near the
swings?”
“You mean the one you were talking to?” she answered as she was wiping the
perspiration off his forehead, at the same time, smoothing his hair away from
his forehead, gently finger-brushing it towards the back.
“Yes, that’s the one.” He lowered his voice, and pinned his eyes steadily on
Shan Mei. “He told me he and his wife do it 2 times a week…. Are you cheating me
out of some fun, old lady?” Xiang Zhe puckered his mouth into a pout, his eyes
wide open, calculating and somewhat accusing. Shan Mei was at this time wiping
her husband’s chest under his tee-shirt when she stopped, and looked over him
carefully.
Shan Mei couldn’t suppress a laugh at her husband. She thought Xue Zhang looked
so adorable when he asked her that ridiculous question. Her eyes were so full
of love for him. “Darling husband, open your eyes and take a good, long look at
that man. Don’t think just because that man has peppery coloured hair as yours,
he is the same age as you! That man is not even 50 though his hair may be grey,
and streaked with white. Only 2 times a week?” Shan Mei scoffed. “I’d rate him
an average performer. I remember when you were around that age, we were doing
it …..” Shan Mei’s voice trailed off tantalisingly, her eyes dreamily focused
on her husband, a knowing smile on her lips.
Xiang Zhe gave his wife a sheepish look and a roguish grin. “Okay, get your
message. Again, I’m making wrong accusation, right?”
Before Shan Mei could reply with one of her clever retorts, he changed the
subject.
“Dearest old lady, what are you going to give your old man for lunch today?”
“Anything you fancy.” Shan Mei was in good mood and sounded indulgent.
“In that case, super delicious sushi today, pork stew tomorrow, abalone chicken
congee day after tomorrow, and hot, hot cuddles 2 days after tomorrow” and
looked at his wife with expectant smile, and mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
“Don’t think just because we’re on holiday in Seoul, you don’t have to follow
your diet regimen. I can allow a little leeway, but don’t try to take
advantage.”
“Hey, lady, you can’t blame an under nourished man for trying” and shrugged his
shoulders in resignation at his wife and her ‘diet control’.
Shan Mei smiled sweetly at her husband and she gave his cheek a gentle pinch as
she put the damp towel back into her tote bag, and took out a small plastic
drinking bottle with mineral water, popped up the sipping straw and handed it
to Xue Zhang. He put the straw to Shan Mei’s mouth, “You sip first”. After she
took a sip, he returned the straw to his mouth and sipped the remaining water,
smiling at his wife at the same time, his mischievous eyes never leaving her face.
“Husband, don’t try to change the subject about food and you should be grateful
I’m feeding you so well. So well that that man can assume you’re the same age
as him.” She couldn’t stop laughing as she continued to look at her husband.
“No wonder, with your healthy, rosy complexion and almost wrinkle-free face,
you look much better than him. I’ll take you anytime, even if you can only
manage less than 2 times a week or a month,” and she almost doubled up with
more laughter.
Xiang Zhe stared back at his wife, his mind didn’t quite fathom what she was
laughing so hard at; he asked, his mouth quirking, “So, is that good or bad?”
handing the empty water bottle back to her.
“Definitely good, and I do love you so !” She giving him the eye as she let him
take her hand into his when they got up from the park bench. As they were
approaching the front of their house, Shan Mei felt a sudden urge to let her
husband know just how much she really loved him, “Xue Zhang, you’re the best
and I not only love you, but I’m still so in love with you.”
Xiang Zhe grinned broadly and planted a tender kiss on her irresistible lips.
“I feel the same, too.”
==
A few nights later,
Xiang Zhe was in their bedroom, sitting down on the sofa, his mug of herbal
soup on the table getting cold.
Shan Mei saw that, as soon as she emerged from the bathroom, a large bath towel
wrapped around her and a smaller towel in her hand as she wiped her
just-shampooed hair. She was about to remind her husband to drink up, when she
noticed his forehead furrowed with all sorts of anxieties. He was looking down
at the mug, his lips compressed in a tight line. At times, he released the
tightness, to bite on his lower lip, after that he would pucker up his lips at
nothing in particular. When she saw that facial expression, she immediately
thought to herself, [“Aiya, why can’t this old man change his habits and
expressions a bit to make my life more interesting? It’s no fun knowing what’s
on his mind every time.”]
“Hey!” she called out gently and good-naturedly across the room to her husband.
“What’s the matter? Why are you not drinking your herbal soup?”
Xiang Zhe looked up at her, gave her his special crooked smile, and patted the
space next to him on the sofa. Shan Mei gave a sigh. After almost 39 years of
marriage with him, she already knew what was coming next. He would need at
least 2 times of coaxing from her before he would tell her what the problem
was. If it was a big problem, she would have to coax him at least 4 times.
She sat down next to him on the sofa, and caressed his cheek with the back of
her hand. “Darling, is something bothering you?”
Xiang Zhe shook his head slightly. “Just need your loving company to finish off
this soup,” he said as he took the towel from her hand and began to towel her
hair dry. When he finished, he tossed the towel away onto the top of the table,
then lovingly wrapped his arm around her shoulders to draw her closer to him,
his other fingers trifling casually through her almost dry hair.
Shan Mei gave her husband a tender kiss on his cheek. “If you don’t tell, how
am I going to know?” When no words came from Xiang Zhe, she continued, “if
there’s no problem, I’m going now to my dressing room to make myself beautiful
for my old man.” Shan Mei got up from the sofa and made a show of walking away.
Xiang Zhe caught on to her wrist to hold her back. He looked at her, his eyes
appealing softly and briefly with her to stay.
She sat back down on the sofa next to him, picked up his left hand and began to
play with the wedding band on his ring finger. She coaxed him sweetly, “is
something on your mind?” He smiled at her and said nothing. [“He’s still not
forthcoming. OK, I’ll rile him”] Shan Mei thought, using her sure-fire ‘special
weapon.’
Looking at her husband with soft, limpid eyes, Shan Mei asked innocently,
“You’ve a girlfriend? You want to set up house with her officially but are
afraid to ask?” As expected, Xiang Zhe reacted to the baiting taunt.
“How can you think up of something so preposterous and improbable?” he shot
back with baffled dismay at his wife.
“You’ve thought up of far worse things of me if I recall correctly.”
Xiang Zhe grinned sheepishly at Shan Mei, “Aiya, my darling old lady, why are
you still harbouring grudges after so many years?”
“I’m not! You know I’m fine with anything except sharing my beloved husband
with another woman. I haven’t learnt to be that generous yet. You were so
reluctant to tell, of course I thought it must be a woman you’re trying to hide
from me.”
“You’re the only one I love. I tell you this at least 5 times every night, more
times during the day, and still you doubt me? How come my life is so pitiful?
Aiyoo!” Xiang Zhe shook his head slightly in mock despair, slyly gauging his
wife’s reaction through heavily hooded eyes.
“Hey Old man, loving me and wanting another woman are two completely different
things. I’m not as stupid as before. I now know the devious minds of men.” And
she gave her husband a smirk bordering on smugness.
“Wa! Very clever now, huh? Open your big, beautiful eyes and take a good look.
Where is this 72 year old man going to find the energy to fool around with
another woman? All my energy is used up keeping watch over you so YOU don’t go
fooling around with another man, a younger man!!! As if you didn’t know it
already, I’ve never lusted after a woman. With you, it has always been love,
never lust! I want to share all my loving, passionate, intimate moments only
with you, the woman I so deeply love.”
Shan Mei looked at him and openly admitted, “You may be old but you are still a
handsome devil, and your credit cards will keep any woman busy and happy. She
doesn’t need you around. Now, are you going to tell or not?”
Xiang Zhe drew Shan Mei back into his arms. “The other evening at the
Anniversary dinner, Zian Da took me aside and told me it seemed like the end of
the road for them. Yong Xi doesn’t want to return to Seoul. She prefers to stay
with their daughter in America. He was so bored over there, with nothing to do
except read newspapers and watch TV dramas. He got sick of the whole scene
there. For Yong Xi, it was slightly better. After each drama episode she would
spend hours on the phone with her cronies discussing the plot and the calibre
of the actors. Now that he has returned to Seoul, he asked me whether it is
possible for him to return to MBS. He doesn’t mind doing anything, even filing
the daily news items. Just give him a legitimate excuse to drop by the News
Office. At least he will feel useful, and have some decent company at the
office. What do you think, darling?”
Xiang Zhe didn’t like doing Zian Da this favour, after what he and Yong Xi did
to Shan Mei. But, in the utmost bliss of his own unparalleled happiness, he
benevolently wished the whole world well. And at times like this, seeing how
blessed his own marriage was, he felt sorry for Zian Da, and that Yong Xi was
definitely not an easy person to live with. Zian Da himself was no angel, of
course.
He was so relieved now. He had thrown the ball on to Shan Mei’s side of the
court. He hoped Shan Mei would tell him there was nothing suitable for Zian Da
but knowing his wife, with her compassionate nature, she would tax her brain,
until she came up with something….
“This is the problem? I thought it was some major catastrophe. Next time, if
you don’t tell by the second coaxing, I’m going to walk. My heart cannot take
any more of this kind of stress. You know, I’m keeping my body functions in
good working order so I can live to celebrate our Golden Wedding anniversary.
And you better do the same by minding your own business.” This subtle warning
scared Xiang Zhe. Shan Mei was right, they were no longer young. He had better
play their games differently. He should have told Shan Mei right away, and not
put her under any unnecessary duress.
Shan Mei gave her husband a light kiss, “Be good and finish off the herbal
soup, while I think up of something. One thing is for sure. I can’t agree to
have him work in the office. He came to you with stories of Yong Xi so you
won’t blame him if he ends up with a mistress later on. When I first joined
MBS, he was always sweet to the girls, especially that Xu Ying Mei. In that
News Office, Li Qing Xi and I were about the only two he didn’t fancy. That’s
so unfair to Yong Xi. We should help to get them back together.”
Xiang Zhe pulled his wife back into his arms and whispered lovingly into her
ear, “He didn’t dare fancy you, because I’d very openly declared you as my
property at the Company anniversary luncheon. And even if he fancied Li Qing Xi
she wouldn’t fancy him at all, because she was way smarter than him. Ever since
she worked in my department, I suspected she always felt Zian Da was too meek
and weak to stand up and make a stance, with no strong leadership qualities.”
“Let’s see.” Shan Mei picked up the soiled towel from the table, dropped it
into the laundry basket, then went to her dressing room to comb out her hair
neatly. Xiang Zhe followed close behind her.
“Want me to get the tangles out of your hair?” he asked. Not waiting for an
answer from her, he took a wide toothed comb from her dresser. She snuggled up
close to him and he began to pull the comb gently through her almost-dry hair.
The faint after-scent of her rose and jasmine shampoo drifted to his nostrils
and though he tried to keep his eyes firmly on her hair, they kept drifting to
her bare shoulders, then further down to where the towel gaped open against her
smooth, creamy back.
The tangles were nearly gone now, but he liked touching her hair and smoothing
his hand over her shining crown. He bent forward and whispered very softly into
her ear.
“Tired?”
“No, not really” Shan Mei answered absentmindedly as she applied some hand
cream to her hands and to her husband’s. Without intention, she happened to
lift her eyes to glance into the mirror as she was capping the lid back on the
tube of hand cream, and found Xue Zhang staring wistfully at her reflection.
“Good.” His eyes, gleaming wickedly and staring straight at Shan Mei’s in the
mirror before him, seemed to convey a message that only the two of them
understood. She flushed at the transparent, ardent message in the heated depths
of his eyes.
Shan Mei walked to the antique chest of drawers, opened the top drawer to pull
out a satin nightgown. She was about to pull it over her head when Xiang Zhe
came up behind her, took the nightie away, and threw it onto the dressing
stool. “Darling, you don’t need that tonight. I’ll keep you warm. Indulge me,
okay?” his tone soft and sensuous as he nibbled around her ears.
There
was excitement in MBS building, as the receptionist in the main lobby buzzed
down the lines that the Wen Rong limousine carrying Senior Chairman and his
wife was just pulling up along the drive way outside of MBS main entrance. The
chauffeur of the limo had alerted MBS Head of Security after collecting Senior
Chairman and his wife from their house and was told by Senior Chairman to drop
them off at MBS. Many of the new and fairly new staff members had never had the
chance to really meet the famous couple although they had heard a lot about
their fairy-tale love story; the man was rich, smart and handsome, the woman
charming and clever, and the glory they brought to MBS.
One receptionist asked their Reception Supervisor, “Our current President and
Director of Planning, B. R Yin, is very handsome too; does he resemble Senior
Chairman?”
Reception Supervisor replied, “Well, he does, but there is mixture of father
and mother. Now, their youngest son, not working at MBS, is the one who looks
the most like Senior Chairman, exactly every thing, especially the way he
walks, with his hands in his trouser pockets, the way he talks and the way he
smiles. Sometimes, if his hands weren’t in his pockets, he would flex his hands
about as he ambled along.”
“How did you notice something so small, seeing that he doesn’t come to the
station that frequent?”
“One time Senior Chairman was here with his four children. As they strolled
along the corridors on the ground floor, Senior Chairman was up in the front,
the youngest son following up behind; it was so funny to see the Senior Yin and
the youngest Yin doing the same thing with their hands unconsciously as they
strolled along. Especially, other times when they were listening attentively to
something, they would both have their hands clasped behind their backs,
adopting the same posture.”
The receptionists became increasingly excited as they continued discussing this
youngest Yin child with their Reception Supervisor.
“If this is so, why is such a gorgeous hunk wasted on those rough and tough
Busan shipyard workers?”
“Don’t know, but it seems since young he has been fascinated with ships and
boats and the sea. And the shipyard workers at Wen Rong are anything but rough.
Nowadays, if one wants to gain employment with a top-rate shipyard, one needs a
specialized technical college or university education.”
One young, pretty receptionist who had only joined the reception pool two
months ago, sighed dreamily, “To be honest, I don’t mind working in Busan, with
all that hunk candy around. Who knows, maybe my Prince charming is waiting to
rescue me, a damsel in distress being caught in between two telephone poles in
the shipyard!” Hoots of laughter echoed all around.
Another receptionist suggested, “Go visit our shipyard website. You can see how
modern the shipyard is, integrating so well with the Busan Port Authority’s
facilities. From the website, in the section on Management, you can see our
Director, Mr. Yin Bao Aun, in action. He’s such a dreamboat. It’s a pity he’s
married. You won’t believe it, but he’s father to 3 children already.”
“E.e.e.e.k…..How can that be? His wife a beauty queen or something?” asked
another receptionist unbelievingly.
“His wife is the only granddaughter from this powerful Bansung Group family.
She’s supposed to look only okay, but very clever. She speaks and reads Chinese
and helps her husband in their pharmaceutical factory. Here she is, standing
next to B.A Yin in this photo in the Photo Gallery web page. She doesn’t look
bad in this photo.”
“Yuck, how can someone that gorgeous marry a woman looking so plain. I suppose
it’s not a love match. Must be money talk, all the way.”
“Hey, stop being so mean. She doesn’t look bad. In fact, I think she looks
classy in an understated way. All those things she’s wearing are expensive
items even though of simple cut. Look at those shoes… so gorgeous.”
Another girl chipped in. “I heard one time when he and his wife were visiting
MBS to meet up with his brother for lunch, there was talk going around the
canteen that they were childhood sweethearts. In fact, he insisted they be
engaged before she went off to university in America.”
Reception Supervisor’s voice came booming down onto the girls through their
earphones. “Hush, you girls. Security guard is informing me that Senior
Chairman has just arrived at the main entrance with his wife. Mrs. Senior
Chairman is looking just as beautiful as he remembered her.” Reception
supervisor whispered a question down her intercom to the security guard
standing on guard by the entrance. She looked at the receptionists and they
sniggered, when the guard confirmed, “Yes, Senior Chairman is holding onto his
wife’s hand….tightly!”
“Just as romantic as ever,” Reception Supervisor sighed with a knowing smile.
“You mean just as possessive as ever!” Ha-ha-ha from all the girls around the
Reception Desk.
“What about famous TV personality Miss Zhen Shan Mei?” asked the pretty
receptionist who was new to all this. “Does her daughter look like her?”
“Well, in a way but the daughter is taller. If Miss Yin has on her 3” heels,
she stands even taller than Senior Chairman! She used to look a lot like her
mother, but as she grew older, her looks have become a well blended mixture of
mother and father.”
Another receptionist chipped in, “Miss Yin doesn’t look as sweet as her mother,
though. Aiya, make your own decisions when she comes in later.”
Reception Supervisor reminded the girls, “Miss Zhen is very friendly and sweet.
She is bound to talk to the staff when she walks by. Be on your alert, and please
be natural. The couple never likes pretentious people. You can call her Miss
Zhen, Madam Yin or Mrs. Senior Chairman, she doesn’t mind whichever. And if she
talks to you, she likes to address you by your first names, so make sure your
name tags are prominently displayed.”
The pretty newbie asked, “What about Senior Chairman, if he talks to me?”
Reception Supervisor laughed, thinking the question was so funny. “Senior
Chairman doesn’t talk to any females. I’ve worked here for 12 years. The only
females I’ve ever seen him talk to are his wife and his daughter. The most
you’ll get from him is a brief nod of his distinguished head. So you can stop
building castles in any imaginary air you hope may be blowing your way.”
As expected, Shan Mei was nodding her head and smiling sweetly left, right and
centre when they were waiting for the lift in the main lobby and when she made
her way to Xiang Jie’s office.
Xiang Zhe decided to pay his second son a visit. BR now occupied his dad’s old
office.
Xiang Jie was now the Chairman, but he didn’t move out of his old office. He
preferred to stay where he was, making him even more popular with the staff.
Jae Hoon, though semi-retired, came in often to visit his favourite girl, BZ,
and did occasional dubbing for programmes for the station frequently. Other
times, he would be at BZ’s place, visiting her children. In fact, Chris and BZ
loved having him visit, sometimes asking him to take the children back to his
place, leaving the young couple with some romantic time for themselves.
As soon as Xiang Zhe entered the DoP’s executive office, BR vacated his seat
for his Dad. He sat down on the sofa facing his daddy. Xiang Zhe told him,
“Your mum wants to see your Uncle and Uncle Jae Hoon; some project to discuss.
All’s going on well here?”
“Yeah, apart from the usual problems, like staff wanting better benefits, etc.”
Xiang Zhe nodded his head slowly. He understood his son’s position precisely.
He used to be faced with the same dilemma.
“How’s Suzanne bearing up? If the weather is too unbearable for her, get her to
stay in the hospital. At least, she’ll get the proper nursing care. You never
know, the baby may decide to come early.”
