7 The Red Box

Three weeks after Xu Huifen's death, Xu Jia Li still could not believe that she was gone.

"Mom, why are you so unfair? Why do you have to leave me? I am all alone now."

She had been staying on her mother's room since then. She never left home and spent countless of sleepless nights trying to decipher what could have done wrong. Her eyes were swollen red from crying and her face was pale.

Xu Huifen's sudden death took a toll on Xu Jia Li. She didn't want to go outside which worried their neighbours a lot. They would come to her to bring food but she barely eaten at all.

They were wondering what happened to Xu Huifen that day. No one had seen it so it still remained a mystery to them.

Even Xu Jia Li didn't know what happened after her mother left home.

"Mom, what really happened that day?"She caressed Xu Huifen's picture as she continued to ask, "Why did this have to happen to us?"

She affectionately looked at her mother's beautiful face. Then, she suddenly remembered Xu Huifen's last words as they flashbacked repeatedly in her head.

'..get the red box...'

'..avenge me...'

'..promise me...'

"Oh, the red box!" She had totally forgotten about it.

Her whole body stiffened as she kneeled and reached for the box under Xu Huifen's bed. It was more like a chest with an intricate flower pattern on the lid with the letters, JY.

'Who is JY?' she mused as she raked her brain with answer. However, no matter how hard she tried, she still got no answer to her question.

Xu Jia Li continued looking at the box as she noticed that it didn't have a lock on it. With shaking hands, she slowly opened it.

Xu Jia Li was in awe as she saw that there were old pictures and old letters inside.

With heart beating fast, Xu Jia Li took the pictures and gazed at them.

They were pictures of a couple smiling sweetly while they looked at each other. There was also one where the man was holding the woman's hand while they were sitting on a swing. What caught her by surprise was the truth that the woman in the pictures was her mother.

"Oh! This is mom! Who is this man? Why is he with mom?"

She took one of the letter and read. It was beautifully handwritten. It was almost yellowish due to oldage.

'My Dearest Yi Fei,

Loving you is something I just can't stop. There is no controlling my heart. It has yearned for you for so long, that it hurts whenever I'm not with you.

In every cell of my body; in every corner of my being, my love for you fills me.

I love you, Yi Fei ... madly, sincerely, completely and with no reservation, in a way that is blissfully wonderful. 

I love you for being yourself, and I love you because of the person you made me become.

How blessed I am to care so deeply and more so to be loved as deeply in return.

Wait for me...

Jiayin "

Xu Jia Li asked herself, 'Who is Yi Fei and Jiayin?'