Secret Love Nest

Birthday Request

It's Qing's mom's birthday and they are hosting a small gathering in the mauseleom...I mean the mansion, to celebrate it.

Qing and I picked up a gift for his mom together. It's a satin shawl in old rose color, designed with small leaf pattern. Pretty elegant for a regal woman like Qing's mother.

First, I was worried that we are giving her a shawl when we gave my mom a pair of earrings.

Me: (biting my lower lip) Shouldn't we give your mother jewelry too? Just to be fair?

Qing: (scoffing) This is not a contest, Dayu. Why do you need to be fair? And besides, my mother had enough jewelry to fill her body with it. She doesn't need more. It's been years since the last time I gave my mother jewelry as a gift.

Me: So you think a shawl is enough?

Qing: (nodding) Yes. I hope so. I hope she will like it. We picked a pretty nice shawl for her. My mother loves shawls so she is bound to like it...

Me: (getting annoyed at him) Can you sound more sure so I will not worry?

Qing: (laughing) What are you worried about? Dayu, you are golden to my mother. I think Ma loves you the best, compared to me, my sister and our father. You can come to the party empty handed and she will still love you more. This gift is for my benefit. So she will not be mad at me.

Qing point at the gift box lying on the center table.

Well, he does have a point. Qing's mom like me. I am kinda confident in that. As she always said that I am a lot nicer to have as a son than her own son who forgot to call her time and time again.

Me: You should be nicer to your mother. And remember to call her.

Qing: (wincing) I do try. But everytime I held my phone, you are the first person that came to my mind to call. And we always talk for long hours. And besides, when I got free to call someone, it's usually past bedtime. My parents are probably asleep already.

Me: That's why I tell you to call your mom before you fly to Shanghai.

Qing: I do try Dayu. I swear!

Yeah. That is about the gist of the problem. Qing do try but I got this feeling that he doesn't try hard enough when it comes to his parents.

Qing likes being independent. When we started living together, he was so happy to be able to say that he had finally flown away from the nest (mansion). He loves his parents, don't doubt that, but Qing is proud of the fact that he can provide for himself and we can stand on our own without asking help from anyone, most especially from his rich parents.

It's an achievement of sort for my lover.

Anyway...back to his mother's birthday. Qing and I cleaned up nicely, wearing semiformal outfits to attend his mother's celebration dinner.

The guests are mostly consists of family and close friends of Qing's parents. The party was done in the garden, the food was catered, a band was hired to play lively music from the past era and a small program was prepared to be hosted by an event emcee.

When we got to the mansion we immediately looked for Qing's mom to greet her. She was inside the master's bedroom with Qing's sister and arranging the gifts given to Qing's mom by her guests.

Qing: (kissing his mom's cheek) Wonderful. You can add our gifts to the file. Happy Birthday Ma.

Qing's Mom: Thank you son.