56 The man to whom you have proposed for marriage!

Xin Mei looked at Su Yuchen with wide eyes and poked him hard on his chest. "Dare you to crack such a serious joke? I am Xin from blood and birth, I am not adopted. Nor had I spent my life in an orphanage like you."

"Then?"

"I run an orphanage. There I have seen the other kids and I could understand their feelings."

"You run an orphanage?" Su Yuchen asked with a lot of excitement in his voice.

"Yeah, I am running an orphanage from last two-plus years. I had opened it with my saved pocket money," Xin Mei spoke with so much love towards her orphanage.

"It is an important part of my life. Not only that, but I also run an old age room in partnership. I am also part of the association of welfare of single women. I had also organized a lot of charity events to help poor and needy people. I have also...…"

Xin Mei was penning down the helps she had done in her small lifetime where Su Yuchen was looking at her with awe. This girl had a heart of gold. The man to marry her would be lucky.

Bitterness filled in his mouth at the thought of her marrying another man instead of him.

"Can I visit your orphanage?" Su Yuchen couldn't help himself from asking this question.

It had been so long that he had visited or volunteered in an orphanage. His busy schedule didn't give him much time. But now, he wanted to visit one and that too with Xin Mei.

"Sorry, but I have to decline you. You can't visit my orphanage." Xin Mei declined with politeness.

"Why so?" Voice of Su Yuchen carried hurt.

"I don't allow any visitor in my orphanage, especially Richie rich visitors like you who will make kids sad that they don't have a life like you."

"So what? I will keep a low profile while visiting them," Su Yuchen shrugged.

"You are not getting me," Xin Mei shook her head. "Whenever someone visits the kids, mentally, they always compare themselves with the other person. Not only that, they hope to see the other person again and again. They are ought to get emotionally attached to some visitors which I don't want."

"Once, a family of five visited the orphanage. They spent the day with kids and kids also had fun. Later, they started to wait for the family which never met them again. I still remember the sad faces of the kids. From then on, I never allow any visitor there. I myself don't meet them directly. I only watch them from afar."

"Still I want to visit them. I will also look at them from afar, I promise. I just want to witness them enjoying. I want to enjoy their carefree nature. I want to remember my childhood in them. Can I meet them please?" his voice held so much plead.

"Ok then. I will visit the orphanage on the seventeenth of the next month. Visit at 'Home' by eleven in the morning. It's the usual time I visit there."

"Great."

They both prepared the plan for the orphanage visit before Huang Chu announced that they had reached the house of Xin Mei. Both hadn't realized that they had spent two and a half hours in the car. Still, they both weren't ready to part from one another. They were enjoying the company of one another.

"Ok then. I should go Su Yuchen. Once again thanks for the ride," Xin Mei smiled to him. She opened the car door and stepped out of the car.

"I would have invited you in for some tea or coffee, but my family is probably already asleep to entertain a guest."

"You don't have to be so formal with me, Xin Mei. And if you want to treat me with tea, then you can treat me another day."

"Great, goodnight then." Xin Mei was about to close the car door when Su Yuchen stopped here.

"Wait Xin Mei, I wanted to say, Revenge movie is very close to my heart, especially the role of Ruyi. I hope you will give full justice to it. I want you to give full justice to that role." Su Yuchen said with a lot of seriousness.

"Don't worry about it. Ruyi is also very important for me. I will give full justice to it."

"Goodnight then."

Xin Mei closed the door and finally made her way to her house. But something in her was itching to turn back and stop Su Yuchen from leaving. She wanted to return back to him.

It was then that she heard the noise of his car that Xin Mei hurriedly went to her home.

She was glad that she had messaged her parents beforehand that tonight she was going to get late.

**

In the car, it was so hard for Su Yuchen to let go of Xin Mei. He wanted to stop her. He wanted to hug her hard, not letting her go. He wanted to keep talking with her and this feeling was completely foreign and new to him.

Xin Mei and Su Yuchen both knew that they were never going to forget this car ride. This car ride had brought their hearts closer to one another.

Xin Mei entered inside her house with very slow steps as to not create any noise. The whole house was silent and dark except for the small light coming from the kitchen.

She entered the kitchen and found a covered plate of food. A chit was attached to it.

'Dare you to skip the dinner, Xiao Mei. Warm the food in the microwave and finish it.'

"Mother," Xin Mei smiled.

She warmed up the food in the microwave and once it had reached the required temperature, she had it to her fill. After washing her utensils, she made her way towards her room. She stopped in her track when she noticed that the lights of her father's study room were still on.

"Father." Xin Mei opened the door and entered in.

She found her father sitting opposite to his study table. He had a lot of papers in his hand. Heart of Xin Mei itched in pain when she saw the poor state of her father. His image was no better from what she remembered from her dreams.

"Father, what are you doing here? It's getting very late. You should be asleep at this time."

"Xin Mei, you are back. I was waiting for you only. I decided to complete some work while doing so," Xin Jin closed his files and stood up from his seat. "Had your dinner?"

"Of course, I am not strong enough to go against the order of mother," both father and daughter duo chuckled upon hearing her.

"So tell me, how was your day?" Xin Jin walked towards Xin Mei and placed his hand on her shoulder.

Xin Mei informed him about her day before asking in a serious voice, "Father, is there anything which is worrying you now a days? I can see that you are working most of the time."

"Nothing is disturbing me, Xin Mei. I am simply busy with work. There is a lot of work at office."

"You sure."

"Kiddo, you don't need to worry about my tensions. They will come and go. So don't worry." Xin Jin knocked on the head of Xin Mei.

"How can I not worry?" Xin Mei wrapped her arm around his father's arm. "It is daughter's right to worry for her father. And father must tell his children if he has some tension."

Xin Mei looked at her father and spoke with a lot of seriousness.

"Promise that if you have any serious tension then you would share it with me. You would never take any serious action."

"Why are you talking like this Xin Mei?" Xin Jin chuckled but Xin Mei glared at him.

"Ok junior He Lin. I will tell if I have some serious tension. Now happy?"

"Very happy."

Both father and daughter talked for some time before Xin Mei dismissed herself for her room. That night, Xin Mei couldn't fall asleep. Her thoughts consisted of Su Yuchen who didn't let her fall asleep.

**

Three days had passed from the day of their car ride. Xin Mei was dearly missing Su Yuchen. She wanted to talk to him. She was cursing herself for not exchanging their mobile numbers.

She returned from her shooting and was about to retire for the night when her mobile pinged with a message.

"Hi!"

"Who is it?" Xin Mei asked, afraid that it was again that stalker Romeo.

"The man to whom you have proposed for marriage."