Chapter 82 - Jealous

Reen had only just opened her room's door to leave with her parents when they saw Joreen standing in front of the door, ready to open it also. 

She was panting but had a smile on her face which slowly disappeared when she saw her family. 

"Uhm... Hi...!" She greeted nervously. 

Seeing her panting like this, they would have been worried something must have happened, if they hadn't caught her smiling sheepishly to herself just now.

"Hi?" Cixi asked in disbelief before pulling her inside while Reen quickly closed the door. 

"You were with Hoy?" Jaime guessed.

"What?" Cixi looked surprised Jaime had even thought about something like that. "Why would she be with—"

She noticed how Joreen was slowly hiding behind Jaime with a guilty look on her face and realised Jaime's guess was correct. 

"WHAT? YOU WENT TO SEE HIM?!" 

"You are overreacting mum. They only bumped into each other... right Jo?" Reen said and turned to look at Joreen while communicating with her eyes, telling Joreen to say yes whether or not it was true. 

Joreen bobbed her head quickly, agreeing to what Reen said, making Cixi scoff before she slapped a hand on her forehead in frustration.

"Calm down. It isn't a big deal." Jaime said, standing in between Cixi and Joreen. 

"It isn't a big deal? What do you mean by that? Am I the only one thinking rationally here?" 

"I can't live in hiding because someone is spying on me. Seriously!" 

"Did... you just say something right now?" Cixi asked in a scary tone that made Joreen hide completely behind Jaime while clutching his shirt for her safety. 

"I only went to thank him for his gift!" Joreen said defensively. 

"He gave you a gift?" Jaime asked, moving away from Joreen's front to look at her face. 

She raised her leg, and swung it to both sides, showing them her ankle.

Cixi, who had seen an opening to attack her daughter, suddenly stopped when she saw the beautiful object around her daughter's ankle.

"Is that a...." Cixi squinted to look at it. Reen was the first to squat down to look intently it. 

"It's real diamond!" Reen gasped and looked up at her parents. 

"It is?" Cixi asked, trying to sound indifferent but it didn't work. Her curiosity got the best of her and before they knew it, she pulled Joreen's hand. 

Joreen squealed, thinking her mother was finally going to hit her but to her surprise, Cixi led her to the bed and made Joreen sit before she sat down beside her and took Joreen's leg in her lap. 

"Oh my goodness! It's from the O-Z collection. It costs at least four hundred thousand yuan—"

"WHAT?!" Both Reen and Joreen exclaimed at the same time. 

"This... costs four hundred thousand?" Joreen stuttered in shock with her eyes wide open. 

"Could be more than. I have never seen this one before."

"Maybe it hasn't been released yet? Or it's a limited edition?" Reen asked. 

"Or maybe he specially made it for her." Cixi guessed while still looking at the jewelry around her daughter's ankle. 

"And someone still thinks he doesn't like her?" Jaime, who had been watching from the side finally spoke with a snort. 

They all looked at Joreen who was lost in her thought. They waited for what she had to say. Or maybe she was overwhelmed by the fact that Li Hoy liked her this much? This was only a Chrismas gift. What was he going to get her for her 18th year birthday? 

Joreen's eyes finally twitched and they realised she had returned from her reverie. 

"You... mean to tell me..." She looked at all of them one by one.

Jaime wanted to say smugly that he was never wrong but what she said next, surprised them.

"I AM WEARING SOMETHING THAT COSTS OVER FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND AROUND MY ANKLE?" She asked in horror before jumping from her seat. 

"I cannot accept this. It's too much! Why is he spending so recklessly?" She asked with a frown. 

"He is Li Hoy! He can buy whatever he wants. If he even wants to buy you this earth, the rest of us have no choice but to move to another planet." Reen said, rolling her eyes. 

"That is too much of an exaggeration, Luo Reen." Jaime said with a short laugh. 

"But... it's too expensive." 

"Why do you always act like a pauper Jo? Have you forgotten our house was gifted to you by Aunt Changyu on your 8th year birthday? You should be used to all this by now."

"But..." Joreen sighed before sitting back down on the bed. 

"I should be used to it by now, I guess?" 

Only Reen nodded. Her parents looked at her thoughtfully. 

