CHAPT 29

TIME TO GO

On their way back, along the street, Jun Xuan carried the sleeping Jun Tai on his back, while Ai Eng and Madam Han were following them from behind. Looking at Jun Xuan’s back ahead, Ai Eng felt really sorry so she just turned to Madam Han who was walking besides her and asked sadly,

“Madam Han, can you do me a favour?”

Madam Han looked at Ai Eng and said with a smile,

“Don’t worry about the family. I will take good care of them. BuT Madam, do take good care of yourself since you will be somewhere else.”

Madam Han took Ai Eng’s hand and patted softly. Ai Eng looked at Madam Han and said with her eyes turned red,

“Thank you. Madam Han, thanks for taking care of me for all this while. You are like a mother to me. If I have a choice I wouldn’t want to leave this house, but I think not is the right time to go. It will be better for us all.” “I understand your situation now so just leave. This love matter is the most complicated and the hardest to handle. But what if Master is back, will you come back again?”

Ai Eng looked away sadly and said in a very tired tone, shaking her head abit,

“I don’t know how to face him if he really returns. Furthermore, I am unsure about my feeling for him now so even if he returns, I am sure that we can never be the same as last time. But most of all, I am just afraid to know that he really did something which betrays our love.”

Ai Eng turned away from Madam Han and wiped her tears away from her eyes, using her hand. Madam Han patted Ai Eng’s upper arm and said in a comforting,

“I can see that you really love master a lot so why don’t you just give him another chance? Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding.”

Madam Han said, holding Ai Eng’s arm. Ai Eng shook her head and said, turning to look ahead,

“Ok. Madam Han, It is enough of this topic. Let’s just drop it. Anyway I think it’s good to be single, as there will be lesser worry and misery and more freedom to do things that we like. For example, like you, you are single and seem very contented with your single life.”

Madam Han suddenly paused awhile and looked down sadly, withdrawing her hand from Ai Eng’s arm. Noticing Madam Han’s sudden change of mood, Ai Eng put her hand on Madam Han’s shoulder and asked, looking at Madam Han worriedly,

“Madam Han, are you alright? Is it your back or legs ache again?”

Ai Eng held Madam Han’s arm and helped her along the way, saying,

“It is a tiring day for you today. We should have get a taxi instead of taking the provided free bus transport together with those friendly aunties and uncles. But it was good to ride with them, as they are really fun to be with. Well, never mind, I will hold onto you. So don’t worry. Just two streets away from our house so endure with it alittle while longer.”

“I am okay. I am just alittle tired.”

Madam Han said with a smile, patting Ai Eng’s hands which were holding HER arm. Ai Eng smiled and said, tilting her head ahead,

“Let’s go then.”

Madam Han and Ai Eng continued walking. While walking, Madam Han gave a glance at Ai Eng who was looking ahead. Then Madam Han looked down sadly.

Jun Xuan who was walking pretty far away ahead looked back at his sleeping brother on his back. Then Jun Xuan stopped there and pushed up Jun Tai’s backside up abit and continued walking. When he took a few steps forwards, he heard Jun Tai calling,

“Brother.”

Jun Xuan stopped again and looked behind. Then he looked ahead and continued walking. Jun Tai opened his eyes but still lying his head on Jun Xuan’s back and said,

“Brother, I still remember you used to carry me on your back when I was young but you have stopped carrying me after that accident.”

Jun Xuan turned his eyes to the right and lookd straight ahead again with his forehead wrinkled alittle, still walking ahead. Jun Tai lifted his head up and looked at Jun Xuan sadly, saying,

“Brother, it wasn’t your fault after all. It was an accident. You didn’t throw me .
deliberately down the staircase and my left leg to break.”

Jun Tai touched his left lap and continued saying,

“If you didn’t shield me in your arms and rolled down the stairs with, I would have died instantly. So you don’t have to feel bad about it and keep a distant from me because you are afraid you will cause harm to me again.”

Thinking back, Jun Xuan remembered six years ago when he was carrying Jun Tai on his back and was walking down thhe stairs, he stepped on Jun Tai’s toy and tripped down. At that time, while rolling down the stairs, Jun Xuan quickly hugged Jun Tai tightly. He used his body to shield Jun Tai so when they were rolled to the downstairs ground, Jun Xuan’s legs and hands were bruised. Jun Xuan quickly looked at Jun Tai who was safely protected in his arms but he found that Jun Tai kept on crying and said,

“MY LEG! MY LEG! MY LEG….!”

Even until now, Jun Xuan still could hear the cries of Jun Tai so he shook his hed abit so as to get rid of the noise. Then Jun Xuan said sadly, looking ahead,

“If I hadn’t carried you, your leg wouldn’t be broken. It’s my entire fault, as I have ruined your life. I just don’t know how to face you whwn I see your leg. So I have been so cold towards you. I would feel better if you hate me.”

