Chapter 32 - A time for everything.

As they reached the Chang Mansion Jia greeted, "Good afternoon grandpa."

Liqin instructed the maid, "Jia would be staying for lunch and dinner. Instruct the kitchen staff to prepare accordingly."

The maid nodded in agreement and replied, "Yes, Sir, I will pass on the message."

Liqin turned to Jia and informed, "Let's go to the study to discuss the details."

The whole afternoon was spent discussing the details of the wedding, and the only time they came down was for lunch and for taking suggestions from Chang Bohai.

As they finished finalizing the details, leaving room for accommodating the suggestions of everyone, Liqin moved his chair closer to hers, and placed his hand on her shoulder looked into her eyes, and said, "Don't you think we have just forgotten about something very important today?"

Jia replied with an innocent twinkle in her eyes, "What?"

Liqin cupped her face with his palms, and said, "Us."

Jia smiled and replied, "What about us?"

"We were so busy with being responsible about the wedding details, that we never found any quality time for us."

Jia smiled, and said, "Isn't this our wedding, and wasn't the time was spent for us?"

"You know, couples these days are so busy scheduling their lives, and trying to find a place under the sun, in this society, that is crazy about showing off, that everything seems unrealistic.

They might not have the time to hold hands, or cuddle in each other's arms, or spend a silent moment in each other's embrace or in the worst-case scenario not even have time for any physical intimacy, yet would have all the time to be posting photos of their status on social networking sites.

Look at us. We spent the whole week in a mad rush for making our businesses earn profits, only to return home, to retire dead-tired on that luxurious king-size bed covered with the most expensive bed linen, that has been acquired by all that wealth created with no time for self or family."

I am not saying, that these are not important; however, attitude is all that matters. If you are slogging it out to provide for your family, it is good. But that is not the case these days. People earn to spend lavishly, only to satisfy their need to maintain those false images, that they have carved for themselves in society, and the outcome is very depressing. We have broken families, drunken orgies, drug abuse, and the lists go on and on."

Jia cupped his face and asked, "Have you been too stressed out recently?"

Liqin gave her a peck and replied, "Not exactly. I was just thinking of means and ways of balancing these things."

Jia stood up, and held his face in her palms as he sat on the chair, and said, "We will find time for each other always."

Liqin reached out his arms, and held her tightly as his face sunk in the warmth of her curves, and said, "I promise we will always have our family as our priority."

The clock seemed to have stopped ticking in their moment of bliss. The silence of their warmth was broken when Jia said, "Do you want to take some rest?"

Liqin replied emotionally, "No, I just want to stay like this for some time. Can you stay back tonight? I will ask the maid to arrange the room."

Jia looked down and nodded and replied, "Fine we will do that. I will inform my parents regarding the same, and ask the maid to pack up some clothes, and hand it over to the driver to be dropped here."

Liqin stood up instantly and replied, "You don't need to do that."

Jia looked up to him and asked, "Why don't I need to do that? I can't be wearing your clothes, and roaming the mansion before grandpa."

Liqin smiled sheepishly and replied, "You don't need to do that. I have a surprise for you. Come let me show it to you."

He got up, held her by her hand, and led her to the third floor of the mansion, and opened a room, and said, "I did something for you."

Jia looked around the room. It was a very large spacious room which opened to a large terrace with huge French windows. The furniture was all covered with beautiful vintage floral upholstery. The windows had double-layered drapes. The outer curtain was made of colorful embroidered tapestry, and the inner layer was made of plain satin sheer.

The walls had been covered with minuscule floral wallpaper, and several family photos and paintings adorned them. The floor had been covered with white marble with blue hues which sparkled in the light.

The complete room had a classic vintage look.

Jia walked around and asked, "Whose room is this?"

Liqin turned to her answered, "It belonged to my parents. My mom had designed the interiors initially. I just renovated it by adding a closet room, and changed the tapestry and wallpapers two months ago, keeping her taste intact."

Jia smiled and replied, "It looks awesome. She had a lovely taste for things."

Liqin looked around and said, "Yes. It is just that I did not get enough time to learn things from her. I am planning to start our family in their room. I feel their presence every time I come here, and come back here whenever I am lonely. If you want to make any changes down here, I will do it for you."

Jia walked up to him, held his hands, looked into his eyes, and said, "Let us not make any changes. After all, they are precious memories that you cherish. Isn't it? We will weave and add fresh memories to this room of ours. Is this what you wanted to show me?"

Liqin held his forehead and blurted, "Oh! I almost forgot that. Come here."

He held her by her hand and opened a sliding door, that led to a lovely closet room. He then opened the closet, and said, "I just bought some things for you. Check whether these are matching to your taste and style."

The closet was equipped with a few sets of everything, that a lady would need for her daily routine.

She was touched by his initiative as well as surprised, and asked, "Well how did you get all this done? You cannot be buying all this without a female intervention?"

As she was checking the sizes and measures of the clothes, night suits, and other daily use clothes, she asked, "How did you get these measures right?"

Liqin mischievously smiled with a twinkle in his eyes, and said, "I took help from your mother."

Shocked at the reply, Jia asked, "Wait—When did you guys get together, and plan these things out, and why was I left out?"

Liqin reached out his hands, to envelop her waist, held her tightly in his arms, and said, "That was supposed to be a surprise, and I can look up to her as my mom now. Isn't it?"

Jia curled her hands around his neck, and said, "Yes, of course. They are already looking forward to having a son in you."

As they looked into the eyes of each other, their world seemed to comprise of only each other. Liqin bent down as she closed her eyes, and reached out in anticipation of his love. Their surroundings shadowed out, as their coral moist curves drew deep from each other wanting to draw as deep as possible, as the strawberry lip gloss blended with the sweetness of his love creating a concoction, that lingered in their oral apertures.

