“Mommy, this Taipei Main Station is so huge!!!” Emily said.
“Yes, sweetie. Thanks for the signboards. If not, we are confirmed lost,” Xiao You laughed, and then it fades to a smile. She looked to her front; she is in a queue to buy Hualien train tickets, and there are around 3 of them in front of her still. She smiled faintly, and patiently waiting for her turn.
RING!
Emily turned to look at her mother as Xiao You dives her hand into her handbag to take her phone.
She smiled lightly as she looked at the caller ID. “It is Uncle Xi Men,” Xiao You said as she placed the phone onto her ear after she pressed the accept button.
Xiao You: Hello, Xi Men?
Xi Men: Hi Xiao You. Have you purchased the tickets to Hualien?
Xiao You: Going to. I am lining up now.
Xi Men: Great. Would you mind to buy an extra ticket?
Xiao You: Extra ticket? To where?
Xi Men: Hualien.
Xiao You: Huh? Why? For who?
Xi Men: Me.
Xiao You: (shocked) You?!
Xi Men: Yes, I want to go to Hualien with you and Emily.
Xiao You: I… (remained stunned, and then her eyes traveled down to look at Emily)
Xi Men: We can go by train together. I will book an extra room from the same homestay you are staying. You don’t have to worry about me. You just need to make sure I have a seat on the train.
Xiao You: You…? On a train?
Xi Men: Yeah, what about it?
Xiao You: Umm… I mean… you used to travel… by plane.
Xi Men: I can travel on different transports other than cars and plane, right?
Emily tugged Xiao You’s shirt. “Mommy, it is our turn already,”
Xiao You: My turn to buy tickets.
She hangs up the call and then she headed to the ticket window.
“Good day miss,” the lady said.
“Good day. I want to go to Hualien, this Sunday,” Xiao You said.
“How many person, miss?” the lady asked.
Xiao You bites her lower lip. “Three,”
**********
“Secretary Xu,” Xi Men called as he stood in front of Secretary Xu’s table.
“Yes, CEO Xi Men?” Secretary Xu immediately lifted up his head.
“Can you check for me, what’s left in my schedule today?”
“You have a meeting with Director Tang from MN Enterprise at 2.30pm,” Secretary Xu said.
“In his office?”
“No, over here,”
“What is my schedule after that?” Xi Men asked.
“No more. That is the only one,” Secretary Xu said.
“Okay. Can you call Director Tang and tell him I want to change location for the meeting?” Xi Men said.
“Oh, where do you want to change to, CEO Xi Men?” Secretary Xu immediately takes out a notepad.
“Find me a quiet place which is suitable for meeting in Taipei 101,”
“Taipei 101?” Secretary Xu asked.
“Yes,”
“Oh… umm… okay,” Secretary Xu said and then scratched his head.
“Great, thank you,” Xi Men said, and as he was about to walk away.
“I’m sorry, CEO Xi Men,” Secretary Xu quickly called.
Xi Men turned to look at him. “Hmm?”
“I know we have been talking about you going to…” Secretary Xu looked left and right, before he softly said, “Hualien,” and then he continued with a normal tone, “But is it confirmed that you will be going?”
Xi Men smiled and with utmost confidence that Xiao You will and perhaps bought his train ticket, “Yes, it is confirmed. So please clear my schedule for one whole week,” and then he walks away.
**********
4.50pm.
“Line up, line up,” Emily practically dashed to the ticketing queue in level 5 of Taipei 101 which there is about 15 people in front of her.
Besides ticketing queue, there is another queue to take the elevator which will bring them to the observation deck at level 89.
Xiao You takes a glimpse towards the long queue to take the elevator, and then she turned to look at Emily. “It may take us a while to reach to the top. They have a long queue at the elevator area too,”
Emily turned to look, “I hope we can make it for the sunset,”
“Sunset won’t be anytime soon but I do hope we are up within an hour. I was just comparing to lining up to go up the Eiffel Tower in Paris for hours,” Xiao You said, looking at Emily.
“You know, you don’t have to line up here to buy the tickets. I can get you in for free,”
Xiao You and Emily turned to the source of the voice.
“Uncle Xi Men!” Emily called happily.
Xi Men smiled. “Hi Emily,” he then looked at Xiao You, “Hi Xiao You,”
Xiao You looked at him and smiled lightly. “Hi Xi Men. What are you doing here?”
“To join you and Emily,” he said.
“Join me? You said there’s nothing to see here and you came to see the same view you see everyday? Isn’t that a bit too far for you to come from your office and possibly unnecessary for someone like you who owns and works in a tall building too?” she said with a smile.
“Well my office is not as tall as Taipei 101 obviously so I am saying we are going to stand way above where my CEO room stands,” he smiled. “And I want to give myself a chance to see if the view here in Taipei is really as spectacular as you and Emily claimed,”
“We are on traveler’s mode. Whatever we see, eat and experience in a foreign country is going to be nice,” Xiao You smiled.