BR nodded his head. “This morning I was on the phone with Chris and that was
what he recommended. I’ll talk to Sue later and see what she says. She’s quite
stubborn and I’m quite afraid to upset her in her present condition. She finds
fault with the slightest thing. This morning I just asked why the socks were
put away differently from normal, she got quite cross and told me to take care
of my own socks from now onwards.”
Giving his dad a swift glance to gauge his mood, he asked, “Was Mum ever like
that?”
Xiang Zhe looked at his son from under his lashes, rubbed his eyes lightly with
his fingers and laughed in an understanding way. “I was told women act strange
when they are pregnant. Your mum is not your typical run of women. She tried
her best to make my life as easy as possible. I know carrying such a load was
hard for her, and she had trouble sleeping. Every time I asked her, she told me
she was comfortable, and not to worry. The only times she didn’t listen to me
were when I told her to stop working. Your mum’s a great little woman.”
He slowly stroked his chin, his mouth was curved in a self-absorbing smile, as
his mind went back to the times Shan Mei was pregnant with BR and the twins.
They spent a lot of their times at their love cabin. Shan Mei was happiest when
she was sleeping under the stars. He thought they had to be more careful, the
way they were when Shan Mei was pregnant with their eldest child, a pregnant
woman becoming less active in her condition; instead Xiang Zhe discovered his
caresses every night had Shan Mei moaning for him; on some nights they were
both insatiable for each other’s love. No matter what, he was always very
gentle and conscious of her comfort during such times. They only curtailed
their loving activities during her 7th month of pregnancy, and stopped
completely from her 8th month. During those times, he thought he restrained his
ardour rather well. Because, if there was one thing he loved; he loved his wife
almost to the point of obsession and he really loved making love to her. But
soon they became rather inventive – really inventive, he recalled with a salacious
grin – in bringing each other to fulfillment.
Before BR could ask his daddy for more advice, Shan Mei walked in on them,
after her slight knock on the door went unanswered. Xiang Zhe rose from the
chair returning the seat to his son. He made his way to the sofa, sat down and
crossed his left leg over his right. Sensing they were having some kind of
conversation, Shan Mei didn’t want to intrude. Instead, she made her way to the
pantry, at the same time asking her husband whether he wanted coffee. She would
make him a cup of weak coffee.
“Of course, darling, I’d love a coffee from you. But please don’t make it so
weak, even a baby can drink it.”
“You’re my baby now; so you drink whatever I make for you. You’re lucky your
son has Decaf Instant in the pantry, otherwise I won’t be able to offer you
even a weak cup.”
“Can you then make me a cup with 2 teaspoons of Decaf, p.l.e.e.e.a.s.e?”
“Be good and take just 1 teaspoon, okay?” her voice soft and coaxing
He shook his head in mock despair, grumbling, “Haggling over something so
minute!”
“It’s because I love you so much.” On hearing that, Xiang Zhe smiled at his
wife, and gave her a wink. She winked back.
BR threw his parents an indulgent glance, mouthing silently to himself, “You
two lovebirds……”
While she was in the pantry, her husband called out to her, “Darling, your son
wants to know how to run a smooth, peaceful household with a fretful pregnant
lady around?”
Handing her husband his cup of coffee, she looked at their son steadily, and
asked softly, “Are you giving Suzanne trouble?”
BR gave his mum a wry grimace. “Me? She’s the one being unreasonable even
though I try to humour her most of the time.”
“BR, Suzanne’s now carrying the most important load of her life, your baby; she
doesn’t need your humouring. She needs your love and your understanding. She’s
willing to bear the discomfort, simply because she loves you. You must help her
as much as possible through this difficult period. When I was carrying you,
your daddy was the perfect expectant father. Nothing was too troublesome for
him, as long as I was happy and comfortable. That’s why I love having your
daddy’s babies. I wanted more but, after the twins, your daddy put his foot
down. This is not the first baby for the two of you. How did you manage with
the first two?”
“Well, she was practically living at Godfather’s place. God-grandmother was
fussing over her continuously, so she was in good mood all the time.” BR rubbed
at the anxious frowns that had just gathered on his forehead.
Shan Mei went up to him, and circled her arms around his neck. “Darling, trust
us. Just be understanding and loving and everything will work out right. When
you hold your new-born baby in your arms, you’ll forget your wife was ever
unreasonable.” Shan Mei paused and looked over to where her husband was
sitting. “Daddy, didn’t you always tell me all the time I was the most
beautiful pregnant woman?”
Xiang Zhe smiled as he recalled something. “You really were. Especially that
time when you were carrying BR and attending that Award Ceremony. The
newspapers reported even though you were 6 months pregnant, you were more
beautiful and elegant than all the other ladies present. The radiance from your
smile far outshone the largest diamond in that auditorium.” Giving his wife an
indulgent look, as sweet memories came flooding back.
“Get off work early today, go home and make your wife happy. Only a happy and
thoroughly loved pregnant woman can give birth to a handsome son. If you don’t
believe mummy, go take a good look of yourself in the mirror.”
BR laughed at his mother. He felt much better. He gave her a hug and a kiss on
her cheek. “Thanks mum. You’re the best. Daddy is so lucky.”
Shan Mei went back to the sofa. She frowned when she saw her husband’s crossed
legs. “Hey, how many times do I have to remind you not to cross your legs when
you are sitting down. Chris did mention this way of sitting is not good for
blood circulation, especially at our age, didn’t he”
He uncrossed his legs and stood up, stretching his arms and legs about, then
reached out and drew his wife into his arms. He whispered huskily into her ear
as his embrace tightened, “you were really the most beautiful pregnant woman
I’ve ever seen and I love you and our babies so infinitely much.” He slid his
lips tenderly across her ear, her cheek.
Shan Mei gently nudged her husband slightly away, her face all crimson with
sudden shyness, smile full of sweetness, her head slightly inclined towards
their son in the same room, silently warning her husband to behave.
Xiang Zhe decided to have early lunch before the canteen overflowed with MBS
staff. After the meal, Xiang Zhe was invited to sit down at the meeting in
Xiang Jie’s office. They had come up with a project, involving Zian Da and Yong
Xi. Jae Hoon was to prepare a story line and script. It would be a half hour
show on radio.
“Radio?” Xiang Zhe sounded skeptical. “Would they agree to that?”
Xiang Jie gave the facts to his elder brother. Yesterday, after he received a
call from his sister, he immediately checked with Drama Department. They didn’t
have any production lined up with roles for senior citizens in the near future.
“And, we can’t have them in front of the TV screen with a special programme of
their own, in view of their age. You know how Yong Xi likes to take the
driver’s seat with anything she is involved with. No sponsor will want to
sponsor something from them. With radio, the sponsorship money required is low.
Even Bansung can sponsor, plugging some of their products for senior citizens.”
Jae Hoon added. “This will be long running series about an old married couple
and the daily happenings in their lives with their friends. You know how old
people like to bicker all the time? It will be light hearted, fun bickering.”
Xiang Zhe smirked mischievously and turned around in his chair to look at his
wife with a slow sweep of his big dark eyes, as he added his own musings, “Not
only old people like to bicker. I remember one very adorable young lady who
liked to bicker all the time with her boss. And if she didn’t get her way, she
would either cry or pout. Worse, she would punish her boss by ignoring him
until he surrendered, even if he had to fly half way round the world to pacify
her.” Shan Mei flashed big eyes at him, silently warning him to keep their
secrets to themselves. She thought of an idea to get back at him.
“Senior Chairman, since you remember so many interesting stories from your days
at the television station, may be you want to enliven the programme by joining
the cast? I’m sure you can contribute a lot, with your mesmerizing voice which
should sound even better over the air waves,” fresh laughter gurgling at her
throat and lightening up her eyes.
“What are you trying to do, Shan Mei? Bring me out of retirement, you
slave-driver?” Xiang Zhe asked in a mock growl, his laughing eyes letting her
know he was aware of her cleverly-disguised ruse.
Shan Mei let him off and continued with the meeting. “We’ll get Yong Xi back
from America, telling her there’s a show waiting for her. We’ll do promotion on
radio, on television and in the papers. BZ, you take care of inviting Auntie
Yong Xi back from America. If she refuses, you let me know. After their
quarreling on the radio, they’ll be too tired to fight at home. Senior
Chairman, what do you think?”
Xiang Zhe smiled lovingly at his wife. She was still the best when it comes to
ideas. He nodded his head, and told the kids to get cracking. “Who’s in
charge?” he asked his wife.
“BZ is in charge of promo and sponsors, Jae Hoon in charge of script and
direction, Xiang Jie is in charge of casting and production. Well, BR is in
charge of paying the bills. How about that? BR, you have the easiest job,
because you’re going to have a handful at home taking care of your wife and the
soon-to-arrive new baby. BZ, did you manage to find a nanny for them?”
When BZ didn’t answer, BR confessed, “Godfather Sung told us he wouldn’t mind
having Sue and the new baby at his place, if we can’t find a suitable nanny.”
“Well, I mind. Your Grandpa would turn over in his grave. His first great
grandchild from you and you bring him over to the Sungs. No way. I’ll talk to
some people and see what we can come up with. BZ, leave the nanny hunting to
Mummy. You concentrate on this new radio programme, okay?”
Xiang Zhe was getting bored and impatient. “You people finish with your
meeting? I want to go home.” BR immediately called his secretary asking her to
get company car ready for Senior Chairman at the main entrance.
In the car, Xiang Zhe told the driver to take them to Westin Chosun. Shan Mei
was in giggles when Xiang Zhe whispered to her, that he wanted to treat her to
their crepes. When they walked through the impressive, newly-refurbished
entrance, Xiang Zhe sighed. This place held so many loving memories for him.
Their wedding banquet was the first wedding banquet to be held at Westin
Chosun. And also the first and only time, he ever got invited to an overnight
party hosted by his idol, was at this hotel.
He could still remember every little detail of that evening, the moment he
stepped from the lift to make his way to the main restaurant at 7 p.m. He
didn’t know whether he was going to meet his idol or an imposter. And when he
entered the restaurant and saw this captivating creature in the most delectable
black soft, lacy dress, he fell completely under her spell (again).
“And Mrs Yin, I have a bone to pick with you.” Then he wrapped his arm around
her shoulders and drew her closer to him. He whispered into her ear, “Why
didn’t you wise me up about Ylang-Ylang bath salts? Letting me choose Lavender
that soothed us so well that we were soon asleep like fully fed kittens, when I
should have been romping about the suite like a hungry tiger.” Shan Mei heard
the amusement in her husband’s voice.
Shan Mei smiled widely at her husband and picked her words carefully, before
answering him. “It’s not my fault if you were so unenlightened on essential
oils. But, honestly, I was so happy you chose Lavender?”
“Why’s that, darling?”
“In flower power language, Lavender means ‘faithful’, and you have been exactly
that ever since our marriage.”
“Darling, you’re getting to be forgetful in your old age. I’ve been faithful to
you ever since I first met you when you were a mere babe of 20. I wanted only
you; no other woman.”
While enjoying their mango crepes, he asked his wife whether she wanted to
spend the night in their special honeymoon suite upstairs on the 10th floor? He
wondered what the newly refurbished suite would look like. Shan Mei smiled
sweetly at him and shook her head. She leant towards him and whispered “I want
to go to our cabin.” Xiang Zhe’s eyes shone, and nodded his head in agreement,
excitement rippling through his body. They had been back in Seoul 7 days, and
still didn’t manage to find the time to drop by their love cabin.
They asked their driver to take them shopping at a supermarket so they could
stock up on food for the cabin. They bought a lot of dried food, snacks, cans
of peach juice and packs of bottled water, and 2 roast chickens that smelt so
good, Xiang Zhe simply couldn’t resist.
The afternoon was very hot. Xiang Zhe was responsible for storing the food
away, while Shan Mei cleaned the tub and prepared the water. Everything had
been kept in immaculate order. The children must be using the cabin frequently,
which was good. No point in letting a good thing go to waste.
The children had also installed 6 extra built in closets:
YXZ-YXJ-YBB-YBR-YBZ-YBA
“This is a good improvement” Shan Mei said gladly as she rummaged through the
closet labeled YXZ.
“Hello, what’s this?” she asked in surprise when she lifted up a small Ziploc
bag. It contained Xue Zhang’s Speedo swimming trunks and her bikini set.
She took the garments over to her husband, “Old man, think you can still fit
into these?”
“If you can fit into yours, sure I can fit into mine.”
After changing, Shan Mei came out of the shower room and saw that Xiang Zhe had
already changed into his trunks. She went to him and patted him lightly on his
tummy, now showing a slight paunch. Not noticeable in his normal casual pants,
but visible now in his tiny swimming trunks.
“Look at this. Where did you get this from? I’ve been very careful with your
diet and your portions. Have you been stealing food from the kitchen?”
A look of guilt immediately flashed across Xiang Zhe’s face, his eyes looking
down at his stomach, and not at his wife. “Hmm….erh…”
“If you’re hungry in between meals, you can go pluck vegetables from the
vegetable plot. There are plenty of cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots to
snack on.”
“I’m not Peter Rabbit.” Xiang Zhe answered flatly.
“Yes, and where’s Peter Rabbit ? I noticed he isn’t on your desk anymore when I
clean your study in the mornings.”
“I’ve retired him. He has done such an excellent job keeping me company all these
years, he deserves early retirement. Nowadays, I’m getting quite clumsy. I’m
afraid I may drop and break him, so I’ve put him somewhere safe. In the kitchen
which is out of bounds to me. In case I go first, he’ll keep you company and
have lots of things to tell you about me.”
“Darling, that’s why I want you to be watchful with your diet. After what
happened on the night of our 25th wedding anniversary, I’m afraid. Afraid that
you’ll suddenly decide to go and leave me behind. I won’t be able to cope without
you. You’re always telling me how much you love me. What’s the good of just
talking and not doing anything about it? Chris has told you what are the best
foods for you, the ideal weight for you, and the safest exercise routine for
you. All this advice you throw to the wind. Okay, you do and eat what you like,
see if I care!”
“Darling, stop nagging for once and let’s go lie down. I’ve missed you,” Xiang
Zhe whispered into Shan Mei’s ear, as he took her into his arms, his hands
gently sliding across her almost bare back, slowly unhooking her bikini top and
pulling the top off her. His hands moved lazily up her body, gently stroking
the outside of her breasts. Very soon he was gently cupping one breast, then
the other. “They feel perfect,” he told her, his voice thick and slurred like
melted honey. “They always feel so perfect in my hands,” he added even more
throatily as he bent his head and tenderly kissed the breast sheltered in his
hand.
Instinctively Shan Mei was aroused. She reached out, held on to his head and
ran her fingers through his hair. “Darling,” she moaned, as she kissed the top
of his head, “why don’t you give me another 5 minutes to clean up the closet
then you may do with me what you will, okay?”
Xiang Zhe blithely agreed; the sight of his wife in her bikini minus top was
enough to make him agree to anything. He gave her one last hard kiss on her
mouth, one final suggestive squeeze of her delicious derriere before letting
her go.
He made his way happily to the sun lounger while she picked up the discarded
bikini top from the floor, then she went off to rummage further through their
closet.
After
Shan Mei finished cleaning up their closet, she walked over to Xiang Zhe now
lying on the lounger in the sun. She waved his pair of silk pyjama shorts in
front of him. “Please take off your swimming trunks and put these shorts on. I
simply can’t bear to see the elastic waist of the trunks so tight around you,
leaving marks on your skin.”
“Where got?” and he pulled down the trunks at the waist to show his wife. A
line of red mark was visible.
“Change into these, please. Go rest in the cabin. I’ll come and give you a nice
back massage after I’ve cleared out the heap of old clothes.”
Xiang Zhe took the pair of shorts and went happily along to the cabin, without
protesting. He gave her an indulgent smile. He knew Shan Mei cared a lot for
his well being. Even a little red mark wouldn’t do.
Xiang Zhe felt so at peace lying on the quilted mat waiting for his wife. This
was better than going over to the mansion where BB was currently residing.
Xiang Jie continued living over there too, maintaining his old quarters, at the
insistence of BB. Instead of leaving the house that Father had bought for him,
in the same neighbourhood, empty he had rented it out to an American family.
BB’s children were very noisy, except their eldest daughter Wen Ching who was
very close to Xiang Jie. This grand-uncle treated Wen Ching as his own
granddaughter, and Xiang Zhe was very comfortable with that. He was relieved
too, seeing that he and Shan Mei spent most of their time in the East Coast,
there was Xiang Jie to help look after the grandchildren. Xiang Jie could look
upon BB as his own son. Brother Sung was treating BR as his own son, not simply
godson. Jae Hoon was like father to BZ, and treated her children as if they
were his own grandchildren. Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei were understandably very
close to BA and his children because they lived in the East Sea area, just
outside of Busan.
Soon, Shan Mei appeared and began to apply soothing balm all round her
husband’s waist on the front and at the back. “Aiyo, this line of red mark
looks like a welt mark. People will think I’ve been whipping you.” Xiang Zhe
laughed wickedly when he heard that comment. He gave his wife a devilish eye,
then elbowed her gently in her ribs, “You’re now into S & M?” His voice was
low with muffled laughter.
Shan Mei was stunned into silence for a second. Her mouth started to twitch
into a smile which very quickly became a giggling bubble of laughter as she
pinched her husband on his upper arm. “You’re terrible. I knew sooner or later
you’d corrupt my mind.”
“Hey, who just gave me a pinch? If that’s not being sadistic, I don’t know what
is?” Xiang Zhe rubbed his arm up and down several times and puckered up his
mouth in mock pain, letting off several ‘in-pain oohs.’
Shan Mei decided to ignore him because she realized Xue Zhang in this playful,
teasing mood wouldn’t stop at just words.
She continued to apply more balm to his waist, then some to his upper arm, just
to shut him up. She gently rubbed the balm in. “Does it hurt anymore, darling?”
Shan Mei asked softly her husband.
“Not now, after you applied the balm.” Sugar coating around his heart.
Shan Mei was about to start on the back massage, when her husband pulled her to
lie down beside him on the mat. “It’s too hot to work. Lie down for a while.
We’ll go have a dip later when the sun is not so hot.” He was about to pull the
tiny T-shirt over her head when he noticed she was wearing a loose pair of
shorts and not her bikini briefs. “Hey, why did you change out of your sexy
bikini?” he asked reproachfully.
“It was getting a bit tight for me too,” she giggled and looked at him guiltily
for teasing him about his little flab.
After a while, Shan Mei let off a long sigh.
