114 Happy New Year!

December 31-January 1, 20XX (Monday Night- Midnight -Tuesday Morning)

Zhao Manor

Yue shot a photo of his father and mother hugging on the couch as they waited for the countdown to the new year to start. A romantic pink atmosphere covered every inch of the living room, and Yue sulked to herself because she was the only one that had no partner.

Grandma Zhao and Grandpa Zhao were on different chairs with a Go board in between them. Yue knew that Grandma Zhao was winning with five wins and two losses while Grandpa Zhao had two wins and five losses. Unfortunately for Grandpa Zhao, Grandma Zhao like to steal his stones when he wasn't watching. Yue smiled at her grandparents' cute interactions. She had seen Grandma Zhao pointed towards a random object in the room and Grandpa Zhao would turn his body completely in that direction to look. Grandma Zhao would then take Grandpa Zhao's winning stones on the board with hers. The most heartfelt action, she realized by watching them, was that Grandpa Zhao waited to turn back to the board after Grandma Zhao was done. As if it was his way of loving her and understanding her unstrategic mind.

Yue wanted a love as her grandparents have. A love that did not wither with time. A love that grew with every second that passed in every ticking of the clock. Yue was not naive; she knew that a love like that needed effort, commitment, and plenty of fighting and making up. She was not blind to imagine a perfect man; she just wanted the right man.

Retaking a photo of her grandparents with the professional camera that her brother had got her for Christmas, Yue turned to another Zhao Couple that also has a weird dynamic. Aunt Qinyang and her Uncle Yu Rong were on the bar flirting like newlyweds. Aunt Qinyang was mixing her Uncle watered down drinks for him to try. There were already more than twenty drinks on the counter that her uncle had only sipped before Aunt Qinyang had prepared him another one.

Yue awed when Aunt Qinyang had spilled a glass, and Uncle Yu Rong had immediately cleaned after her without prompt. She used to think that Aunt Qinyang bullies Uncle Yu Rong but as she grew older and learned more about the ways of the world, did Yue realized that when a man truly loves a woman, he won't care about anything else. Being bullied or not or being whipped or not; those words would not matter to a man if they truly love the woman.

Yue hopes to find a man like the men in her family, but those men were not easy to find. Most men in this progressive world filled with technology wanted everything to happened fast. They would want a woman that is faster to woo and easier to get, and she wasn't like that.

"Yang! Put me down!"

Yue and everyone else in the room turned their heads to the developing couple or as Yue would like to call them, 'The Under Construction Couple.' Her older brother slung Mei Li to his right shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Mei Li's butt was just inches to his face as her face and hands were on his back. Mei Li pounded her hands above his butt, hoping to hurt him so he would let go of her.

"No! You're going to start braiding my hair again!" Yang snarled and threw Mei Li to the large beanbag chair that Yue had bought for herself. Yue smirked when Mei Li's body bounced from the bean bag and into the floor with a loud thud.

Mei Li sat on the floor and acted as if she was crying. She mumbled softly but loud enough for the rest of the family members to hear properly, "Ouch... that hurt."

Yang stared horrified at Mei Li. He panicked as he began to check on her body to see if she was hurt anywhere. Yue liked the way Mei Li had looked down on the floor with her hair covering her face, and she quickly gathered the tears, which she had practiced with Yue how. She only looked up when her crocodile tears fell into her cheeks, making small river-like tracks on her white-skinned face.

"I'm sorry are you okay?" Yang took Mei Li in his arms again and sat on the beanbag chair. He situated Mei Li to sit sideways on his lap. Mei Li began to sniff and wrapped her arms on Yang's neck while hiding her face on the nook of his neck again.

"Are you hurt somewhere?"

Yang felt Mei Li shaking her head. He forced her face up, so he could look at her properly. Mei Li pouted when his hands pushed her away from his neck. Yang saw the tears staining the edges of her eyes and the pinkish glow on her face tainted with transparent tracks of water.

"I just wanted to braid your hair to practice since I don't know how to braid a shorter hair..." Mei Li mumbled at Yang.

Yue's smirk widens when her older brother gave in to Mei Li's demand and shifted their position so that Yang was in front of Mei Li, in between her legs. Yue could hear Mother Zhao snickering.

Suddenly, Yue's private phone beeped and a message was received from someone with that she had named 'Stupid Man.'

「Happy New Year. Take care of me this year again. -Hao Chen」

The grandfather clock on the living room rang with a loud chime. It's a new year now. Yue stared at her phone, thinking, 'Maybe this new year will give me new opportunities.'