You are fired!
Anna stepped out of her bathroom with a towel tied around her chest and another wrapped around her head.
In one hand, was another little towel she used to dab her damp face as she moved to the opposite door where she had her walk in closet.
But just before she could open the door, she peered at the slightly ajar door on the other end which led to her room, and noticed someone was inside her room.
A deep frown creased her brow when she entered inside her room to find her mother sitting on her chair while going through the notebook on top of her vanity table.
"I've told you to stop entering inside by room unannounced." Anna said in annoyance before taking her notebook from her mother's hand rudely.
Mrs Kang did not show any reaction that proved she was angry or anything. She gently stood up, cocked her head to the side and folded her arm in front of her chest.
"You are still writing silly things like this?" She asked Anna in a tone that showed mockery.
Anna looked at her mother with cold eyes. Mrs Kang was in her mid forties but she looked very much younger. Not only had she gone under the knife several times to 'fix' her look, she also made use of almost every product their company produced to make sure her skin glittered and to look very much younger than her 45 years.
Her hair was long and black, tied in a ponytail. She wore a cream knee length casual gown and a house slipper made with white fur.
She was pretty, slender, and looked very much like Anna. The only major difference was that Anna was taller than her. They always wondered where Anna got her height from since she was taller than both her parents.
"You know it's rude to always go through someone else's stuff right?"
"Not when that person is your daughter. I am your mother. So I have every right to." Mrs Kang answered like it was the most natural thing in the world to do.
"You should get dressed. We are going to have lunch with the Fengs in two hour."
"What? How come I am just hearing about it?" Anna asked in surprise.
"Sweetheart...." Mrs Kang moved closer to touch the side of Anna face.
"There are some things the elders need to decide for you."
Anna frowned before moving away from her mother's touch. For some reason, she had an idea of what the meeting was going to be about but she only hoped it wasn't correct.
"Why the sudden lunch meeting? What is it about?"
"What else? Your marriage with Colonel Feng of course. It's a good thing you both are getting along."
"You've got to be kidding me. How many times have I met him? Didn't I mention that he doesn't show up in our dates? Of course, he is a nice person and we got along pretty well. But that doesn't mean I want to marry him now especially when it's almost impossible to hear from him because of his kind of job." Anna complained bitterly.
"Sweetheart. At least he is going to show up in the meeting today, what else do you want? You have to be happy you'll be getting married to someone like him. You are a very lucky girl" Mrs Kang replied in her usual calm and collected tone.
Anna scoffed loudly. "What? I should be happy? I am a very lucky girl? Do I look like I am desperate to get married? Am I lacking in anyway where I have to start begging to be married to?"
Mrs Kang laughed dryly before turning serious.
"You are 27 already. I got married to your father when I was 18. You should be desperate."
"I am not you! Our circumstances are very different and besides, you didn't look like this or come from a really rich fami—" Before she could land, Mrs Kang slapped her hard on her face.
Anna looked at her in shock as she used her hands to cover the left side of her face that had just been hit. Her eyes were bloodshot and they shone with unshed tears and anger.
"I did such a poor job raising you. Now, you do not even know how to talk to your mother. Tsk tsk." Mrs Kang said in a calm voice before she placed her hand inside her gown's side pocket and took out a little ointment bottle before throwing it on her bed.
"I knew this was going to happen so I came prepared. Use that balm on your face and come down in five minutes. Remember you have to look pretty"
As Mrs Kang left the room, Anna slumped down on her bed and began to sob quietly.
*********************
When Tom opened the door, he met the cold eyes of his father staring at him. Behind Mr Hwang, was a line of cars and hefty looking men dressed in black suits.
Mr Hwang Zhendan was also dressed in a suit. Tom could not remember if he had ever seen his father dress casually. Ever since he was younger, he rarely saw his father and whenever he saw him, he was always dressed in a suit. In the mornings when Tom woke up, his father was already dressed for work. At nights, he returned late, still wearing his suit while he went straight upstairs. Sometimes, he did not even bother to return home.
"What brings you here?" Tom asked him curiously.
Mr Hwang looked past Tom to see Lisa standing there. Lisa bowed to greet him but he did not acknowledge her greeting. Instead, he walked past Tom and only stopped when he was standing in front of her. And to Tom's shock, Mr Hwang slapped her real hard on her face.
"How dare you do that to him? I paid you to take care of him yet you hurt him publicly. Do you know the measures I took for this incident to not leak to the public?"
Mr Hwang yelled at Lisa whose head was still down. Even the hard slap did not seem to move her one bit from the position.
Tom's eyes was still widened as he tried to process what he had just seen. Or maybe he was seeing things?
His father didn't just hit Germany did he?
"Go in there and get your things. You are fired!"