As Pang Ze Tian disappear from her sight, she tried to regain her composure and smile.
It doesn't matter, tonight, at least she had her parents with her. Guan Xian's suspicious behavior and Pang Ze Tian could be damned. Suggesting herself that everything will be alright, she opens the door wearing a big smile.
"Oh, the dish has been served. I'm so hungry."
Xia Sha almost groaned when the delicious smell filled her nose. She runs to her seat like a little girl.
"En, Xia Qi Feng, lit up the candle," Shen Xia Fei ordered Xia Qi Feng around.
Weirdly, Xia Qi Feng followed her order as if it's a natural thing to do. There is not a bit trace of a frown on his face as he diligently listens to his ex-wife. Mother Shen looked busy arranging the white cake in the middle of the table.
Looking at them working together, the suffocating feelings inside Xia Sha's heart dissipate a little. She claps her hand once the candle burns and creating a spirit of hope.
"Make a wish," Mother Shen gently said.
Xia Sha's gaze falls on the flame on the candlewick. Inside she felt a little bit complicated. In the past, she always had wished for a complete family.
Xia Sha wishes that she could celebrate her birthday with her father and mother.
But her wish come true today. Thanks to Guan Xian. And she didn't felt she need anything more than this.
But why she still slightly empty inside?
"How many wishes did you have?" Shen Xia Fei teased when she seems to fall into a daze. Her mother's soft touch and voices on her back drag her back to reality.
Xia Qi Feng clears his throat before cooly reminds her, "The first wish should be your health and longevity. Not about your love life."
"Xia Qi Feng, what is wrong with you? That is Xia Sha's wish to make. I wish Xia Sha can have a long-lasting and happy relationship with Guan Xian." her mother closed her eyes and clasped her finger like she is praying.
"I'm just afraid she will wish for marriage. She is only twenty-three!" Xia Qi Feng could not hide the anxiety inside of him.
Her father's honest words make Xia Sha almost choked. Her jaw almost dropped to the ground. What makes her father think she would wish to get married to Guan Xian.
That bastard abandoned her birthday and went to the party as soon as he landed on the plane. Well, she is exaggerating. He did not leave her, but she just pissed he went to a party.
God knows how many bad things could happen at a party. Pardon her trust issues, but all of us know ninety percent of 'mistakes' happen at a party. And Guan Xian, with all his notorious images, only created a riot on her aching head.
The last thing she could wish for her life is getting married to the wrong man.
"Xia Sha, ignore your father and his negativity. Make your wish before the candle burns out," her mother's voice once again makes her recollect herself.
Xia Sha closed her eyes and prayed inside her heart. Her long eyelashes quivered a few times before she opens her eyelid and blows the candle on the top of her cakes.
After sharing the cake with her mother and father, they sat down and had a pleasant dinner. Although most of the time it's filled with Shen Xia Fei and Xia Qi Feng's bickering, Xia Sha has one of the best times this year.
It saddens her that good time needs to come to an end. She wishes she could stop the time and stuck in a moment. But she can't do that. There is nothing she can do when she parted with her father and mother in the restaurant hobby.
A smile keeps lingering on their faces, but they can't hide the gloomy air when they bid each other goodbye. Perhaps it's also a hard time for Xia Qi Feng and Shen Xia Fei. They stare at each other for a long while before Shen Xia Fei slides inside her car.
Xia Qi Feng looks reluctant.
Xia Sha observed their parting. Her heartfelt heavy. It might have been heavier than she felt a few years ago. As if the day when Shen Xia Fei slams a divorce paper at Xia Qi Feng and move out from the Xia manor relived in front of her.
"Xia Sha, mom will head back now. Don't go home too late."
Shen Xia Fei waves her hand at Xia Sha, just like she did in the past. The only difference is she did not cry this time. Instead, she smiles. A fake one is Xia Sha might add.
