"How have you been?" Li-Nam asked joyfully. "I've been looking for you, actually waiting for you in the library so many times already." he said approaching Lan-Yee.
She placed the tray with the soup bowl on the nightstand next to Ho-Ying's bed and replied to him, "Why have you been waiting?" she asked recognizing him but not realizing the dilemma that laid before them.
"You said we would have lunch or dinner one of these days so I've been waiting for that moment." He replied excitedly forgetting about Lan-Yee.
Ho-Ying had an astonished look on her face. Could Lan-Yee be the one that Li-Nam was in love with all this time? She must have been or else he wouldn?t have waited for her, Ho-Ying thought to herself. She became nervous and started grinding her hands together on the sheets of her bed.
"I didn't think you took that so seriously." Lan-Yee replied then thought for a moment and asked, "Wait are you Li-Nam, Ho-Ying's friend?" she asked a little puzzled. But before he answered her, it all made sense to her after she thought about the name he had given her, A Nam. That was his name without his last name. She should have known it. Oh how silly she was she thought to herself.
"Yeah. My full name is Li-Nam. Most of my close friends and family call me A Nam, which is why I introduced myself as A Nam to you." He replied. Lan-Yee nodded uneasily. She now notices Ho-Ying, who doesn't look very happy. Ho-Ying had claimed she would marry this guy after her first encounter with him. She must have really liked or even loved him.
Lan-Yee wasn't slow to catch up on things; she knew that by the look of things Li-Nam must have liked her, so to make things more favorable for Ho-Ying she said, "Why would you introduce yourself with such a personal greeting for me to call you? We are only strangers. You should spend more time with your close friends like Ho-Ying." she said then immediately started walking out of the room.
Just then Chun-On was coming into the room to visit his sister and Lan-Yee. Li-Nam assumed that Lan-Yee had misunderstood his friendship with Ho-Ying to be something more so he quickly grabbed her hand to explain. "I love you, not Ho-Ying. Ever since the day at the Pavilion, I couldn't get you out of my mind. I was so excited to see you at school and I've waited so long to tell you." He said holding her hand firmly.
Lan-Yee was astonished he said these words so quickly. She didn't know what to say or how to respond. Her heart only had Chun-On and she knew it but now another man was confessing his love for her and it seemed so strange. She never experienced this before. Chun-On didn't hesitate to immediately barge in the room and shove Li-Nam's grasp off Lan-Yee. He was outraged hearing this confession of love to the woman he loved.
Li-Nam fell back a few steps. "Who are you?" he asked. Lan-Yee gave Chun-On disappointing look as if to say, why did you do that? Or what was that about. Chun-On angrily rolled his eyes away.
"My brother." Ho-Ying replied sadly.
At that moment Li-Nam realized there were more people in the room than him and Lan-Yee. He had forgotten Ho-Ying's presence. He felt bad but quickly concentrated his attention to the man that just shoved him. "Why did you push me?" he asked for clarification
"You're not welcomed in my household. I suggest you leave." Chun-On replied.
"But what have I done to offend you. I am only visiting Lan-Yee." Li-Nam replied. Ho-Ying became infuriated with jealousy. Li-Nam just said he was here to visit Lan-Yee, not her. He had come for her not Lan-Yee but has now forgotten all about her. Tears she didn't want to show started streaking down her face.
Lan-Yee quickly ran over to her. "Are you okay??"she asked holding Ho-Ying's arms. Ho-Ying pulled away from her. "Leave me alone!" she said softy. Li-Nam tried to talk to Lan-Yee but Chun-On blocked him. "Leave, you've caused enough grief." Chun-On shouted
Li-Nam tried once again to explain this time to Ho-Ying. "Ho-Ying can I just..." he started to say but Ho-Ying covered her ears and pulled the blankets over herself. So he turned to Lan-Yee and said, "Lan-Yee at least let me..."but was interrupted by Chun-On.
Lan-Yee felt very bad for what just happened like it was her fault while Chun-On still refused to welcome Li-Nam. Li-Nam refused to leave until he talks to Lan-Yee. So Lan-Yee stood up and said to Chun-On, "Let me handle this. I'll be right back." she reassured him.
