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“I’m so confused,” Jia mumbled as her eyes shifted from Mrs Chen to Mark then back to the elder once again. “What’s going on? Who’s Tuan Yien?”

“Sometimes, I wonder why who the real senior citizen here is. You get more confused than I do honestly. Didn’t I just introduce you, child?” Mrs Chen huffed with her brows furrowed. “He is Tuan Yien.” She gestured to Mark who flashed Jia one of the most awkward smiles ever paired with a quick wave. He was just as stunned as she was with their random encounter and didn’t know exactly how to react. It was funny how fate always had them running into each other in some of the most unexpected situations.

“His name is Mark, grandmother,” Jia corrected and shook her head. “Maybe I should call the doctor to check up on you. Hold on, let me feel your face first to see if you have a fever.” The girl’s arm extended outward but before she could make contact with the elder’s skin, Mrs Chen slapped her hand away.

“I am perfectly sane, Jia. Don’t try to make it sound like I have dementia or something,” she snapped, frowning disapprovingly. “Besides, he told me his name was Tuan Yien. Isn’t he handsome? I bet the two of you would have the cutest babies ever! Wouldn’t you agree, Xiao Yi?” Mark’s face turned a deep shade of scarlet red while his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

“Taipo,” Jia balked. “Mark doesn’t speak Mandarin!”

“What are you talking about? He was just speaking to me in Mandarin before you arrived,” Mrs Chen argued. “Isn’t that right?”

“Taipo, I’ve been friends with him for months now. If he spoke Mandarin, don’t you think I would have—”

“Sorry,” Mark coughed out. “I should have told you but I thought it was pretty obvious.”

“Whoa!” Jia’s eyes doubled in size and she openly gaped at her mother language flowing out from his mouth. “You do speak Mandarin!”

“Told you so,” clucked Mrs Chen triumphantly.

“But then how come you never said anything to me when I was fumbling over my Korean?” she questioned with a small pout. “Do you know how much easier it would have been for me if I had known that you were able to speak Mandarin?”

Mark laughed and tousled his hair. “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I guess it was kind of cute seeing you struggling to speak another language you weren’t too accustomed to yet.” When the boy realized he had mentioned the word cute, he immediately tensed. He wasn’t supposed to say that! What if Jia saw right through him and figured out that he did, in fact, like her in that kind of way? She would never stop pestering him about deflowering her!

Luckily for him, however, Jia didn’t take notice of his little slip up. “Not cool, Mark. I thought we were friends.” Then Mrs Chen pinched her arm and she yelped. “Taipo! What was that for?”

“Do you have selective hearing or something?” the elder scolded as she shook her head apprehensively. “Didn’t you just hear him call you cute?” So much for Jia not noticing.

“He didn’t call me cute,” defended Jia. “He called my fumbling over Korean cute. There’s a difference.”

“No there isn’t,” Mrs Chen protested.

“Yes there is,” Jia countered childishly.

“My goodness, whatever. I won’t banter with you any longer. I am too old for this. I guess it’s a good thing you two already know each other then. Makes the whole courting process much more simple and easy,” the woman said, clasping her hands together.

“Taipo,” sighed the girl as she massaged her temples. Next, she turned to Mark. “Do you mind if we had some privacy?”

“O-oh sure,” he stammered. Spinning around to leave, Mark barely got three steps in when Mrs Chen hollered for him to stay where he was.

“Why are you kicking him out?”

“I am not kicking him out. I just want to talk to you about some stuff, taipo,” the girl reasoned.

“Well, I’m not allowing Xiao Yi to leave.” Mrs Chen huffed as she folded her arms against her chest. “Whatever you have to say to me you can say it in front of him. It’s not like he’s some stranger neither of us know.”

“But… fine,” Jia resigned before she directed her attention back to Mark who quickly shifted away, not wanting her to find out that he had been attentively listening in on their conversation. “Can you go stand in the corner with your back facing us?”

“Jia! What do you think you’re doing?” Mrs Chen cried out, peeved.

“He’ll still be in the room,” Jia stated. When she noticed his reluctance, she sighed, walked over to him and grabbed his wrist. The skinship caused Mark’s heart to thrash against his chest as he stared at Jia in shock. “Come on,” she prodded as she led him to the corner. “It won’t take too long,” she ensured before she skipped back to Mrs Chen.

“You are being rather unreasonable,” Mrs Chen snapped.