“How can I hate my brother? Let me tell you something.”

Jun Tai said with a smile and moved his head forwards to Jun Xuan’s ear and whispered softly,

“You know what? I feel proud to have such a handsome brother. Whenever you bring me to school, all my female schoolmates will come to me and ask me about you. They even give me their email address and ask me to pass to you. So I will use your name to email to them all.”


Jun Xuan gave a soft knock on Jun Tai’s head with his hand and said with a laugh,

“You little rascal, you use my name to woo girls.”

Seeing Jun Xuan laughing so happily, Jun Tai said with a heave of relief,

“Brother, I can see that you are happier recently as you smiled more often now but you also seem to be more trouble now.”

Jun Tai paused awhile and continued to asked,

“Is it because of Auntie?”
Jun Xuan stopped walking again but this time it wasn’t because of what Jun Tai said but it was because he saw Tian Ming lying on the ground at their gateway. Then he turned around to look at Ai Eng coming nearer with Madam Han.

When Ai Eng saw the troubled look on Jun Xuan’s face, she got worried. When Jun Xuan looked away sadly and walked to the side, Ai Eng finally saw Tian Ming lying on the ground. Ai Eng slowly withdrew her hands from Madam Han’s arm and walked towards the gateway where Tian Ming lied.

When Ai Eng reached the gateway, she knelt down and looked at Tian Ming filled with sadness and sorry. Her eyes were red again. Looking at Ai Eng like this, Jun Xuan turned away from them.

Ai Eng slowly reached out her hand to touch Tian Ming’s face. Then she opened her eyes real wide. Then she looked down Tian Ming was shivering in cold so she quickly took off her coat and put it over Tian Ming’s body. After that she patted Tian Ming’s face softly, calling with her soft gentle voice,

“Tian Ming. Tian Ming. Wake up. Tian Ming, wake up.”

Ai Eng had called Tian Ming several times but still Tian Ming did not move at all, not even his eye lids. This made Ai Eng more worry so she started shaking Tian Ming abit, calling him worriedly,

“Tian Ming, are you okay? Tian Ming, please wake up.”

While calling Tian Ming, Ai Eng quickly took Tian Ming icy cold hands and rubbed together with hers. Then she looked around clumsily and found Madam Han standing not far away from her so she called out in a shivering tone,

“Madam Han, please go into the house and get me some hot water and a hot wet cloth.”
Just as Madam Han was going into the house gate, Ai Eng called out again,

“Madam Han! Please wait!”

Madam Han stopped quickly and turned around to look at Ai Eng. Ai Eng told her,

“Please bring a bar of chocolate here too.”

Madam Han nodded her head but before she could turn around, Tian Ming suddenly sat up which gave a great shock to everyone who was there even Jun Xuan also turned to look at when Jun Tai who was still on his back and had been peeking at Ai Eng told him,

“Brother! Tian Ming brother suddenly sit up.”

Ai Eng was shocked but at the same time she felt relieved. Tian Ming just sat there for awhile then he looked at Ai Eng blurly which made Ai Eng looked away. Then Tian Ming looked down and saw the coat so he took it to Ai Eng and put it on for her again, saying with a stupid smile,

“It’s so cold now. You better put this on if not you will become a snowwoman anytime.”

While putting on the coat, Ai Eng could see the misery and weariness in Tian Ming’s eyes even though he was smiling but all she could do was just looking at him, feeling sorry.

When Tian Ming heard the dog barking, he looked around blurly and slowly stood up. When he stood up unstably, he almost fell down but luckily Ai Eng grabbed his upper arm and said, taking out her handphone from her trousers pocket,

“You stand still here, while I will call a cab and let Jun Xuan bring you home letter.”

While saying this, Ai Eng unknowingly looked at Jun Xuan and found Jun Xuan was staring at them with those eyes filled with jealousy and empathy so she quickly looked at her handphone, searching for the number. While Ai Eng was searching the number, Tian Ming looked at her blurly and smiled stupidly again with his mouth pretty wide open, scratching heasd. Then he looked at another direction where the dog’s barking was from, and he pushed Ai Eng’s hand away from his arm which made Ai Eng look at him, feeling surprised. Ai Eng looked sadly at her hand which was pushed away from Tian Ming’s arm, and she slowly moved her hand back.

Not knowing Tian Ming had walk quite a distance away, Ai Eng looked up with tears in her eyes quickly and ran after him when she heard Jun Tai calling out,

“Brother Tian Ming, where are you going?”

When Jun Xuan saw Ai Eng was running after Tian Ming, he kicked a stone in front of him real hard which gave Jun Tai and Madam Han a great shock. Then Jun Xuan breathed out a huge amount of air from his mouth and looked at the direction where Ai Eng and Tian Ming were heading. So he put down Jun Tai on the ground and looked at Madam Han and Jun Tai, telling them,

“Stay here.”