“What’s the matter old lady? Getting bored with your old man?”
Titling her head to look up at her husband, Shan Mei skimmed her hand across
his bare chest, giving him a sweet smile at the same time.
“I’m thinking I’m not a good grandma. Auntie Lee was really the most wonderful
grandma. She took such good care of our children and Patrick’s children; we
never had to worry about anything. I haven’t done much for our grandchildren.”
“You’re doing just fine. I know what you’re thinking. Even if we’re staying
full time in Seoul, Sharon won’t like it if you fuss around them. Haven’t you
noticed, every time BB has a question about the babies, she goes to her stacks
of reference books for answers? Sharon has her way of bringing up and
disciplining their kids. Don’t interfere so our son won’t be put in a spot. It
may cause endless trouble. I still don’t understand, though, why she’s feeding
the babies with food from those bottles, when there’s so much good, nutritious
and fresh food around. What’s that food again?” Xiang Zhe turned to ask his
wife with a disgruntled groan, as he tried to remember the name.
“YUMMY, I think.” Shan Mei volunteered the information. Husband and wife looked
at one another and then laughed at that.
“Yes, YUMMY everything. Apple juice, banana and fruit puree, minced
don’t-know-what else.”
Xiang Zhe sat up on the mat all of a sudden, gave an explosive sigh and shook
his head in disgust. “Didn’t the thin congee we feed our babies when they were
a few months old taste better? Later on, the thicker congee tasted even better
and more nutritious,” directing the question to his wife who was still lying
down on the mat, relaxed, her eyes closed. Seeing that, he bent his head to
give her a swift kiss on her lips. He always found her too irresistible in this
pose.
Shan Mei grinned at that statement. “So much so that you tried to steal half of
BB’s congee every time you volunteered to feed him?”
“Aiya, just cajoling and helping him eat up his food, not stealing. Luckily for
Xiang Jie, Wen Ching was the first born. That time Sharon was quite busy with
her work, so he could feed the baby his way. He knew how BB used to be fed; he
insisted Wen Ching was given same kind of food. Their housekeeper agreed with
him that was the proper way.
BA’s children are so different, so well behaved and polite like our kids when
they were little. You know why? You are there to teach them whenever they spend
time with us. You see how Rose always comes to you and asks for advice about
food for the babies, hearing from BA the good food he had as a baby?”
“Darling, I want to go back to Busan. I’m missing our grandchildren. BA just
told me last night on the phone that Rose is 2 months pregnant. I want to take
their youngest one back with us to our commune, so their maid will not have so
much on her hands. What do you think, Xue Zhang?”
“That Rose is a good girl. BA really made a fine choice for a wife, same way as
BZ has made fine choice for a husband. Chris disciplines their children well,
and helps BZ to unburden. Jae Hoon tells me, every time he brings the
grandchildren down to visit us during their school holidays, Chris insists on
arranging for the air tickets, then giving him 1,000,000 Won as pocket money to
spend on the kids and on us. He told Jae Hoon that we have given them so much.
Yes, the twins have done very well for themselves; and to think we nearly lost
them.” Shan Mei sniffled softly when she heard Xiang Zhe comment on that. Not
only the twins, but she nearly had to leave Xue Zhang behind on his own. Just
the thought was unthinkable, and too horrid to imagine.
“And do you remember why things happened the way they did? Again, you
disregarded my instructions and went off on your own to Daeshan Village to meet
that snake, Jin Enqi. If he had dared lay even a finger on you in my presence,
I would have beaten him to a pulp.” Shan Mei smiled softly when she heard that
threat. Xue Zhang was the most non-violent person she had met. He could lash
out with his tongue but never with his fists.
He took her provocative face between his hands and stated quite simply, “Do you
now believe the dangers of going out on your own? How many times do I have to
remind you I’d take you to wherever you want to go whenever you want. You’re
never leaving my sight again. At my age, I don’t have the courage to face the
awful agony of being separated from you. Promise me.” He was very solemn.
“Promise you’ll never go anywhere without me.”
“I promise, Xue Zhang,” Shan Mei whispered as she went into his arms and laid
her cheek against his shoulder. He turned his body on its side facing her. His
other hand automatically went out; he couldn’t get enough of touching her, of
being close to her. He slid the hand down over her back, shaping the curve of
her waist, her hips, cupping the soft roundness of her derriere, as he planted
little kisses along her throat. Then his hand slid under her tiny top and
feathered gentle sweeps along her stomach, slowly inching its way toward her
breasts. He loved feeling those silky, smooth mounds and he loved teasing her
peaks tenderly with his thumb. He pushed up her top, angled his head slightly
so his mouth found and covered the fullest part of her breast. After a while,
he sighed blissfully. “This, my darling, is the real ‘yummy’.”
He then moved to whisper into Shan Mei’s ear. “After Suzanne gives birth, we’ll
fly back to Busan,” Xiang Zhe decided, giving Shan Mei a tender kiss on her
forehead, as he brushed back a lock of hair from her face.
“Thank you, darling.” Shan Mei then brushed the back of her hand against Xiang
Zhe’s cheek, telling him sweetly he already had enough excitement for the day;
maybe they should take an afternoon nap before going for a dip in the Jacuzzi.
==
After two nights in the cabin, the Yins were back in their house.
Tonight, Xiang Zhe was not sleeping so well, missing the soft, lulling night
breeze of the East Sea. He turned on his side, in his sleep, and stretched out
his arm automatically, wanting to draw his precious bundle close to him, but
felt only an empty space. He woke up; wondering, “Now, where’s she gone?”
He padded out to the landing. Light seeped through the crack of the door to the
TV room, and some sounds were coming from the same room downstairs. “What’s she
doing, watching TV so late at night?” Back in their East Sea bungalow, they
would have been sound asleep by this time, and in another few hours; they would
have roused to get ready for their morning walk. Xiang Zhe went back to bed.
Shan Mei suddenly jumped when the phone in the TV room started ringing.
Her first reaction was asking herself, [“Who can be calling so late? BR?”],
then she quickly picked up the receiver.
“Hello?”
There was silence from the other side.
“Hello? Who’s there? BR?”
A low muffled male voice answered, “ Are you alone?”
Shan Mei was surprised.. “errr…h, huh?”
The disguised voice continued “Do you need company?”
“Who’s there?” Shan Mei was getting annoyed at the disturbance when the movie
she was watching on TV was reaching its climax.
“I can make you very happy.”
Shan Mei could make out suppressed laughter from the other end.
“I’ll call the police if you don’t stop your prank call.” She slammed down the
phone.
After the unexpected disturbance, she was in no mood to continue watching the
movie. Shan Mei turned off the TV, switched off the lights, then went back
upstairs.
She slipped back into bed and under the quilt. She looked over; Xue Zhang was
asleep, lying on his side of the bed. Very gently, she moved up to her husband
and stroked his bare back with her hand. As she stroked, she planted soft
kisses here and there, on his nape, on his shoulder blade, along his spine, and
very quietly whispered seductively into the hollow behind his ear,
“Are you alone?”
“Do you need company?”
“I can make you very happy.”
Xiang Zhe turned around and quickly caught her with his arms, laughing at her,
“I’ll call the police if you don’t start making me very happy right now.”
Shan Mei at once pommelled his chest with her fists and pouted at him. “How can
you frighten people so late in the night?”
“Who ask you to go off on your own again without me? You know I can’t sleep if
you are not in bed with me. Come, give me a hot cuddle.”
His wife pushed him away. “I’m not talking you again tonight.”
Laughing softly, he began showering hot kisses on her face, her neck and then
her mouth. As he came up to catch some breath, he lingered at her lobe and
murmured hoarsely into her ear, “Come on darling, make me happy….” He kissed
her mouth once again, this time lingering. His hands were slowly and tenderly
caressing her, kneading her, until they were lost in their moans and groans.
Xiang Zhe’s hand-phone rang. He chose to ignore the ringing, as he paid full
attention to his wife.
As soon as his phone stopped ringing, Shan Mei’s phone began ringing. She
shifted, wanting to make for the phone. “Don’t take it,” he told his wife, as
he was kissing her tender flesh and was about to move over her.
Shan Mei whispered to him “maybe it’s BR”, and picked up the phone.
“Hello, yes, BR?” She sat upright in bed after what BR told her. “Good, you go
home and get some rest. We’ll be there first thing tomorrow morning with BB.”
Putting her hand phone back on her bedside table, Shan Mei announced excitedly,
“Darling, Suzanne just gave birth to an 8 lb. Baby boy.”
“Ehmm that’s good…… now, come back down here,” he told her, patting the space
on the bed that Shan Mei had vacated earlier to take her call.
“Aren’t you excited, darling?”
“Of course I am, over something else more important here.” He pinned her down
back on the bed and began kissing his wife again, his hands roaming all over
her, caressing and lightly tickling her in all her most, most sensitive spots
that only he knew where until she was soft and moaning, her arms going around
his neck, pulling him closer.
Shan Mei was telling her husband how much she loved him. On their bed, that was
almost bathed in moonlight, she could make out clearly a smug smile on Xue
Zhang’s face before he dipped his head to continue his fiery onslaught of hot
and wild kisses. His breath was hot as he rubbed against her cheek, telling her
he loved her too, so much he didn’t think she would be able to fully comprehend
the depth of his love, even after all these years.
==
At breakfast the next morning, Shan Mei urged her husband to show a little bit
more enthusiasm for their new grandson. Xiang Zhe looked at her. “Hey, he’s
already our eleventh grandchild. Once I know whether it’s a boy or girl; that’s
good enough for me. I now only become enthusiastic and cooperative when my wife
tells me she wants to make me happy.”
Shan Mei gave him a smirk. “Let’s see how long you can keep up your enthusiasm
if I tell you I want to make you happy every night.”
He looked across the table at his wife with open delight. “Challenge accepted.
Tomorrow we fly back to Busan. In our East Sea bungalow, your old man will show
you what he’s still capable of.”
Shan Mei had gathered the dirty dishes and had moved to the kitchen sink to do
the washing up. She turned around to look at her husband blankly when she heard
what he said, wrinkling her brow at him, her mouth showing a trace of a smile,
“Who’s challenging you?”
“Hey, you just threw me a line.” He rose from his chair and went to stand
behind her, enfolded her in his arms, and nuzzled at the sensitive spot on her
nape somewhere near the behind of her ear. “You don’t expect me to ignore it,
do you? In any case, I know you will come up with excuses about my health. I’ll
take that into account too. Two times a week, and I won’t accept anything
less.” He let out a soft, happy chuckle.
“It’s pointless talking to you, when your mind is full of funny notions.”
Looking at him from under her lashes and releasing a sigh at the same time,
when she saw the eagerness in his laughing eyes.
“Pointless talking to me? Weren’t we talking very sweetly and agreeably in bed
earlier this morning ? I couldn’t get enough of the honey that was dripping
from your mouth…...” His voice was seductively low and husky.
Xiang Zhe ran his hot lips slowly back and forth against Shan Mei’s bare nape.
Then he raised a hand in the front to caress the throbbing hollow at the base
of her throat. He turned her slowly around to face him, so he could gaze
lovingly into her liquid eyes, giving her a heart-stopping smile.
“It’s okay you don’t talk now. When we are back in our East Sea bungalow, I’ve
my ways of making you talk.” He gave her nose a loving tweak, then walked off
laughing secretly to himself, one hand lightly rubbing his eyes when he saw her
puzzled look, the other hand loosely tucked inside his trouser pocket.
Frankly, he had no idea how to make her do anything she didn’t want to do. But
he had discovered since their marriage, and over the years, if he addled her
mind enough, she would become confused. And when she was in confused state, it
was quite easy to play around her soft and tender heart. That was how he first
got her to share bath with him on the third night after their wedding.
==
When he first suggested they take bath together so she could scrub his back,
Shan Mei was horrified. He began to grumble that she didn’t really love him
enough. She didn’t realize how tired he was, the whole day out visiting his
father’s place for lunch, and later at her parents’ place for early dinner. All
that socializing and drinking. He didn’t feel a headache yet, but he was sure
that night he would suffer one if he didn’t get his back scrub.
When he was young, his nanny used to give him good back scrubs during bath time
every evening to loosen his back muscles claiming the hour-long piano lessons
his mother insisted he took were too rigid and too tiring for a seven-year old
boy.
“When I was 9 years old, my mother sent my nanny away. She claimed the nanny
was trying to seduce my father, which I didn’t believe. Nanny was way older
than Father. She wouldn’t employ another nanny for me. My mother was always at
the office, preparing for the start up of the television station and taking
care of Wen Rong business, she barely had time for me. Our housekeeper tried
her best to take care of me. So, since I was 9, I not only lost one good friend
but also missed those back scrubs. You have to thank my nanny for having taken
such good care of me; you now have such a strong husband. A few years later,
when my father left us for the other woman; my mother’s mind simply went
downhill. After school hours, Senior Zian Da became my home tutor and friend;
he was at my house every afternoon. I also had a piano instructor who was very
strict. Yong Xi would frequently drop by so Zian Da could help her with some of
her school work too. When Zian Da entered university, and couldn’t spare time
for me, I left school after 1st year of Senior High and decided to continue my
studies in London.
After my nanny left, I never let another woman touch me. I missed having my
back scrubbed. You were what I’ve been subconsciously waiting for all my life.
I realized you were different when you walked away from me at the Kingston
Hospital Trust car park, after you refused a car lift after the car accident.”
Xiang Zhe then looked at Shan Mei with his big sorrowful eyes which reflected
the deep hurt and yearning in his heart, very eloquently and very vividly.
She reached out and took his hand, and gently stroked it lovingly hoping to rub
some of the hurt away. Shan Mei’s face had gone all red like an apple as she
tried to look for the right words, not wanting to hurt her newly-wedded
husband’s feelings. “But…, but.., Xue Zhang, that time you were just a little
boy, now…you’re…aiyo…it’s so embarrassing….” She had tried to avoid the
penetrating gaze from his eyes.
“What’s so embarrassing? We’re husband and wife already. It’s not like you’ve
never seen me without clothes.”
“But.., but.., that’s different. When we’re in bed, we always have the lights off,
leaving only one dimmed light on. And, we’ve only been married 3 days,” she
reminded him. “We’re practically strangers, in that sense. And, I’ve never
heard of husband and wife bathing…….erh…aiyoo…” She couldn’t continue and
became flustered, waving one confusing hand nervously about in the air, not
knowing how not to hurt his feelings.
Xiang Zhe let off a laughing snort. “Only saw me in the dark? Practically
strangers…? Have you forgotten about yesterday afternoon and this morning when
we didn’t get out of bed until 11? True, we didn’t have the lights on, but,
both times, it wasn’t dark either. I thought I was making you so happy…….” His
lips were slowly sipping around her cheeks, under her chin and along her neck.
“And, darling, how many people have you spoken to about private marital
matters? Your Ma? Come on, consider it your wedding present for your husband…?
Darling, you’ve made me wait 8 long years; don’t I deserve a reward from you
for my patience, huh? If you don’t feel comfortable enough to give me a back
scrub, it’s alright. I am more than happy to give you one. It’s very relaxing.
I promise.” Xiang Zhe coaxed and cajoled and wouldn’t let off; he could sense
she was wavering.
Shan Mei looked at Xiang Zhe and then turned her shy eyes away. True, she would
be too shy to ask even Ma about the intimate details of a marriage. The only
advice she had, came from her Pa who told her Xue Zhang was now the most
important person in her life, she had to be a good and understanding wife.
After marriage, she would be considered a full-fledged woman, no more acting
like a spoilt baby. She had to consider her husband’s feelings, to keep the
peace. Finally, she glanced at her husband from under her lashes and gave him a
shy nod.
Ripples of excitement tingled over Xiang Zhe as his wife prepared a tub of warm
water for him. Shan Mei sat on her stool as she concentrated on scrubbing his
back. Pleasurable sighs could be heard every time he told his wife, “Darling,
you’re doing very well even though you haven’t scrubbed anyone’s back before.”
“Since you say this is my wedding present to you, I want to make it the best.”
“Darling, I want this present from you every day.”
Shan Mei softened hearing the joy in Xue Zhang’s voice, and sat on the stool to
scrub not only his back but his arms and hands, his neck and his shoulders,
massaging the back of his head working right down to his toes. He made sure her
clothes became thoroughly wet. Then he suggested he returned the favour by
giving her a good back scrub. She only agreed if she got into the tub with her
clothes on. That was easy work for him. After a while, he coaxed her to remove
one piece of clothing after another so he could do a better job. In the end,
when Shan Mei felt so relaxed and happy after a good scrub, Xiang Zhe had no
trouble getting his wife to agree to share bath or shower with him every time
it was bath time.
==
At the hospital, when Shan Mei, Xiang Zhe and BB arrived, Brother Sung was
already there, with baby in his arms. Shan Mei brought special seaweed soup she
had prepared for Suzanne. Brother Sung handed baby over to the grandparents,
telling Shan Mei how handsome the little fellow was. Then he took Xiang Zhe
aside for a little bit of private discussion.
Xiang Zhe told the children, they would return to Busan tomorrow. Their mummy
didn’t want to celebrate her birthday in Seoul, especially now with everybody
so busy. And for this year’s wedding anniversary, their mummy wanted the
honorary grandfathers to take the grandchildren down to Busan to celebrate,
leaving the young couples free to celebrate their wedding anniversary on their
own without any disturbance. BB and BR looked at their parents gratefully.
“Thanks Dad, Mum.” And both boys, standing on either side of her, kissed their
mum on her cheeks.
The
Yins’ wedding anniversary was tomorrow. The gang from Seoul decided to fly down
to Busan on 6 July, to give the kids in Seoul time to organise their own
anniversary celebration. Wen Rong Shipyard arranged for a 30-seater bus to be
at Busan airport to collect the celebratory party. By 10 a.m., Shan Mei, Xiang
Zhe and BA’s family were excitedly waiting in the Arrival hall to receive the
guests. The children were especially excited. The cousins would get to play
together. They were going to spend two days together with their ‘family’.
Xiang Jie came with BB’s 3 children, 1 nanny and 1 maid
Brother Sung came with BR’s 2 children, 1 nanny and 1 maid
BR’s baby was at home with the new nanny
Jae Hoon came with BZ’s 2 children, 1 nanny
You Zhen and Minnie with their grandson
Patrick and Susie with 1 grandson from their son
Zian Da and Yong Xi
In Busan, BA and Rose with their 3 children
Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei. Almost like old times.
As soon as they boarded the bus, the elder two of BA’s sons huddled up to their
grandparents Patrick and Susie. BA was relieved; he had worried that the outing
might be a little too tiring for his pregnant wife with 3 kids in tow and one
on the way.
