Paying Respects

Ying Yue slid into the taxi and let out a long breath. She had just used what meagre ninja skills she had to evade Uncle Yin. She had paid a teenager to get her bags to the handsome middle aged guy in the Armani suit standing outside the airport holding her name card. She loved him like a father, and hated to fool him, but she was not ready to face her grandfather yet. She wanted to meet her parents. It was a while since she last talked to them, and she wanted to pay respects to them.

She told the driver her destination, and sat back to relax.

"Miss.. miss.."

She woke up with a start, to realise that they had reached the destination, ands had fallen asleep. She apologised to the driver and paid the fare with the money she had stashed inside her jacket. As she got out of the car, she could feel the cool breeze on her face. It was soothing, and gave her an instant comfort, like her parents were there welcoming her, which made her laugh at herself, there was no end to her foolishness.

She hiked up the hill, and made her way to the place where her parents were buried. She looked at her mother's grave, and her heart clenched a little, at the missed opportunities and memories. She sat down on the grass in front of their graves.

" Hope both of you are happy. To be together again." She said in a small voice. She opened her mouth to say something, but found her eyes clouding, and had to stop herself.

" How does it feel? Desperately wanting to be together, but to be denied by everyone around you, yet still defying your family and getting married, working a simple job, finally after five years, getting a kid, but dying before you can even get to hold her in your arms….. how does it feel dad?" She whispered.

" Should I really call you dad? Besides giving birth to me, neither of you ever did anything, not that it was your fault. In fact, I have endless respect for the both of you, just was wondering how my life would have turned out if I was raised by you both, and whether the title of father would go to the actual person who raised me."

" This is not what I wanted to ask you, yet somehow, I always seem to ask you both the same questions. Probably because I have never gotten an answer. Anyways. I think grandpa is going to give me Huo cosmetics. One part of me wants to take it, shamelessly. But …." She sighed.

" A huge part of me wants to ignore him and the company you left behind. The company is not the best anymore, Cousin J has been running himself raged trying to take care of the other businesses. This company has been left to Mr.Cheng. You trained him dad, but unfortunately he is not you, and other companies have been surpassing it. In short it has been on the decline, and not a lot of people trust Huo cosmetics anymore. The products you launched were the last ones to ever create any kind of hype. I could have stopped this anytime, yet I gave my creations away. I have no idea who I was punishing. Myself or grandfather, or was I just acting out? From the man I imagined you to be, I know, you wouldn't really mind me going out and doing what I needed to do. But I guess I have too much of grandfather in me, I cannot let go of my guilt."

She fell silent for a long time, then started telling them about how she was schemed against, and thrown out of the small cosmetic company she had helped build. Then told them about her friends and how she has been living these past years. As the sun had set, she knew she needed to leave, so she finally got up and stood in silence for a little while.

" I am glad that you both are finally together, side by side. For a while I was afraid grandpa wouldn't let mother to be buried here...." She turned to leave.

" Grandpa is not a bad person. Just, hard headed. I hope you both won't blame him for the misfortunes that fell on you. He had to bury his beloved wife, then his son, you. To top it off, his granddaughter whom he raised from birth, hasn't talked to him for seven years. I think he has suffered enough. Please rest in peace." She told them with a complicated expression.