imPROMPTu

Laughter

Daoming Si opened his eyes as the early morning sun streamed in through this windows. Still half asleep, he groped the bed next to him for that soft, warm body that he had grown accustomed to, to pull her against him as he snuggled into her. He couldn't imagine not having her beside him, and he missed her every day that he was away from home.

But this morning, she wasn't there.

He sat up in bed and frowned. Where could she have gone? In the one month and twenty three days that they've been married, she had never once woken before him. And he wouldn't have it any other way. He loved waking her up by planting soft, feathery kisses on her cheek and
gently pushing away the stray strands of hair that fell around her beautiful face. He loved her sleepy look as she slowly opened her eyes and smiled that smile at him which made him weak at the knees. He loved how she kissed him good morning, three soft kisses on his lips.

So where was she this morning?

As he sat there thinking about all the possibilities of why his beautiful wife was not beside him that morning and trying to rub the sleep from his eyes, he heard voices coming from the dining room below. And then, laughter. Laughter that didn't belong to Shancai, but to the woman whose voice once made his heart filled with dread. He pulled on some clothes and padded downstairs.

Daoming Feng had not stayed long in Shanghai after the wedding, giving reasons that she had business to attend to in London. Si had no issues with that. Despite her acceptance of Shancai, and of the wedding, he always felt that it was more of tolerance, rather than her whole-heartedly embracing her new daughter-in-law into the family. So he didn't mind a bit that his mother took off almost immediately after the wedding. This gave him and his new bride the blissful honeymoon that they deserved, after going through so much, and then after coming back from their honeymoon, it felt like a second honeymoon coming home. Finally they were free to love each other as man and wife, and they held nothing back.

The sounds of laughter grew louder as Si approached the dining room and his curiosity got the better of him. What are they laughing about?

He arrived at the kitchen to find his mother, his wife, and his sister, sitting at the dining table, chatting and laughing together. Now this is something that I don't get to see everyday he thought to himself. Whatever could be so funny?

He cleared his throat and the three women looked up to see him standing in the doorway.

"Ma, Jie, Shancai." His voice softened as he said the last name, looking at his wife with so much love in his eyes.

"How come the two of you are back in Shanghai?"

Feng patted Shancai's hand as she said "I came back to visit my new daughter-in-law! I'm free for a few weeks, since the project has launched, so I can have some time to myself. What better time than to come home and see both of you!" she beamed at her son.

"Uh, okay," Si nodded at her, not fully convinced. His mother seemed in a particularly good mood.

Zhuang looked at him with interest. "Marriage looks good on you, little brother!" she said with a laugh, as she darted a meaningful look at Shancai, who blushed as she looked down.

"Pffftt Jie, don't flatter me. I've just woken up and I have bed hair, and I haven't brushed my teeth. There is no way I look good, not right now."

Zhuang laughed again. "You think you don't look good now? Take a look at this," she chuckled as she pushed an album to him.

"What's this? A photo album?"

"Yes, Ma saved all your good photos and kept them here. You were so dorky as a kid, we couldn't help laughing!"

"So that's what you guys were laughing about? Let me see!" Si snatched the album from his sister.

He flipped the pages to see photos of him as a baby, as a toddler, as a pre-schooler. All of them were adorable. There was one photo however which caught his eye.

He was wearing a baseball jacket with jeans pulled up to his waist. The jacket was tucked in and there were elastic bands on the ankles of his jeans. He held a paper aeroplane in one hand, looking every bit like a whiny kid.

The three women saw what he was looking at and started giggling again. "That was the day that you refused help from Mrs Yu to get dressed and wanted to do it all by yourself," Zhuang told him, in between giggles.

He scowled, but after a while, his sense of humour overcame his indignation. His face broke into a grin and he laughed along with them. "I really do look dorky here! What on earth was I thinking?" he chuckled.

"Aren't you glad, my love, that my fashion sense has since improved?" he looked at Shancai as he draped his arm around her shoulder.

"Where did you get this album?" he asked his mother and his sister.

"I was in London, and I found it in my office. In fact, it has always been there. I brought it with me when you were little so that I could look at the photos when I was away from you, when I missed you. I have one of Zhuang too."

Brother and sister looked dumbfoundedly at their mother. Were these words really coming out of her mouth? So all these years, when they thought that she had abandoned them, prioritised her work over them, she actually did care about them? She took the albums with her, to hold them close to her heart.

Zhuang suddenly felt tears sting her eyes and she quickly brushed them away. She looked at Si and his eyes too, were unusually red.

Feng continued, "So when I was in London after the wedding, I thought that I should bring this back and show it to Shancai. She is your wife now, after all."

Shancai looked tentatively at her mother-in-lar. "Thank you, Ma,"she said, as she reached over to grasp the older lady's hand. "This means a lot to me, I appreciate it."

Feng looked at the sombre faces around her. "Come on, I brought this album so we could have a good laugh! Why all the long faces?"

Si grimaced. "A good laugh at my expense?"

But then his face softened. There was no price that could be put on it if it meant bringing his mother and his wife closer.

He grinned at them. "Okay, okay, I'll let you ladies win for once! You can go goo-goo ga-ga over my handsome face!"

Zhuang and Shancai groaned in unison. They started to flip the pages of the album again, and soon, more laughter began to fill the room, including Si's.

At the doorway, a little old lady stood watching them with a smile on her own face. Laughter had once again come into the Daoming household. And Mrs Yu's heart could not be gladder.

————————————————————————
A/N: For evfabricando as I can no longer get your sketch edit out of my head 😆😘

JVH624 Dr-Cokebottles let me know if anyone else is playing so I can tag them too!