381 Not Just Another Friday - Part 6

Friday, continued …

On leaving Fengs they headed to M Mall, with James disappearing to collect his suit.Alecia, started wandering through various shops to locate a dress wanted to wear when obtaining her marriage certificate

When she finally located the dress she wanted Yao Tan glanced at his watch and observed that they only had ninety minutes for the two of them to change and reach the Civil Administration Bureau for their appointment.He hurried them back to his car and headed towards his apartment, calling the staff to arrange a light meal for them.

On arrival back at the apartment, Yao Tan showed James into the guest room where he could change while Alecia ran to her room to get ready.As Alecia went to her room Yao Tan realised that this was the last time she would be here as his princess daughter, her next time here she would be a married woman.What had he agreed to?

When he left the guest suite Twenty minutes later James located Yao Tan alone in the lounge room.Firmly Yao Tan said."James, I will tell you his but one.You hurt my little girl, I will come after you.Being Yi's brother-in-law will not matter.My children, have been through so much due to my own youthful mistakes."

"What do you mean?"

"You know I got their mother, my then girlfriend pregnant when we were both fifteen.I thought I was young and invincible, and that we would be together for life.Teenage pregnancy soon dispelled that view.Neither of us knew she was pregnant until she was about four-and-a-half months along.As she was under eighteen her parents had to consent to her having an abortion, and they refused."

"When I knew what was happening I offered to do the right thing and marry her, which she refused and her parents tried to force her to accept.She did everything she possibly could to try and end the pregnancy but her parents watched her closely to prevent her from doing that.The only thing she partially achieved was she was starving herself, and she was admitted to prevent her from killing herself and them by that action."

"The only way her self-harming behaviour was stopped was my parents released a portion of my trust fund to pay her to protect the triplets until they were born.When they were born she was very clear that I paid her more money or the children would be put up for adoption.As an unmarried under-age father I had no rights, but I wanted to be a parent for them."

"My parents eventually agreed to release most of my trust fund money, about fifty million dollars to pay her to sign away her rights to the children to me.She did that freely.For the first few weeks as I was in my end of year exams my parents cared for them to allow me to complete the school year.It was clear from then on, they were my responsibility.They would be an occasional baby-sitter, but other than that for years we were refused entry to the family and ancestral home."

"For the first three years of their lives, all I did was work in low-paying entry level positions at XF International, which was enough to support me and the children.The only positive thing, and in reality it benefited all staff, was a on-site staff creche was established and we did not have to pay for it.We lived in a, what you would call crime-riddled area, because that was all I could afford.That placed them at risk, but I did everything to minimise that because they did not deserve to suffer due to me arrogance and mistakes."

"Once I proved to my parents that I could care for the children, they agreed to allow us to come back and live in the ancestral home while I finished High School, and that is when Yi and I became friends.I still had to work part-time in the company.I refused as I was use to being independent by then, but I accepted their offer to pay for finishing High School."

"Once I finished High School the children were ready for primary school, and while I was at university and working most of the time they were at school.Any gaps, my mother helped to care for the children.I worked hard to obtain my university degree in two years, not the normal three years, as that was for the children's benefit, and I was appointed to a management position in XF International."

"The children ultimately were at the bottom of my list for emotional support for many years, as I needed to earn my income to care and support them.I have tried in the last few years to make up for that early neglect, but I know I never will.Alecia resents me as these same things have made me over-protective towards her, as I do not want her to make the same mistakes her mother and I made, but at the same time we have a good relationship as we are similar in personality."

"The biggest issue is that about every eighteen months or so their mother re-surfaces making problems until I pay her off to leave the children alone.I learnt early on, if I did not she would make their lives a misery for months."

"Now I will make this very clear, and only tell you once, you hurt her, it will be the last thing you do.

I will protect her from you if I have to."

After having listened to the story, James understood why Yan Tan and Hou Yi were protective of Alecia, and he knew thar he had to be the same."I will do everything I can to avoid hurting her at all."

"That is all I can ask."