SERENDIPITY

The first Madam, Muchen and Heya's mother, stood up and looked at all of them quietly, trying to create some kind of tension in the atmosphere. 

"Come in, say it!" Her husband urged her impatiently. 

"We— are going to an island!" She finally dropped it. 

"An island?" About five people asked at the same time. 

"Yes. An island." She answered with a smile. 

"Is there wi-fi and games?" Ten years old Li Queen asked. Everyone knew how she usually had fun playing video games with her father.

"Of course honey! We aren't going to be living like we're in the stone age. In fact, you are all going to enjoy this trip. Trust me." She said to her granddaughter and everyone else in the room. 

"So... how are we getting there?" Li Minde asked excitedly. His life was all about having fun so he didn't mind whether they were going to the Bermuda triangle, all he cared about was having fun. And now that he had a little son who seemed to take after him and not his workaholic wife, he couldn't wait for them to have as much fun as they could until the Christmas break was over. 

"I'll leave you all to guess." The first madam said, trying to create another round of tension. 

"We're going by ship." Song Changyu said, ruining the surprise the woman had planned.

"Ship?" This time, eight people asked at the same time. 

"Yes." First Madam answered, "Now, let me explain this slowly without any interruptions please..." She raised a hand when she noticed a few people were about to ask questions. 

"It's going to take us three days to get there by ship. And before you ask, the ship is everything you can imagine. The thing is, we won't be sailing the ship alone. There are 100 rooms in the ship—"

She didn't stop talking despite all the "Wows!" that escaped the lips of half of the people in the room. 

"She was really expensive to secure because she was strictly built for vacations. She has everything you can imagine, the cabins are like suites, game rooms, party halls, and before you ask, there is free wi-fi" She turned to inform her granddaughter, Li Queen with a smile then continued, 

"First night is more like a meet and greet to get to know the other boarders and trust me, not everyone can afford this so be ready to meet people of high calibre. And before anyone asks, no! We do not know the other boarders. It is strictly confidential so as not to alert the wrong group of people. So I hope this news doesn't leave here also. Back to what I was saying—" She continued, 

"For that first night, everyone has to look their best. I'm sure the ladies especially will not fail us." She sent a wink at where the three single ladies were sitting. Joreen and Reen giggled but Heya didn't look very excited.

All Joreen could think of was meeting her prince charming. Maybe this was the best chance.

"The second night is for real partying. So the young ones can have fun while the old ones like us—" 

Song Changyu tutted silently. "I really hope she isn't including me on the old people list." 

Her husband looked at her and was about to say something but remembered their granddaughter Li Queen was sitting on his wife's laps so he swallowed it back and turned to smile at his granddaughter. 

"Can you go sit with your mummy for now?" 

Queen smiled, "Sure. I'll go sit with aunt Heya." Then she cupped her grandmother's face and whispered in her ear, "You are the youngest and prettiest elder here." She said before running off. 

Changyu looked at her with a big smile which faded when she saw her husband glaring at her.

"What?" 

"Are you happy now?" He whispered. 

"Happy? About?" She asked, also in a whisper. 

"Why do you always keep speaking about her grandmother like that? You should stop trying so hard, Queen already favours you more than her."

"What? When did I speak ill of Dana? If she thinks  she is old fine! But she shouldn't —"

"I'm not just talking about that." He cut her off.

"Now, everyone thinks you are grouchy, anti-social and people fear you!" 

Changyu scoffed and turned to look ahead. For a moment, he thought she wasn't going to say anything until she turned to look at him.

"How can you say that to me? How does it even relate to what we were just talking about? Did you wait until now to tell me about this?" She didn't wait for him to answer before she continued in a raspy voice, 

"Firstly, you know how Dana and I get. You should be happy I am still being nice. Secondly, I am not anti-social. Everyone's attitude has a way of promoting this family in the eyes of the world and you can swear it that had it not been because of me, this family would have been going through difficult challenges back to back. But the fear of me keep people from trying anything silly. Am I wrong?— And thirdly, do not talk to me. Since I am anti-social and evil, you should just look at other women who are perfect.." She looked ahead, folding her hands across her chest. 

Wang Jianjun knew she was correct. Her cheerful personality was soiled as she grew up so she adopted a different kind of personality which scared people. She knew the right people, the right places, the right words to say. So she didn't care about offending people or cutting ties with them because she already had a perfect replacement. Her attitude had contributed in taking the whole family really far ahead of others. 

"I'm sorry. You know I'd rather look at you than at any other woman here. You shine the most." He said, taking her hand and smiling sheepishly while she continued to look ahead but didn't pull her hand away.

"Tsk! How cheesy. No wonder you never had a girlfriend until I came into your life." She said, trying to feign indifference as she intertwined their fingers together. 

He smiled at their locked fingers and saw her trying to hide her own smile. 

They finally decided to pay attention to what has been going on when they saw Li Minde's wife, Kim Eva ask,

"So in summary, you're saying we'll spend three days sailing. First night is to meet the other guests and have dinner together, second night is like a club and game night for the young people, while other activities has been reserved for the kids and elders, while the third night is a general gathering to display talents and share gifts —which we are going to get before boarding since we're going to be giving it to a random person whose name we picked, and then we arrive at the island and can decide to do whatever we want to do until our vacation is over? So everyone boarding the ship is also going to be staying at the island for the period of the vacation?"

She summarized. 

"Exactly! The Wei corporation has planned a special Christmas trip. All we have to do is pay and get onboard! The island is also really nice. We've seen the pictures and videos and have  seeked professional advise which we were told that all is safe."

"So what do you all say?" Wang Cixi asked excitedly. 

Everyone remained quiet. 

"Why am I feeling some titanic vibes?" Joreen asked. She was looking obviously scared. Ever since she saw titanic, she swore not to ever go on a long trip with a ship. This was for days! What if something happened? 

"Come on, do not try to jinx it. And did I mention it's the first time she is ever going to sail?" First Madam asked excitedly.

"First time sailing? Is this really some kind of titanic part two?" Reen asked with wide eyes. 

"Is it the same Ship they've been talking about on TV? What's the name again...?" Sara pondered on it.

"Yes. She is called SERENDIPITY which means the luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for. So just maybe, we'd find the things we weren't really looking for." Wang Cixi chipped said with a warm smile.

"I really do have something I am hoping for." Joreen muttered to herself. But firstly, she looked at Li Hoy's direction, he was saying something to his father. 

She was going to make sure they didn't bump into each other often. That way, he won't stop her from having fun and finding what she was looking for.

She smiled. She was beginning to look forward to it.