They had 2 hours to kill before lunch time; BR had made reservations at the
famous Dongnae Spa for the group. One spa area for the men, another larger area
for the women and the children. Dongnae Spa was famous for its alkali water,
with healing properties for all kinds of ailments. After a refreshing 2-hour
session, the party boarded the bus which dropped them off 20 minutes later in
Busan’s busiest upmarket commercial district for lunch.
The lunch was at Café D’Amigo, the newest western food outlet that rented their
restaurant premises from BA and Rose’s ground level space in Busan’s most
prestigious commercial block. The food was very good, not too foreign for the
local’s taste, and the dishes from their Children’s Menu were agreeable to the
excited grandchildren, sitting at a separate table, chattering with one another.
Seeing the happy gathering, Yong Xi couldn’t help commenting, “Xiang Zhe, I
remember you telling me a long time ago when I was in London, that you didn’t
intend to marry and have children, but look at the number of your grandchildren
now crowding round the table, celebrating their grandparents 39th wedding
anniversary, wanting your hugs and kisses one after another.”
Xiang Zhe looked lovingly at the woman sitting so quietly, but happily, beside
him. He picked up her hand, and kissed each finger in turn, lingering his lips
on her rings. He meant what he said about not marrying and having children. “If
I didn’t meet this little lady, my life would be one big ‘Zero’.” In a serious
voice, he looked at Shan Mei and declared, “Darling, you’re the catalyst for
what is happening around my life. Luckily, I didn’t give up.” Looking at Yong
Xi, he continued, “The first time we met, she refused to let me send her home.
When I couldn’t see her around the university grounds, I went to the Students’
Mailroom every day to check whether there was any letter from Korea waiting for
her. One day, I found a letter, and immediately used that as an excuse to see
her at the English School for Foreign Students. I offered to take her for
dinner. She refused, telling me she had to rush off to work. Imagine my
surprise and secret happiness when I walked into the restaurant later that
evening, and she was there. Two mornings later on campus, I finished off her
lunch. She was angry with me, but forgave me later, because I gave her some
language tips. Ever since that time, I’ve not been able to forget her
captivating face or her enchanting smile and the extra sushi she shared with me
during lunch breaks at uni.” He drew his wife to him, giving her a kiss on her
cheek, his mouth silently mouthing “I love you.” Many wet eyes all around.
Shan Mei smiled shyly at her husband and exchanged a fleeting glance with him.
In the months following their wedding and later on the birth of their
first-born, Xue Zhang had conducted himself like a devoted, loving husband and
father. She would occasionally chide him, “I cannot believe this is the same
man who firmly declared that he wasn’t interested in a wife and children.” As
she reminisced of their past student days, Xiang Zhe got her meaning; he caught
hold of her hand under the table and began doodling heart shapes all over her
palm. An instant, unbidden joy pervaded Shan Mei’s heart.
“Xiang Zhe, luckily for you, you impressed Shan Mei first, otherwise, I would
have challenged you till the end. Anyway, thank you both for your generosity, I
now have two of the loveliest grandchildren in the world.” Brother Sung hugged
his two grandchildren to his side.
You Zhen stood up to make a toast. “From the bottom of my heart, I thank my
sister Shan Mei and my brother Xiang Zhe for all that they have done for me.
Brother Jae Hoon, I thank you too for your kindness to me.”
On hearing that, Xiang Zhe didn’t want anybody to ask any further questions or
to make any more toasts. “Thank you, Brother Youzhen. Let’s not forget there’s
another couple here celebrating their wedding anniversary. This toast should
really go to our youngest son and his loving wife, Rose. Their children have
really given us much joy during our quiet times in the East Sea. Let’s eat up
fast, so we can take the grandchildren around to have some fun.”
After lunch, on their way out, Xiang Zhe went up to You Zhen and wrapped an arm
round him. Jae Hoon came up to You Zhen’s other side and wrapped an arm around
him too. The 3 men, hanging on to each other were talking softly and laughing
loudly. Shan Mei looked at them, her eyes misted. [“Such true brothers!”].
The bus took them to Busan Aquarium, then to Geungje Fortress, one of the
oldest fortresses guarding the Korean coastline, for some history lessons. The
bus then dropped them off at the Yacht Club, from where they boarded a yacht
that Roh Bin had arranged from the Busan Tourism Board. The bus was told to
meet the party at the East Sea Pier. The yacht slowly sailed along the coast to
see the new port facilities. Wen Rong had upgraded its ship repairing business,
now able to handle larger ships; they even a special section just to handle 20’
and 40’ container repairs. The shipyard looked modern and sleek from where they
were sitting and viewing on the yacht.
Xiang Zhe looked over to his son, BA, with pride when BA was explaining all
these to the adults and the children. Further up the hill in front of them, he
pointed to a large white factory building, with blue and red coloured tiled
roof. “That,” he proudly proclaimed following the direction his finger was
pointing, “is the MY Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant. We have just been
awarded the ‘Best-managed Factory in Busan’ Certificate by the Busan Trade
Ministry. Next month, we will get another business award for Best Achievement
in Export Trading.
From Wen Rong Shipyard, Roh Bin saw the BTB yacht sailing past, and immediately
called BA on the phone. “BA, Mr. Pei and his friends just dropped by the
shipyard. They left some BBQ meat for us; then made their way to East Coast.
They will meet you all back at the commune.”
“Thank you, Uncle Roh. We’ll see you and your family up at the commune later.
Uncle Roh, stay the night. We’ll prepare a bungalow for your family.”
The yacht then sailed leisurely along the East Sea shoreline and soon docked at
the Pier. All had an enjoyable time. Tomorrow they would go fishing. Tonight
they would have BBQ feast. The bus took them back to the commune. When the bus
arrived, BA saw the uncles already at the orchard picking ripe pears and
peaches and piling them into large reed baskets. He also saw that the uncles
had arranged ice boxes for drinks. The BBQ stove had been set up too.
Except for Yong Xi and Zian Da who were given the late Yin Senior’s bungalow, sleeping
arrangements for the others were soon sorted out. The maids who were
responsible for cleaning, washing and cooking stayed in a bungalow by
themselves. There were so many bungalows. Zian Da was really impressed by the
tranquility of the place. No wonder Xiang Zhe had this Zen quality about him,
as if nothing could raise his hackles any more.
==
Later that night, out on the verandah of their bungalow before retiring for the
night, Zian Da questioned his wife why his father-in-law had decided to sell
off his shares in Wen Rong and MBS ? Of course, his father-in-law had told them
the money from the sale was used to finance their stay in America, but at least
he could have left some shares to Yong Xi so they could claim some legal right
to remain in MBS. Seeing how successful the Station was now being run,
occupying the No. 1 spot, Zian Da wished he could be a part of it. He was quite
upset when he heard his father-in-law’s 10% shares were sold, half to Mr. Jin
Jun Hao’s younger son and the remaining half to Sir Michael Dutton. Now both
Jin’s sons were working at Wen Rong Heavy Machinery and he heard they were both
doing very well, cooperating with Bansung to handle many China JVs
successfully.
He never understood Yong Xi’s father. The old man, when he was alive, never
really liked him. He didn’t even show up at their wedding although he did throw
them a lavish banquet, but he chose to attend Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei’s wedding
banquet, enjoying himself so much he didn’t want to go home; that night he together
with Uncle Jin and Chairman Yin continued to party away in a suite at the
Westin Chosun. They stayed there 2 nights.
==
On the third day after the wedding anniversary celebration, peace reigned again
in the East Sea bungalow. Seeing Xue Zhang sitting so quietly in one corner of
verandah, Shan Mei became worried. “Darling, do you need a back massage, seeing
you have been exerting yourself so much? You’re very quiet since our visitors
left this afternoon. Are you missing our grandchildren?”
“I’m missing my wife. These 3 days you have been running around making
everybody happy, but me. How are you going to compensate me for your neglect?”
“How about giving you a good back scrub, then a good back massage?”
“Sure ‘good’? No cheating?” As Xiang Zhe asked, he eyed his wife with a dubious
glint.
Shan Mei nodded her head and gave him a sincere look, indicating she meant what
she had promised. Okay. He filled up their tub with hot water. He let it cool
just a little bit, after that he hurriedly stepped into the water. He didn’t
want Shan Mei to tell him the water had gone cold and not good for him. She got
in when Xiang Zhe suggested they give each other scrubs. Shan Mei felt good and
relieved. She didn’t realise she was so tired. “What about you, Xue Zhang? Are
you tired? Come, turn around, I want to scrub you.”
She worked very hard in giving her husband a thorough scrub all over, spending
at least 10 minutes at each section. Xiang Zhe was grinning like a Cheshire
cat, and enjoying the pampering.
“Did you notice how the honorary grandfathers were enjoying themselves? I’m so
happy for Xiang Jie. I’m not sorry my granddaughter prefers him to me.” Xiang
Zhe was sincere when he voiced his feeling.
“Naturally, they were happy. They took full charge without the children’s
parents hanging around. The grandchildren really adored them. I’m so happy for
all three of them.”
“Michael must feel left out. Every one having grandchildren, not him. Maybe we
should ask him to visit to see his god children.”
“You don’t have to feel sorry for him. BA has discussed with Rose, and if we
agree, they want to name their forthcoming baby after Michael, something like
Michael Dutton Yin. I thought it was so beautiful of BA and Rose. What do you
think?”
“What if the baby is a girl?”
“Then it will be Michaela. But don’t tell Michael yet. I’m always afraid with
our age, whether we can take sudden and unexpected news well. Let BA slowly
break the news to him, like asking him whether Michael or Michaela will be a
good name. Michael hasn’t grown stupid with age. He will surely catch on to
their game.” Shan Mei sighed contentedly. She looked over to her husband and
asked tenderly,
“Darling, do you want to get up and lie down a bit before I give you a back
massage?”
“Are you going to lie down with me? Don’t try to run off and then tell me you
have to do something else.”
“When do I ever do that?” Shan Mei asked, feigning innocence.
“All the time. I’m not as stupid as before. I now know how your mind works.”
Shan Mei laughed softly at him, this Xue Zhang still remembering her words.
“Wa, very clever now, huh? I won’t dream of lying anywhere else except next to
you. Happy?”
Xiang Zhe, his face boyish with eagerness, immediately got up from the tub,
wrapped himself with large towel, and went to lie on their bed. The hot water
had made his body red with blood circulation. He needed to cool down, before
Shan Mei got his blood circulating again with a mild massage, and something
else, if he was lucky!
==
One early morning, middle of September.
Wild pine mushroom season was here again. Yesterday, Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei had
quite a good morning with their picking. Although they couldn’t walk or work as
fast as they did in previous years, the excitement of spotting their very first
mushroom of the season was still an immeasurable delight beyond description.
Shan Mei would usually tear off bits from the mushroom cap, sometimes fresh dew
drops were still sitting on it, and feed it to her husband. Last night they had
gone to bed early, wanting to make a good start in the morning for their
mushroom hunt.
Xiang Zhe went into the kitchen to prepare some hot tea. Shan Mei was still
sleeping. He went back into their bedroom and sat on the edge of her side of
the bed, and looked down at his beautiful angel. He bent down to plant a soft
kiss on her cheek, as his hand slipped under her thin cotton chemise to give
her gentle strokes, a habit that began since their early days of marriage. “Hey
sleepy head, time to get up. Your mushrooms are waiting for you.”
When she didn’t stir, he leaned further down and whispered into her ear, “if
you don’t get up, then I demand we stay in bed all day today.” No reaction.
“What happened?” he thought. Usually she would jump out of bed as soon as she
heard his mild threat.
“Shan Mei, Shan Mei!!” his voice becoming loud and urgent when he noticed she
was very still and not responding to his shakes. Hysterics broke out in loud
frightened sobs as he felt around her body. Her body was warm. She was
breathing albeit very faintly. He reminded himself, “Yin Xiang Zhe, this is not
the time for drama, pull yourself together.”
He phoned Uncle Kim, their man in the nearby bee-keeping farm who was supposed
to take care of hard labour around their garden and vegetable plot, or to drive
them into town or the hospital in case of emergency. His wife, Auntie Kim, was
also their housekeeper who came in twice a week to help Shan Mei with heavy
cleaning around the bungalow. Xiang Zhe then called their son BA, telling him
to arrange for the necessary at the Busan Wen Rong Hospital. “Daddy found your
mummy unconscious in bed this morning. Uncle Kim is driving us down to Busan
right away.”
BA could detect immense dread in his father’s voice. He tried to calm his own
frayed nerves because he knew all hell would break loose if anything should
happen to his mother. He sighed heavily as he finished the call, then punched
Chris’s phone number into his hand phone.
In the back seat of the van, Xiang Zhe was cradling Shan Mei in his arms,
quietly sobbing, “Darling, can you hear me? It’s Xue Zhang. Darling, please
don’t scare me! If anything happens to you, I don’t want to live. What about
our golden wedding anniversary celebration? Weren’t you planning for it? Don’t
you dare cheat me out of it, do you hear?”
He held her tight and planted several soft little kisses on her forehead, her
head, brushing stray strands of hair from her face. Tears were streaming down
his cheeks. He lost his senses and his cool as more tears came. “I want my
handkerchief back. Zhen Shan Mei, you wake up, you hear me? Give me back my
hankerchief. Wake up, go get my hankie and wipe away my tears. Sha.n.. M.ei,
S.h.a..n.. Mei…you never refuse me anything. I beg you, please wake up, go get
my hankie and wipe away my tears.”
Xiang Zhe cradled Shan Mei closer to him. He buried his face into her chest and
wept, the sound coming from him sounded like low growls. Uncle Kim was worried.
He didn’t dare volunteer any words of comfort. Mr. Yin was in no sane state to
listen to anything or anyone. Uncle Kim realized it was more important to
concentrate on his driving and on the road, to get them all safely to the
hospital.
Xiang Zhe was sitting on the armchair as he tried to answer the doctor’s
questions as best as he could.
- His wife was seldom sick.
- Yes, she once passed out and remained unconscious for one night, but that was
41 years ago.
- Yes, he had noticed she sometimes pounded her heart if she became emotionally
distressed. Again, that was a long time ago. They had been so happy, there was
never any cause for her to be grief-stricken.
- Clutching at her heart in pain? Maybe she did, but he didn’t notice she did
that when they were together and they had been together for 39 years already.
He looked wildly distraught at the doctor, “Doctor, what are you trying to get
at?”
“Don’t worry Chairman Yin, only routine questions.”
Xiang Zhe sounded skeptical. “Only routine questions?” He turned to BA and
bellowed, “Get Chris down here at once.”
“He’s already on his way. Please try to relax, Daddy.” His hands were on his
dad’s shoulders, trying to offer some comfort and ease his distress.
“Relax? You kids don’t know what you’re talking about. If something happens to
your mother, you kids won’t have an easy life.” Xiang Zhe’s head was dipped and
buried in the palms of his hands, frantically going over yesterday’s events.
What did they do? They went up the hill, spent about an hour searching for
mushrooms. This time they went a little bit beyond their usual mushroom ground.
They were not the only ones roaming the hills at that hour. Many of the bee
keepers were out too, and they had come up to them giving them some of the
mushrooms they had found around their own grounds.
During the day, Shan Mei did her normal household chores like cleaning,
laundry, gardening, then prepared a lunch of kimchi noodles with the mushrooms.
They had early dinner of minced pork with mushrooms and rice, fresh peaches for
dessert. They felt tired so they went off very early to bed.
BA could understand his daddy’s frenzied state. No one could love his mum more
than his dad, same as no one could love his dad more than his mum. He pulled
his chair up close to the armchair. He wrapped his arm around his dad’s
shoulders. Suddenly, Xiang Zhe dropped his tired head within the lee of BA’s
shoulder and started sobbing. The son quietly and calmly soothed his dad’s
back.
Xiang Zhe began confessing he was not a good husband, giving so much trouble to
his wife. He didn’t listen to her advice. He wanted change in his diet, he
wanted meat every day. Whenever she made pork stew or 5 spice marinated pork,
he would sneak into the kitchen while she was having her afternoon nap, and
made himself a bowl of ramen with her pork. He wanted to help her around the
bungalow, but she wouldn’t let him, always telling him he must not over exert
himself. It was entirely his fault, drinking and smoking so much during his
young days, he became a burden to Shan Mei. “Your mother did most of the bulk
of heavy work around the bungalow, while she only delegated a few light chores
to me.”
“Daddy, you don’t have to blame yourself. Mummy’s cooking is simply too good.
You know, during our growing up years at Grandpa’s mansion, whenever Uncle
Philip and Auntie Polly came to visit and stayed with us, mummy would make for
them her fabulous sushi rolls, and keep them in the fridge. One day, we
couldn’t resist anymore. Eldest Brother took the box from the fridge, and all
four of us sat around the dining table and simply finished off the sushi. When
Grandma returned from her shopping, we confessed to her. She made fresh sushi
and kept them in the fridge for them when they arrived home. Thereafter, we
would steal mummy’s sushi, and have Grandma made fresh ones for Uncle Philip.”
Xiang Zhe looked up at his son, “You did?” and grinned at him at the children’s
ingenuity.
“There’s something different in her food.” BA mused as he recalled the taste of
the sushi.
“Know what son? It’s her secret ingredient, she always tells me. Her secret
ingredient of Abundant Love. The more love, the better the food will taste, she
was always telling me.”
Father and son started talking of the days when the children were young. Xiang
Zhe was telling BA how he and his youngest son Rong Yau were so alike. “That’s
why your mummy wants to take him home with her whenever Rose agrees. You know
what? Last month when we were playing around, he told me he loves boats. He
told me when he grows up, he wants to follow his daddy to work, so he can keep
an eye on his daddy’s boats. How’s that, BA? Your son already telling you he
wants to be a sailor when he grows up.”
“Good! Then I can retire early and leave the shipyard for him to manage. I
think I’ll then concentrate on the pharmaceutical factory and travel more often
to China. Mummy was telling me about this fantastic herbal soup that you have
been taking to keep your cholesterol level stable. After she gave us the
recipe, Rose has been experimenting with it. Uncle Ding will be sending us some
of the best grade herbs for this recipe from Jilin. And Uncle Ding wants to
know when you and mummy will be visiting them again. He has recently received a
batch of the finest grade of cordyceps from Qinghai. They have also recently
found a new growth of wild ginseng in one of the Jilin mountains. He wants us
to call on him on our next buying trip to China so we can bring the herbs back
for you. These herbs are superior in quality to the ones he had been sending
you since you first had the lung problem. ”
Talking of Jilin always reminded Xiang Zhe of the Dings’ fantastic hospitality.
