Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4567 | Page 340

'Oh my, of course you are not cruel! You are opening a happy charity ,' Venom dripping off my words. 'Respect your elders, missy,' Father hissed. 'I will not respect ones who do not respect my opinions,' I held my head high. 'Down a notch, would you? He is here,' Mother shushed. My head snapped to the doorway, a middle-aged man approaching. His hair was gelled into perfection, not even one bit of it was out of place; spectacles hung on the bridge of his nose, his calculating eyes beamed behind them; the thin line of his lips radiated his sternness. His appearance, if not, had further fuelled my loathe towards him. 'Mei,' Father acknowledged. 'Mr. Kwok,' Mei nodded. 'Mei, this is my daughter, Kwok Jing; Jing, this is Mr. Chen Qi Mei,' My stubbornness held my posture. I withheld from befriending with him, despite he would be sleeping beside me in the near future. Fiancée or not, I would not pay him my respect. Mei dodged my impoliteness swiftly, 'I'm sorry to inform that I will not be able to join you all dinner tonight. Instead, I'll simply converse about the details with Jing,' 'We sure understand,' Mother smiled. 'Jing, lead Mr. Chen to the Study.' Silence fell between us, footsteps ringing in the hallway, accentuated the hollowness of the night. Owls hooted once in a while, startling the serenity of the environment. My hands dangled on my sides, palms soaked with sweat, I was never comfortable around strangers. I pushed the door open, revealing our Study to Mei. I stalked to the table, sat on the edge and crossed my arms, my eyes focus on the cap of the pen lying on the table, mindlessly picking it up and capped it back on. 'So I'm not going to beat around the bushes, I need your help on,' Mei said. 'Why, in the name of God, do you think I am going to help you?' 'Because you are my soon-to-be-wife,' 'And?' I raised a brow. 'And wives obey husbands, that's why,' 'I'm not one to follow tradition,' 'Well, I don't care whether you are follow it or not, you are doing as I've told,' 'And if I don't?' 'Well, this is going to be simple,' He picked his nails. 'Your father's business is going to be rough,' 'Are you hijacking me?' I gulped. 'No, I'm just offering you a choice,' 'I just know that these are all about money,' 'You are partly on track,' He answered nonchalantly. 'What do you want me to do?' 'I've been thinking about taking down the walls of the City to merge the culture between it and the Northern City,' 'I beg you pardon?' I bulged my eyes. 'I wish to tear down the boundary between the Southern City, which is where you are brought up, and the Northern City. Therefore, I need information on that. It makes persuasion to my head easier,' 'In this case, I'm not helping you,' I held my stare. 'Excuse me?' 'I will not help you on this, this is basically betraying my City,' 'You are exaggerating it,' 'Why is it not a disloyalty to my town? We are proud of our uniqueness, we are glad that our tradition can be maintained without being corrupted by modernity.'