Well Kept Secrets

Liang JianAmal lay back in his seat, he had lied about sleeping and was just taking advantage of the moment. His real goal was to make Chang get used to his presence and touch.

'There is going to be more of that' he thought to himself with a wicked grin, 'and I cannot have you running into a bathroom every time.' He enjoyed the feeling of her under his hands too much to let that continue.

In his arms, Chang was lulled onto sleep with the steady warmth of his presence. Knowing her mother was truly safe and with her again, she relaxed and let go of the anxiety she had held onto in her sleep. As she slept Liang JianAmal kept watch over her, brushing a stray hair from her face. Looking to his right from the corner of his eye, he noticed that something seemed off about the two women sitting on the other side of the aisle. Hao Jin Ying's spine was rather rigid with her back turned as if she was conversing with Li Hua, if not for her unnatural posture, he would believe it.

"What is wrong?" Whispering in a low voice, Liang JianAmal looked at the two women intently.

Turning to Liang JianAmal, uncertainty showed in Hao Jin Ying's eyes as she shot a brief glance at Chang curled up in his arms.

"She is asleep and will not hear us. Tell me."

"Li Hua had another attack. They're getting worse and more frequent. I fear she might not have much longer," her eyes dropped after saying this and her voice broke. Hao Jin Ying had been assigned to caretake Li Hua after her boss had learned of Chang's mother's condition. Over the months of living with Li Hua and coming to know her Hao Jin Ying had grown attached to the middle-aged woman. She had done her best, but feared it wouldn't be good enough as Li Hua refused to do certain things.

Liang Jian Amal's expression grew troubled hearing this. He had known it was getting worse from the reports he received. When he had received notice that Li Hua had collapsed after a seizure and was hospitalized, he had known things could not be delayed any longer. Even if he had not found Chang as of yet, he would have forced Li Hua to leave anyways.

'How do we tell Chang?' Liang Jian Amal worried about this issue constantly, it had been one of the driving forces in finding her, he needed to bring her to her mother's side. Now that they were heading to his grandfather's country they would have access to the best private treatment for Li Hua, and he would be able to do whatever was in his means for her. Chang still needed her. Liang JianAmal looked at the woman sleeping peacefully in his arms, unaware of the sadness surrounding her

.

"How is Li Hua now?"

"She is sleeping, I gave her something for the pain, she passed out shortly after."

"Hmm, thank you for your service." He motioned to the flight attendant who awaited any commands on the sidelines. " Bring her a pillow and a blanket."

Both mother and daughter slept for several hours of the flight, over half of the journey, and both woke up ravenous around the same time. The flight attendant hadprepared a simple in-flight meal for them, which the two tore into with gusto. After satiating their hunger, the mother and daughter finally found a chance to have a good conversation. Chang urged Hao Jin Ying to change spots with her, much to Liang Jian Amal's displeasure. Under the relentless pressure, Hao Jin Ying eventually did but chose not to sit by her less than pleased boss. The mother and daughter happily chatted away. As they did, Chang told her mother all about LA and living with Justin, her friend she had met down there.

"That's wonderful, Xiao Xi, but what made you move to LA?"

Chang coughed, wondering how to tell the series of events to her mother, tailoring it as she needed. A pair of ears tuned into their conversation, curious for the truth as well.

"Well I came to a wrong conclusion, that Jian and I weren't meant to be together, and so I left."

"Why didn't you just come home?"

'Could you make this any harder mom?!' Chang sweated. "I wanted to just try to start afresh somewhere new for a while."

"How did you get to LA with no one knowing?" Her mother leaned closer and whispered to her.

Chang saw her conspiratorial nature and responded in turn. Leaning closer, she put a hand beside her mouth as she spoke in hushed tones. "I had help from a friend of Jian's father."

"Who?"

"You promise to keep it a secret?"

"Pinky swear." Her mother extended her finger just like they used to when Chang was very little.

"His father's right-hand man made all the arrangements for my travel to LA, and money to survive on after I met with Jian's father."

"Why would he do that?" Furrowing her thin brows, Li Hua shook her head slightly.

"Jian's father doesn't approve of us." Chang looked down, this pricked her heart a bit to know she had been so thoroughly misled. "He doesn't think I'm worthy of Jian."

"Not worthy of my Xiao Xi!?" Her mother's tone raised, incredulous at hearing her daughter's words.

"Shh shh." Chang put her finger to her lips and motioned for her mother to lower her voice. She did not want Jian to overhear their conversation, and learn about all that had been done behind his back.

"Sorry, but that's absolute bulls**t!" Li Hua swore startling Chang, her mother almost never swore. She could count on one hand the number of times she had heard her mother use profanities.

Chang did not have a response to her mother, as she still felt sour inside over it all and Li Hua eventually settled her ruffled feathers. "Well, at least my son-in-law seems to be cut from a different cloth. Please tell me, how did you two meet?"

Chang smiled and told her mom. Of course, omitting some of the details such as her being drunk as a skunk, her mother did not need to know those things, she would never hear the end of it! Chang sweated weaving the details making it so that Jian and she met at a business meeting, and he proposed to her right after and she agreed.

"Hmm, that seems so irresponsible, why would you just agree to marry a stranger like that? What if he turned out to be a bad guy, what then? You're beyond lucky my son-in-law is a gentleman!" Li Hua shook her finger at her daughter enunciating her points. "Still that's not like you, this doesn't quite seem to be the truth, were you drinking again?" Li Hua crossed her arms over her chest her tone reproachful.