He then described the unforgettable scenic wonders of the beautiful Chang Bai
mountain range. “Son, you must make sure when you are in Yanbian again, to go
visit Chang Bai at least once in your lifetime. Fly to Linjiang to make the
trek up to Chang Bai. The scenery is best at that stage. During our time,
routes were not that easily accessible. We went up from the Yanji end. When we
were up there at Chang Bai, there was no where else on earth more beautiful and
serene. You must ask your Uncle Jun Mao to show you the film he took when we
were up there the first time. That time, your mum and I were newly engaged. I
looked at the pristine, crystal-clear waters on the lake up there, the
sparkling snow all around and thought your mother had transported me to
paradise. No wonder the world’s rarest herbs are found in this Jilin mountain
range. Celestial beings must be living on those mountains.”
“That beautiful a paradise, eh? I’ll definitely want to take Rosie to visit.”
“Son, our sojourn didn’t just end there. Since marriage, your mother has
continued taking me with her on her journey through paradise, and the journey
is not yet over for us.” [I hope,] he quietly prayed, wanting to keep the
faith.
BA was happy to see that a whimsical smile was back on his Dad’s face, most
probably recalling some beautiful memories. While they were still talking,
Chris walked in on them. He had just arrived from the airport.
“Don’t
worry, Dad.” Chris was consoling his father-in-law. He was relieved too. This
morning when BA called, he thought his mother-in-law might have suffered a mild
heart attack.
BZ then became frantic and nagged him about his medical expertise. “You
graduated from the best medical school in U. K. and trained one year with the
best cardiologist on Harley Street. Surely you can ensure that nothing will
happen to my mother? If I lose my mother, it will mean losing my father as
well. You don’t know those two. They’re closer and tighter than 2 peas in a
pod. Even a waft of air won’t be able to find space between them.” With that in
mind, Chris flew down to Busan.
“There’s nothing seriously wrong with Mum. She was too exhausted, eating too
little and doing too much. At first I thought she might have had a mild heart
attack, but it’s only a very slight problem of heart murmurs which can easily
be corrected because everything else seemed to be just fine.”
“Chris, are you telling me the truth? I’m nervous when I hear of heart attacks,
heart murmurs, heart bypass, heart problems….” Xiang Zhe sounded almost lost as
he looked steadily into the eyes of his son-in-law.
“According to what you told me, she missed her afternoon nap yesterday. May be
it was those mushrooms. Not that they were poisonous; if they were Mum would
have been dead. But some of them could be a little bit different, being the
first pops of the season. I suppose you took them too. Dad, did you feel any
different? There may be clusters of rogue mushrooms popping up somewhere on
those hills. Next time, just stick to your own hills. You never used to have
problems with your mushrooms all these years until your batch consisted of some
from the other pickers, right?”
“Well, now that you mentioned it, I did feel sleepy quite early on in the
evening and slept extremely well last night. Can I go in and see my wife now?”
“No, not now, Dad. Later, perhaps. You may get her excited with your ramblings,
whenever she comes around. Mum didn’t know she passed out when she opened her
eyes fleetingly about an hour ago. Her mind is still a bit woozy. We’ve put her
on drip, to get any mushroom residue out of her system. Some rogues from that
batch of mushrooms you ate, might have some narcotic properties, since they’re
wild. It’s very difficult to do testing with mushrooms. If they are inedible,
they are poisonous. For those edible, some may give a drugged effort. To this
day, poisonous mushrooms have not been completely classified or identified.”
For the first time in his adult life, Xiang Zhe felt that he had no control,
that he was being sucked helplessly into a giant whirlpool of circumstances.
And he didn’t like this frustrating limbo one bit. He wanted to see for himself
that his wife was alright.
==
That evening, Chris had dinner with his father-in-law in Shan Mei’s private
suite.
“Dad, today Dr. Park showed me around the hospital and we’ve discussed the
facilities presently available in the hospital in great detail. Busan is
growing very rapidly. Soon, it will catch up with Seoul. To service its growing
population properly, I’ve decided to spend one day a week in Busan.”
“That’s an excellent idea. Have you spoken to BZ about this?”
“This is my job, she’ll understand. Since Dad and Mum live down here, I’m sure
she won’t object at all. Once I’m back in Seoul, I’ll re-organise my schedules,
then make a day free for Busan. Most probably Mondays, since Tuesdays and
Fridays are my surgery days.”
==
Xiang Zhe was sitting by Shan Mei’s bed, her hands held captive in his. She was
coming around, and moaning a little. Shan Mei finally opened her eyes, looked
around the room and stared in Xue Zhang’s with dread and confusion. “Darling,
what happened? Where am I? Why am I here?”
“It’s alright, darling, nothing serious.” He bent to comfort her, stroking her
cheek. “I’m here with you.” He continued to stroke Shan Mei’s head, and talked
in a low, soothing tone.
Shan Mei caught hold of one of Xue Zhang’s hand and in a frightened voice, told
her husband she wanted to go home.
“Not yet, darling. There’s no hurry. Chris will tell us when.”
“Chris is here?” she asked as she looked around the room.
“Yes, since yesterday. He’ll come and see you later this evening.”
==
Xiang Zhe was so relieved. Finally, three days later, Shan Mei was discharged
from the hospital. Back in their bungalow, Xiang Zhe helped his wife into the
bedroom to rest on the bed. He kissed her and told her he loved her and she had
to take things easy. When the kiss ended he had a two-handed grip on her hair,
tipping her head back with the faintest tug on her scalp, and with frightening
eyes, he said fiercely, “I never want to go through that ever again.”
“Neither do I.”
They let their eyes rove over each other’s faces. He released her hair and
began stroking it back from her temples.
“Do you know how much I love you?” Xiang Zhe asked his wife, his face all
solemn. Shan Mei stretched out her hands to him, taking hold of his hand
between her palms, and giving him a weak smile, she nodded her head, “I know.”
“No, you don’t! If you do, you wouldn’t do silly things to frighten your old
man. From now onwards, I want you to listen to my words, and do what I want you
to do.” Xiang Zhe fretted.
“Oh, no. I know the kind of words and ideas coming from you!” Shan Mei looked
nervously at Xiang Zhe, her brows almost pushed together.
“Darling, this time they’re going to be different. I promise,” he assured her
with a sneaky smile.
“Your promises any good?” she asked doubtfully.
He gave her an exasperated look, tweaked her nose and pulled at her hair, for
doubting him. “I want you to tell me to do the things you want me to do, and
I’ll be good and follow through with your wishes.”
“True?” When he didn’t have that teasing twinkle in his eyes, Shan Mei believed
he was serious and sincere. She smiled sweetly and lovingly at him, “No more
meat every day for you? Maybe 2 times a week?”
“Yes, I agree.”
Shan Mei looked at her husband with puzzled eyes and crossed brows, not daring
to believe his complacency. [“What game is this Xue Zhang playing?”] she
thought.
==
It was the first day of the 4th quarter. When Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei went for
their usual morning walk, they detoured to leave a portable radio and their
flask of hot tea on the stone table in their orchard before walking off. This
morning, Radio MBS would be airing the first installment of “More Salt Than
Rice”. The Yins didn’t walk far, and made it back to their table in time for
the radio programme. While enjoying the tea, they laughed at several jibes from
Zian Da on the programme. They wondered whether that was the way Zian Da and
Yong Xi bantered at home. Shan Mei recognised a few voices, Li Qing Xi, Shen Qi
Tong, Zhao Di and Chen Sui. Jae Hoon and Xiang Jie were there too. “Hey, didn’t
that sound like Patrick?” Shan Mei commented. Soon, the 30 minutes were up. The
programme would be aired Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. If MBS received more
favourable feed back and stories from listeners, they might increase weekly
installments. Shan Mei thought 30 minutes was good, not too long and not too
short.
At first Shan Mei thought this would be a low-cost programme for Bansung to
sponsor. But BZ had other ideas. She wanted KTB to sponsor, later they could
have the bickering couple visit some tourist spots, to add more spice and
dimension to the stories. Of course KTB could never refuse the charming Miss
Yin Bao Zhu a simple sponsorship request as this. BZ had done many favours for
KTB, receiving many visiting dignitaries from the West on their behalf. The
visiting dignitaries were always captivated by Miss Yin, not just by her
fluency in the English and French languages, but by her charm and beauty, her
sense of humour and her vast, in-depth knowledge of current affairs.
During dinner that night, the radio show was main topic for the Yins. Xiang Zhe
didn’t want Xiang Jie and Jae Hoon to put so much effort into the show. If the
show became successful, that Yong Xi would start acting up, just like her time
at MBS. That time, once she became main anchor for the 9 p.m. news, she didn’t
want to be presenter for any other show. Shan Mei thought this time she would
behave differently.
“Xue Zhang, Yong Xi and Zian Da are bored with their lives. They don’t have
money problems, they don’t have to worry about their daughter. Where are they
going to find something so fun? Don’t worry darling. Everything is in the pen.
If Jae Hoon can write them in, he can also write them out, so simple. The one
who controls the pen is also the one who controls the show. Xiang Jie is there.
Yong Xi and Zian Da will play according to younger brother’s rules. And BZ is
smart like her daddy. She knows what she wants out of the show. Don’t worry,
darling. Leave it to the kids.”
Shan Mei continued to look at her husband, and decided to give him some
enlightenment.
“Darling, you know why I love you so much? When it comes to the nuances of a
person’s character, you’re still sweetly, innocently gullible. Everybody knows
what they’re doing in this game except you.”
Xiang Zhe looked at his wife in a puzzled way, expecting further enlightenment.
“Yong Xi lets Zian Da return to Seoul because she is bored with him in America.
Over there, he’s an ordinary citizen. If he returns to Seoul, she knows he’ll
come to you asking to return to MBS. When he gets to return to MBS, at least he
has a title and if she returns after that time, she’ll be so and so’s wife.
Zian Da comes to you, knowing you’ll help him out because you treat Yong Xi as
your special sister. He knows you’ll then come to me. For sure, he’ll then get
something because I can never refuse you anything because I want you to be
happy. And he knows I won’t put him into something menial because of face for
you. I then go to my brothers to arrange something for him. He knows my
brothers will come up with something good because they in turn can’t refuse me
anything.
If Yong Xi and Zian Da don’t appreciate what you’ve done for them, giving them
this show, then they deserve each other. I only worry that once Zian Da gets
his fame, he’ll start his nonsense of going out to the karaoke clubs with his
‘stars’ from the radio station. You make sure you stay away from him.”
“You don’t have to worry about that, darling. I never liked those places. When
I first started with MBS, he used to bring me along so he could have an excuse
to stay out and someone to pay the bills. Those times, I wondered why Zian Da
always liked going to those places to talk business. It was impossible to talk
anything there with all the drinking and singing racket going on. Why couldn’t
he handle business talks in the office?”
“Darling, please don’t come to me asking us to help them out, then warn me that
Yong Xi may cause trouble. Next time, tell them to go see Xiang Jie.”
“Darling, I didn’t want to give them a special show, in this way, but….”
“I’m certain you didn’t,” Shan Mei said, full of understanding. She knew her
husband’s strict sense of justice, his total determination, his gentleness with
his children, his loyalty to his family and to his friends, his soft and
generous nature. He could never bear any grudges for long, and he always looked
for some peaceful solution out of any tricky situation rather than insist on
unpleasant confrontation.
Shan Mei pulled her light woolen cardigan closer to her body, and then rubbed
at her arms. “Darling, it’s getting chilly out in the verandah. Let’s go back
inside.”
“Want me to keep you really, really warm under the quilt tonight?” Xiang Zhe
asked as he took hold of one of Shan Mei’s hands and began gently stroking her
palm.
Shan Mei looked at him briefly, then gave him a sweet smile and a nod of her head.
They walked back into the house together, holding hands, Xiang Zhe’s mind still
ruminating on what Shan Mei had brought to his attention.
Again, he was being fooled by that Zian Da, same way he was taken in when he
first returned from England to join MBS. Those times, during meetings, Zian Da
would be quiet, and was never the first one to suggest any ideas, but when it
came to reward times, he was the first one with suggestions. He became another
person, so alive, whenever there were celebratory outings at the clubs. That
Zian Da was always thinking of his own skin and his own ambitions.
Was this the reason he volunteered to be his home tutor? So he could befriend
his mother? After he finished university, he went straight to see Xiang Zhe’s
mother wanting an opportunity to work at MBS; he was given a job in the News
Department immediately. So leopards can never change their spots unless they
get skinned. Xiang Zhe ran his tongue gingerly over his lips with trepidation
at a distasteful thought. Right, he would leave the skinning to Xiang Jie, if
ever the need arose!
==
It was still very cold in early February at the East Sea area and Xiang Zhe was
sitting in his living room, wrapping his hands around a hot water bottle to
keep them warm.
“Drat!” he mildly cursed when he heard his hand phone ringing. He had left it
in his study and he would now need to get up from his cosy armchair in front of
the television to get it.
BZ was on the phone, very excitedly telling her father to fly up to Seoul with
her mother for Valentine’s Day. Xiang Zhe was not interested. “Princess, I
don’t want to rush your mum back and forth in this cold weather. Anyway, what’s
this excitement all about?” he asked as he laughed softly down the line,
already imagining the angry pout on his daughter’s mouth. This girl was very
spoilt. She never liked to have her wishes dashed. Besides her mother, Chris
seemed to be the only one able to handle her very well. Xiang Zhe had never
seen her throw a tantrum at Chris.
“Our radio show is very well received and has spawned a wide range of debates.
At the beginning of the year, we ran a competition with several titles to be
won, asking listeners to vote from among celebrities for the most romantic
couple, the most perfect couple, the most beautiful couple, and the most
blessed couple. And you know what? You two guys took all 4 titles. If I’m not
personally involved with the scrutiny of the vote counting, I’d bet my last Won
there was blatant rigging of votes.”
Xiang Zhe guffawed loudly at that. “Hey Princess, we don’t need those listeners
to tell us. I don’t know about your mum, but I knew all along we were very
blessed and that your mum and I were perfect for each other. You talk to your
mum; if you can convince her to go, I’ll tag along to keep her company.” Xiang
Zhe walked out to the garden, and passed the phone to his wife.
==
Xiang Zhe, Shan Mei, and BA and his family minus the new born babe flew into
Seoul two days before the Valentine’s Day Event at MBS. BZ took her mother and
Rose to select their gowns, while Xiang Zhe went with BA to Armani for suit
fitting.
On the actual evening, it was like outing for the Yin family. Xiang Zhe was
beaming all night, while Shan Mei felt as if they had cheated some couples of
some awards. This show was televised live, and the results were no secret as
the leading entertainment news papers updated the vote tally on daily basis.
KTB used the opportunity to push out their Most Romantic, Most Perfect, Most
Beautiful and Most Blessed Holiday Destination tour packages, and on
Valentine’s Day, 20 lucky voters would be the recipients of tour packages in
the segment they had voted in.
Before the announcement of winner, the 1st and 2nd runners-up for each segment,
MBS roving reporters had been out on the streets, asking the citizens why they
chose the Yin couple as the most romantic.
The consensus was the same:
“I remember Zhen Shan Mei once telling the public that her husband, that time
they were still unmarried, sending a rose every day to her.”
“There was one time when they both said they seldom celebrated February 14th as
special Valentine’s Day because everyday of their married life was Valentine’s
Day.”
“The couple is truly romantic. They never let money became a major factor of
their love. Mr. Yin once said the best Valentine’s Day present he could give
his wife was a sky full of stars. And they spent a lot of time sleeping under
the stars. How romantic.”
When the couple was invited up to stage to accept their trophy, they brought
their eldest son along to accept the trophy on their behalf. They thanked all
their supporters for their love.
When it was the Most Beautiful Couple title, there was no need to elaborate.
One look at them, no one could dispute they simply looked stunning together,
with such impeccable taste. And the 2nd son they brought up on stage to collect
their trophy was testament to the excellent genes he had inherited from his
parents. Several viewers were interviewed for their opinions.
“Most Perfect Couple”. Husband and Wife complemented each other extremely well,
in their career, their outlook in life and their family life. They were always
supportive of each other, and no one had ever heard a harsh word passed between
them since their marriage. Despite Zhen Shan Mei’s success in her own right,
her husband was the ‘Boss’ of their household. They brought their beautiful and
elegant daughter up on stage to collect the trophy on their behalf.
They were blessed, because they had everything. Fame, Money, Success, Beauty,
Brains, a blissful marriage and Endearing Friendships. Not only four beautiful
children, they had sons, a daughter, and a set of twins. The emcee for the
night asked, “How can a couple be so blessed?”
“Senior Chairman, we want to know your secret.” The couple wore wide grins on
their faces, as their youngest son accompanied them up to the stage to collect
the trophy on behalf of his parents. Shan Mei wanted to dedicate the trophy to
her late father-in-law and mother-in-law who made everything possible for them
to enjoy a blessed life. A loud murmur broke out in the hall. The youngest son
was the spitting image of his father. They were both standing up on stage,
their hands behind their backs, same postures, same irresistible smiles. In
fact, for some audiences, it was like being transported over the years back to
that time when Yin Xiang Zhe was in his early 30’s.
The reporters present wanted an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Yin Xiang Zhe. When
Xiang Zhe sent his children to accept the interview, the reporters said they wanted
some words from the Yins first. “Since both are retired, what do you do most
days?”
“We spend our days out on our East Sea property, quietly enjoying ourselves.”
“Mr. Yin, your youngest son looks the exact image of you. Are you jealous he’s
as good looking as you? Many people have said he’s even better looking than
you?”
“Jealous of him?” Xiang Zhe laughed out, thinking the question was so
ridiculous. “I feel sorry for him. Because he’s so like me, he has to wear my
hand-me-downs. His mother won’t let him buy any new suits, saying he has
already more than 100 suits hanging in his wardrobe. Tonight is a special
night, so he’s wearing something new.”
“You’re dressed very smart tonight. So Mr. Yin has always been a spiffy
dresser?”
“Of course I had to watch what I was wearing. I had a lot of competition from
many well-dressed, handsome and presentable young men trying to catch Miss Zhen
Shan Mei’s eyes in those days.”
“But Mr. Yin, you yourself had a long line of female admirers in those days,
girls from prominent families in Seoul, well educated and very beautiful. How
come none caught your attention?”
“Were there? I guess I didn’t notice because my eyes were too busy keeping
watch over Miss Zhen! Anyway, we brought our children with us tonight, because
listeners wanted to know something about them. Please give them a chance to
voice their opinion in the press. Thank you.” With that, Xiang Zhe escorted
Shan Mei back to their seats.
