What are You Hiding?

The Xu Residence, L City.

James Xu walked into the bedroom and found that his wife was sitting on the bed while folding some laundry. A faint smile appeared on his face as he walked closer to his wife. 

"Are you done with your work?" Anna raised her head briefly before she lowered her head and concentrated on folding some clothes again.

Her children, Jace and Violet were not at home. Seeing that there was nothing much for her to do, Anna decided to gather the dirty clothes around the house and wash everything.

"Mhm.." James nodded. He walked over to his wife and sat down. He peeked at the clothes arranged on the bed and wondered when Anna would finish everything. 

He wanted to help and speed up his wife's work. However, James remembered how his wife had forbidden him from touching the laundry. 

Once upon a time, James had tried to help his wife with the clothes. However, he later found his wife refolding the clothes that he had folded.

According to Anna, his way of folding clothes did not fit her aesthetic. 

James looked at the clothes that he folded and compared it with his wife's. He had to admit that the clothes he folded looked hideous. Since then, James would only help his wife with other chores but would not touch the laundry. 

Fortunately, he was a good cook.

"Why are you looking at me?" Anna asked when she saw that her husband had been staring at her.

"The house gets too quiet without the kids around." 

Anna chuckled at her husband's words.

Their children, Jace and Violet were already grown-ups. Jace had his apartment and usually traveled to many countries because of his job.

Violet was still staying with them. However, their daughter was often busy with her cupcake bakery.

"You know that it was too quiet without the kids around. But you were the one who was pushing Violet to date Ryan. Let's see... Once your daughter gets married, the house will only get quieter."

"I just thought that it was not too bad for Violet to get to know Ryan."

Anna wanted to roll her eyes.

Initially, her husband was pushing their daughter to marry Ryan. It was Violet who convinced them to give them a chance to date and get to know each other first.

Anna placed the final folded clothes in the basket and stood up.

"Where are you going?" James had a helpless look on his face. He knew that his wife was not a fan of the arranged marriage between their daughter and Ryan Chen.

His wife would look upset each time they were discussing this matter.

"I'm going to send the clothes to the children's room." Without waiting for her husband to reply, Anna left the bedroom while carrying the laundry basket with her, leaving her husband alone. 

Anna went to Jace's room first to send his laundry as his clothes were not that many. Habitually, Anna would pick up the broom and tidy up the room a little bit.

Then, she went to Violet's room and did the same.

Anna took the folded clothes and kept them in the wardrobe. Seeing the state of Violet's clothes in the closer made her sigh. 

It was too messy.

Then, Anna recalled that her daughter had packed up her stuff in a hurry before she left for her grandfather's place.

Since her daughter was not around, Anna decided to help her Violet tidying up her closer.

She took out the messed up clothes and placed them on the bed, wanting to fold them again before keeping them in the closet.

Anna was busy arranging the clothes in Violet's closet when something fell beside her feet.

The paper should have fallen beside her as she was pulling out some clothes to be arranged. 

But, what was it doing there?

This was not the first time for Anna to tidy up her daughter's closet. Naturally, she was familiar with everything in the closet. Therefore, the rolled-up paper that fell beside her feet caught her attention.

Anna put down the clothes on her hand and bent down to pick up the paper. 

She unrolled the paper without much thought. The paper did not look important and Anna thought that perhaps, her daughter had unintentionally slipped the paper between her clothes. 

Her hands trembled as she saw the contents. Anna reread the contents of the paper for a few more times. 

The paper...

It was an agreement between Violet and Ryan to pretend dating for the whole month. The two of them were planning to trick their elders!

At the bottom of the paper, Anna could see her daughter's signature and Ryan's side by side.

Anna had always thought that it was strange for Violet to readily agree with the dating arrangement.

She thought that Violet was willing to give in to her father's request. Unexpectedly, everything was an act and Ryan was playing along.

Now that she thought about it, Anna recalled how Ryan was not willing to go along with the marriage arrangement as well.

Two people were against the arranged marriage and came up with this trick.

Anna did not know whether she should be angry or proud of her daughter.

"What are you doing?"

The voice snapped Anna out of her trance. She turned around and saw that her husband was standing at the door.

"You were gone for so long. I was worried that something might happen," James said. He looked around his daughter's room and saw the clothes on the bed.

It seemed that his wife's habit of arranging stuff had come out again. 

He shifted his gaze to his wife and finally saw the paper in his wife's hand. "What are you looking at?" James walked over to his wife and peeked at the paper. 

However, before he got the chance to peek at the paper, his wife had hidden the paper behind her back.

"Anna?" James looked at his wife in puzzlement. "What are you hiding?"