Then Jun Xuan ran after them immediately, When Jun Xuan saw Ai Eng was looking at something with her eyes filled with horror, so Jun Xuan looked at the direction where Ai Eng. To his surprise, he saw Tian Ming was biting the dog’s backside. Jun Xuan quickly touched his backside, feeling the pain the dog might feel.

Looking at Tian Ming behaving like this, Ai Eng was so shocked that she just stuned there. Then Jun Xuan quickly grabbed Tian Ming’s both his upper arms from behind and dragged him away from that poor dog. The dog quickly ran away after Tian Ming had been dragged away. Tian Ming shouted, while Jun Xuan was still holding onto him,

“BAD DOG! DON’T RUN! YOU BAD DOG! HOW IT FEEL TO GET BITTEN ON YOUR BUTT? IT IS VERY HURT, RIGHT!”

Tian Ming laughed out loudly. Then he turned his head to look at Jun Xuan and said, smiling stupidly again,

“Jun Xuan, my goodest friend. See now I can fight back. I still remember you have told me to fight back when I get bullied.”

Tian Ming looked at Jun Xuan who looked at him with those eyes filled with empathy and anger so he put his hand on Jun Xuan’s face and said,

“But you seem like you are not very happy to see me fighting back at last. You are always so cool and capable that I really feel proud to have you as my friend. I even think it would be good if we are real brothers. But I………….”

Before he could say any more, Tian Ming closed his eyes and lied his head on Jun Xuan’s shoulder. Jun Xuan looked at Jun Xuan and said, smiling,

“Of course! You did very well, Brother. Have a good sleep.”

Then Jun Xuan held onto Tian Ming and walked past Ai Eng who looked at, feeling touch by their brotherhood’s love. While walking back to the house gate, Ai Eng stared at the two guys ahead of her and thought in her heart,

“Both of them are the same having a heart which longs for love and caring. They have found the caring in each other. But they haven’t got the love that they want. Looking at them, I really hope I can give them the love they have longed for. But I know it is impossible.”

Ai Eng looked down sadly, while following Jun Xuan and Tian Ming from behind.


When the three of them reached the house gate, they saw Yun Xi and an old couple standing at the gate way together with Madam Han and Jun Tai. That elegant old lady looked Ai Eng in great anger. Ai Eng seemed very scared of this old lady but she still walked to her, holding her fist pretty tight.

Standing in front of that old lady, Ai Eng called her, trying to put up a bright smile but failed to do so,

“Mum, I thought Dad and you are still on your world tour now. I thought it will take more than a year for you to return to Korea. It is just eight months, and you are back.”

Ai Eng could see the anger in her mother-in-law’s eyes so she looked at her father-in-law who looked away timidly. So Ai Eng smiled brightly and said, moving forward to hold her mother-in-law,

“Oh…! I know you both must be experiencing homesick, right! So you…”

Ai Eng suddenly stopped talking when her mother-in-law slapped her hands away from her and yelled at her,

“YOU BAD WOMAN! DON’T TOUCH ME! WHY DIDN’T YOU INFORM US ABOUT JUN XI’S DISAPPEARANCE? WHAT’S YOU MOTIVE? IS IT YOU WANT TO TAKE ALL HIS PROPERTY? I GUESS IT’S YOU WHO ASKED SOMEONE TO KIDNAP MY SON, RIGHT! GIVE ME BACK MY SON!”

Ai Eng’s mother-in-law grabbed Ai Eng’s hair real tight with both her hands and pulled her head here and there, screaming at her which made everyone there shock. Ai Eng didn’t struggle at all, as she thought that she deserved to be treated this way.

Jun Xuan wanted to go and stop his grandmother but he was holding onto Tian Ming, and furthermore, he saw Ai Eng looked at him and in her eyes, he could tell that Ai Eng didn’t want him to help her. So he reluctantly stepped back and looked at Ai Eng with his heart broke into pieces.


Madam Han hugged Jun Tai tightly so as to stop him from going there to help Ai Eng as she didn’t want Jun Tai to get hurt.

Yunxi turned around to look away sadly when she saw her grandmother pulling her stepmother’s hair. Even though she hated her stepmother a lot, she still felt unbearing to see this.

Seeing his wife treating his daughter like this, Ai Eng’s father-in-law quickly pulled his wife away from Ai Eng and said,

“It’s enough, my son’s mum!”

