note: double updates weekly, every Wednesday and Saturday henceforth! I'm so excited to share the rest of the story with you guys. The drama is building up now. This was a bit of difficult chapter to write so please do leave your thoughts/feedback in the comments. I'd love to hear what you think. And vote if you enjoy the chapter <3 

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Talia fucking Lancaster was truly going to be the death of him.

He had gotten into his car after leaving his flat, called Talia who told him she was on her way to work, and now he stood in her office, seething as she sat on her chair, expression smug like she was enjoying this.

Andrew was on his feet, the anger in his system making him jittery. He couldn't sit down even if he wanted to.

"It's as simple as that really," Talia said, matter-of-factly. "We'll be moving to Ipswich soon. Simon, Aurora and I. What don't you get?"

"What don't I get?" Andrew echoed with disbelief. "You're taking my daughter away from me."

She pouted at him but her eyes gleamed with victory. Ten years with this woman and he could read her like an open book. "You know I couldn't do that even if I want to," she said, a hint of disappointment laced through her voice.

"Which you do."

"Excuse me?"

"You want to take Aurora away from me. Just admit it. That's why you're moving away. Ipswich is three hours away!"

Her facial expressions were hard, stoic even, but Andrew knew how to read her, knew that she was only challenging him because she felt like she had already won. "And you'll undoubtedly travel all that way to see your daughter. I don't see the problem here."

"You don't see the problem?" he exclaimed, his blood burning through his veins. "How are you failing to see the problem?"

"If you can sit down and get your shit together, maybe then you can explain why this is pissing you off so much. I didn't realise you never wanted to see me happy ever again." Her words were salty and they made him want to bash his head against a wall. Leave it to Talia to twist his emotions and words to suit her arguments.

Instead of throwing an angry fit like he wanted to, he took her advice and sat down on the chair opposite to her by her desk and looked down at his hands. His fingers subconsciously played with his wedding band ring, something he did when he was nervous but fuelled up at the same time. London was the one who pointed that out to him.

"Talia," he started, his voice low like that would somehow level out the rage that thundered within him. "You're saying that I can no longer pick my daughter up from school and drop her home. You're saying I have to travel for three hours to come to see my daughter on the weekends. That's reducing the amount of time I get to spend with her. And travelling every weekend? Come on, Talia. I'm certain you can see that this is insensible too."

He didn't care if the desperation leaked through his voice. Maybe if she finally picked up on how desperate he was then she would be lenient or even pitiful enough to stay.

"And what about me, Andy?"

Her question confused him. "What do you mean?"

"I want to move away from Porte Orlands. Simon has connections in Ipswich as you well know. We could both easily settle there. And Aurora, we can't alternate with parenting her each week because she has to go to one school and—"

"Of course that school has to be in Ipswich, where you're at," he bitterly sliced in. "Whatever happened to shared custody, huh?"

"Andrew," she said, her voice final. This was something she wasn't going to budge on, something she'd been thinking about for a while. He could see it in her face and he could hear it in her voice.

"Talia, please," he begged, hands up in surrender. "Don't move. I don't understand why you want to move. Your whole life is here. You grew up here. You love Porte Orlands."

"No, I don't love Porte Orlands. Not anymore. Not the same way you do, at least," she said, shaking her head. "You have happy memories here, Andy. I do too but lately, it feels suffocating. My parents give me crap for getting into a complicated relationship with you. They liked you at first but they saw the struggle I was going through when we had our kid and when we got married. They hated your parents. The in-laws — I guess that cliche stands in this case. Our families didn't get along—"

"But we did."

"Until we didn't anymore. We just don't fit on the same page or in the same story—"

He scoffed. "If you're going to use metaphors at least use them right. We'll always be in the same story, no matter how much distance is between us. Figuratively and literally. Because we have our daughter and with her, we always fall in the same story."

She sighed, her lack of words speaking in abundance. They didn't understand the other and it was infuriating to the both of them.

"I'm tired, Andy. I just want an out."

"Moving away doesn't have to be your way out of this slump you've fallen into."

"This slump?" she quizzed with a scoff. His words, of course, offended her.

"I'm in a slump too," he tried to say but she wouldn't have any of it. She simply turned her head and gave him the cold shoulder. Literally.

Knowing that she wasn't going to budge and that she wasn't willing to speak it out or reason anymore, he got onto his feet and buttoned up his suit jacket. He stood there for a moment, assessing her cold frame. There was so much he wanted to say but in that moment he was at a loss for words, his ability to communicate escaping him.

"Just think about it, okay?" he pleaded at last, giving his ex one last look before he turned on his heel, conflict raging war inside of him.

Later that night he went to his parents to have dinner. He dearly missed his mother's food and he'd gotten off a call in the afternoon with a headache after his mother shouted at him through the phone for not coming by often anymore.