Xia Sha nods her head and waves her hand as she watched her mother's windows slowly slides up. Before the black window hides her mother's beautiful features entirely, Xia Qi Feng opens his mouth and said something with his low baritone voice.
Shen Xia Fei leaves without hearing or witnessing Xia Qi Feng's red eyes. But Xia Sha discovered it all. She looks at her father. Her eyes subconsciously went teary.
Neither of Xia Qi Feng or Xia Sha shares words, but suddenly Xia Sha has a deeper understanding of her father. She watched him stand in front of his car, his usual sharp eyes that ignited with arrogance turn soft. He doesn't appear like his typical fierce personality. Instead, he looks lonely under the dark sky.
He smiles at Xia Sha and waves his hand too. A simple gesture that Xia Sha hated the most.
"It's cold, don't go out too long with your friend. Your mother would get worried sick. There won't be a Christmas dinner at the Xia manor this year, but I got you a gift. Come back when you have time."
Xia Qi Feng's voice and sad smile stuck on her mind as she sipped her vodka. She battled her eyelids and find herself has a walk to the nearest bar down the road. The sad saxophone melodies in the background seem to fit her heavy heart.
She is so busy with her thought that she did not realize her phone is buzzing for a long time. A Load of call logs and messages got unnoticed as she spends her lonely night.
"Another glass," she asked the bartender for the fourth time in one hour. The bartender looked amused and happily picked up her glass to do as she requested. But his hand was stopped by another strong force by a muscled hand.
"No, she had enough."
Xia Sha frowned and turned to the man beside her in dissatisfaction.
"Xiao Zhan! I didn't call you to stop me from drinking. I call you I could drink until I get drunk. Don't you understand your role here?" She snapped at him.
"Why should I listen to you? You are not my boss," Xiao Zhan calmly ignored her words and kept the glass away from the grasp. Xia Sha rolled her eyes at him.
"I'm not even drunk yet. Why did I call you in the first place?" She complained and put her head on the bar table. Xiao Zhan could see darkness aura around her. He smiles and answered her question.
"Because you need someone with the same fate as you."
Xia Sha did not flinch from her stoic position and merely groaned.
"I wish I were drunk. That way, I could just shamelessly bragged into the Xia manor and confronted Xia Qi Feng."
Xiao Zhan chuckled at her and shook his head.
"Don't act like you haven't done that before. It still fresh in my memory how you barged into your father's office, drunk, wearing a school uniform."
"Right, that doesn't work well," Xia Sha remembered and laughed at herself. "Maybe I should drag him to a hypnotherapy session. Maybe I could find why he acts so confusing like this."
"Or maybe you shouldn't knew the answer. To be damned with everything," Xiao Zhan cheered.
Xia Sha peeks at him and shows a silly grin.
"Right. I won't spend my birthday in the bar if I could ignore everything and move on," she answers sarcastically. Xiao Zhan smiles at her and nods his head slightly.
"Hmm, you stayed on this bar for an hour when you should head to Zheng Shuang's apartment right now. You even called your ex-boyfriend that you despise. Drinking with him for an hour after dinner with your family. Is this how you want to spend your birthday?"
Xia Sha straightens up her back with a surprised face after she heard Xiao Zhan's words. She seems to recall something as her eyes flares up open.
"I completely forget about that!"
She smacked her forehead and prepared to pay the bill. Xiao Zhan looks composed as he enjoys the panic on her face.
"Damn hundred miscall! Kai Xian will kill me!"
Xiao Zhan shook his head and jumped from his seat. He gestures to the bartender to put the bill on his account before pulling Xia Sha's wrist to his car.
"Don't worry, they send me here to fetch you. They know you will be like this after meeting your parent. Xia Sha, where do you find someone that could understand you so much?"
"That is my luck,"
Xiao Zhan smiles gently as he drove the car. Deep inside, he does agree with her answer.. It's her luck to find someone that could understand her so deeply that 'he' could predict everything so precisely.