Ryan parked his car on the porch and turned off the engine. He walked into the house, headed straight to the kitchen, and found his sisters were making some dumplings.
"You're home!"
The voice made Ryan turn only to see his youngest sister, Marina smiling brightly at him.
In the past few months, Marina has been abroad to pursue her studies. Ryan had heard that his youngest sister would return home soon but he did not expect that he would see her so soon.
Marina wiped her hands on the apron as she arrived in front of Ryan and hugged him tightly. "I haven't seen you in a while, Brother. It's been a year!"
"Eight months." Ryan smiled. "Why didn't you tell me you're coming home today?"
Marina clicked her tongue. "I did tell you. But it seemed that you were too busy and had forgotten about it."
Just in time, Audrey walked in and saw her son in the kitchen. "You're home. I know that you have a lot to talk about with Marina. But go and take your shower first. Dinner will be ready soon." She then turned to busy herself with another matter.
"Alright." Ryan nodded. He was about to turn around when he recognized a familiar face among his sisters in the kitchen. His mouth went ajar at the sight of his pretend girlfriend preparing dumplings with his sisters.
Violet smiled nervously at his expression. "Hi!"
"What are you doing?" He asked with a frown.
Violet had a spoon on one hand and a dumpling skin on the other. "Your sisters are teaching me how to make dumplings," Violet deadpanned.
"Ryan, don't be rude. Try to be nicer." Katie warned.
"I told you he'll be surprised!" Hannah said with a smirk on her face. She looked at Marina and winked.
"I need to talk to you," Ryan motioned to Violet.
Violet glanced at Katie. When Kate nodded, Violet washed her hand and dried it with a paper towel. Then, she walked out of the kitchen and followed Ryan to the living room.
"What are you doing here? Why didn't you tell me that you're coming over?" Ryan asked in a hushed voice.
"Hannah dragged me here," Violet explained. "She came over to my bakery this afternoon, and took me for lunch and shopping."
"Shopping?" Ryan snorted. He remembered that he was forced to accompany Hannah for shopping a few days ago. "That woman has a serious shopping problem." He shook his head in disbelief. Then, his attention was back to Violet. "And you didn't think of warning me?"
"I thought you knew that I was coming over for dinner."
"Well, I don't." Ryan scowled.
"Well, Hannah said you already knew."
Ryan heaved a sigh. "Why did you agree to come over without consulting me first? This isn't what we agreed on."
"What am I supposed to do? Hannah told me to come over and get to know your family members. I can't say no, especially when your mother insisted for me to come."
Ryan heaved a sigh as he massaged his head.
He was not happy that Violet unexpectedly showed up. But he knew that there was nothing he could do when it was his mother who invited her to come.
"Just be careful when you are with my sisters," Ryan warned. "And don't do anything that will raise their suspicion."
xxx
Dinner with the Chen family members went smoothly.
After the meal, Audrey called Ryan and Violet into the living room to ask them about their dating phase.
Audrey stared at the young couple before her as she massaged her temple softly. She decided to have a chat with them after dinner and questioned them on their dating progress, but their answer wasn't what she was expecting. "Four dates within two weeks?"
Ryan glanced at Violet and nodded. "Yes. I think it's a pretty good record."
"That is not a good record, Ryan. You're supposed to have more dates than that. What were you two doing? "
Mom," Katie said. She decided to join her mother while Erin and Marina were lounging in the TV area. "Give them a chance. Don't forget that Violet had an accident not too long ago. I think that was part of the reason why they couldn't meet as frequently as you expect them to."
"Fair enough," Audrey took a deep breath. "But I can't have you decide that you weren't good for each other after spending a short time with each other. You two needed to spend more time getting to know each other."
"Okay," Violet agreed.
Audrey consulted her daughter, May. "What do youngsters these days do on their dates?"
"I don't know. Most of them go to watch movies." It has been a while since Katie dated anyone. Who knew what the new generation does when they go on a date?
"Done that," Ryan muttered to himself.
"Movies?" Audrey repeated with a frown on her head, totally ignoring her son's remark. "How do you get to know each other without any proper conversation? How did staring at the screen help you to get to know each other?"
"Well, what did you do on most dates during your time?" Kate asked her mother.
"We spend lots of quality time together. We went out to eateries, picnics, and dancing. We spend some time trying each other's hobbies, spending time with each other's friends so that we get to know each other better," Audrey said. "But this isn't about me. This is about Ryan and Violet. They need to spend more time together to get to know each other. Isn't there any way the two of you could meet each other every day?"
"Give us a break, Mom. We can't meet each other every day. We have work. Violet had to manage her business."
"I know that you both are busy. But that doesn't mean that you can't make time for each other. Isn't that the point of this dating phase? Shall I suggest that the dating period be extended to two months? Or perhaps I should suggest that you two shall be engaged right away?"
Violet glanced toward Ryan nervously.
"Mom," Ryan pleaded. "This isn't what we agreed on."
"If you didn't want me to interfere, you better do it right," Audrey threatened. "What about lunch or dinner? Why don't you get to know each other by having lunch or dinner together? You are both busy with work but you still need to eat, right?"
"I can do lunch," Violet casted a glance at Ryan. "I'm usually busy during the morning but I'm usually free after that. Of course, not if I have any large volume orders from customers."
"Really?" Audrey tested.
Violet replied with a nod. "Yeah."
Audrey looked at her son. "Can you promise to spend a little bit of your time during lunch to get to know her more?"
"Sure. I'll try. I think it could work if I don't have any emergency."
"Good," Audrey seemed content with their answers. "But don't you ever play tricks on me, Ryan. Because I'm going to send someone to check on you to make sure you really do spend time together. I have plenty of spies around to check on you both."