"Happy Birthday Grandpa," Yanli said as she presented her gift to my short, bald, and old grandpa.
He, of course, took her gift happily and then hugged her, next it was Cheng who gave his gift and at last it was my turn, he looked at me up and down with disappointment, and I presented my bonsai to him.
"Happy Birthday Grandpa." I said with the fakest of smiles, he stared at the tree and at me, "Is this my gift?"
"Yes, it is."
"This is the best you can do?" he spoke.
"I know right? Actually it was Yanli and Cheng who convinced me to buy this tree, because it was like you, all short and not very interesting," Cheng was already laughing, and so was their uncle, while Aunt was trying to hide her smile, and Yanli face palmed.
"I had a better gift though."Â I said, "I thought that I would give you a bible or something spiritual which would help you grow... spiritually and help you look at the beauty of small things."
He was angry, like very angry.
While the rest were smiling.
He kept the bonsai aside and went to greet his guests, everyone laughed when he was gone.
"Zhan." my uncle said, "that was good."
"I know right?" I said too, since my grandfather was gone, I could finally talk to others, and while I was talking, Tulip and her family came there too.
Tulip's family was friends with my family and hence her family was invited everywhere, and also the ladies of my house, often tried to set me up with Tulip but I shut that argument down and I also made it clear to Tulip that I was already in love with someone else and she understood and kept her distance, which I was thankful for.
A few minutes later my grandfather came back with a few of his friends too.
"Zhan... It's good to see you, what did you give your grandfather this time?" one of my grandfather's acquaintances asked.
"A cute little bonsai."
"That's boring."
"Yeah, we thought that you were going to get creative this year too."
I shrugged, "what can I say, grandpa didn't like that."
One of my grandpa's friends said, "Well it's good to see you so successful."
"Exactly, we are all proud of you for achieving so much as such a young age."
"Thank you," I said.
My grandfather added, "I am happy for my dear grandson, I am happy he didn't turn out average like his father."
That hit a nerve, this guy just loved to hate my dad.
"Actually I was pretty average as a kid but I had an amazing father who never gave up on me and encouraged me a lot, I am pretty sure if he had an amazing father, he would have achieved great things too."
I stared at my grandfather and he stared right back at me, everyone became quiet and the tension was thick. If this guy wanted to be a bitch,and cause trouble then I will not back down either, I am not a kid he can bully around.
"Alright, gentlemen, shall we get some more wine?" my aunt spoke, trying to lighten the mood, and it worked because everyone agreed with her.
I kept my wine glass down and sighed.
"Zhan." Cheng tried to speak but I stopped him, "I am going to leave now."
"Just eat some dinner and say bye to everyone, then you can leave."
I sighed before nodding, "Sure."
My uncle came to me a few seconds later, "Uncle, I am sorry. I..."
"Hey it's alright, dad deserved that." My uncle said.
"Yup." My chimed in and said, "he had it coming, it's about time he gets his act together, Zhan you are free to reply back to him because everyone knows that he is a douche."
I laughed at that, "Grandma would be angry."
"Of course not," my aunt said, "she has been my father for decades, she knows him well and knows that he deserved to be chewed out."
Uncle added, "And you were right, only if Dad was a better father, Kai would be here with us"
"Right."
"Anyways," my aunt started, "any updates on your love life?"
I rolled my eyes, there we go again.
"Let's not go there, aunt, let's enjoy ourselves, where are A-Xiang, Dann, and Lucy"
"Here!" A-Xiang said as she ran to me and hugged me tightly, I hugged her back She was the princess of the family, the youngest in the house, and I adored her, "How are you, Zhan."
"I am fine, princess, tell me about yourself."
"I am doing great, I recently participated in a debate competition and won! And my exams also went well. By the way, you remember your promise right? "
"What promise?" my uncle asked.
A-Xiang smiled and said, "Zhan had promised me that if I did well in my exams then he would gift me the guitar I always wanted."
My uncle looked at me and I gave him a sheepish smile, before he said, "You really spoil her a lot."
"Well, it's not free, she is working hard for it," I said
"That's the least he can do." I then looked at Danny who made the comment, I just gave him a nod and said nothing.
Danny and I were not close, we barely talked.
He sometimes joined my grandfather in making jabs about my father, but stopped after my aunt lectured him, which his father, that is my other uncle Max, did not like.
I often felt bad for Danny, he was once an overachiever and tried to build a start-up just like me, my uncle and aunt both invested in his business as they did with me, and my grandfather gave him some money as well, however, his start-up didn't go well and it collapsed, he drowned in debt and started drinking alcohol and even got into gambling, it was a disaster.
Currently, he is working for my grandfather.
I know he is jealous of me and can barely look at me, over time he grew bitter and came less and less to the family gatherings, so I didn't talk to him much.
"Well, what do we have here?" There comes Lucy my uncle's other daughter, she smiled and gave me a hug, "How are you, Zhan?"
"I am fine dear, tell me about yourself," I asked.
"Oh, I am doing just fine," she says, "just a little bit tired from making videos all day, let's take a selfie," she said as she angled her camera in front of me and I smiled at the camera.
"Oh it's great, I always get more likes whenever I post selfies with you." Lucy was an influencer, her father and mother didn't really like her choice of work at first, but they came around later when they saw how well she was doing.
"Come let's go and have a walk," and then she dragged me with her.
"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" I asked, Lucy was a somewhat naive girl who thought the world was sunshine and roses, she lived in her own bubble and often made bad decisions. That's why she often came to me for advice.
Lucy but her lips and seemed a little nervous.
"Hey, what happened?"
Lucy gave me a nervous smile and said, "I... have a boyfriend, and I wanted you to meet him."
"Oh that's amazing, what are you nervous about then?"
"I am just afraid that Mom and Dad won't like him, and I want you to meet him first and convince Mom and Dad too, your opinion matters the most to me."
"Sure, I would love to meet him, when and where just text me okay?"
Lucy gave me a smile before he hugged me, "Thanks, Zhan."