Chapter 221 - Meeting The Parents

While the family was laughing at the child's honest mistake, the doorbell suddenly rang. The housekeeper opened the door and let the guests in. It was Halia's father and Jeremy's parents. Everyone was there to see Natalie's fiance.

"It's nice to see you again, Sean," Father Feng smiled as he shook the man's hand.

"It's nice to see you too," Sean responded politely. "Halia, told me to bring something for you. I'll give it to you later."

Father Feng nodded but suddenly realized something, "If you're here, Sean, does that mean my daughter is working on her own?"

Mother Shu heard this conversation and looked at Father Feng with curiosity. "Are you talking about Haili? Do they know each other?"

"Sorry Auntie, I didn't get a chance to answer you earlier. I actually work with Halia," Sean explained.

At that moment, Father Du interrupted, "What work do you do?"

Mother Du eyed the man up and down, "You're quite good-looking. Are you an actor or a model?"

"If you are an actor or a model, you mustn't be a famous one. I've never seen you before. Do you even make money?" Mother Shu suddenly joined in.

Sean laughed awkwardly and looked to Natalie for help. But, Natalie simply shrugged her shoulders as she watched him getting swamped with questions from all sides.

Poor Sean.

While other men stressed about meeting one set of parents, he was practically meeting three!

"OK, everyone, let me answer one question at a time," Sean said as he took a deep breath.

He then looked at Father Feng, "Uncle, Halia is doing fine on her own and I trust her 100%. She will still be reporting to me every day and I have contact with backup if she needs it, so you have nothing to worry about."

After that, he looked at Mother Du and Mother Shu, "Aunties, I am not an actor nor a model. In fact, my job is not in the limelight at all. But, I do get a decent salary."

Finally, he turned to Father Du, "I work for the government in the national security sector."

"National security?" Father Du said with skepticism. "Old Feng, when did your daughter work in national security?"

Father Feng looked at the man proudly, but he knew it was best to keep his daughter's identity vague, "There are a lot of things about my daughter that you don't know about."

"National security..." Father Du scoffed. "Do you just sit at a computer all day taking tax-payers' money? National security...What about my daughter-in-law's security? Do you have what it takes to keep Natalie safe?"

At that moment, Mother Du grabbed onto her husband, "Our daughter-in-law can protect herself, old man. As long as he remains handsome and doesn't embarrass Natalie, that's all that matters."

She then walked over to the young man and ran her fingers across his face. "Such perfect skin, it's a shame that you're not a model..." she smiled approvingly.

"Well, money matters too!" Mother Shu suddenly cut in. "A government job is stable and well-paying. How long have you been doing that job for?" she asked with interest.

"It will be 10 years this year," Sean replied calmly.

Mother Shu's eyes lit up. 10 years in a government job. This man must have a lot of savings.

For the first time that day, she finally looked at Sean with approval.

"I don't care about looks and money. I care about safety," Father Du groaned. He then launched forward towards Sean and tried to grab his neck. 

But, as soon as he was an arms-length from Sean, Sean automatically grabbed his wrists, turned him around, tripped him over, and pinned him against the floor.

Sean gasped in shock and quickly let go in surprise when he realized what he had done, "I'm sorry, Uncle, that was an instinctive response."

Father Du brushed his clothes clean and stood up. A smile then appeared on his face, "Nice moves! Are you a black belt?"

Sean laughed in embarrassment and nodded his head.

At that moment, Mother Shu stood next to her husband and whispered, "He's pretty good, isn't he?"

Father Shu laughed and nodded his head, "Did you only realize that now? I knew he was a good guy from the moment I saw him..."

...

On the other side of the world, another person was having a parent meeting for the first time.

"So, you're Trisha?" an elegant British woman said as she sat down and adjusted the floral dress on her body.

"I'm sorry, Oliver's father couldn't make it today. You see, we're divorced and he's not a very involved person. Men can be very selfish and irresponsible..." the woman added indifferently.

Trisha smiled awkwardly, unsure of how to respond. This woman was obviously taking the opportunity to vent her frustration with her ex-husband, but Trisha had never met the man, so she couldn't agree nor disagree.

"Mom, Dad's in Edinburgh attending a seminar. There was no way he could have made it. You simply told him to come so you could complain that he couldn't make it," Oliver exposed his mother's intentions.

He knew his parents well. From a young age, he had gotten used to their ridiculous arguments. 

Margaret Williams had a very narrow view of the world. She was born in London and spent her entire life there with the same friends and family that she had known all her life. This made her very bias in her judgment and beliefs. Oliver understood why his father had to divorce his mother. At times, he also struggled to be around her. But, Oliver couldn't leave like his father did. No matter how frustrating she was, she was his mother; a fact that would never change. So, over the years, he had learned to accept her and deal with her.

"Where are you from, Trisha? You don't look British. Are you from China? Or Korea? Or Japan?" Margaret said as she took a sip of tea.

Oliver scrunched up his nose at his mother's question. He knew she meant no harm, but she honestly had no idea how racist and patronizing she sounded. 

England was a multicultural country with millions of immigrants. What defined the 'British look' that his mother was referring to? What if Trisha was born in England? What if she had lived there all her life? What if she identified herself as British?

But, Trisha was not offended, "I was actually born in London, but my family was originally from Hong Kong. My father worked for the Hong Kong consulate during the time of British Hong Kong and both of us hold dual citizenship."

"What about your mother?" the woman asked insensitively when she realized there was no mention of her mother.

Trisha cleared her throat and replied, "She passed away several years ago."

"How did she die?" Margaret asked in a straightforward manner.

"Mom..." Oliver cut in. First, she was being racist, now she was being insensitive...

But, Trisha grabbed his arm and gestured that it was OK. From her perspective, his mother was simply curious.

"She had cancer," Trisha replied.

Margaret's face screwed up with disgust, "Have you checked your body recently? I heard that stuff runs in the family..."

"Mom! That's enough!" Oliver yelled.