Chapter 48 - Mixed Feelings

After Jiang Meilin made sure that her stubborn daughter was taking her bath, she made her way downstairs to the garden where old man Jiang used to relax while drinking his coffee and reading magazines or newspapers. Jiang Meilin walked towards her father and sat close to him with her arms wrapped around his and her head resting on his shoulder. She missed this old man.

"What are you reading this time father?" She asked with amusement laced in her tone at how he adjusted his glasses every few seconds. He was truly aging and she wished he was not.

"Nothing special. How are you?" He asked as he kept the magazine aside and patted her hands. "I am doing great dad. You deserve the credits of taking care of me so well," she smiled lightly. "Oh really now. Then I should give myself a pat on the shoulder for a job well done," old man Jiang proudly said.

"Shameless as always, are you not?" Jiang Meilin teased. Old man Jiang chuckled at her words. They used to always tease each other and back then till date, his daughter always managed to have the upper hand. Those were days if peace, love and joy.

"I have really missed you dad," Jiang Meilin confessed in a sad and low voice. "I knew you did. You know, I was very disappointed when you chose to elope with that imbecile. I had a feeling things would turn out to be awful but you were happy and doing well at that time that I did not have the heart to take you away from him. If only I did," he muttered

"I am sorry for not listening to you. It is just that I was so blinded by his love and I failed to realize he was just using me to get benefits from the shares I had." Chuckling lightly she continued. "You know, when I found out he was cheating on me, I was so mad at him and greatly at myself. I confronted him. He begged and wailed that I should forgive him. That I should not leave him because he would die without me. I should have left but the stupid love stroke Jiang Meilin back then forgave him. That was a stupid decision."

"Since he was the one cheating, why were you the one thrown out?" Old man Jiang asked in confusion. This question had been disturbing him since he found out that that bastard had filed a divorce against his daughter and chased her out of their home. He waited for Jiang Meilin to come back to him and tell him what had transpired in her marriage and answered his question, but she did not.

Old man Jiang then decided to not force her into anything. Now that she was willingly opening up to him, he quickly made use of the opportunity to get the answer to his unanswered question.

"I..."

"Mum, gramps you guys are cuddling without me? No fair, I want cuddles too," Bai Renxiang's voice unknowingly interrupted Jiang Meilin's next words. "We will discuss this later," Jiang Meilin whispered to her father before looking at her daughter who was already making her way towards them.

"Come here honey. Sit close to your grandpa," old man Jiang patted the space at his left for Bai Renxiang to join them on he comforting sofa. Bai Renxiang obliged and copied her mother's current position. The trio stayed like that for a while before grandpa Jiang spoke. "Little Ren is there anything you want to tell me?" He asked. He had been study her face for a while and he saw how she bit her lips and puffed her cheeks after sometime. Something was bothering her and he wanted to know

"Ahem, well there is something that I want to tell you. You have to promise me not to panic or shout or space out. I will need a response from you when I tell you, okay?" Bai Renxiang nervously stated. Her palms were already sweating.

"Alright. I will try my best after I hear what you are going to say. So carry on now," he said.

"I-I uh, I'm, I am pregnant," she stammered. After a few seconds of silence, old man Jiang chuckled. "This grandpa is quiet old for your jokes little Ren. How can you be pregnant?" He asked. When he looked at her face and saw her nervousness, his light arc of his smiling lips turned into a straight line. He looked at his daughter, Jiang Meilin and she nodded at him. Telling him that what his granddaughter said was true.

"Are you seriously preg.. pregnant? How? When? Who? Where?" He bombarded Bai Renxiang with questions. Bai Renxiang then took her time explaining everything to her grandfather. Old man Jiang was baffled at the full story. He found it unbelievably that his little Ren was carry a stranger's child. He was caught between anger, sadness and happiness.. I guess this is what is called mixed feelings.