"My son has become a stranger, no?" she had said, tsking through the phone.

"I've been busy, Mama," he sighed. His day hadn't started off well and now the first thing his mother said when he decided to call her to check up on them was an attack on him. He just wanted to bury his head into work and go home late, and then let London take him into her arms and soothe his aching heart.

"I'm going to make Gua Bao tonight. Come for dinner, erzi," she said softly, after she was done giving him a piece of her mind. Even if he did explain that he was busy between work, his daughter and his new relationship, his mother would not accept the excuse.

"Do you really want to miss out on Gua Bao?" When she said that there was no way he could deny her request. He missed his mother's Gua Bao. She made the best Gua Bao in the whole goddamn world.

That was how he found himself that Monday evening having dinner with his parents, his father quiet as usual as his mother babbled on, slipping between English and Mandarin with ease.

"Erzi," Meling Cai said, a smile brightening up her face as she leaned across the table to reach for the dish. "Have some more."

Andrew smiled back at his mother and served more beef noodles without complaint. "I've missed this so much, Mama," he said, referring to the Gua Bao and the beef noodles that she had made. He was going to go home stuffed to the max.

Looking in his father he pointed his chopsticks at his father's face and jokingly said, "Have you been feeding Ba properly? He looks thinner and more tired."

"Your mother scolds me enough, I don't need you on my case too," his father spoke up, his focus on his meal and he twirled the beef noodles with his chopsticks, ate a mouthful and then lifted the bowl to his lips to take in some of that beef noodle soup. The soup was the best part and nobody could dispute that.

Andrew raised his eyebrows at his mother with silent inquisition.

"He refuses to retire. Tell him that he needs rest, Andrew. He won't listen to me," Meling provided, clicking her tongue against the rooftop of her mouth in disapproval, shooting her husband a mild glare before she returned her attention to her portion of Gua Bao.

"Mama's right," Andrew said, forgetting about his food. He and his parents might not always be on the same page but they were his parents and he did worry about them. "You're getting old and tired and you need to rest now. There's no need to overwork yourself, Ba."

His father looked at him properly for the first time that evening. "And who told you I was overworking myself? What have I told you about drawing conclusions before getting your facts straight?"

Andrew held in the frustrated sigh. Even when he showed concern for his parents, he was getting a lecture out of it. It didn't matter how old he was, there was always something he did that needed fixing in his parents' eyes.

"Yeah?" he said daringly. "And what are those facts, Ba?"

His father waved a dismissive hand. "I am perfectly fine and fit. Don't worry about me. If you should be concerned about one of your parents, worry about Mama."

His face whipped to his mother. "Mama?" he exclaimed, panicky.

His mother clucked her tongue at his father again. "It's nothing, erzi," she said, looking back at him. "I've just been getting a few back pains but its old age. I am fine."

He looked between his parents with disbelief. "You both need to stop saying you're fine and go for a health checkup."

Maybe Talia Lancaster wouldn't be the death of him. His parents would surely seal that deal before Talia had the chance to.

"Now enough about us," his mother said with the same finality in her voice as Talia. Both women were so strong-headed. It was a waste of time to argue with either of them, he realised. "You don't come by very often. Tell us how things are going with you. And Aurora? I thought you were bringing her here tonight."

"It's a school night," he said, though he knew that those words would not suffice.

"And?" Meling questioned like she didn't understand why that stopped Aurora from seeing her grandparents.

"And Talia hasn't been so... permissive with my relationship with Aurora."

"She is your daughter!" his mother declared. "What nonsense is this?"

How was Andrew to even begin to explain his predicament?

"It's a long story," he ended up saying, the cliche overused words falling out of his mouth. "Talia and I are just facing a few difficulties right now." No way in hell was he going to tell them about the prospect of her moving away for he knew his mother would abandon her dinner right there and then and march to his old house, raging war on Talia.

It was admirable, he couldn't deny that, but Andrew was a man of peace. It was why he was desperately working towards making it work with Talia so that he could have a sound and solid relationship with his daughter.

"I'm seeing someone else now," he said, eager to switch subjects, but the second his words were out he regretted them. Wrong subject, Andrew, he chided himself.

"You're seeing someone? Already?" The judgement was clear as daylight in his mother's voice. He saw her glance at the wedding band ring that was still on his finger, then back at his face, doubt written all over.

He knew that when she saw the ring on his finger, even after the divorce was finalised, that she believed him and Talia would be reunited one day and the picture-perfect family he had would once again be whole and not once did he try to talk to his mother about it. Would he get out of that conversation alive? He didn't know why he still wore the ring. He could not explain it if he, himself, did not know the reason. But it certainly was not because he had unsettled feelings for Talia Lancaster. Those days were behind him and that much he was sure of.