Their unending moment of bliss was subdued by a knock on the door.

Liqin walked out, as Jia pick a few clothes, and said, "Come in."

A maid walked in, and said, "Should we send the tea upstairs?"

Jia walked in, and said, "I think we should have tea downstairs with grandpa. That way we can discuss the details with him as well."

Liqin replied to the maid, "We will be down in fifteen to twenty minutes after freshening up."

As the maid left, Liqin said, "I will meet you down for tea. I need to freshen up as well."

Jia turned around and smiled and replied, "That's fine. Meet you down then."

As Jia walked down for tea, Liqin was already there discussing the details of the wedding, that both had decided upon earlier.

Liqin sat beside Chang Bohai and said, "Grandpa do you have some suggestions for us?"

Chang Bohai looked at the schedule and said, "It seems pretty good. Just ensure, that you both delegate the responsibilities to everyone: otherwise by the time you walk down the aisle, you both will be completely exhausted."

Liqin smiled and answered, "We will do that."

Jia reached her hand to her ears in the shape of a receiver and said, "Let me call up mom, and inform, that I will be staying over."

"Sure."

Jia called her mom, and said, "Mom I would be staying over at the Chang Mansion today. We were finalizing some details. I will come back after lunch tomorrow."

As she disconnected the call Liqin said, "Well, let us finalize the delegation of things, and schedule the follow-up of everything. By the time the planner comes over on Saturday, we will have the complete schedule and calendar of follow-ups finalized then."

By the time the details were prepared it was already evening. The rest of the evening went without much action, and both retired to their respective rooms completely exhausted and dozed off as soon as they hit the beds.

In the morning, Li Bao joined them for breakfast to check out on the delegation of responsibilities.

As they were discussing Liqin said, "I am planning to invite aunt Roulan and her family. Do you think it would be all right?"

Li Bao turned around and replied, "It should be fine. You include her in your list of invitees. I will speak to mom about it. It is about time, that dad reconciled with that family. They have lost a lot of things. Whether they decide to come or not is their choice."

Liqin held him by his shoulders and replied, "Let us call her up."

Bao turned his head to him and replied, "That would be the right thing to do first. Let me dial her up."

As the call connected, Bao said, "Good evening aunt. Can we talk?"

Xiao Roulan replied, "Yes, sure, we both have an off today. Go ahead."

"We just wanted to invite you for a wedding."

"Are you getting married?"

"Well, that's not the case. I still have to find a Roulan junior for myself for that reality to dawn."

"Well, that's going to be an uphill task. Who's getting married now?"

"Liqin is getting married."

"So, the grandson of the Chang household is extending his family. It is nice to hear that. Are he and his fiancée around?

"Yes, why don't we do a video call?"

"That's a better option. I would also want to see the daughter-in-law of the Chang household."

Bao disconnected the call, made a video call, and said, "Aunt, can you see all of us?"

"Yes. Where is the soon-to-be-married couple?"

Liqin and Jia moved forward, and said, "I am here aunt, and this is Jia, my fiancée."

"Good evening aunt. I have heard a lot about you. We would be glad to have the presence of your family with prayers on our wedding."

"When is it scheduled?"

"It's scheduled for the fifth of December."

"It would be difficult then. We are scheduled to attend a medical conference that week in Geneva. The tickets have been already booked in advance by the hospital. Canceling it now, and scheduling another person would not be feasible now, for the hospital during the holiday season."

Xiao Zhen walked in, interrupted, and said, "Let us see how we can compensate for our inability to be present on your blessed day. We will try to come down on our return trip from Switzerland. Will you guys be back by the second of January?"

"We will surely be back by then."

Zhen turned to Roulan, gestured, and replied, "We will inform you guys of our itinerary in the last week of November. Wish you guys a happy married life in advance."

Jia and Liqin responded, "Thanks."

Bao interrupted, and said, "It must be pretty late down there now. Have a nice rest. Goodnight."

As the call got disconnected Bao asked, "Where are you guys going for your honeymoon?"

Liqin responded, "We finalized Bora Bora."

"That's great. I am planning to go to Zermatt in December after the wedding. I spoke to dad yesterday. He wouldn't mind taking charge of things in the office for a few days."

"So, you are going skiing again."

"Yes. But I am going to miss my skiing partner this time."

Jia turned to him, smiled, and replied, "Hope you will find one out there. Hope, that one is for a lifetime though."

Bao looked at her, and said, "Is someone trying to draw the wedge already?"

Jia laughed, and said, "Well, you see, four would always be a company. Isn't it?"

Liqin pointed to Jia and replied, "She is right. If you had been married as well, all four of us could go everywhere together. Nowadays you keep avoiding, saying that you would become the third wheel."

In the weeks, and months, that followed everyone was busy with either business matters or the wedding preparations. The Li, Chang, and Huang families were all so engrossed, and busy, that months went by without much notice.

In the last week of November, Liqin and Jia accompanied by Li Diu, Li Bao, and her parents went out to try out their wedding outfits.

The wedding gown was a brilliant work of silver thread. sequins, crystals, and pearls embroidered in floral pattern on sheer fabric.

Jia looked stunning as the embroidered sheer dazzled in the light, combined with inner fabric made of satin. It had an illusion neckline, and the outer sheer was embroidered throughout.

Liqin on the other hand looked glamorous in a champagne tuxedo paired with a champagne waistcoat with champagne-colored studs, a white shirt, a champagne bowtie, a two-layered chain brooch on the right with an ivory pocket square, and a lavender and rose boutonniere on the left.

They looked brilliant together as the whole family watched them glow in their love for each other.

The next three to four hours were spent in a photo session and a pre-wedding rehearsal. The warmth of joy and happiness echoed in the chatter of the family members present there.