When Ai Eng’s father-in-law called ‘my son’s mum’, he suddenly looked at Madam Han who quickly looked away. Then Ai Eng’s mother-in-law pushed away her husband’s hands and slapped him on the face, yeling at him,

“LET GO OF ME, YOU USELESS MAN! NOW SOMEONE IS HARMING YOUR SON AND TAKING HIS PROPERTY AWAY TOGETHER WITH HER MAN”

Then Ai Eng’s mother-in-law looked at Tian Ming angrily and looked at Ai Eng. Then she took out some photos from her coat pocket and threw them hard on Ai Eng’s face, saying sarcastically,

“You thought no one will know you’r dirty matter. But too bad, I have hired a P.I. to keep an eye on you when I read the news of my son’s disappearace because all this while I know that you are not so simple.”

Ai Eng looked at the photos without much expression which showed Tian Ming and her from that day when Tian Ming hugged her when she has gone mad till the day outside the studio. Ai Eng looked at the photos for awhile and laughed which shocked everyone, saying,

“This is more interesting than a drama!”

Then Ai Eng stopped laughing and walked towards her mother-in-law. Ai Eng looked at her coldly which scared her abit. Then Ai Eng smiled sarcastically and said,

“Thank you, mum. Thanks for giving me a reason to leave here. And thanks for finding someone to keep an eye on me. If not I will have a headache to think of a reason in order for me to leave here.”

Hearing what Ai Eng said, her mother-in-law was even angrier so she started pushing Ai Eng real hard and said loudly,

“YOU GET OUT OF HERE! GET OUT OF HERE WITH YOUR MAN! NEVER LET ME SEE YOU AGAIN, YOU LOOSE WOMAN!!!”
“Don’t worry. I will leave. But spare some time to go in and get my things.”

Ai Eng said and went into the house. After a while, Ai Eng walked out of the gate with her luggage. Ai Eng walked past Yun Xi, Jun Xuan and Tian Ming without looking at them. Jun Xuan nodded his head real hard in great anger. Then Ai Eng looked Madam Han and Jun Tai and smiled to them when she walked past them.

Every one looked at Ai Eng as she walked to the street. When Ai Eng was a distance away, Jun Tai pushed Madam Han and ran after Ai Eng. Jun Tai cried out while running slowly,

“MUM! DON’T GO! DON’T LEAVE ME!”

When Ai Eng heard Jun Tai calling her, she quickly turned around and saw Jun Tai falling down onto the rough cement while running, still crying hard. Ai Eng let go of her luggage and ran back to Jun Tai. Ai Eng quickly helped Jun Tai up and looked at his torn knees. She looked at his knees and asked with tears rolled down from her eyes,

“Is it very painful?”

Then Ai Eng asked in an angrily tone, looking at Jun Tai,

“Didn’t I tell you not to run? Why do you have to run and get yourself hurt?”

“If I don’t run, I will lose my mum again. I don’t want you to me. PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME, MUM!”

Jun Tai stretched out his hands and hugged Ai Eng tightly, still crying hard. Ai Eng hugged Jun Tai back tightly.

Everyone’s eyes were wet when they looked at Jun Tai and Ai Eng hugging together and cry except for Ai Eng’s mother-in-law who looked at them angrily and wanted to go and get Jun Tai back but was held back by her husband. Then her husband secretly looked at Madam Han who was crying.

Then Ai Eng said, touching Jun Tai’s head,

“Hush…. Come on. Cry no more. My son isn’t a cry baby, are you? So be like a young man, ok!”

Ai Eng moved backwards and wiped away Jun Tai’s tears, saying,

“Jun Tai, my son, I am sure you know that it’s time for me to go. Please let me go without any worries. And please do take good care of yourself.”

Just as Ai Eng was about to walk away again, Jun Tai grabbed her hand and cried
bitterly, shaking his head. Ai Eng looked away and slowly pushed Jun Tai’s hands away. Ai Eng started walking away, crying uncontrollably.

At that particular time, Jun Tai walked forwards a few step but was stopped by his grandmother. His grandmother grabbed him tightly from behind and told him,

“Let this loose woman go. She has done so many shameless things that let your dad down. Don’t call her mum because she is not worthy for it. You still got me. I will buy whatever you want for you.”

Jun Tai looked at his grandmother filled with anger and said,

“Mum didn’t do anything shameless. It’s dad who RAN AWAY WITH ANOTHER WOMAN!!!”

Ai Eng stopped walking when she heard Jun Tai shouted at his grandmother. Ai Eng held her heart part tightly and let out tears of disappointment and misery. She smiled as she finally heard the truth.


“WHAT? WHAT DID YOU JUST? HOW CAN YOU SAY YOUR DAD RUN AWAY WITH ANOTHER WOMAN?

Jun Tai’s arms were grabbed tightly by his grandmother, while his grandmother shouted?”

Jun Tai struggled to free himself and he shouted,

“IT’S TRUE! I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES!!!”

Every one there looked at Jun Tai unbelievably.