Paradise Street

21

"Wow!" Zi Hong's sister says when she opens the door, "you look like my brother, but he's been somewhere ignoring his family for months."

"It's not months," Zi Hong says with a sigh, "sorry about that," he says, entering the house.

It's been months, Zi Hong started making everything for miss any family reunions, when he really got tired of pretending he and Joyce were a real couple, and that was long before Yu Teng. What happened after Yu Teng was, even more, wear out his marriage, and that made him want to avoid them even more, to avoid the questions.

But it's okay now, he's already divorced, Yu Teng's debt is paid, and they're together, so there's only one thing left, tell to his parents. That's what he came to do today, Zi Hong didn't expect his sister to be here too, but that's not a bad thing at all, she's the only one he really thinks will stay by his side.

"Just don't disappear again, okay?" She says.

"What are you doing here today?" Zi Hong asks.

"I had a longer lunch break today, so I decided to come visit them like good kids do," she says with a sarcastic smile, and Zi Hong rolls his eyes smiling.

They're not the closest people in the world, but they have a really good relationship. She was always an overprotective older sister, and he was no different either. Nowadays, she is the one who takes care of their father's businesses, something that happened against their parents's wishes. It took their mother years to accept this, but it was their father who had the last word, and when Zi Hong made it clear that he wasn't going to take over any business, their father had no choice.

By the way, this was the first time he had the courage to go against something his parents wanted, but that courage came from the fact that he wasn't doing it alone, he didn't want to take over the companies, and she wanted.

"Why are you here?" She asks.

"I have news," Zi Hong says.

"It better be a baby, mom spent all lunch saying she'd only forgive you missing if Joyce was pregnant, so if you don't have a baby in your story, you'd better leave because she's going to kill you," she says, and their mother arrives.

"Honey, why are you taking so long to... Lin Zi Hong!" Zi Hong's mom smiles when she sees him there and hugs him, "finally remembered you have parents?" Her smile turns into an angry face.

"Mom...," Zi Hong says.

"He has news," his sister says.

"What?!" His mom says, super excited, "your dad is in the living room, come," she says and starts pulling them towards the living room.

"Son!" His father speaks when they enter the living room.

"Dad," Zi Hong says, squeezing his hand.

"Zi Hong, there's something to tell," his mom says going to his dad's side.

"Mom isn't that," Zi Hong says seriously.

His mother is already planning his non-existent son's baby shower. "So what is?" She asks, losing her smile.

"Joyce and I got divorced," Zi Hong says.

"This is not funny, Lin Zi Hong," his mom says.

"I'm not kidding, mom," Zi Hong says, "I'm in love with someone else."

"Someone else? But you guys were so happy, what happened? What did she did?" Zi Hong's mother asks approaching him.

"We were far from happy, and the only thing she did was try to save our marriage, I was the one who ended it all," Zi Hong says.