“Your daughter might be but you are not totally a foreigner, right?”
“You should say I am pretty much a foreigner since I have left the country for 9 years, and coming back to see the changes,” she said. “And I hope you are not stalking me,”
“I have an appointment here. And since I am done with it, I decided to join you both,” he smiled.
“Well, I supposed you must have waited for us for a very long time,”
“Not really,” he folded his hands on his chest.
“Well, I told you I will be here at about 4pm, and it is almost 5pm now,” Xiao You smirked. “And so, to ‘actually’ stumbled on us here at 5pm doesn’t sound like a coincidence to me,”
“Alright, I admit I stood aside and wait for you…”
“See!”
He laughed. “But I really have an appointment here at 2.30pm just now,” he said. “So… are you still going to hog the queue? I can get you up like immediately, and it’s free,”
“Free?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Just because you are CEO Xi Men?” she asked.
“Yes, because I am CEO Xi Men. Since I have such privilege, we shouldn’t let that waste, right?” he smiled.
“I think you should probably learn how to NOT abuse your position,” she smiled.
“Can’t help it that I am famous here in Taiwan,” he smiled.
“Oh please,” she rolled her eyes in humor.
He laughed, “Well, don’t block the queue, alright?”
Xiao You smiled and she walked out from the queue.
“Come Emily, let’s go up to the sky!” he extends his hand to Emily.
“Yay to Uncle Xi Men!” Emily puts her palm in his extended hand.
Xiao You smiled, and soon the smile fades, before she regained it back on her face.
*****
With Xi Men’s authority, they skipped the ticketing queue and just like Xi Men said, they didn’t need a ticket to go up, and then skipped the queue to take the elevator. The Taipei 101 personnel immediately opened the gate for him and Xiao You as well as Emily to take the elevator first. And the most interesting part is, the elevator ride is solely for the three of them, along with the personnel who guards and controls the lift buttons.
Emily is mesmerized with the ceiling of the elevator as they have animated lights on throughout the entire ride from the level 5 of Taipei 101 to the observatory deck at level 89 which takes only 37 seconds.
“We’re here,” Xi Men said, when the elevator’s door opened.
Emily is ecstatic, and remained gripping onto Xi Men’s hand, thus as she walked out, she pulled him along with her and almost went to hug the famous damper baby of Taipei 101.
“Mommy, this is so cute! Can I have this?” she pointed at the damper baby statue.
“Of course not the statue!” Xiao You laughed.
Xi Men laughed along when he heard it.
“If there’s a miniature one as souvenir, I’ll get you one, okay?” Xiao You said.
“Okay!” Emily smiled. “Uncle Xi Men,” she turned and called.
“Yeah?” Xi Men asked.
“Can you help to take a photo of mommy and me?” Emily asked.
“Oh, sure, of course,” Xi Men smiled, he turned to look at Xiao You.
Xiao You immediately dives her hand into her handbag to take the compact camera out and then handed him the camera, “I’m sorry, I guess she is the only one who dares to ask you, a CEO, to help us take photos,”
“Come on, we are friends. My status doesn’t play a role between us,” Xi Men smiled.
“Thanks,” Xiao You said, and then headed to the red damper baby statue with Emily.
And Xi Men took a photo of them.
“Uncle Xi Men, come join us too!”
Xiao You smiled at Emily’s request.
Xi Men smiled as he asked a Taipei 101 staff to hold the camera, and he immediately heads to the other side of Emily, and the staff takes a photograph of them.
The staff then passes the camera back to Xi Men, and Emily takes a look at the preview of the photo on the camera and is happy with it.
Emily headed and stood at the glass window admiring the view of Taipei from the very top. “Wow…”
“And there is an outdoor observation deck upstairs,” Xi Men said to Emily.
“Really?” Emily asked, looking at Xi Men.
“Yes, are you afraid of heights?” Xi Men asked.
“Yes…” Emily pouted.
“Hold on to me, alright? And don’t do anything outrageous. It is at level 91,”
Emily smiled and nodded.
“Xiao You, we’ll go up to the outdoor observation deck,” Xi Men said to Xiao You who is standing next to Emily.
“Sure,” Xiao You smiled.
*****
After enjoying the breeze and view of the outdoor observation deck as well as staying there to wait for the sunset, they finally came back down to level 89 at around 7.30pm.
Emily is seen enjoying the view in the indoor observation deck with Xiao You, while Xi Men headed to the souvenir corner and hand-picked a miniature set of the five famous damper babies of Taipei 101 – red, green, black, silver and yellow.
He even smiled at the damper babies. “It is really cute,” he said, and then lifted up his head to look at Xiao You and Emily talking to each other and pointing at the view in front of them.
