Gold Heart, Warm Soul

15| Big Reunion

The guests started showing up at the Lee family's main house by half past five in the afternoon. Foreign cars started piling up at the driveway while the preparations had been set up. In the main hall, round marble tables were placed that were big enough to fit each family. The Zhang family had 7 people including baby Noel and his mother, Mila.
The Lou family had 8 people, the Peng family had nine and lastly the Hong family had ten.

The reunion will be starting off with the traditional greetings to elders by the two youngest member over the age of 18 from the five family combined. As long as you're the youngest in the five families, you become the representative. In this case, Ethan Zhang, the Zhang's family adopted son, and I from the Lee family will be representatives for the traditional greetings. We will start off the reunion by giving our greetings to each family and pouring traditional tea to all family members. Before we turned 18, it was Titus and Kace who did the greetings. Since I missed last year, it was Ethan Zhang and Niya Hong. Ethan Zhang was actually Mr. Dan Zhang's (head of Zhang family/ dad of Titus) nephew. Titus' uncle and aunt was in a plane crashed ten years ago when they were on a business trip, while they left little Ethan with the nanny back at home. Luckily for Ethan, Mr. Zhang decide to adopt him as his own and raised Ethan just like his own son. Ethan was a year older than myself who was 23 years old. He had the same facial structure as Titus and his older brother, with a chiselled face, dark eyes and sculpted nose. Since we were so closed in age, we went to the same high school and were friends until he left for college in another state and we lost contact with each other.

As each family was welcomed as they passed through the main door into the lounge area where they mingle with each other, I had to wait in the drawing room, for my traditional greetings when the reunion started. Ethan came into the drawing with all smiles and a twinkle in his eyes as he saw me. "Good to see you, Ambar!" He said as he went in for a hugged and of course, I hugged him back. It felt like I was reunited with my old friend. "Ethan. I can't breathe!" I said through gaps as the tight hug was slowly suffocating me. Noticing this, he let go. "Sorry, I was too excited to see you!"
"I can tell. How are you?" I asked pleasantly, wanting to catch up. "I've been good. Just graduated from university and started working for dad's company. Guess what? I'm in Finance," he ambushed me with new information. "You used to say you wouldn't do finance! You'd rather do odd jobs than sit in an office for hours!"I exclaimed, with an astonished look. "Funny, where I ended up, isn't it? What about you? I heard you're back at university," he said as he sat opposite me with the coffee table in between us. "Yeah, I have another year left for uni. It's been great. I've got job offers and everything." I said as I kept it simple and short. "It's good that you're in full swing and catching up with your school work," he said happily as he started munching on a cookie that was placed artfully on the coffee table. As we were in a full-blown conversation, Titus came in telling us it was time for the greetings and we were expected to be outside the main hall in 5 minutes. We left our seats and walked to the main hall where everyone was already seated in their designated seats. Ethan and I had already decided on our roles. I would be pouring the tea into the teacups, while he would hand the tea to each family member. Of course, both of us would say the greetings in unison.

As I walked pass Titus, I kept one feet apart between us. It was a habit engrained in my soul from my past life, as I was so used to threats and hurtful words from him or the people around him. As I kept my distance, I realised he was staring at me, trying to figure me out. I almost voluntary flinched from his stare, but luckily controlled my body and tricked my mind into being laidback. I gave him a nod as a greeting and walked off, trying to fend off the bad memories that was coming up to the surface. I sped walked trying to keep up with Ethan to reach the main hall. I could hear laughter and sounds coming from the hall. "Are you ready to do this?" Ethan said as he turned towards me.
"Sure."
"Last year, I had it bad while I did the greetings with Niya Hong." There were unspoken words when he told me this tidbit of information. Everyone tried to talked in a round-about way as they didn't want to remind me that I was in coma or hospitalised for a long time after accident.
"Why? Was it that bad?" I asked curiously, without missing a beat.
"Yeah, it was. She had many ground rules and advice when we were about to do the greetings. It was overwhelming," he said as he looked back on his memory. We were partners in crime for quite a long time whenever we had the Big reunion. Once we were 18, we were chosen as representatives until the year I was in the accident when I was 20 years old. My brother, Kace, was relieved that he could finally passed down the duty to me once I reached the age of 18. Truth to be told, it was tiring to be the youngest of the five families.
"What rules were they? Oh, but you have to take in mind that she's in the military," I said to him reminding him that Niya was a soldier for our country, just like her whole family. I heard that she was recently promoted to a general in the army and marine corps. A rank just below the Lieutenant General. The Hong family was very proud as she was the first woman who got the title.
"Her advice was about posture and the way greetings were said. Also when we handled the tea set, it had to be 90 degrees towards the the head of each family. All her "rules" or commands you can say, are really precise. I had cold sweat during the greetings last year," Ethan said as he reminisce the reunion where I was absent last year.
"Well, you don't call her a general for nothing," I complimented her. "At least you could take it easy with me this year."
"Yeah, Thank the heavens!" We laughed together as he said the words. It was like old times again when we were in high school.

It was time. The doors open to the main hall and we each took a step.