Page 63 of He Is My Bride
“Where shall we take you today, Miss Li?”
“Congratulations, Big Sister Li!” Xinyu said, beaming at Li Ying.
“…Huh?” Yiyi stared blankly.
“Thank you!” Li Ying brought out his hand and let the boys see the ring. “Hanjun proposed to me yesterday.”
Now that it was being waved right before his face, even Yiyi couldn’t miss the ring. “Ooh, congratulations, Big Sister!” he said. “Or should I call you Auntie Li now?”
Xinyu whacked Yiyi on the arm.
“Eh, just call me big sister for now. You don’t think I’m old enough to be an ‘auntie’ yet, do you?”
“Uh, no, not at all,” Yiyi saved, “Big Sister Li!”
“I would be happy to have Big Sister Li in my family,” Xinyu said politely, but it was clear he was very happy about the news. “She seems perfect for Wu Hanjun. I’m sure they will be very happy together.”
“Oh, sweetheart!” Li Ying couldn’t help it, he had to reach between the seats to give sweet A-Yu a hug. The interns were starting to get comfortable with their American auntie’s physicality. They were starting to think of her as family.
While they drove along the tree-lined streets of the French Concession, Xinyu told Li Ying that his supervisor had moved him to more responsible tasks this morning, making him work as part of a sales team. Li Ying said nothing, but smiled and thought of Hanjun—he must have had a word with Xinyu’s supervisor. Xinyu was wearing the watch Hanjun had bought him as a Christmas present, and he ever so often adjusted or touched it.
They made it to the hip Xiang Yang South Road, and the boys dropped Li Ying off. Anne was already there, waiting outside a small café.
“Hello, Miss Lü!” the interns greeted.
“Guess what!” Yiyi announced, “Big Sister Li and Wu Hanjun are engaged!”
Anne looked from the boy to Li Ying, and it was hard to say whether she was happy or furious. “What?!”
“Oh, yeah: it happened!” Li Ying said. “I meant to tell you, but yesterday went by in such a blur—”
“Show me!” Anne demanded and came to wrest Li Ying’s hand for inspection.
Li Ying eagerly showed Anne his ring. “What do you think?”
Anne eyed the ring critically before giving her verdict, “It’s so beautiful! Congratulations, Li Ying!” She caught Li Ying off guard with a hug. “You have to tell meeverything,” Anne said and began dragging Li Ying inside the café.
“Wait a moment.” Li Ying stalled. “Before I send the boys back to work, let’s take a picture of us all together. Come on, boys, group picture!”
The boys came over to group up.
“Okay, everyone, make a cute face!” Li Ying said once he had everyone in the frame, and took the pic. Li Ying looked at the picture happily:
Yiyi and Li Ying were both making silly faces while Anne gave her best angle, killing it. Xinyu was simply smiling at the camera, throwing up a V for victory and looking sweet.
Li Ying had decided he wanted to take more pictures, because even if he couldn’t post them publicly or ever show them to anyone, he wanted memories to keep just for himself.
“You two should head back to work,” Anne said to Yiyi and Xinyu while grabbing Li Ying by the hand. “We girls have to talk woman-to-woman.”
“We do?” Li Ying blinked.
The boys deemed it wise to leave them to it and returned to the car while Anne took Li Ying into the café.
Once Anne and Li Ying got their orange espresso tonics, Li Ying began:
“Well, you were right, Hanjun was totally going to propose in that restaurant. But…” Li Ying kept a dramatic pause, letting Anne ask:
“‘But?’ What happened?”