His smile fades to just a small curve.
“If only I managed to locate her back then, she is probably my wife today… and Emily is probably my daughter,” he mumbled while still looking at her. “But then she may not be my wife… because my family is unable to accept her as I have always expected,” he sighed. About a split second later, he lifted his head up to look at Xiao You again, “But it is my life… right? I need to fight for what I want. Especially the woman I love and wanted to spend my life with. The F3 taught me that,” he remained looking at her. “That’s the happy family I could have…”
“CEO Xi Men,”
Xi Men immediately turned to look at the souvenir shop’s staff who had just called him.
“The damper baby set you are holding is our bestseller,” she smiled.
He smiled as he looked at the miniature set in his hand, “Please pack this up,” he passed it to her.
“Sure, CEO Xi Men,” she said, taking it from Xi Men’s hand and she turned around.
“Excuse me…”
She immediately turned back and looked at Xi Men. “Yes, CEO Xi Men?”
He looked around the souvenir corner, “Do you have anything for the ladies? Specifically for the ladies? Like… necklace, or bracelet…?”
“Umm…” she looked around too.
He looked at her turning around and looking left and right for few times, searching for the ‘specifically for ladies’ item for him. If a staff would have to look around for so many times just to find that one particular item, it must have meant there is none in the store.
“It is okay,” Xi Men smiled, “This one will do then,” he said, pointing at the miniature set in her hand.
“Sure,” she said.
Xi Men then headed to the cashier and paid for the gift, before he then rejoins Xiao You and Emily.
“Emily, this is for you,” Xi Men said, extending the paper bag to her.
“For me?” Emily asked as she took the paper bag from Xi Men.
“Yes,” Xi Men smiled.
“Don’t spoil my daughter too much,” Xiao You smirked. “She will then ask you for endless stuffs,”
Emily laughed, “I won’t, mommy. Thank you Uncle Xi Men,” she dives her hand into the bag and takes out the miniature set of 5 damper babies. “So cute!!! Thank you Uncle Xi Men!” she hugged Xi Men.
“You are welcome,” Xi Men smiled, and he is happy with Emily’s reaction to receiving the gift.
“Thanks for the gift,” Xiao You smiled.
“No problem,” he looked at her. “As long as Emily is happy,” he smiled, as he looked at Emily, before he then turned to look at Xiao You again.
He wanted to buy her something from the souvenir corner but sadly there is nothing suitable for her… but maybe she would love to have something else?
“Umm… do you want anything as a souvenir?” he asked.
“No need. Thanks,” she smiled.
“Alright. Then what do you want to eat for dinner?”
“Dinner?” Xiao You asked, and then she looked at her watch. “Wow, it’s dinner time already,”
“The sun has set. Of course it is time for dinner,” he smiled. “So, anything in mind?”
“I haven’t brought Emily to eat local food,” Xiao You said. “I planned to bring her to Xi Men Ding for the famous noodles,”
“No problem,” Xi Men said.
“What is that supposed to mean? You are joining us for dinner, again?”
“You mean I can’t?”
“Not that you can’t. It is night market, or rather a happening place at night which is similar to market but they are all in shops instead of stalls,”
“So?”
“You are Xi Men. You don’t go to those places,”
“Well, I am willing to go to these places to experience local food, the way travelers would,”
Xiao You laughed. “Goodness, you have just made yourself sound like a traveler instead of Taiwanese,”
“Let’s just say… I agree with you that the scenery of Taipei from Taipei 101 is nice,”
“Better than your CEO room?” she teased.
“Yes. Better than my CEO room,” he happens to agree and smiled. “So, are we going for dinner already?”
“Sure,” she smiled. “But, no suit,” she pointed at the suit he is wearing.
“No problem. I’ll put it in my car later,” he smiled.
“Emily, let’s go for dinner,” Xiao You said, extending her hand.
“Alright, mommy,” Emily responded, stuffs the damper babies into the paper bag, and then grips Xiao You’s hand.
*****
“This noodle is really nice,” Xi Men said, as he slurps the noodles.
Xiao You couldn’t help but laughed at him. “You are really worse than me and Emily,”
Emily giggled as she fancies her own bowl of noodles.
“You can’t blame me that I have never eaten these kinds of stuffs…” Xi Men said.
“How come, Uncle Xi Men?” Emily asked.
“Emily, Uncle Xi Men is a rich guy. He eats luxurious food all the time,” Xiao You said.
“Eh, why do you have to term me like that?” Xi Men protested comically. “I do have a bit of money but that doesn’t mean I eat a lot of luxurious food,”
“Heh,” Emily fakes a laugh. “Uncle Xi Men, we all know you are rich. You, Uncle Mei Zhuo, Uncle Lei and Uncle Ah Si are all rich. You don’t have to lie to us, you wanna cheat some kids?”