"I am," he said, his voice level as he took one more bite of his beef noodles. After taking in a couple of slurps of the soup, he said, "We've been seeing each other for a month actually."

"But that's almost how long you and Talia have been... separated."

Funny, really, how his mother still couldn't manage to say the word divorce.

"It's nothing like you're thinking," he inputted. "We've been seeing each other sort of casually but I think it's becoming serious."

"You're almost thirty, Andrew! You can't do casual anymore," his mother scolded and he sighed, unable to hold the annoyance in, but when he looked at her he saw the sparkle of interest in her eyes.

"Her name is London Wan Liang," he started but couldn't go further for his father cut in.

"She's Chinese?" he interrogated, his nose scrunching in slight disgust. His father was into politics, and Taiwan and China haven't always been on good terms. Andrew didn't know much of the subject matter as he tended to stay out of politics for the most part of his life.

"She is," he continued, as if the way in which his father asked didn't phase him one bit when in actuality it ground slightly against his nerves. "She's a cook. She works at Tollerz."

A moment of silence and his father spoke up again, the tone in his voice different, albeit still layered with judgement. "Tollerz is a very good restaurant. She's a cook there?"

Andrew looked at his father, realising that a part of him was seeking both his parents' approval. "As of next week, she'll be the sous chef."

Another beat of silence.

"Invite her over for dinner." One single sentence, one command, and yet some part of him felt elated by it, because those precise words meant that they were willing to meet London, which meant a huge deal for him. He truly did like London and she made him feel like an extremely happy, lucky man. He didn't need his parents' approval. He wouldn't stop loving her if they disapproved. But, he still wanted their approval.

"Dai ta hui jia," his mother said beside him, touching his arm lightly. "I want to meet her."

He smiled back at her, his eyes twinkling with mirth, but on the inside, he felt highly nervous. "So long as you don't criticise everything she does, in front of her, I'll bring her home."

Meling scowled. "When have I ever done that?"

"Like all the time," he exasperated. "I didn't have a proper girlfriend in highschool because of that and when things got serious between Talia and me, remember how you tried to cut her out of my life."

"Harmless threats," she waved her hand dismissively.

"Mama!"

"Dai ta hui jia, erzi," his mother repeated. "And bring Aurora as well. It can be like a family dinner. I haven't seen that beautiful little girl in a long while."

And you will see her even less if Talia decides to move away to Ipswich, Andrew was tempted to say but he bit down on his tongue, holding in the words.

"I'll talk to her about it," he said at last. "She'll be happy to meet you."

Aurora, London and his parents all in one room. One part of him was curious to see how that interaction would go, and if it would be calmer or more chaotic than when Talia was in the equation, but the most part of him was nervous. He remembered how much of a struggle, how draining it was, when he fought with his mother because he loved Talia and wanted to be with her no matter what.

Meiling had threatened to cut ties with him but he had eloped with Talia and they were both forced into a big wedding, which in hindsight was better than having had a secret getaway marriage, and after that Meiling didn't have the heart to cut ties with Andrew. She could spill all the threats she wanted but at the end of the day, she didn't fully mean them. Her threats were always half-hearted, and Andrew knew it was because she was merely looking out for him, because she loved him, but it was too restrictive.

He was a grown man. He could handle his own life.

When he went home to London that night, he found her sleeping on the couch, the television on low volume as an episode of Suits played. She was curled up into a ball, her knees tight against her chest, the blanket covering her legs.

The sight softened his heart. He knelt before her, a smile touching his lips without his own notice. His fingers traced the outline of her face, tucking a stray lock behind her ear. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful, and it made his heart feel full.

He never wanted to destroy this.

Shaking lightly at her shoulder, he drew her away from her deep slumber. "Baby, let's get you to bed. The couch isn't comfortable," he whispered, though it was just the two of them. He didn't want to startle her.

Her eyes lazily opened, a smile stretching on her lips when she caught sight of him. "Andrew, you're home," she said, eyes closing again. "I'd ask how dinner with your parents went but I'm too tired. We'll talk tomorrow."

He chuckled at her, heartened by her presence alone. Sliding an arm beneath her body, he picked her up and carried her towards her bedroom.

"Maybe I should fall asleep on the couch more often," she jokingly mumbled. "This is very romantic."

He lay her down on the bed, tucking the duvet around her so she would not feel cold. He kissed her forehead and she smiled, snuggling deeper into the bed. Then he kissed her cheek and got up, heading to the bathroom so that he too could get ready for bed.

It had been a long, tiring day but coming home to London was his most favourite part, the only part of his day that didn't give him a headache. The only part of his day that made him genuinely smile.