==
Since all members of the family were together at the same time in Seoul, Xiang
Zhe wanted to use the occasion to do grave-sweeping. All piled into 2 tour
buses that BB had arranged. First stop was Xiang Zhe’s mother burial site. Yin
Senior and Auntie Lee had their plots close by in the same area. Next stop was
Shan Mei’s Ma burial site. Her Pa and You Zhen’s mother were buried close by as
well.
A picnic lunch was spread out on the nearby grounds. Xiang Zhe had always
thought this area where his in-laws were buried was very beautiful, every time
when he used to come with Shan Mei. It was a little hillock looking out towards
a placid lake.
BB noticed his Uncle was quietly sitting by himself under a tree, slowly
sipping a can of ice tea, his mind seemed very far away. He went up to Uncle
and slowly placed a comforting arm around his shoulders.
He gave his uncle an understanding smile and whispered into his ear, “We’ll
take a week off next month and go to London, okay? Shari was telling me the
other day it’s been more than a year she and the children haven’t seen her parents.
We can visit the Duttons at the same time. We’ll drop by the Memorial Park to
see whether its management had taken good care of Grandpa and Grandma Park’s
plots. I’ll arrange the air tickets. You just make sure BR and BZ let you off.”
Xiang Jie smiled indulgently at BB, his favourite nephew, and gave his hand a
gentle squeeze. Everyone in the family knew he treated BB like a real son.
Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei noticed this little exchange. They looked at one
another, their smiles gratified.
Although Xiang Jie tried to hide his true feelings very well within himself,
Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei couldn’t believe that he never felt lonely at times. The
way he drowned himself in work and loved being surrounded by lots of his
colleagues in the office, already gave him away.
Not that he didn’t have opportunities for girlfriends or marriage partners. At
one time, he had girls waiting in line dying for just a glance or a smile from
him, and he was in an intimate relationship with a Japanese lady for about a
year when he was 36 years old. It was family circumstances that made him avoid
any commitment of sorts at all costs.
Since that time when his uncle, Jin Enqi, tried to stir up trouble for Xiang
Zhe and Shan Mei, and his mother was exposed as a home-wrecker on the hunt for
money and an easy life, bringing such hurt to his father, he never wanted to be
involved with a woman, unless he could find a woman like his sister-in-law. But
that would be an impossible mission, because Shan Mei was unique. Didn’t the
other two bachelors reach the same conclusion a long time ago? That was why
they had settled for being grandfathers to Shan Mei’s grandchildren. At least,
in this way, they would have a little bit of her.
Xiang Zhe found it amusing. The Italian Operatic world had its famous Three
Italian Tenors: Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti; Seoul had its famous Three
Bachelors, Sung Han Yin. They were always spoken of in one breath, inseparable
and much sought after by Seoul’s ambitious doyennes to grace their parties.
Very handsome, rich, and eligible bachelors whose skills on the dance floors
were legendary were difficult to find, and here in this tight-knit group, there
were 3 of them. If a hostess could get one to attend her function, the other
two would surely turn up.
There was an adage about falling in love. ‘It’s never too young or too late to
fall in love.’ Xiang Zhe looked at his wife, drew her close to him and asked
her softly whether there was still hope for Xiang Jie to find love.
“Darling, keep praying.” He locked his fingers with hers, and together they
prayed.
==
Xiang Zhe came out of the bathroom after a hot shower, rubbed his hands
together, and made a show of slight shivering all over his body.
“Good Lord,” he muttered, “it’s cold tonight.”
He looked at Shan Mei just emerging from her dressing room and pointed a finger
at the bed. “Darling, would you mind getting into bed so I can pile up behind
you and warm my feet?”
“Don’t worry about cold feet. I’ve warmed the bed with hot water bottles.”
Once settled snugly against their pillows, Xiang Zhe pulled the thick quilt
over their bodies up to their necks, when Shan Mei placed a small album of
photos on the quilt. After she leafed through the pages, she handed the album
to her husband who had by now untangled his arms from her waist.
He very quickly flipped through the pages; all the photos were from the
Valentine’s Day evening at MBS. He paused at one.
“Who are these people?” he asked his wife as he showed her the photo.
“Oh! That’s Keiko Satsumi with her husband and 17-year old son. Don’t you
recognize her? She was Xiang Jie’s girlfriend from way back.
“Sort of vaguely. She used to visit little brother one week out of a month,
over a year-long period, didn’t she? I thought they were going to get married.
After all they were practically setting up house at the service apartment
little brother leased around that time from the Hyatt. What happened?”
“Your brother ran scared at the last minute. He told me he couldn’t subject her
to media vultures who would relentlessly bombard her with gossip and rumours
they would dig up from the family’s past history. He didn’t want you hurt, our
children hurt, father and his mother hurt. What happened in the past due to
Step uncle’s mischief should best be forgotten and remain buried. Anyway,
Keiko’s father was giving her pressure, too. Apparently, he had arranged a
marriage for her with another industrialist’s son, and the match was supposed
to be perfect because of similar social standing. Xiang Jie decided to let her
go. Her husband was in Seoul over the last couple of days for a business
meeting. Xiang Jie invited her and her family along to the MBS show.”
Xiang Zhe became pensive for a little while more before handing the photo album
back to his wife. He settled on his side, braced his head on one hand, and
immediately found Shan Mei’s hand, fit his fingers tightly between hers, closed
them hard and kissed her knuckles.
“That boy could have been Xiang Jie’s son, if they had married. Anyway, I am
glad BB looks upon him as a father, and has told Sharon not to interfere with
the way Xiang Jie brings up their daughter. Wen Ching is in good hands,” Xiang
Zhe voiced his thoughts aloud to his wife.
“Let’s forget Xiang Jie. Darling, right now I want you to think only of me.”
Xiang Zhe gave Shan Mei a lingering goodnight kiss, while finding her bare foot
beneath the blanket and covering it with one of his own. His kiss deepened, and
the smooth sole of his foot rubbed the top of hers, then hooked her leg from
behind and held it captive. The kiss ended and he nuzzled her jaw, the soft
hollow beneath it.
“How can you smell like roses in the dead of winter?” he asked.
“With the bloom you gave me this morning. I scrubbed my face with the rose
petals and they really left me feeling fresh and dewy. You really know how to
steal a heart.”
“Yours is the only heart I want to hold captive.” As he murmured more sweet
nothings, his lips began his soft caresses again, to one side of her mouth ……
and the other …… then on her chin ……. and on her throat.
Sunlight streamed in
through the lacy curtains and the man stirred and stretched himself out
languorously on the bed. Sounds of bird were rousing in the trees along one of
the bedroom windows. “Hmmm….. what a heavenly fragrance!” Xiang Zhe thought to
himself. He opened his eyes, hoping to find his wife next to him. Shan Mei
appeared to have left the bed quite a while ago; her side of the bed was cold.
He looked around and found a freshly cut rose on his bedside table. He lifted
the rose to his nose and inhaled deeply, smiling sweetly to himself as he put
the bloom back into its crystal vase. Time to get up and see what his wife had
been up to, besides giving him a rose for his birthday.
While making his way down the stairs, the surrounding air heavily scented with
fragrance of roses assailed his nose. He looked across towards the living room.
It would be difficult to miss the big, round antique vase his wife had set up
right in the middle of the room as its centerpiece, filled with masses of the
most velvety rose blossoms from their hothouses. Xiang Zhe walked over and
counted out precisely 73 Sweet Charmaine roses, their overpowering scent
scarcely diluted by the early Spring breeze wafting through the French Windows.
Small white butterflies were fluttering around the exquisite blooms. Sugar
coating went round his heart as he acknowledged this lovely gesture from his
wife. He heard happy chatter from the kitchen.
Xiang Zhe’s eyes sparkled when he saw the spread of food on the kitchen table.
He walked up to his wife, softly thanking her for the lovely roses and giving
her a hot, lingering kiss on her cheek. His eyes made slow, sensuous love to
hers in the silence that followed, and his glistened with possession promising
her sweet loving once they have the house back to themselves.
“Old lady, are you sure all this food is for me: seaweed soup, abalone chicken
congee, six kimchi varieties, and later this evening, you’re organizing a BBQ
party?”
Returning her husband’s kiss, Shan Mei smiled, “Today is your birthday. You
deserve a big feast for being good. After tonight’s BBQ, you should check with
Chris to see whether your cholesterol level has gone up. If all tests show
normal, I’ll let you have meat three times a week. You look much better when
you’re taking more meat.”
“Darling, are you complaining in an indirect way that I’m now no longer
handsome enough for you? Have you found someone younger, fitter and better
looking to fill my shoes?” Shan Mei noticed the faint amusement on Xue Zhang’s
face, when he spouted his nonsense.
“Husband, what nonsense have you got cooking in your head? I think you are
trying to find an excuse to tell me in an indirect way that you want to trade
me in for a newer model with lower mileage,” Shan Mei laughed lightly at her
husband. He looked as if she’d surprised him, and he too laughed, unexpectedly.
“Yes! A very young model with very low mileage,” answered Xiang Zhe without
hesitation, and made a quick grab for his little grandson, BA’s 3 year old son,
Rong Yau, who had flown up to Seoul with his grandparents and was now sitting
in his high chair by the kitchen table, enjoying his breakfast.
Picking up his grandson into his arms and giving him a quick kiss on his chubby
little cheek, Xiang Zhe asked, “Yau-Yau, do you want to be Grandpapa’s new and
young girlfriend?”
Yau-Yau looked at his Grandpapa with a pair of confused eyes. “I can’t be your
girlfriend. I already have my own little girlfriend. She’s much better than
you,” he declared very solemnly. With a mischievous glint in his eyes, Yau-Yau
added, “Because she doesn’t have that!” and he pointed his little chubby finger
at Xiang Zhe’s chin with overnight stubble.
The grandparents laughed. Xiang Zhe was surprised, and looked over to where
Shan Mei was sitting, as if asking her with his eyes how come the children
nowadays start their dating so very young!
“Oh yeah? Your little girlfriend must be really pretty. Does Grandpapa know
her? Can I meet her?” Xiang Zhe was laughing as he tried to find out who the little
girl might be.
“She’s not only pretty but very clever. She knows how to put all the Lego
pieces together. She’s Grandpa Roh’s grand-daughter. I know you want to steal
her from me. I’m not letting you meet her. She won’t like you any way, because
you don’t know how to play with Lego,” the little boy huffed.
Seeing the boy turn and stretch his arms out toward Shan Mei, as if he didn’t
want to be friends with his Grandpapa anymore, considering him the enemy, Xiang
Zhe relented his teasing and ruffled his little head of hair with soothing
strokes. “Okay, Grandpapa is sorry. I’ll stick with your Grand mama and not
think of your pretty girlfriend. Okay? Will you now take your breakfast?”
Yau-Yau smiled and bopped his little head. He then sat down again obediently in
his high chair, while Shan Mei fed him his congee.
“Good?” Shan Mei asked. “Yes,” Yau-Yau answered nodding his little head, trying
to get Shan Mei to feed him another spoonful. Xiang Zhe wanted a spoonful too,
seeing how much their grandson was enjoying his congee.
“Wa, what’s the matter with you? This is the same congee you have in your bowl,
except I’ve pureed it a bit with the mixer for the little boy.”
Seeing his wife had been working so hard preparing the breakfast spread, he
suggested they cancel their movie date. He would take her another time.
Yesterday, he had promised to take her to the movies, seeing one of Meryl
Streep’s movies was showing at a cinema near their place. Today, he decided
against it. Now, he wanted her to take a nap after brunch. Tonight, their
brothers invited for the BBQ would surely want to stay late. He didn’t want to
tire her out.
The early Spring weather was just right for an outdoor BBQ that evening. Not
too cold, but pleasantly warm when they sat around the BBQ grill. Xiang Jie,
Jae Hoon and Brother Sung brought along some great wine. Shan Mei didn’t want
to spoil the party mood. She gave Xiang Zhe a small glass while the others had
their regular sized wine glasses. Yau-Yau was getting a lot of attention from
the granduncles and Xiang Zhe began teasing the men, claiming they were such
losers in the ‘romance’ stake. Even a 3-year old boy had a ‘beautiful and
clever girlfriend’ waiting back in Busan.
Brother Sung immediately replied, “Quite a chip of the old block, I see. Didn’t
BA hog our little Rosie for himself since they were children? And my mother
thought Rosie would make such a brilliant match for one of her grand nephews in
New York! She didn’t agree at all to the engagement between BA and Rosie claiming
the girl was still too young, until Father and I insisted that if the
engagement didn’t go ahead as planned, Rosie would not be allowed to further
her studies in America. Then you know what happened? When she carried baby
Yau-Yau in her arms at the hospital after his birth, she took credit for
arranging the marriage saying the couple were meant to be, seeing all three
babies from Rosie were sons!” He slowly shook his head in amusement and
scoffed, “My mother! I wouldn’t be surprised Mother was there at the hospital
when Rosie gave birth to her baby boy last Christmas. God bless her soul and
may she now rest in peace, wherever she may be. At least there will be many
from the younger generation to help run the Bansung Corporation after I’m
gone.”
Xiang Zhe laughed softly at that. “I wouldn’t bet too much on that. Yau-Yau has
told us he wants to take care of his daddy’s ships. And Michael, when he was
here in January to celebrate the full moon party of BA’s youngest son, has
claimed the baby for himself. He insisted BA must send the boy to London when
he reaches his 6th birthday, to live with him and be educated there. He has big
plans for the boy to take over a major part of his business when he grows up,
so he wants to personally groom him from young. Anyway, you can still bank on
BA’s two elder boys.”
“Thanks a lot. I’m so grateful,” Brother Sung answered sarcastically.
Soon, it was bedtime for Yau-Yau and Shan Mei went back into the house with the
little tyke, leaving the men at the table by the fruit trees, grilling and
enjoying the meal and easy companionship.
After a while when she returned with a pot of gingko barley soup and saw a
filled plateful of meat in front of Xiang Zhe, she asked her husband, “Aren’t
you taking too much meat?”
To which her husband answered, “What about you, aren’t you working too hard?
I’ll stop eating so much, if you’ll stop working so hard.”
“Who’s going to clean up then?”
“I will.” Xiang Zhe told her. Three other voices pitched in, “Me, too.”
“Shan Mei, take it easy. Didn’t Chris tell you to take it slow?” Jae Hoon
reminded her.
“Here, sister, let me take the plates into the kitchen. I’ll get the fruits at
the same time.” Xiang Jie was trying to take over some of the chores.
“Darling, why don’t you go take a rest, since Yau-Yau is already in bed? The
boys will stay around a bit. We want to talk and then play some board games. Go
lie down for an hour or so. I’ll come and get you when they are ready to
leave.”
Shan Mei agreed. She did feel a bit tired, and it had been quite a while since
the men had some private time to themselves. They usually talked about the
children and the grand children. That Xue Zhang must again be complaining about
BB’s children’s bottled diet. He used to complain she was a nag. “Look at him now,
always fretting about Yummy, whenever he noticed those bottles on the
supermarket shelves.” Maybe he was trying to find out from Brother Sung the
diet for BR’s elder two. Let him.
“This new show you have on the radio seems to be quite popular.” Brother Sung
was telling Xiang Jie.
“Not bad going. But that Zian Da and Yong Xi are trying to get star billing,
already telling me they want more lines.”
Xiang Zhe threw his head back, pushed away from the table edge with both hands
and exclaimed to the sky, “Not again!”
He leveled his chin and shot a withering glance at his younger brother from the
corner of his eye. “So what else is new?”
“Well, so far, Jae Hoon and I haven’t paid any attention to their subtle hints.
Xiang Zhe tipped forward, clunked his elbows on the table, joined his hands in
a hard knot and pressed them to his mouth. He stared at an empty spot on the
table and thought awhile, before answering, “Just ignore them. You’re in
charge. If Zian Da comes to me, I’m going to tell him to go to you. First, he
has nothing to do. Now, you people give him such a good show, he doesn’t
appreciate. If they don’t want to share equal billing, Jae Hoon, can you write
them off? If their ideas were that good, how come Prime Time News and Morning
of Eve, during their time at MBS suffered such poor ratings under them?”
Jae Hoon looked up immediately at Xiang Zhe. “Are you serious? We are thinking
of changing the concept a bit for that time slot. BZ said it’s fine with her;
her sponsors will OK anything she proposes. We want to give Zhao Di a juicier
part, playing a few roles with her voice mimicry skill to go along with Chen
Sui as her side-kick; meaning less air time for Zian Da and Yong Xi. Shen Qi
Tong is fine with that, because the radio station controller has asked him to
handle golf competition commentaries for the next quarter, so their current
golf commentator can take an extended leave to visit many of the new golf
courses sprouting up all over China. We’ll bring back the original ‘Salt’ in
the 3rd quarter. By then if Zian Da still doesn’t realise we can make them or
we can break them, he shouldn’t be in this business.”
“Yes, you go ahead and do that. I’m going to take Shan Mei for a long holiday
visiting the country’s 2 top national parks, returning in time for Founding Day
anniversary in May, so Zian Da cannot come to me crying. Anyway, I’m not going
to get involved anymore. He has to go straight to Xiang Jie. You guys do what
you think is best.”
Brother Sung was intrigued and asked Xiang Zhe, “Weren’t those the two guys who
made trouble for you one time? Trying to get their cousin to make a play for
you?” He let some seconds go before turning to Jae Hoon with a suggestion.
“Hey, Jae Hoon, why don’t you play their game back on them in the radio show? Giving
a young radio starlet the chance to flirt with Xian Da on the programme and see
how Yong Xi will react to that ? ” Jae Hoon and Xiang Jie laughed softly at
this.
Xiang Zhe reached out and put his hand around Jae Hoon’s forearm. “No, forget
it. You go so public, my little wife is going to get mad with me. She’d accuse
me of masterminding the whole thing. And they are really not worth the bother.
Shan Mei gave them good chance sending them to Japan to work along CTN-Tokyo
for 2 years. They didn’t do anything inspiring there. We spent too much money
on them fulfilling their contract terms. Michael and I secretly agreed we
wouldn’t extend their contract, not even to indulge Shan Mei.”
After that, the brothers talked of various things, especially the many
interesting and profit-making projects going on in China. They soon became
enamoured with their talks about China and asked Brother Sung to plan a 7 to 10
day tour to China for sometime in the autumn. “Where do you suggest would be a
good place to visit?” Brother Sung asked. “Chang Bai Mountains,” answered the
Yin brothers simultaneously. Hearing that and seeing the excitement on the two
faces, Brother Sung slapped his thighs as if in agreement. “Okay, consider the
trip as good as on.”
