Chapter 9 - Racing

"They are not in?" Joreen asked, sounding a bit disappointed. She had wanted to pay her cousin's family a surprise visit that evening, so she didn't call first. Now, her surprise was ruined. 

"I don't think they went really far. They should be here any moment." The older butler added, "Would you like to wait inside and have a cup of tea?" He asked Joreen and Reen. 

"It's fine. We'll just wait in the car. The surprise is going to be ruined if they see our car outside so it's best we wait here too." Reen rejected with a polite smile.

"Alright." The butler smiled kindly before returning inside and closing the door.

"So..." Joreen asked with an 'I have a better idea' kind of smile.

"So?" Reen asked as they walked towards where her car was parked.

"Since we are waiting for them and your car is here, why don't you teach me how to drive? This estate is big enough." Joreen looked at her with puppy eyes and pressed her palms together in a pleading gesture. Because of her career, she hadn't gotten the opportunity to learn how to drive. Her parents had also refused to get her a car of her own. Luckily for Reen, she was in the university, she had a lot of time to learn how to drive and also have her own car. She really couldn't wait to turn 18. One was usually very impatient when they're almost at the finish point.

Before Reen could answer, their attention went to two speeding black sport cars of the same model approaching them and they watched curiously as the cars kept trying to overtake each other. They could hear childish screams come from both cars, one sounded excited while the other sounded really terrified.

"I think your cousin is here." Reen said as both cars suddenly came to a halt, almost at the same time. 

"Yes! We won! We won!" A little girl of 10 was the first to come out of the backseat of one of the cars. She was jumping excitedly as she ran towards the other car, not taking note of the visitors because she was too excited.

"Oh my! Queen is looking so big." Reen said in awe as she watched her. The little girl wore a sweatshirt with palazzo, a head warmer covering her head and a scarf around her neck. On her feet were a pair of sneakers. She looked prepared for the cold.

The driver's seat of the car she just came out of opened and a young lady in her 30s stepped down. Her hair was in a pigtail, she wore a white turtleneck shirt which was tucked inside a small black short. A pair of boots on her feet and a coat in her hand. She wore a mild make up that suited her pale complexion really well. She was the perfect example of 'forever 21' even though she was more than a decade older than 21. She was Sara Wang, Joreen's maternal cousin.

"Oh my goodness! Jo!" She called when her eyes landed on the two girls. 

Joreen happily ran towards her and they embraced tightly. Herself and Sara had always been really close. While Cixi Wang (Joreen's mother) took different medical volunteer jobs years ago, Joreen stayed with her uncle and his daughter and she was treated nothing less than how a daughter was supposed to be treated. They were her family and it had been painful leaving them when Sara got married and her mother remarried. Thankfully, they were all still in the same city and spent weeks together during the Christmas season. Sara's husband was also very important to Joreen because he was like an idol to her while growing up, since he was the CEO of Li Corporation with G-GLOBAL as one of its subsidiaries until it was separated from Li Corporation and his cousin, Li Hoy became the CEO of the stand-alone company.

Sara's husband, Li Muchen had helped her kickstart her career from the moment she turned 8. That was when she was automatically put under Li Hoy's guidance. He had just turned 20 then.

"I can't believe you came without telling me! I would have waited for you at the airport." Sara said before breaking the hug to look at Joreen's face.

While the ladies conversed, at the other side, the second car opened and a young boy of 6 ran out to throw up while glaring at his father who had driven the car.

"You are such a girl!" His sister laughed at him before she turned to stick her tongue out at her father,

"Mummy and I won you both again. You have to do whatever we ask." She said to her father smugly.

"Yea right. I was just being careful because of your little brother." Li Muchen pointed out.

"You call that being careful? I almost died!" The little boy raised his head to frown at his father but gagged and began to throw up again.

Muchen chuckled and went to pat him on the back. "Didn't you say you wanted to ride with me? Do you want to ride with your mother next time?" He asked and took the bottle of water his little girl was giving to him before her brother.

"Mum is even worse. I don't want to be a part of this anymore."

While they went on with their conversation, The other set was engrossed in theirs. 

"Where did you go to?" Joreen asked Sara. 

"Oh! We went for a little racing." She smiled. "I missed you so much." She embraced her again. 

"I missed you too Sis." 

"Sis Jo?" A little voice called behind her making her turn. 

"Sister Jo! It's really you!" Queen squealed excitedly before jumping into her arms. 

"My little Queen. You were so excited you totally ignored my presence." Joreen said with a laugh as she hugged her back. 

"Mr Li." Reen bowed slightly to greet Muchen while Joreen also did same. 

"You keep growing. I almost didn't recognize you." Li Muchen said with a smile.

"I guess I am getting old." Joreen laughed before hugging the very last of the family, Li King, even though she knew he didn't like being touched much. He was the exact opposite of his sister. While she was cheerful and always caused trouble, King was introverted and didn't like being troubled talk more of causing trouble.

After exchanging pleasantries, they all went inside to have dinner. Halfway through the dinner, Queen did all the talking. She asked Joreen about almost everything about her latest movie.

"What about grandma and grandpa? Have you met them yet?" Queen asked, referring to Sara's parents.

"I have. The restaurant seems to be booming a lot."

"Of course, do you know how many movie scenes they've shot there? It would be weird if they didn't have at least two hundred customers everyday." 

The conversation went on and on until dinner was over and the girls got ready to leave. So Sara saw them off.

"What about Sister Heya? I haven't been able to reach her for a while." Joreen remembered to ask Sara just as they got outside. 

"You know how she doesn't stay in a particular place. She isn't in town currently, but she promised to come to the hotel tomorrow. You haven't forgotten the whole family is meeting tomorrow right?" 

"Why would I? Have you forgotten mum is part of the planning committee? I don't know why she is so tightlipped about giving us the location." Joreen complained.  

"If mum tells us and Mrs Wang tells sist Sara and the two Madam Li (Muchen and Hoy's mother) told their children, It's no longer going to be a surprise since every member of the family would know about it then, don't you think?" Reen asked with an eye roll. 

"She is correct there." Sara said in support of Reen. 

"Whatever! I am just so excited about it already. I can't wait to see everyone." 

"You can't wait to see everyone or you can't wait to hear where we're having this year's Christmas trip?" Reen chipped in with a raised brow. 

"Humour her a little, will you?" Sara said to Reen with an amused laugh.

They all were looking forward to the trip.

So am I.

******

Author's note:

For those who haven't read the first part, the characters are going to be a bit confusing to you but I'll try to make you understand. Here is a list of all the people related to Joreen.

Luo Reen— Stepsister 

Luo Jaime— Stepfather 

Wang Cixi— Biological mother.

Wang Sara— Cousin

Wang Jianjun— (Sara's father) Uncle

Song Changyu— (Sara's mother) Aunt.

Li Muchen— Sara's husband.

Li Hoy— Li Muchen's cousin.

Li Minde— Li Hoy's brother and Muchen's cousin. 

Li Heya— Li Muchen's sister.

Li Queen— Sara's daughter

Li King— Sara's son