In New Jersey, the azure sky was particularly clear and the verdant grass seemed especially lively. The population density wasn’t high and there was a minimum distance of 20 to 30 meters between houses. There were forests and bushes everywhere in Marlboro Township, so deer, squirrels, skunks and other small animals could be seen everywhere. There weren’t many streetlights there though. As such, it was as dark as the suburbs at night, which was quite different from Hong Kong.
Cin Heung once went out for a run at night. She regretted about not bringing a flashlight as she got lost after just a few blocks. In the end, she had to use her phone’s navigation to get back. From then on, she vowed she wouldn’t go out at night.
When she got off the plane that day, Cin Heung parted ways with Yeung Yi Po. Before leaving, he still insisted that Cin Heung go to New York for a tour, and he even offered to plan the trip. Manman had a prejudice against him, thinking that he definitely was a playboy, thinking that he only flattered Cin Heung because she was beautiful.
Cin Heung, on the other hand, didn’t think much about it. Since they only met by chance, she couldn’t be bothered to think whether the guy was a playboy or not.
Manman’s fiance was the only one who came to pick them up at the airport. The man seemed honest. When he saw Manman coming out from the arrival hall, he smiled happily like a child seeing his mother, giving a radiant smile. He ran over and hugged Manman for an American kiss. Showing his concern and excitement, he almost couldn’t control his emotions and had a few tears in his brim; this just showed how sincere he was.
Cin Heung felt delighted just looking at them.
Manman introduced him to Cin Heung. “He’s my fiance, Tony.” Afterwards, she introduced Cin Heung to Tony, saying, “She’s the bridesmaid I told you about, her name is Wun Cin Heung.”
“Thank you so much for taking the time to come over to the states to help us,” Tony said with an accent.
Tony was a typical gentleman. He took the suitcases for Cin Heung and Manman and brought them to the parking lot which was as big as a football field. After walking for some time, even Tony was sweating from carrying all the luggage. If it wasn’t for his help, the two women would probably have suffered a lot.
Cin Heung took note of the environment on their way back.
The houses in Marlboro Township were mostly stand-alone houses. Even the smallest houses were thousands of square feet, and that was without considering the front and back yards. This time, Cin Heung was going to stay at Tony’s home.
Tony told Cin Heung that his parents were early Chinese immigrants. They opened a “small” Chinese supermarket; small according to Tony at least. Later, she would find out that he was being too modest.
He lived with his parents and had two younger sisters that went to college, who would sometimes come back on weekends.
When young people went to college in the states, they usually learned to be independent. They would often move to where they studied and paid for their own living expenses. In some cases, students going to colleges would have to go to another state, or even travel from east to west coast.
Tony’s two sisters sometimes would come back. This made Cin Heung a little concerned, because Tony promised Manman that when her other friends came, they could all stay there together.
Although the houses here were thousands of feets large, it still seemed a little crowded for five women. They might even cause some inconvenience to the family.
But when Cin Heung saw Tony’s home, she felt that her worries were unnecessary.
This house was unbelievable. It was an old castle style house that often appeared in movies and had a front yard that was almost 90 meters long. There were 11 spacious bedrooms and three bathrooms in the house, excluding the bathrooms in the suites. At the front entrance, the 10-foot-tall Christmas tree from last year still stood there. There was a meeting room at the side of the front hall, or maybe it should be called a meeting hall. There was no TV in the living room, so if you wanted to watch TV, you had to go to the TV hall which seemed more like a cinema. The backyard was almost like a golf course and the swimming pool was just like another add on.
Tony explained, “This place used to be a farm a long time ago.”
The house seemed totally outrageous, but because this was an old house with a history of 70 years, it was no wonder that it was so spacious.
He also explained that this type of house was very hard to come by these days. For people from Hong Kong, this kind of place was totally unimaginable.
All in all, it was a pleasant place.
That was how Cin Heung felt about New Jersey.
Cin Heung and Manman stayed at Tony’s place to rest for two days, adapting to the new time zone. After that, they began preparing for the wedding.
Tony said, “The wedding will be held in the backyard, and I’ve contacted the wedding preparation company to decorate the backyard.”
Tony then told them about the layout, pointing at the spaces assigned for the guests, the stage area, and more. It seemed like a meticulous plan.
He went on to say, “I can bring you two to the wedding dress shop to try on your dresses tomorrow.”