Chun-On was hesitant but he knew that Lan-Yee had a very stubborn personality and would get very upset if he interfered any more so he nodded and backed off. Lan-Yee looked at Li-Nam, "Follow me," she said. Li-Nam's expression was now that of relief as he immediately followed her.
Lan-Yee led Li-Nam out of the house to the front porch and was straight to the point with him. "I don't appreciate you causing such grief for Ho-Ying when she's ill!" she scolded him.
"This is my fault, I know, but my true feelings are with you. I don't love Ho-Ying. How can I control my feelings when the excitement of seeing you again took over?" he insisted.
She turned away, "Don't say such things" She said softly. "Things you don't mean. You just met me, how could you possible love me. You don't even know the first thing about me."
"Love is something that cannot be explained. It just happens and you can?t control your emotions, feelings, and thoughts anymore. This is how I feel about you." he insisted turning her back to face him.
Lan-Yee didn't know what to say. She was really touched by his words but she didn't want to lead him on. She stood there thinking for a second and he came closer to her. Finally she looked up and said, "Please leave. I rather you leave now and forget these words were ever spoken or any thing of the sort has ever happened."
She walked away after saying that but Li-Nam reached out for her. He pulled her closer to him holding her tightly in his arms. "Please don't go. Please give me a chance to love you." He whispered in her ears as he embraced her. Chun-On came out to see if Lan-Yee had finished her talk with Li-Nam yet. He was filled with anger witnessing the embrace they shared and angrily stomped into his room.
Lan-Yee immediately pulled back from Li-Nam and slapped him. Suet and Quay had come home from shopping for gifts to give to Ho-Ying so that she wouldn't be so sad. Upon seeing this same scene they were both astonished. Lan-Yee noticed Suet and Quay looking in shock at her. She felt weird to have them looking at her that way and ran back into the house.
Lan-Yee goes to look for Chun-On and finds him outraged. She found out he saw her hugging Li-Nam so she tried to explain but he refuses to listen. The two of them were filled with passion and rage as their hearts beat quickly. "If you would only listen to me explain, you'll see that there isn't anything between me and A Nam." she pleaded.
"You say his name as if you were close to him, calling him A-Nam instead of Li-Nam." Chun-On said sarcastically.
"That's what he introduced himself to me with. I didn't know he was the same guy Ho-Ying was in love with. I didn't know he even liked me." she tried to reason
"How could you not know, it's so obvious." he said staringhard at her. "After the night at the pavillion I couldn't forget you." he said mocking Li-Nam earlier. "How could you not know?" he asked bitterly.
"Yeah now, but when I only met him twice I didn't expect our third encounter to be true love!" she yelled irritated with the way he was talking to her.
" I guess he's fallen in love with you!" he shouted back at her.
"How would you know?" she asked sardonically.
"I know because I fell in love with you!" He said shouted back at her. She became calmer after hearing those words. Both their hearts rested and she ran to hug him. Never more than that moment did she want to be embraced in his arms forever. "I fell in love with you too" She said lovingly.
He held onto her tightly. They stood their in a moments of embrace but was interrupted buy Ho-Ying's upsetting entrance. "How dare you steal Li-Nam from me and now lead my brother on?" she asked hysterically
"What are you talking about?" Lan-Yee asked her.
Lan-Yee walked towards her to feel her forehead. Ho-Ying pushed Lan-Yee's hands away. "Don't touch me! I don't want your wicked grasp on me!" she shouted.
Suet and Quay had come upstairs to look for Lan-Yee and question her about the incident earlier. They wanted to know the background of the boy that was holding her. They thought maybe her boyfriend or something. They found everyone in Chun-On's room and as they were walking closer to Chun-On's room they heard Ho-Ying screaming. They quickly ran to see what had happened.
Lan-Yee was confused about what Ho-Ying was thinking. "Are you okay?" she said reaching out for Ho-Ying. Immediately Ho-Ying slapped her. "You malicious vindictive TRAMP!" she yelled overwhelmed with anger that Li-Nam was in love with Lan-Yee and not her.
Suet and Quay immediately ran in and saw the slap. They were both astonished. "What's wrong?" Quay asked her daughter. "Why are you crying? Did Lan-Yee insulted you?" she asked again. Ho-Ying immediately fell into her mothers arms crying.
