Love is the Sunshine

Chapter 33 Visiting JA City

Time had passed so quickly and

it seemed like it was such a long time ago.

It was easier for them to get used to having one more person living in their home. But it was very hard

to swallow the fact that Terence was gone.

A whole month had passed, since Terence had left. But neither of them had adapted to life without him.

Every night, Sean would refuse to have his dinner, until one more place was set for Terence at the

table.

At first, Carla was against this. But in the end, she gave up because of his constant persistence in

doing so.

When the summer holidays finally came, all that Sean could talk about was JA City.

When Carla arrived home from work one day, Sean continued with his nagging about JA City. He

wouldn't stop, until he got Carla to promise him that she would take him there.

"Carla! My dearest sister!" Sean exclaimed in a soft and sweet tone.

Carla hurried into her room when she heard his voice.

Sean rushed after her. Quickly slipping into her room before she had time to close the door and lock

him out. He gripped onto her arm and said, "Come on, sis! It's summer vacation now. I have two whole

months to spend. Why don't you take me there just for fun?"

Sean didn't usually talk this way, but he really wanted to go to JA City to see Terence because he

missed him so much. He was too young to travel alone, so he had to beg Carla to take him there,

instead.

"Forget it. I don't have the time. You know how busy I am. If you don't know what to do in your free

time, why don't you go to cram school? I've applied it for you." After Carla removed her arm from his

grip, she took her coat off and hung it up.

"Come on, sis! I ranked among the top five in every exam. It's not necessary for me to go to a cram

school. Plus, it's just a waste of your money," Sean answered proudly, as he held his head high.

Terence had spent a lot of time helping Sean with his homework and the results showed, especially in

English. There were no more C's in his school report.

"Oh, yeah? It's the top five in third grade. Big deal!"

Carla gave him no praise or recognition for the vast improvement in his school work. Ignoring his pleas,

she went into the kitchen. She put an apron on and began to cook.

"Oh, come on, sis! You're the best, aren't you? I've been begging you for so many days now. Why can't

you take your little brother to JA City? Just for a few days, please! Please!"

Sean looked at Carla with his sincere puppy eyes, but Carla didn't answer.

Carla took a bowl and filled it with vegetables. She then sat at the table and began to peel them ready

for cooking. "Sean, my job occupies all of my time. You know that. Besides, JA City is such a big place

and even if we did go there, how could you be certain that you would run into Terence?"

Sean felt hopeful that Carla may finally agree. He quickly pulled up a chair and sat beside her.

"Sis, I know how nice Karen is. I'm sure she would give you some time off if you told her that you

wanted to take your little brother on a trip. See, your job problem is solved. Now let's talk about your

second question.

Of course, I know JA City is a big place. But Terence has given us his number, right? So we just need

to give him a call and he'll meet us somewhere. See, everything is solved now!"

Carla paused for a moment to listen to Sean and then she tossed the food scraps into the rubbish bin.

Ever since Terence had left, not once had she called him.

"Sean, have you forgotten the reason why Terence left? We live in a different world from his. I don't

want to have any contact with him. Do you understand me?"

Although that girl, Megan, didn't say it in a rudely blunt manner that day, it was loud and clear to Carla

what she had truly meant.

The An family could reward Carla in a materialist manner to show their appreciation for what Carla did

to help Terence, but nothing else. As for Terence, Carla convinced herself not to hitch her wagon to a

star.

"No, I don't understand. He likes you so much. You and Terence live in two different worlds. So what!

Make two into one! Big deal!"

Sean talked about this in his childish way.

Carla sighed. 'If it were only that simple, ' she thought as she took the bowl of vegetables into the

kitchen. After washing them she began to cook. Sean followed her around like a puppy.

"Sean, it's hard for you to understand how complicated the world is at your age."

Sean rolled his sleeves up and grabbed a tomato to wash it. He asked, "What's so complicated? I can

tell that Terence likes you and he will marry you sooner or later. After that, you'll have a baby and I will

be the baby's uncle. What a wonderful life!"

Carla flicked him on the forehead with her hand.

"What are you talking about! Don't talk like an adult, you little rascal!"

"No, I'm not!"

Sean rubbed his forehead. "Carla, are you afraid that you will meet your future parents-in-law in JA

City? That's why you keep turning me down."

Sean learned a Chinese saying, 'Only an ugly daughter-in-law will be afraid to meet her parents-in-

law.*'

*TN: This proverb, in regular cases, means someone is afraid that his/her secrets, especially scandals,

are found out.

'But my sister is not an ugly girl. So, what is she afraid of?' Sean wondered.

Carla widened her eyes in shock. She stared at him and gave him another flick on the forehead and

yelled, "Sean! You're really pushing it now! How dare you make fun of your sister like that! Well? What

do you have to say for yourself?

I can see that you need to be taught a lesson right now!"

Sean noticed the danger he was in and ran out of the kitchen immediately. He screamed, "Oh, no! I'm

sorry, my dear sister! Please forgive me!"

For days, Sean had been pestering Carla to take him to JA City.

In the end, he finally made it.

Carla asked for a few days off and Karen had approved it. So now, they were on a train traveling to JA

City.

It took almost 24 hours to travel from BH City to the JA City by train.

The two cities were really far away from each other. Carla decided it would be much cheaper to travel

by train rather than plane.

The An family had given her some shops in downtown BH City. If she let out those shops, the rent

alone would provide her more money than she could ever earn as a delivery girl. However, she would

never take advantage of that.

The reason why she accepted their offer, was so they didn't think that she rejected because she

wanted something more. She didn't want to look like a greedy girl in their eyes.

And it was her principle that she would never take what she didn't earn.

After they had finally arrived and got off the train, Sean's eyes lit up in delight. When he looked around

JA City, nothing but admiration and curiosity filled his eyes.

His first impression of the city was, that it was gorgeous and majestic.

The city was clean and everyone behaved polite and well cultured.

JA City was a first-class tourist attraction. The architecture was distinctive and magnificent, beautiful

and yet subtle.

Almost every corner was inviting. The lush greenery covered most of the city, with lakes all around.

Everywhere you went, you could see visitors taking scenic pictures.

Terence was right about the fact that JA City was a safe one. Almost every five minutes they would see

a police patrol car circulating around. Carla remembered hearing on the news that JA City had the

lowest traffic accident rates in the whole country even though it was a popular tourist destination, that

attracted heavy traffic. Everything was just so well organized and tidy.

"Carla, it's so beautiful here!" Sean exclaimed. He held Carla's hand and said, "I wish I could stay here

forever. I don't want to go back to BH City now."

Sean was infatuated with this attractive city. Plus, Terence lived here as well. Sean fell in love with the Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

city at once.

"You little rascal! You've forgotten about your home as soon as we got off the train, haven't you? I

shouldn't have agreed to this in the first place," Carla sneered at him. She gave her little brother a

scowling look, who was so quick to forget and disregard their own home.

"No! No! I didn't mean it like that! Of course, I love our home," Sean answered quickly in his soft voice,

to win Carla's sympathy. But secretly, he glanced around admiring his surroundings.

Before they set off for their trip to JA City, even though Carla specifically told him not to contact

Terence, Sean disobeyed her and had sent an email to Terence, letting him know that they would be

coming.

The main reason why Sean wanted to be there was to see Terence again. So it was only natural that

he would inform Terence that both he and his sister were coming to JA City.

'Terence would be happy to see us and pick us up after he read my email, ' Sean wondered.

Sean was sure of the answer. He had no doubt that Terence would come to meet him at the railway

station.