Busted

Her former employer, who looked furious, was holding in her hands two beautiful tops and a thin pink scarf. She had clearly been shopping before she had come across Mr. Wu.

"Sun Mei is not greedy," snapped back Mr. Wu, who had not seen Sun Mei yet. "And she was clearly underappreciated by you."

Mrs. Lin huffed loudly. "I paid that ungrateful girl more than enough!"

"That ungrateful girl is right here." Sun Mei interrupted them while stepping forward.

They both turned to her abruptly, completely surprised by her appearance.

"Sun Mei!" exclaimed Mrs. Lin, who quickly regained her composure. "What did that devious man offer you? Mr. Lin and I can match his offer!" she added arrogantly.

"I thought you paid me more than enough," said Sun Mei coldly.

"I sure thought I did," said Mrs. Lin. "But if Mr. Wu wants to have a bidding match over you, so be it."

"There will be no bidding match, Mrs. Lin. I quit, remember?" said Sun Mei solemnly.

Her former boss straightened her back and answered, "You should reconsider." Then, she added in a foreign voice that almost sounded sincere, "The boys miss you, Sun Mei. Don't you miss them?"

Sun Mei was strangely moved by this declaration, even though she was not sure that Mrs. Lin had missed her at all.

"Of course I miss them, Mrs. Lin," she said honestly.

Then, Mrs. Lin surprised her by suddenly bending forward and hugging her tightly. Sun Mei almost had a heart attack from the shock.

"Please come back, Sun Mei," Mrs. Lin said softly before pulling back slowly.

Sun Mei had no idea what to say. "I… I don't…"

"You don't have to decide now," Mrs. Lin said in a rush. "You know where to find us if you change your mind."

"Okay." Sun Mei nodded mechanically, wishing for this awkward situation to be over.

Her wish came true when Mrs. Lin said, "Goodbye, Sun Mei." Her voice was a little colder as she added, "Goodbye, Mr. Wu."

"Nice to see you, Mrs. Lin," said Mr. Wu, who clearly did not mean a word.

Sun Mei and Mr. Wu stood awkwardly amid the clothing racks as Mrs. Lin went to pay for her purchases. They did not want to wait in line behind her for even a second.

"Are you really thinking of going back to her?" asked Mr. Wu. He sounded a little hurt.

"Definitely not!" Sun Mei reassured him. "I was just shocked by her behavior. She has never spoken this nicely to me before, let alone hugged me…"

Mr. Wu frowned slightly. "In my experience, people don't change that easily," he said.

Sun Mei had a feeling that he was talking about his ex-wife.

As soon as Mrs. Lin left the store, the two of them walked to the cash register and Mr. Wu paid for the jeans. Sun Mei was still thinking in a daze about Mrs. Lin's strange behavior as they walked out of the shop.

As soon as they stepped through the door, the alarm started ringing.