Suet walked over to Lan-Yee who was still holding her hand against the cheek that Ho-Ying slapped. "Are you okay?" she asked tenderly. Lan-Yee nodded. For the first time Suet felt relieved that Lan-Yee did not shout at her or put any blames to her. But Suet knew it was only because a misunderstanding between Lan-Yee and Ho-Ying broke out so Lan-Yee was probably too preoccupied in her thoughts to think of scolding her.
"Mommy please send that orphan girl away! I don't ever want to see her anymore! She's a terrible person." Ho-Ying yelled. Quay was confused about the incident. "Why, what has she done?" she asked while still holding her daughter. Ho-Ying trembled as she pointed at Lan-Yee. "She seduced Li-Nam. She's trying to marry him!" Ho-Ying accused her.
Quay and Suet immediately looked at Lan-Yee in astonishment. They both realized who that boy was downstairs in the patio earlier. Suet immediately defended her daughter, "Lan-Yee did not seduce him. She couldn't stop him from developing feelings for her." she insisted.
Quay protected her daughter, "If he had loved Ho-Ying before and now loves Lan-Yee, Lan-Yee must have interfered!" she insisted to defend her daughter. Suet smirked. "I'm sure Ho-Ying didn't appreciate him so he swayed off towards a girl who did!" Suet insisted.
Now the two women were bickering once again. They started going off the topic of their daughters and into their own personal relationship with Phong and Fei. Their chidren were all too overwhelmed with everything that was happening to say anymore.
Quay firmly came face to face with Suet and said obstinately, "When a woman tries to win the heart of a man who doesn't love her and never will, she is a moronic ignoramus who cannot accept the fact that he loves another woman!" Quay shouted.
"If she loved him to begin with why did she do something irrationally nonsensical as to marry another man! That just shows she never loved him to begin with." Suet said referringto Phong as her voice got louder. "And she would never accuse him of adultry when he committed none!" she shouted referring to Fei.
"Sometimes situations and the course of your life forces you to choose the path you take. Loving one man and marrying another has nothing to do with loving them or not!" Quay said with her voice rising just as much as Suet's voice.
"So marrying a man you don't love and hurting him is okay!" Suet shouted upset for both Phong and Fei if what she was saying had any thinking sensibility behind it.
Chun-On decided to interrupt the conversation. They seemed to be talking about something none of the kids could comprehend. "Mother, Aunt Suet, what are you two talking about?" he asked. Both women then realized that they had unfinished business they never resolved all these years. Living under one roof but unable to disclose all feelings and emotions which they still held for Phong and the death of Fei that still lingered in their minds.
"Excuse me." Quay says as she runs to her room. She's confused and doesn't understand her feelings. Has she forgotten Fei that quickly? Was he not as important as Phong? Has she always loved Phong? No it couldn't be! She was sure she loved Fei when she married him. It wasn't always about the money! She lvoed Phong and Fei at different times, didn't she? Her thoughts and emotions ran through her mind like a 1,000 man marathon going in circles.
Suet shakes her head and also says, "Excuse me." As she heads off to her room. She questioned if her night of passion meant anything of all to Phong or was she just a replacement for Quay. She couldn't help but believe that all these years she tried so desperately to believe that he loved her. But she must have been fooling herself all these years. Her mind spun like an out of control merry-go-round as she thought about it. Why was she thinking about a man that would no longer be able to tell her the answer?
Ho-Ying goes back to her room also leaving Chun-On and Lan-Yee to wonder about what their mothers were arguing about. "Aunt Suet and your mother seemed to have drifted on their topic of Ho-Ying and I to something else." Lan-Yee said.
"Yeah, sometimes it sounds like they?re arguing about my father, Fei But then at other times it sounds like they're talking about another man, someone else they could have possibly both loved." Chun-On said in puzzlement. Lan-Yee shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know but I can't imagine Auntie Suet 'in love'. Anyways I'm going to check on Ho-Ying." she said.
Chun-On stopped her, "I think you better let her calm down first. So much has happened today. Lan-Yee nodded and lets out a deep sigh as she leans into Chun-On's arms. He embraces her.
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