Chapter 555 - What have you done to my car?

It did not take long before the couple arrived at the mansion. Jeremy parked right in front of the huge door and opened the door for Ryn. The door was even opened before both could hold hand-in-hand to greet the family.

Ryn was not surprised to see the butler already opened the door before her feet touch the ground. The security at the gate must have told him about their arrival. She has no doubt that their presence was already known by the whole family by now.

Ryn looked at Jeremy who was holding her hand and he smiled. 

"Why are you so nervous all of a sudden?" he asked. "Relax. This will be your home soon."

Her eyes widened at his words. Was this the way for him to make her feel better? Not funny at all.

She scoffed at him.

He chuckled to see her adorable reaction. He rubbed her head affectionately and continued to walk to the mansion while still holding her hand.

The butler could not stop from grinning like a proud grandfather watching his grandchildren. The couple looked so perfect together, he could almost picture how perfect their children would be. Imagine cute and adorable fudgy babies crawling around? Oooh... he could not wait to take care of those babies. He could take care of those babies for Young Master Jeremy and Young Mistress Catherine. He knew he could not hope for Young Mistress Mika's baby because the butler of the Lin was already eyeing those babies to be spoiled at. He could feel in his old bone that even when the babies came to the mansion, those babies would be spoiled by Master and Madam, as well as the Dowager. He might not even be able to hold the babies once. Hence, he gave up immediately on the future babies and focussed his attention on the babies that would carry Long lineage.

"Young Master, Young Mistress," the butler greeted politely as he opened the door wider for the couple to enter the building.

The couple greeted the elder man and entered the mansion. They went straight to the living room where the others were chatting. Well, others but the newlyweds.

Jason and Mika were still at Jason's parents' house. They would only come the day after tomorrow. As the Dowager would leave tomorrow, the couple would not be able to send her but they already said their goodbye to her. They even planned to go to the temple to visit Grandfather Long. Mika even planned to cook for her late grandfather.

"You're finally here, Ryn. Sit beside me," Mrs. Long said as she patted the empty space beside her. She smiled dotingly at this future daughter-in-law of hers. She could not be prouder or more satisfied with the young woman. Nothing Ryn did was wrong in her eyes. Despite some of the other wives from the business world who looked down when they heard her future daughter-in-law was a model and not from an affluent family, she did not care at all. Her family was already rich enough and her son was so talented in the business. Why should she care about marrying her son for business purposes? She wanted him and Mika to marry for love.

"Grandmother Long, Uncle, Aunty, good morning," Ryn greeted politely after Jeremy greeted his family. He took the seat beside his father as his grandmother took the main seat at the centre.

"So how was the recording last night?" Mrs. Long asked. She knew last night Ryn went straight to the studio. The poor girl did not even have the chance to return to change her clothes before she had to go. Poor poor Ryn.

At the thought of the jetlag, Catherine has to face those vultures, the elder woman felt more pity and wished she could hug and protect the younger woman in her arms. 

And it was all that manager's fault, Mrs. Long blamed immediately. How could she even agree to record the episode on the day Ryn returned? And it was even an hour or two after the plane landed. The poor dear did not even have enough time to rest before she had to rush to the studio.

Yes, this was all that manager's fault, Mrs. Long determined to put every single blame on Mei Li's head. How could the manager make her future daughter-in-law be this tired? 

Hmph... she would go see that manager and tell her off for not considering Ryn's welfare.

"It was... good, I guess," Ryn replied slowly. 

"What is the episode about this time? Spending time avoiding to eat vegetables?" the Dowager asked with a ċȯċk of an eyebrow. Her eyes never moved from looking at the younger woman. She would rather be shocked now than be surprised when she watches the episode on the television.

"Mother," Mrs. Long gave a helpless look at her mother-in-law before patting Ryn's hand to calm her down. Her mother-in-law could be quite... domineering and blunt.

Hopefully, young Catherine was not hurt by the way Dowager spoke and put a stop to Jeremy and Ryn's future.

"I didn't skip any vegetables," as she already watched the episode, she knew what she was doing that time and would not get too shocked anymore. And she did not think... no, she knew that the Dowager and Mrs. Long would not feel hurt with this episode. 

"What about steaks?" the Dowager asked with narrowed eyes.

"I ate more than steaks this time, grandmother," Ryn said. She did eat a lot of candies, cakes, and pastries. She even shared a small bowl of M&Ms with a small girl. She was so adorable Ryn really wished she could bring the girl home to take care of forever.

"Don't worry, grandmother. I was there the whole time," Jeremy said.

"You accompanied Ryn last night?" Mrs. Long asked with a grateful smile. She knew her son was not that hopeless. She knew her son would protect dear Ryn with all his might.

"No... no... what I meant was I was there during the recording and Ryn did not eat too many steaks that day," Jeremy quickly corrected their thought. He did not expect for his mother to misunderstand him.

"So she went alone last night?" The Dowager frowned.

"She's with Mei Li," Jeremy said quickly.

"Grandmother Long, please don't be mad at Jeremy. I was the one who told him to leave first. Mei Li took care of me last night. Don't worry," Ryn quickly coaxed the elder woman before she scolded her only grandson.

"Hmph..." was followed with a pound of a cane.

Mr. Long shook his head in bemused at his mother's antic. But he was not that brave to laugh out loud.

He reached down to pick up a cup of tea so he could hide his grin behind the cup.

"Anyway, we're here to pick up Ryn's car," Jeremy said quickly, announcing the reason why the couple came to the mansion.

"Ah... the car," Mr. Long looked at the butler who quickly went to inform the rest, especially the driver.

"Let's go to the front," he said as he stood up. He helped his mother to stand before he helped his wife. 

Ryn was confused when everyone decided to come along. She never thought of making it a big scene when all she wanted was to retrieve back her car.

"Don't worry. Let's go," Jeremy told her gently. He stole a kiss on top of her head before anyone noticing and followed everyone.

Everyone walked to the front with Jeremy holding Ryn's hand. Everyone (except for Ryn and Jeremy who were oblivious to the plan) was excited to show Ryn the car. They have been working so hard in such a short time to almost remake the car into what it was now.

Mrs. Long, with the help of her son, Jeremy, even tied a Hermes scarf to cover Ryn's eyes. It was a surprise so they needed to do this properly.

Jeremy took a few seconds to gather his thought when he saw the car but he knew better to comment about the car. He looked at his parents, before at the excited helpers. And then, he shook his head as he twitched his lips. 

This was going to be good and he was ready to be a spectator. 

He held the key as he waited for the countdown before he helped to untie the scarf to reveal the car for the first time to Ryn.

"Surprise!" everyone shouted

Ryn's mouth opened and then closed. She kept opening and closing her mouth several times. However, nothing came out of her mouth at all. She was truly speechless with what she was seeing.

Everyone looked at her, waiting with bated breath for her reaction. But, after several minutes of seeing her behaving like a fish out of the water, they were getting worried. Was this too much? But... they did not think what they did was too outrageous until she was this shocked. 

Maybe... she was too happy that she went speechless?

"What.... what have you done to my car?" she choked out finally.