By the time the men decided it was late and ready to call it a day, they
cleaned up the BBQ area and the kitchen, then left.
Xiang Zhe tiptoed silently into the bedroom in stocking feet. Rong Yau was
sleeping soundly in his little cot by the big bed. Shan Mei was fast asleep
too. He decided to have a warm shower in the bathroom attached to one of the
guest bedrooms. When Xiang Zhe eased quietly into bed next to his wife, she
turned around, still in her sleep, and snuggled up to him. He readily enfolded
her within his warm embrace and tenderly roved his soft lips lovingly over her
lips, her face and ears, his mind reliving all the years of happiness that both
he and Shan Mei had shared, the chock-full of wonderful memories piling one
upon another. Very soon, he too drowsed off, his face seemed smooth of wrinkles
and was wreathed with angelic smiles.
It was morning already, yet Xiang Zhe was still in bed asleep, still smiling.
The wine from last night had gone to his head, not giving him a headache, but
giving him sweet dreams. “Hmm, this feels good,” he murmured as he felt Shan
Mei’s soft mouth nuzzling at his neck. He reached out and pulled her closer.
“Oh, darling, you smell like a baby” he again murmured. He heard little
giggles, then his hand phone ringing. He wanted to ignore it. He was in no mood
for disturbance so early in the morning. Suddenly, the phone was at his ear. He
cocked open an eye, wanting to chide Shan Mei, when he saw his little grandson
sitting up next to him, and the person on the line was none other than the
little tyke’s father. “Dad, did you have an enjoyable day yesterday?”
“Ehmmm” grunted Xiang Zhe. “Why are you calling so early?” scratching at his
head, then rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes as he asked his son, BA.
“Just checking to see whether Yau-Yau has been giving you trouble? Rose’s
mother said she could take him for a few days, in case he was too burdensome
for mummy.”
Xiang Zhe looked at his grandson through narrow eyes…. “I think I can still
tolerate him for a few more days. We’ll let Patrick have him, after Rong De’s
birthday. Don’t worry. We’re doing fine. Bye.” He handed the phone to his
grandson, so he could talk to his dad. “Yes, yes, yes,” each ‘yes’ followed
with slight nods of his adorable little head, finally a “bye.”
Rong Yau then cuddled up to his grandpapa. When Xiang Zhe asked him,
“Where is grand mama?”
“Kitchen.”
“So it was you trying to wake up grandpapa?” Xiang Zhe pretended to tickle the
little tyke all over, then took hold of his little hands, unfurled the tiny
fingers and brushed his little palms across his unshaven chin. Rong Yau tender
palms felt ticklish and he yelled to grand mama for help.
Shan Mei came running slowly up the stairs into the room from the kitchen.
Xiang Zhe was playing with their grandson on the bed. Shan Mei joined in the
fun, and asked, “Yau-Yau, why were you screaming for help? What’s the matter?”
Yau Yau showed his grand mama his little palms, all red, and pointed to
grandpapa’s stubble on his chin just as grandpapa was laughing out delightfully.
“Still haven’t given up on bullying the defenseless?” Shan Mei pouted at her
husband.
“What do you mean defenseless? You were always so protected by your most potent
secret weapon, your tears, and your claims that I was hurting you were so baseless.
You were cheating all the time. My tickles and my stubble never hurt.”
“Hey, Yau-Yau, when grandpapa tickles you, does it hurt?”
Little baby pursed his lips and nodded his little head.
“You imp!” Xiang Zhe swept baby into his arms, and kissed him, telling baby
grandpapa was sorry. He would give him a treat today. When baby looked up to
him with quizzical eyes, he told him, “we’ll go into the tub together; grand
mama will wash grandpapa, and grandpapa will wash little Yau-Yau. How about
that? Then we’ll have some mangoes for lunch, okay?” After lunch, Yau-Yau can
have jelly with ice cream.” Baby was gurgling and happy with that; he clapped
his small little hands together.
Yau-Yau was splashing water all over his grandpapa, and wanted to wash his
grand mama who was sitting on her round little 3-legged stool by the tub giving
grandpapa a back scrub. He brought a towel saturated with water up to Shan
Mei’s face, and splashed water all over the floor. In the tub, Yau-Yau kept
playing with the anklet on his grand papa’s ankle, and kept asking “What’s
this?”
Finally, Xiang Zhe got fed up with the little tyke’s persistent questioning, he
replied “That’s grand mama.”
“I want grand mama too,” and stuck out his little foot at grandpapa. Joyous
laughter could be heard coming from the bathroom.
It was at times like these that Shan Mei and Xiang Zhe were always so grateful
to their eldest son for his foresight and thoughtfulness. He had installed
non-slip tiles in their bathroom, kitchen, and plenty of wall rails in the
bathroom, so many safety features for the elderly. The outdoor areas that they
used constantly were also paved with non slip tiles too.
==
Rong Yau, whenever his grandparents were busy, would carry his little story
book under his arms, sit on his little armchair, and wait for grandpapa to tell
him stories. Xiang Zhe would look thoughtfully at him. The little tyke reminded
him so much of BB, when he was little and the only baby in the house. He would
do exactly that. If no one had time to tell him stories, he would be good and
watch the afternoon’s children’s programmes on television. He never gave
trouble to anyone.
“Grand mama’s food taste good?” Yau-Yau nodded his little head, and told
grandpapa he wanted more, after he ate up his bowl of congee. He pointed to
Xiang Zhe’s big bowl of congee. “What’s this?” pointing to the abalone and
chicken pieces. “When Yau-Yau is old enough, Yau-Yau can take this. Not now,
too hard for chewing, okay?” Again he nodded his little head, this time giving
grand papa a wide, sweet smile, his eyes bright and happy. Xiang Zhe could not
help but kissed him and kissed him. With that wide smile and his bright, happy
eyes crinkled into crescent shapes, he looked so much like Shan Mei.
The next morning, while having breakfast, Xiang Zhe told his wife he wanted to
take her for a leisure holiday around the country. They had always wanted to go
on one of those local tours that KTB used to promote through MBS. He wanted to
take her to Seorak and Songnisan National Parks and return to Seoul in time for
Founding Day anniversary.
When little Yau-Yau heard what they were planning, he too wanted to go. “Not
this time, precious. Another time when the weather is warmer.” The little tyke
pursed his lips and was about to cry when Xiang Zhe tried to soothe him. “Hey,
grandpapa cannot be so greedy and have you all the time. Your grandpa wants to
spend time with you too. Don’t you love your grandpa too?”
“I love grandpa and grandma too.” In his small mind, he loved them all.
“You go with grandpa and when grandpapa returns with grand mama, we will take
you to some place nice. How about that?” Yau Yau didn’t look convinced. His
expressive eyes were still full of doubt. He had the same old promise from his
own daddy all the time, but he never got to go anywhere with his parents except
to visit Grandpapa and Grand mama, who would sometimes take him on an aeroplane
and he would get to visit his other set of grandparents.
“Hey, how about tonight we play trick on grand mama? We’ll tickle her, okay?”
Yau-Yau giggled secretly behind his little hands. This grandpapa was a naughty
man.
Unfortunately, for Xiang Zhe, Shan Mei had the same idea. She got their little
grandson to take her side to give his grandpapa a tickle. Grand mama had promised
little Yau-Yau something, “You can sleep in bed with us.”
That night, Xiang Zhe tickled Shan Mei until their limbs were tangled and her
cheeks were aching with her laughter. Half way through their games in bed,
Yau-Yau began crying, shouting for them to stop. “I don’t want to hurt
grandpapa!” Shan Mei and Xiang Zhe were stunned and immediately stopped jesting
on the bed. He ran to cuddle up to his grandpapa, his little mouth planting
small little kisses on Xiang Zhe’s chest, looking up to Xiang Zhe with his wet
eyes, “Grandpapa, I’m sorry.” His little hands began to caress his grandpapa’s
face. Xiang Zhe was so overwhelmed with infinite love for his grandson, he
grabbed him close to him, “You silly baby, it’s only a game. Grand mama loves
grandpapa very much, that’s why she tickles me. See, grandpapa is not hurt?”
Turning to Shan Mei, Xiang Zhe declared rather proudly, “See Old Lady, you
bully your old man, even my grandson is on my side.”
Yau-Yau forgot his tears, and started giggling. “Grandpa calls grandma old lady
all the time. Why are you calling grand mama old lady too? Grand mama is not
old.”
“Oh my, is that right? What do you suggest we call her?”
Yau-Yau looked puzzled at the couple; he scratched his chest, his neck, his
nape and his head a bit, then giggled when a thought came to him. “I want my
grand mama to be Pretty-Pretty.”
Xiang Zhe laughed delightedly. “Wow! Yau-Yau is so clever and has such good
taste. Grandpapa will give you a treat tomorrow morning.”
==
But, first things first, before Shan Mei would promise going away for a holiday
with Xiang Zhe. They visited Chris at Wen Rong Hospital and Shan Mei insisted
Chris gave his father-in-law a thorough body check-up, to make sure everything
was alright. By the morrow, Chris gave his father-in-law all clearance. Shan
Mei was very happy, and told her husband, she might sometimes give him meat 3
times a week.
“Darling, I don’t want meat 3 times a week. I’m happy with the 2 times a week.
I want to keep myself in good health. I don’t want you to worry unnecessarily
about my health every time I take meat. Please don’t worry anymore. You leave
that burden to Chris.”
==
What present to get for their grandson, Rong De’s birthday?
Xiang Jie had told his elder brother and sister that Rong De wanted the newest
movable 400% Limited Edition of Ultraman Robot from Japan. He had been
harassing his parents; however, every time they were at the toy shop, they were
told the shipment that just arrived had sold out.
Xiang Zhe decided to get his eldest grandson this toy for his birthday which
was this Saturday. They went to the largest toy shop in town, but were told the
robots had been sold out, except one that had been reserved. The man who
reserved it, had confirmed he would collect it by 3 that afternoon. One look at
the toy, the grandparents couldn’t understand why any child would want to play
with it. And it was not cheap too, with a price tag of 400,000 Won.
“Why so expensive?” Xiang Zhe asked the store manager politely, simply out of
curiosity. Not that they couldn’t afford it, but he remembered their children
never had toys this costly. The most expensive ever were the model cars that
David Dutton sent to Seoul from London and the children rode them in the garden
for years. The model cars were extremely good value for money because the grand
children were now playing with them, too. BA took his ‘Jaguar’ model down to
Busan and that had kept his children busy whenever they were not watching
television.
Holding up the Ultraman Robot and looking at it this way and that way, he asked
the store manager, “What’s so special about this toy?” He wanted to know, again
out of curiosity.
“Because it’s 400% the size of a normal Ultraman, and it’s from a limited
edition range and it’s movable” replied the store manager, his eyes showing no
respect for the elderly couple who didn’t seem to be aware of the latest craze
in Toyland.
Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei had lunch at the cafeteria next door to the toy shop
waiting, hoping to buy the robot from the man who was coming to collect the
toy. Xiang Zhe managed to get the store manager to agree if the man did not
show up by 3 p.m. he would sell the 400% Ultraman to them since they had waited
from that morning when the shop opened its doors for business.
Xiang Zhe was a stickler for punctuality but this time, he was praying the man
would be late, or a no-show. When 3.15 p.m. had come and was gone, Xiang Zhe
and Shan Mei at once went up to Cash Counter to pay for the toy. “Whew” Xiang
Zhe let off a sigh. They had told Xiang Jie they would get Rong De the
Ultraman. If they showed up at the birthday party without the Ultraman, they
wouldn’t dare imagine the consequences. Their grandson in a temper tantrum when
he couldn’t have what he wanted, was a frightening sight.
“His temper is worse than yours,” Shan Mei pointed out to her husband.
“And yours,” Xiang Zhe countered, as he carried the large carrying bag with
him. Outside the toy store, the two of them looked at each other, and laughed
guiltily together.
“You + Me. No wonder, he’s like an unstoppable hurricane, roaring around his
parents. Wonder whether Sharon has anything in her reference books to handle
such abominable tantrum ?”
“Last time when BB asked her, she did say it was good for the boy to seek
release of his extra energy in this way. It he bottled up his feelings, he
would become more destructive at a later stage. I suppose Sharon has a point
there.” Shan Mei tried to explain the sensible logic to her husband.
Xiang Zhe gave her a doubtful look as if the books were full of baloney again.
“God help my poor son BB.” Xiang Zhe sighed, and shook his head in hapless
resignation, thinking of his son’s soft nature.
Xiang
Zhe watched as Shan Mei wrapped the birthday present up carefully with the
wrapping paper they had purchased separately from the toy shop.
“Darling, there’s really no need to pay that much attention to the gift
wrapping; that kid will simply rip off the paper to see what we have bought for
him.”
“Husband, a little more effort doesn’t take up all that time. If you’re tired,
why don’t you go off to bed first. I’ll come to bed, as soon as I’m through
with this.” Shan Mei then gave her husband a kiss on his lips, one hand pushing
him along.
In bed that night, as Xiang Zhe drew his wife into his arms, he told her they
would never again waste a day waiting for some silly toy, and in that context,
for anything.
“I’m done with waiting! Waiting for my father to come home after he left Mother
and me for another woman, but he never returned. Waiting for my mother to wake
up from her grief to show me some love, but the affection never came. Waiting
for you to show up in my life, and what happened? You managed to turn up, but I
had to wait 8 long years before I could make you my wife. Thank goodness I
waited.” His voice wobbled as he tried to subdue painful memories.
“And, Darling, you know something? They all went away but left me nothing.
Every one of them, and people at the MBS Station only wanted things or benefits
from me, always wanting to know what I could give or do for them. You were the
only one who gave me a memento when you left. If not for Peter Rabbit, I would
have been so alone in this world. I wouldn’t have been able to handle the job
at MBS. Especially that time, you resigned from MBS and left for London without
a word. I never felt more miserable and alone. I thought you didn’t want me
anymore. I was so tormented. Without Peter Rabbit, I really wouldn’t have been
…….” his voice was cracking up again as he burrowed his face and tears between
her breasts.
“Xue Zhang….. I’m so sorry. I thought you didn’t understand my position and got
tired of waiting, so you used Youzhen Ge as an excuse to tell me to go. I
couldn’t bear to see your stern face, hear your harsh words, so I left.” She
reached out and held him, stroked him and he clung to her like a boy needing
solace. Finally, his breathing slowed down as Shan Mei rocked him gently to
sleep…. Agreeing with him there was no reason for him to wait anymore. He
rolled over, drawing her close against the curve of his body as if he would
make her a part of him. She loved him and was so thankful that they would be
together forever.
==
A few days after Rong De’s birthday, Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei left Yau-Yau with
Patrick and Susie, and began their romantic sojourn.
They boarded a domestic flight from Kimpo airport to Sokcho in north-east
Korea, the nearest airport to Mt. Seorak National Park. When they arrived at
Seorak, they checked into Seorak Park Hotel and were given the penthouse suite
on the 12th floor, with its own balcony and small private garden.
Seorak’s main tourist season was Autumn. Xiang Zhe was thankful they had come
in Spring, thus avoiding the main tourist crowds.
From their suite, early every morning, they could see before them seas of
clouds spreading over the snow-capped mountain peaks. As the sun slowly rose,
the sunrise shed its brightness over the snow playing on its iridescent
reflections, the entire scene too magical and breathtaking to describe.
One morning, after appreciating such a scene, Xiang Zhe drew his wife closer to
him and breathed into her ear, “Darling, this place more magical than that
Japanese onsen ryokan in Hakone, agree? Luckily, you didn’t manage to run away
to Japan, planning to leave me behind in Seoul. There would be no one to warm
your back on cold days like these!”
Shan Mei laughed back at once and snuggled closer to her husband. “I need more
warmth now.”
“Darling, this place is simply heavenly. Just the place to indulge in
love-making. Too bad we didn’t think of spending our honeymoon here. I would
have shown you just how much I loved you and couldn’t do without you, every
minute of the day and the night. Now, we’re 40 years too late. Your old man is
not able to show you much, though his spirit is very willing. Do you have any
regrets?”
“Xue Zhang, you’re the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me, but I
do have some regrets. I regretted I didn’t stay back in London the first time
we met. We wouldn’t then have to circumvent around so many unhappy events, to
waste all those years to be together, finally. I wished we had a few more
children because you make such a doting and wonderfully understanding father.
Your children simply idolise you. And I really regretted that sometimes I’ve missed
opportunities to show you just how much you mean to me. You are really the love
of my life, my dearest husband.” Her eyes had gone misty.
When Xiang Zhe heard that, he lifted his head and stared down at his wife, a
feeling of sublime tenderness stealing over him. His thumb moved across the
fullness of her lower lip with a reverence that made her want to cry.
“Forget about wanting more children. I’m yours to baby,” he said softly.
“Always.” His lips curved into a slow smile that melted her bones. “For ever!”
They spent almost a month at Seorak, dividing their time equally at Outer,
Inner and South Seorak. They even ventured to ride the cable car up to
Gwonkeumsansung Peak, to the Gosung Unification Observatory Tower that looked
across to North Korea. They were curious to see whether the mountain scenes
high above in the clouds would evoke same feelings as Changbai Mountains. Even
though the scene before them was breathtakingly awesome, in their opinion
Changbai was still the ‘majestic king’ but for the ordinary Korean citizens who
wouldn’t have the opportunity to visit Changbai, this was as close to heaven as
they could get.
==
After Seorak, Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei visited Songnisan National Park in
Daejeon. They traveled around Daejeon as guests of KTB. They stayed in a
special guest holiday house provided by KTB in Sanae-ri, very near to
Songnisan. Every morning, for a week, they enjoyed leisure walks around the
beautiful park. Songni-stream, running through the park, was lined with
flowering trees on both sides of the river banks. Along the river, Spring was
already turning the grasses soft green, shading the woodlands with the
tantalising silver shadows that would soon become colour. Beside the
Songni-stream was an ochre-stoned path. Walking barefoot along this path was
said to be good for the health, as the ochre path was said to have many
medicinal, healing properties.
After a week at Songnisan, Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei went to Yeseong Hot Springs
Resort. KTB owned about 6 guest bungalows at a quiet, secluded part of the
resort. Each bungalow had its own private garden and a small hot spring pool.
The bungalow allocated to Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei reminded them so much of the
Japanese onsen ryokan in Hakone, near Tokyo. They settled in very easily for a
three-week stay. Everything was perfect; well, almost perfect, if the rains had
kept away during some of the nights. The rains drumming down against the roof
of their bungalow made the kind of music that Shan Mei found very soothing and
calming, but most nights, husband and wife had to stay indoors, unable to enjoy
the soak in the pool unless they dared to venture into the pool for a rain
bath!