It was difficult for her to turn a blind eye to things like this and think it was 'normal' because it still wasn't normal to her. Even though she had been quite young back then when they when her family was still struggling, she understood how difficult it had been to earn and how much her uncle and cousin struggled to make ends meet.

Who would have thought that there was a time when they were thrown out of their house and they had to share a tiny apartment with her uncle's friend and his son? 

She knew a lot of people still lived like that and just this anklet would have been able to feed more than a hundred family comfortably. 

"Now can we talk about this?" Cixi changed the topic and raised the 'creepy note'.

"Do you know anyone who could have sent this to you?" Jaime asked Joreen as he went to the couch opposite them to seat. Reen followed and also went to sit down beside him. 

"No idea." Joreen shook her head. 

"Know anyone suspicious who has been around you and just maybe, you have been suspecting he has a thing for you?" He asked again.

Joreen thought about it for a while and hesitated a little. She wanted to say there was one person. That one person was Kyle, but she didn't know how Reen was going to react to that. So she shook her head, saying no. Later, she was going to speak with her parents privately. She felt it was the smartest thing to do.

Cixi sighed. "I'll take the note and disgusting chocolates."

"You... aren't going to eat them are you?" Joreen asked.

"Of course not! I'll make sure to leave them under the tree but make it quite visible. If he sees his gift there, he'll probably want to go check the box so we'll have to look out for whoever is going to pick it up. I'll talk to the lady at the receptionist's desk to keep an eye there." 

"Thank you. I don't know what I would have done without you all." Joreen said sincerely while looking at each of them.

"That's weird. We are your family. This is something we should do. Just try not to think about it, okay?" Jaime said with a little smile that she returned while nodding.

"What about these other gifts? Are you not going to open it?" Cixi asked her daughter before picking up one with an unfamiliar name, 

"To Reen, from Ning Z. Who is this person?" Cixi asked Reen as she kept checking the wrapped gift. 

"Ning Zichu? He sent me a gift?" Reen was surprised and she stood up to go snatch it from her mother before she could open it. 

"Zichu? As in, the waiter?" Joreen asked in surprise. 

"Waiter? Who is that?" Jaime asked with a slight frown. 

"Why would a waiter give you a gift?" Cixi asked while eyeing Reen suspiciously. 

"You all should learn to mind your business. Pleaseeee."

"You seduced that innocent boy?" Cixi asked.

"You know the boy?" Jaime asked his wife. It seemed like he was the only one not following here. 

"I met him the other day in their room." Cixi answered. "He brought them breakfast." 

"How did you just guess it was him? There are a lot of young waiters here?" Reen asked Cixi. 

"You must think your mother is blind. So far something is in front of me, I see it clearly." 

"So what's going to happen to Kyle?" Jaime asked. 

"I already broke up with him."

"WHAT!? You broke up with Kyle? And you are dating someone you just met on the trip?" Jaime asked in surprise. 

"I'm not dating anyone dad! I didn't even expect him to send me a gift. This is a surprise!" 

"Let's see the gift." Cixi said eagerly. 

Reen shook her head, "Not going to happen!" 

"We'll talk about Kyle later. But I'll like to see this unlucky boy." Jaime chipped in. 

"What? Unlucky? First of all, you aren't meeting him because there is nothing going on. Secondly, anyone who gets the privilege of dating me is fucking lucky." 

"Language, Luo Reen." 

"I'm not a child dad." 

"Enough with the banter!" Cixi said before standing up. 

"I hope your luggages are ready? They'll come pick it up in an hour."

"We are going somewhere else?" Joreen asked in surprise. Reen also looked a bit surprised. 

"You think we are spending a week together with these noisy people and creepy stalkers?" 

"....."

"You'll know how big this Island is tonight." Cixi said with a wink before she left the room with her husband. Once they were outside the room, her face turned cold.

"What is wrong?" Jaime asked, grabbing her hand to stop her from walking further. 

"I am not going to speak with you." 

"What? You are mad at me?" He asked, looking very surprised. 

She glared at him before folding her hands across her chest. 

"Our daughters got presents from people they aren't even dating. But you got me nothing!" She glared one more time and snorted before walking away, leaving him standing there.

Was she jealous of her daughters?