Xi Men laughed; almost spilled the noodles from his mouth, and that caused both Xiao You and Emily laughed at his reaction.
“Yes, I am trying to cheat a small kid like you,” he teased Emily. “But then I thought you told me your mother has never told you anything about me, Uncle Mei Zhuo, Uncle Lei and Uncle Ah Si? How come you know we are rich?”
“Mommy told me yesterday when we were having our meals before we go to CKS Memorial Hall,” Emily laughed.
“Ah, why the sudden?” Xi Men asked.
“Just to let her know what kind of people you all are, so as she won’t get shocked when I said, ‘Uncle Xi Men has never seen this or eat this before’,” Xiao You said.
“Bad, really bad,” Xi Men said.
Xiao You and Emily laughed.
“Anyway, my life is actually pretty boring. I eat almost the same kind of food and at restaurants. I hardly go out and explore so I don’t get to eat these kinds of stuffs,” he smiled. “And it doesn’t mean I eat luxurious food all the time,”
“Got it, Uncle Xi Men,” Emily smiled.
“Oh, I already cleared my schedule for the whole of next week to go to Hualien,” Xi Men said, looking at Xiao You.
“Sounds like you are really confident about going to Hualien,” Xiao You smirked.
“Actually I am. Well, I hope you bought my Hualien ticket,” Xi Men smirked. “So if I can’t go, it is going to be your fault,”
Xiao You laughed. “You can walk into the train ticketing counter and buy a ticket. No problems. Worst is just that you took a different train or arrive different time… or day,”
Xi Men laughed, “Exactly what I don’t want to happen,”
Emily smiled. “I am glad Uncle Xi Men is coming with us,”
“Why so?” Xiao You asked. “Don’t tell me you want him to show or bring us around. Uncle Xi Men has never been to Hualien, so he won’t be able to guide us because he didn’t know the best places as well,” she laughed.
“Eh, why are you so mean to me today… huh?” Xi Men asked. “Can’t you say something nice about me so that Emily will remember me with my good image…?”
Xiao You laughed again.
Emily laughed too. “Uncle Xi Men, what mommy said is the truth,” to which lead to Xi Men stare back at Emily in annoyance, and Emily resumed laughing, “But you are very kind and nice. I will remember that!” she said, and then she turned to Xiao You. “The more the merrier, mommy! And since we have Uncle Xi Men, he can take care of you instead of you taking care of me and also have to take care of yourself,” she bares her teeth.
Xiao You is surprised upon hearing what Emily had just said, and even the smile on Xi Men’s face; which has developed right after Emily compliments that he is kind and nice, has soften up.
Xiao You and Xi Men exchanged glances and also exchanged awkward smiles.
“Sorry, kids don’t understand these stuffs,” Xiao You mumbled.
“Well, I don’t think she is saying anything wrong… because I am going to do what a guy should do. I mean, you don’t have to be a special someone… to get protection,” he tilted his head and unknowingly started scooping up the noodles, putting them down, and scooping them up again.
“Thanks for the understanding,” Xiao You said.
Xi Men just smiled in acknowledgment.
“Uncle Xi Men, why are you playing with your food?”
Xi Men looked at Emily, and then he looked down to the noodles. “Oops,”
Xiao You just smiled, and then Emily giggled.
“Mommy, there are a lot of things to see here, can we go around and see after we finish the noodles?” Emily asked. “They have a lot of cute and beautiful stuffs,”
“Sure,” Xiao You smiled.
Xi Men smiled. “Oh yeah,” he said, leading to Xiao You turned and looked at him. “Can you pass me the details of the hotel you will be staying in Hualien? I will call them and tell them I need a room for myself,”
“I am staying in a homestay, some call it Bed & Breakfast, not a hotel. They have limited rooms, let’s just wish they still have a room for you,” Xiao You smiled as she took out her smartphone and then look for the details.
“Limited rooms? Sounds like a really exclusive place…” he said as he took out his smartphone, wanting to key in the homestay’s details.
“It is a really nice place and it is facing the sea. So this is the number…” she flashed the phone to him and he types it in into his smartphone.
“Okay, got it, thanks,” he smiled, soon stuffing the phone back into his pants and he resumed eating again.
Xi Men could only remain smiling as he looked down onto the very delicious bowl of noodles.
A part of him knew he is not supposed to be doing this.
Xiao You has her own family.
Any righteous man will know she is out of reach.
And he has a fiancée, so he shouldn’t even be doing this.
But deep in his heart… he really wants to stay around Xiao You.
Even though he cannot have her in his life, he only wants to stay close.
Even if it is only for a minute.
Maybe this is something he should, and needs to do; as one last thing before he marries someone else that he doesn’t love at all.
Ken/Rainie Fan Fiction Pieces 