This evening, Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei were strolling along the well-lit
tree-lined path bordering part of the Yeseong Hot Springs Hotel Resort. Though
the afternoon warmth still lingered, the air was soft, cooling as sundown
approached. They were nearing the end of their beautiful 3-week stay at this
spa resort. As they strolled leisurely along, they recalled many sweet and
loving memories throughout the 48 years of their beautiful ‘togetherness’. They
cherished all the times they spent together. Shan Mei’s eyes misted. [Xue Zhang
is so right. He has given me the best present ever, his friendship].
“I know you don’t like to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I only hope we can
reach our Golden wedding anniversary together. Let’s take each year at a time,
and the 50th year will be upon us before we know it. This July will be our 40th
year as husband and wife. I can still see you, very clearly, you with your
curly hair when you were 20 years old.” Xiang Zhe’s voice tailed off as he
tenderly smoothed down wisps of hair tendrils blowing around Shan Mei’s face.
After a while, he continued, “That time when I returned to Seoul from London
and saw you at the park, I realised I had missed you so dreadfully much. I told
you to keep your voice down, and tried to keep a decent distance from you, then
hid my hands securely in my trouser pockets. My arms were aching to throw themselves
around your shoulders. I was trying to cover up my impatience, and I wanted to
hold you close and kiss you. I can still remember that day, your infectious
laughs and the dazzling smile you gave me.” He tapped at the back of his head
with his finger, “All securely locked up here.” As they walked on, he
continued, “I was trying to drop hints about the way I felt about you, telling
you I was envious of Youzhen, and if he still ignored you, to forget him and
come to me. You being so naïve didn’t take me seriously at all.”
Shan Mei didn’t say anything, but huddled up closer to her husband. Xiang Zhe
led his wife to a wooden bench that was just ahead of them. After they sat
down, he murmured softly into her ear,
“Darling…. when we attended the company’s 20th founding day anniversary, it was
a year after our first date. I wanted to propose. Would you have accepted?” As
he asked, he held her stare. Shan Mei shook her head, feeling uncomfortable
with the way Xue Zhang was watching her.
“Why not?” Although he couldn’t help being disappointed with her answer, Xiang
Zhe was relieved he had waited and not rushed her. He had felt she wasn’t ready
for him at that time.
“Because you were the Boss and the Chairman’s son. My heart wasn’t prepared. I
didn’t know whether you were serious. If you had asked and I had accepted,
later on if you had a change of heart, you would feel obligated to marry me
regardless, you being the kind of responsible person you are. I didn’t want
that, because I didn’t have the confidence that I could keep you by my side. I
was very vulnerable at that time. I couldn’t even keep a simple man like
Youzhen Ge, how could I hope to hold on to such a special man like you who has
even refused to consider such a great match like Yong Xi?
Also, gossips were rife in the office saying I managed to be broadcaster only
with your back-up. Xue Zhang, I care too much for you to want your staff to
think their DoP was a person who couldn’t separate his personal life from his
corporate life. I had to stay away from you, because of that. I didn’t want to
be a burden to you.
Now, I’m old and have been married to you for almost 40 years, I still don’t
understand why you’re still by my side after all these years, when the
so-called experts claim you would tire of me after a few years.”
“Aiya, darling, if you already knew I were a responsible person, you should
realise if I didn’t really love you, I would not have proposed. Why I’m still
sticking around after all these years? Very simple! Because I’m more in love
with you than ever! By next year, I will be loving you even more.
I was serious right from the beginning, right from that time in London. It has
always been you and no one else. Especially that time you rejected me when you
found out I was Director of Planning at MBS. I was walking around miserable all
the time and trying to hide my misery under a cloak of coolness! But, whenever
I saw you, everything seemed to fall perfectly into place. That’s the effect
you had on me. I then promised to myself no one but you would be my wife. You
can ask Peter Rabbit, if you don’t believe me. He’s my witness. All the other
girls, Yong Xi included, wanted me because of my looks, my status, my fortune
and my position at MBS, while you were the only one who rejected me for the very
same reasons. You really were so unique.
That night when we took a stroll in the park near your house, you questioned,
‘Why does it have to be you?’ I finally understood your thinking. If I was not
the boss of MBS, you would have accepted me easily a long time ago, right? You
didn’t want people to get the wrong impression that you accepted me because of
my position, because they were already spreading rumours around the Station
that you were selected as the co-host of the morning show only because of me,
and not because of your efforts. No matter how good you were, people would
always claim you made it because of me, right?
It’s the same logic of you and You Zhen; because of my jealousy, I couldn’t
accept your concern for him. I knew it was right for you to go to help You Zhen
because you owed it to his mother for helping to bring you up. That was also
your compassionate and caring nature putting other’s welfare before your own. I
wanted to be supportive and told you it was okay to go and do whatever was
necessary to help him, but I later realized it was easy to talk. When I
actually saw how you cared for him, I couldn’t help suspecting he was the one
you wanted. I’ve since always berated myself for not being able to keep an open
mind, and to trust you. Luckily, I didn’t lose you.”
Xiang Zhe rested his eyes on his wife for a long time; sometimes he still
couldn’t believe this adorable woman was his wife and had brought such joy and
blessings into his life. “Even though you may be old, in my eyes you’re looking
more beautiful than ever and you’re my most precious gold.”
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed each of her fingers tenderly, “Thank
you Shan Mei for your unfailing love and all these wonderful years.”
Still holding on to one of her hands and looking up towards the sky, Xiang Zhe
released a big sigh of relief.
“Why such a big sigh, darling?” asked Shan Mei, as she rubbed his arm in a
soothing manner.
“I can finally let go of some of my greatest fears.”
Shan Mei crossed her brows at him, her eyes questioning him silently.
“In London, at the first TV Sales Convention after you joined CTN, when I saw
you with a new hairstyle and new image makeover, my mind went at once to our
first real date in that park in Seoul That time you came with new hairstyle and
new dressing style; you later bade farewell to You Zhen with your blessings. I
was so afraid you would do the same to me. Treat me to a delicious dinner; then
send me packing off with your blessings, never wanting to see me again.
When you were carrying the twins, we found you bleeding at Daeshan Village. You
went into premature labour and when Dr. Kim told me the delivery would be very
difficult, I had to prepare myself for the worst. I knew if anything should
happen to you, I wouldn’t want to live. That time, I told Xiang Jie and Patrick
to help Father bring up BB and BR.
The fear I dreaded most is ‘what if’ every time I think back to the car
accident at the traffic light crossing in London. If the traffic light had not
turned green and still remained red, you would have walked past me and out of
my life. I wouldn't have known you, I wouldn’t have known what ‘love’ is, I
wouldn’t have known what ‘family’ is, I wouldn’t have known what ‘blessing’ is,
I wouldn’t have understood what ‘forgiveness’ is, I wouldn’t have a ‘future’ to
look forward to.
I would have gradually drunk and smoked myself to death with hatred and pain in
my heart. I was never interested in MBS. Even when I was back in Seoul on a few
rare occasions during my college days, I never bothered to go to the studios to
see what was going on there. I was completely estranged from it and the life in
Seoul. And I have been afraid to wake up one day and find that all this
contentedness and bliss is just a dream. At least now, even if it’s a dream, it
has been a beautiful 40-year old dream, being so loved by you.
When my father summoned me back to Seoul to take up a position in MBS, I didn’t
promise him anything. I had wanted to spend time with you and try to help you
get over your You Zhen Ge. I told my father about ‘the girl I had met in London
and I would only consider staying in Seoul if she decided to stay on too. She
just graduated from university, and had not decided what she wanted to do’. On
our first serious date when you told me you had applied for Broadcaster’s
Selection Course and later that day, shouted your farewell blessings to You
Zhen, I confirmed with Father that same night I would join MBS. A few days
later, I reported for work at the TV Station. I was confident you would be
accepted for actual training course after completing the Selection Course. If
not for that, I would have persuaded you to return to London with me.”
“No wonder your father asked whether I was the girl you met in London when you
introduced me to him at MBS Founding Day 20th Anniversary.” Shan Mei was no
longer puzzled.
“My father was eager to meet you, and nagged me every few days why I was not
bringing you home to see him. He thought I was making up stories, to stop him
from encouraging the Liu family from submitting marriage proposal. And that
Yong Xi tried to bring the ‘marriage’ matter up every time I met her in the
office, or for drinks or meals. I had tried to let her know I just wasn’t
interested. She already knew I was interested in you.”
“Darling, you can’t blame Yong Xi. She has expected to be your bride……”
“Of course I blame her. I never ever encouraged her in any way. If she thought
being close to my mother would automatically mean I would marry her, she should
think again. She should have let her parents know that I had rejected her even
when she was in London. Instead, she still continued on as if we were a couple.
When I returned to Seoul and went to Madam Kim to get some pants, around the
time before I joined MBS, we needed some alterations to the pants. When Yong Xi
was there about a week later and Madam Kim mentioned about the pants being
ready, she insisted on taking the pants with her, letting them assume she was
very close with me. I hated this kind of subtle innuendo of intimacy when in
fact there was none.”
Turning round to face her husband, Shan Mei gave him a sweet smile and asked
whether he was feeling the chill. “Shall we make our way back to the hotel?
Let’s talk of happier things on the way.”
“Before I can talk of happier things, you’ve got to put me in a happy mood”.
Xiang Zhe gave his wife an expectant look, his dark eyes soft as velvet, his
mouth lifted in the corners in a suggestive curve.
“You! I’m sure you’ve it all planned, how to put yourself in happy mood.” Shan
Mei gave him a teasing smirk.
“Of course. You’re always complimenting me for being the best Director of
Planning. Are you going to be an obedient wife tonight and follow orders?”
“That’s not a problem, if your orders are not too outrageous or difficult to
follow..” She laughed softly, swinging their clasped hands along as they
walked.
“Simple. It’s been quite a while since we’ve really bathed under a moonlit sky.
Tonight’s the first night since we arrived at Yeseong that we have a clear sky
and not too cold for a soak in hot water. Don’t let our private hot spring pool
go to waste. We’re only going to be here for another 2 nights. Let’s make the
most of it. After bathing, it all depends on where your mood takes you, Mrs.
Yin .…….?”
The night was really beautiful and serene, the weather balmy. Husband and wife
eased themselves gently into the warm water. Shan Mei found a flat rock sitting
in a shallow spot of the pool. She rested on it. Her husband moved quietly in
the water, and soon waded his way towards her side. Xiang Zhe was throwing
admiring glances at his wife, as he rubbed her back. “Hey, why do you still
insist on wearing your chemise when your skin is all warm. And it’s no longer
chilly!” As his hands moved to her front, he found the little damp slip of
clothing clinging to her body in the way.
“I want to take off this chemise.” His voice was soft and sensuous. Shan Mei
sat up with a start when she realized he was pulling the slip over her head. As
he ran his fingers softly along her skin with tenderness, he was so overcome
with love, he couldn’t help but kiss her along. “Darling, it’s incredible your
skin is still so smooth, soft and unblemished. What’s your beauty secret, may I
ask?”
“No secret at all. Simply being nourished by my husband’s love,” she baldly
stated. And she believed it wholeheartedly. Her husband never let a day go by
without letting her know how much he loved her, either by words or by deeds. He
had never tired of telling her he had been waiting for her all his life. And he
had never really demanded for anything in return, except her total love and
devotion.
Dark clouds were gathering quickly, and it felt like rain would soon come. They
left the water and went back to the safe, cosy sanctuary of their room. Shan
Mei was pouring out hot green tea into 2 delicately-looking teacups when her
husband gazed at her thoughtfully and asked, “Darling, has 40 married years
really flown by so fast and blissfully?” She turned to take a lingering look at
her husband, her eyes overflowing with tenderness. She reached out and planted
her lips softly against his heart. “Xue Zhang, I love you with all of me.
You’re still the best.” As she thought of his love, his understanding, his
support, his everything all these years, big drops of tears rolled down her
cheeks.
“Aiya, old lady, you’re the one always making me break my promise not to make
you cry” Xiang Zhe chastised teasingly when he saw teardrops rolling down her
cheeks. He caught her hand, pressed his mouth against her palm, and hesitantly
released a sigh. “Sometimes, this caring too much is a curse, you know,
darling. Before I met you and loved you, I feared little on earth. Now, I have
peace, happiness, and contentment I’ve never known. You’ve given me so much, it
gives me fear of losing it all. Sometimes I find myself staring at shadows,
frightened to receive some news I do not wish to hear.”
Shan Mei, with happy laughter as she tried to wipe the tears away, soothed him,
“Sorry, this time it’s really my fault”. She turned to give her husband, now
lying back so comfortably against big silky, downy cushions on the padded
sleeping mat, a thorough kiss, her hands gently and slowly caressing him in
some of his most, most sensitive spots that only she knew where. He was moaning
softly with pleasure.
“Hey, old lady, be careful, take it slow and easy. You’re now handling a
fragile 73-year old man.” Xiang Zhe teased as he caught his wife tightly to
him. He began kissing her in return, murmuring sweet nothings along the way.
“Darling, I love you, I ..w..a.n.t…, I ..w..a..n..t…e.hmm…… Hey, stop squirming
around.”
He gave her delectable derriere a smack.
“Ouch ! That hurts. See how red your hand print is” Shan Mei chided, pointing
to the red mark on her derriere, giving her husband a delicious pout.
“Branding always hurts.” He laughed wickedly.
“Now, are you or aren’t you ready to make me happy?” Xiang Zhe demanded to know
as he caught his wife back into his arms, laughter spilling all around them.
Later that night, as Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei settled down for the night, and
looked out through the glass sliding door, lightning was dancing across the
dark sky, followed by the rumbling of thunder.
Her head pillowed against Xiang Zhe’s shoulder, Shan Mei said drowsily, “It
would rain now, the plants around the garden will start to blossom, after we
are ready to start for home.” Xiang Zhe gently rubbed her arm warm as a gentle
wind from the coming rain wafted in through the slight gap purposely left open
between the half-closed sliding doors. “Let’s go to sleep now,” he coaxed
softly as he ran his fingers gently through her hair. “We can always come back
in another few months, if you really want to watch your ‘adopted’ garden in
full bloom.” Outside, the rain began to fall.
After lunch, three days later, KTB’s limousine was at the hot springs resort to
collect Xiang Zhe and Shan Mei. They enjoyed the 2 and a half-hour drive back
to Seoul, taking in and commenting on the beautiful country scenery and new
constructions and developments along the way. When Xiang Zhe didn’t answer a
question Shan Mei asked about stopping off somewhere for snacks, she sighed,
looking over at the peaceful, sleeping form of her husband hugging so
contentedly to her waist, thinking how time had flown by so quickly, as the limousine
cruised smoothly along the Seoul-Daejeon Expressway.
They were back in Seoul busy preparing for MBS Founding Day 63rd Anniversary
Dinner only a week away.
==
As the soft, glorious days and nights of late Spring drifted in, Shan Mei
hoarded up a miser’s wealth of memories of the past few weeks, memories she’d
treasure forever. And, as long as her beloved Xue Zhang was with her, nothing
else mattered; she had known what it was to love and be loved to the exclusion
of all else. She lived and ate and breathed that love, drawing her strength and
courage from him.
Now, lying awake in bed, next to her sleeping husband, Shan Mei couldn’t
dispute the fact that Xue Zhang had kept his promise; he wanted to fill her
days with happiness. She was so thankful and so grateful, wondering, “What did
I ever do to deserve such a wonderful husband? We’re now enjoying our twilight
years, yet he has never strayed from his mission.”
Gripped by a sudden intensity of love and gratitude, Shan Mei leaned over her
husband as he slept so soundly beside her. Her lips lightly touched his cheek
as she whispered ever so softly into his ear, “My darling husband, I love you
so much, so much until my heart aches.”
Xiang Zhe stirred. He turned and half-opened his eyes in drowsiness, to look
directly into the eyes of his wife. “Yes?” he murmured, drawing her closer to
him.
“Nothing. Just want you to know that you’re the most wonderful husband in the
whole wide world, and my heart aches with so much love for you.”
Xiang Zhe at once became wide awake as her words penetrated his drowsy mind. He
propped himself up on an arm, to search the honesty of her words in her face,
wanting to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. He ran a finger tenderly down her
cheek and jaw line and neck as he planted a swift kiss on her lips, at the same
time asking, “Any reward?”
“Yes! I’m going to kiss you so hard, so long and so deep until you hurt all
over,” she laughed with delicious warmth.
He rumbled with delighted mirth that ended in a groan as Shan Mei gently pushed
him back against the pillows. Her mouth teased his mouth with hot, biting
kisses, then her mouth caressed its way along his throat and along his jaw. Her
lips touched first the damp of his Adam’s apple and then slid moistly downwards
to lick the perspiration from the hollow at the base of his throat. She could
feel the heat suddenly burn under Xue Zhang’s skin, the perspiration beading
his throat as he started to shudder so deeply and violently that for a second
it actually alarmed her, afraid the whole play was a little bit too much for
his heart.
But when she moved to withdraw from him, his arms clasped around her arms,
holding her against his body as he begged, through gritted teeth, “Dearest Shan
Mei, don’t stop now. For God’s sake, don’t stop now….. If you only know what
you’ve started …… Darling, … erh …don’t forget that secret spot behind the ear
that you know so well….. yes … , yes …… and my lobes…. I love the way you
sipped at my ear lobes, especially the left one.”
Shan Mei stopped what she was doing and gave her husband a withering sideways
glance. “Hey, I thought this was going to be my show. If you are so keen to
direct, then you go and kiss yourself.” Slight amusement danced around the
corners of her mouth.
“Darling, now that you have me hot and panting, why kiss myself when I can gain
more pleasure kissing you?” Xiang Zhe shifted over her; he then opened her
mouth with one sliding, sensual thrust of his tongue. It was better being
kissed by Xue Zhang this way, so much like the first deep kiss he gave her when
he proposed marriage Shan Mei thought to herself, and she gave herself over to
the incredible pleasure of carrying him, flowing into him, being completely
possessed by him.
In time, Xiang Zhe lifted his head. His face was flushed and his breath raspy.
He touched Shan Mei’s face – as flushed as his own – and looking into one
another’s eyes, they laughed.
In joy,
In wonder,
In love,
Today,
Tomorrow,
Forever.
==
**** And They Lived Happily Ever After ****
Shan Mei and Xiang Zhe
HAPPY GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
(in 10 Fantasy years’ time)