Chapter 45 - Settling down

After two hours of ride, they reached their new home. His dad parked the car in the nearby empty lot and got down. "The movers are already here." He whispered, looking at the van parked right in the intersection.

Zou Yue got down to instruct them.

Huge boxes of their stuff were moved in efficiently, and only the boxes in his car were left to move.

He paid the movers and thanked them all.

"You need help?" a voice whispered from behind.

Startled, Zou Yue threw a punch at this mysterious person. A hand caught his fist with ease.

"Whoa, not the welcome I was expecting," Bohai smirked widely.

  "Uncle Bo, don't sneak up on me." Zou Yue slapped his shoulders playfully.

"You have some boxes to move, right?" he whispered, looking at the open trunk.

"Yeah, I'll cover the heavy ones how about you take those," he pointed to the ones which weighed less. It mostly had his mother's valuables and other precious photo albums of hers.

Bohai shrugged and picked a few up.

Zou Wei and Zou Nui watched their exchange with their eyes wide open.

"Darling do you think...."

"Maybe.... but let's not assume anything," Yue's father warned his wife softy.

"But they are so cute together."

"No, I see a big age gap..." he whispered with a deep frown.

"Darling~ how can you say that. We have an age gap of ten years, no?"

Zou wei cleared his throat. "That is different. Our son's situation is different," he mumbled and hastily walked into their house.

"Its all the same..." she followed after him.

Inside, Zou Yue moved his mother's stuff inside the master bedroom. It had a lot of storage space and a walk-in closet. "Uncle Bo, keep them there. My mum will unpack it all."

"hmm... which is your room?" he whispered curiously.

"It's the one with the access to the storage attic," he mumbled, sorting through a few of the photo albums.

Their family had a photo album for each of the year. Few years before, when he was just ten, he developed an interest in modelling. At first his father allowed him to attend his modelling gigs, escorting him everywhere.

But when he hit fifteen, things changed. His father grew sceptical about this as a job prospectus. He grounded him from attending any work.

So Zou Yue made the most reckless decision to run away from home.

Those three years there were no photos of them together as a family in the albums. But at the last few pages he noticed some magazine cut outs.

It was all the ad campaigns and runway photographs.

He gently caressed them. "My old man really does love me," he mumbled to himself.

"Yeah, I can see that." Uncle Bo peaked at it form over his shoulders. "Were you a model?"

"yes, I retired." Zou Yue closed the photo album and placed it securely with the others albums. "Do you know uncle I was such a rebellious child, I ran away from home to become a model. I was good at it too. But... my father was against it."

"So you stopped?"

"I'm tired of it too..." Zou Yue glanced at him. "Why don't have some refreshments, I'm growing increasingly thirsty,"

His mother prepared for all by bringing a huge thermos filled with cold lemon tea.

"Mum~ go sit down. I'll serve the tea." he took things from her hand and gently nudged her towards the couch that was moved in. It was placed in the hallway.

His father was already sitting there, half snoozing.

"Ha-ha, I'll set up the bed next. Both of you rest there." he said pouring four cups of cold lemon tea.

He handed one to Bohai and one to his mother.

"Yue, um.... you never introduced him.." she whispered with a slight hopeful look.

"Oh shit, sorry, I forgot. Mum, this is Bohai. He is the one who remodelled our house. Uncle Bo, this is my mother and that sleeping panda is my father," Zou Yue chuckled, gesturing to his father.

Bohai bowed slightly. "Nice to meet you ma'am"

"U—uncle... Yue calls you uncle?"

"um yes, he has been calling me like that since day one,' Bohai awkwardly glanced at her.

"oh.. OH I see... that's nice.." she gulped down the tea. "Oh Yue, I wanted to ask that pool looks like it's going to overflow," she gestured to the small pond in the middle of the house.

Zou Yue ran to it. The pond was overflowing, but the nearby patch of land soaked it all up. "It will not overflow too much, right?"

Bohai squatted next to it. "It won't be much of a problem after you start using from it. Did you get it tested?"

"N—no I kind of forgot," Zou Yue mumbled.

"You should before using it for drinking purposes." Bohai stood up. "Let's get moving fast." He walked to the car again.

Only a few boxes were left, along with the mysterious black box.

Zou Yue picked it up curiously. "Wonder what's in it?" he placed it in his father's study along with his numerous books. His father did reduce his book collection exponentially, yet his study was full.

They both started to set up the bed that was dissembled in the main bedroom first.

His mother tried to help him out, but the wood was too heavy for her to handle.

"Mum set up the curtains. Uncle Bo and I will deal with it," he mumbled.

His mother nodded and started to drape the curtains in the rod that existed already. Since it was an old house, it already has a few nails and curtain rods. After handing the curtains, his mother started to hang their family photos.

Bohai glanced at one in particular. "You look cute." he pointed to the picture frame with him as a baby.

Zou Yue grimaced.

He was biting into a small rattle, with a huge grimace on his face. It was his ugliest picture, but his parents really, really liked it. So much so that they framed it and hung it on the bedroom walls.

He shook his head. "Gosh, I wish I could burn that picture."