Surprised, Cin Heung asked, “I’m going too?”
“Of course. You’re her bridesmaid, how could we not?”
Since then, they’ve been running around for two weeks preparing for the wedding.
In order to pass time, Cin Heung volunteered to help contact the guests. After all, this was what she did previously: marketing and public relations. She did the work with ease and was very professional with it; Tony’s family was even dumbfounded by it.
When assigning seats, she even learned about each guest’s personality and relationship from the guest list, like who was more suitable with whom, and which guests were closer. She asked for everyone’s details, and then contacted everyone to remind them of the date, time and location. For those who were talkative, Cin Heung would even talk with them for almost half a day. That was why it took Cin Heung several days to complete the job.
Tony was often busy with his family’s business. Even though he thought that the arrangements for the wedding were fine, the fact was there were lots of mistakes. Mixing up the size of wedding dresses, ordering the wrong color combination for the decorations, unconfirmed number of guests;. all these seemed very worrying for everyone.
Due to her occupational habits, Cin Heung even took on the job of rearranging the wedding venue, program flow, transportation, matters that the couple’s parents needed to pay attention to, and lastly, the couple’s speeches. She wrote everything down clearly and placed the documents in front of them.
They all asked Manman, “Did you bring a guest or a savior!”
Tony laughed and said, “She brought us an angel!”
To the Americans, this was a great praise.
Tony’s two sisters also chimed in, “You’re a real blessing!”
They were all very grateful towards Cin Heung.
At night, Manman took Cin Heung by the hand and brought her to a small round table in the backyard. The insects chirped and the gentle breeze blew by from time to time. From a distance, there were even flickers of city light.
Manman poured two glasses of wine, then said, “Cin Heung, thank you very much for your help.”
“I am staying for free, so I should do something.”
“Oh, don’t say that! You’re our guest!”
After a sip of wine, Cin Heung said, “Tony’s family are very kind to you.”
Manman smiled and nodded, “They appreciate you a lot too.”
Cin Heung crossed her legs and rested her chin on her hands while smiling. Her two sparkling eyes gazed at Manman and said, “You’ve found happiness. How envious I am!”
“There are a lot of things to adapt to and learn from in order for me to live here, but it’s a good start. What about you?”
“Me...? I have nothing to worry about and can live however I want to.”
“Tony told me, a capable person like you must find it hard to find a partner.”
“Did he really say that? So straightforward…”
“I told him you just lack a bit of luck.”
“Even you’re playing it down? How boring…”
“Well you came to forget about those things, so don’t be too negative.”
“I’m really something! On our flight here, fate has been passing by me,” Cin Heung said with a hint of regret.
“Haha! You mean that playboy!”
“Yeah!”
“What’s your opinion of that guy?”
“Whatever! It’s all fate… Who cares!”
“Oh? You really don’t care?”
Manman leaned over to tickle her waist but Cin Heung retaliated by tickling Manman’s armpits. Relying on her martial arts foundation, Cin Heung blocked all of Manman’s attempts.
Manman complained, “That’s unfair!”
Falling to the grass ground, the two continued with their exchange of attack and defense. In the end, Cin Heung finally gave in to Manman’s tickling and let herself loose as she laughed out loud.
The laughter from the two women caught the attention of Tony. Seeing the two beauties play-fighting, Tony not only enjoyed watching them, he even cheered them on.
Tired from playing around, the two finally lay on the grass and watched the starry night.
“Tony, it’s all your fault!”
“What has it got to do with me?”
“You said I wouldn’t find a boyfriend!”
Tony laughed out loud and said, “It’s fine! I have many friends coming on the wedding day. I’ll introduce them to you.”
“Hmph, I’m not that desperate!”
Tony laid on the grass too and said, “I’m just matchmaking for my future wife’s good sister. I don’t do this for anyone.”
“Cin Heung, why don’t you make do and just pick someone,” Manman chimed in.
“No! You two are ganging up on me!” Using Manman’s tone, Cin Heung continued, “That’s not fair! You two are bullying me!”
Annoyed by what Cin Heung said, Manman yet again pounced on Cin Heung.
Feeling exhausted even just looking at them, Tony asked, “Are all of you girls like this?”
Both the girls said in unison, “Yup! All of us!”
“Oh boy! I’ll be picking them up the day after tomorrow! I’m afraid there won’t be any peace in the house after that.”
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