“What are you doing tomorrow?” An Qinyan asked while they were having dinner.

An Xiulan glanced up to shake her head. “Nothing. I have no school tomorrow. I will study at home.”

The entire week had passed while she was busy adjusting to her new school. Since tomorrow was a weekend, she got time to rest and study at home.

An Qinyan already knew that her daughter had no school the next day so she spoke,  “Do you want to come with mom to inspect the new hotel our company built?”_.

“What’s that mom?” An Xiulan was suddenly interested in her mom’s work.

“In layman’s terms, our company manages a number of hotels built in different parts of the world. For example, we have more than five thousand hotels under our brand. We don’t manage every single hotel but franchise our brand…”

An Qinyan explained until An Xiulan had a grasp of what her mom did for livelihood. Ever since An Xiulan had come to this world, she was very interested in knowing more about this asking world. What intrigued her the most about this world were the tall and creative buildings. She couldn’t help but compare the structures of the two eras.

“Will Xiulan want to go with mom to inspect the new hotel? You can have fun at the underwater section of the hotel, “An Qinyan tried to incite her with fun. She didn’t want her daughter to feel stressed as soon as she entered school. She knew that Xiulan had come from America, it would take her days or maybe weeks to adjust to a new country. She was trying to take every possible measure to keep her daughter cheerful.

“Underwater? Are we going to visit underwater? Mom, we will die, “An Xiulan said in a scared tone. She remembered the time when she had died in the frozen lake. She knew that modern man had made a lot of progress in technology but still she couldn’t shake off the fear of water from her mind.

It wasn’t easy for someone like her who had lost her life in a frozen lake. She couldn’t convince herself to even go near a waterbody.

An Qinyan chuckled helplessly. She ruffled her hair and said in a soft voice,  “Do you think I will let anything or anyone hurt my child? No, I will not! I didn’t notice you have aquaphobia before. But I can understand how that accident caused you trauma. If you don’t want to face your fears, it’s alright. Mom will always be here to keep you safe.”

“Mom, thank you, “An Xiulan whispered, hugging her mother.

“Let me show you some pictures of the underwater section of our new hotel,” An Qinyan said. “I just want to show my daughter what I was thinking when my company started the construction of this hotel.”

“Mom, do you have to work too hard?”An Xiulan asked, blinking her big doe eyes.

An Qinyan patted her head lovingly. “I won’t lie for your sake and say my work is easy. It’s hard. Sometimes very hard.  But Lanlan, I love my work. It’s very dear to me. I lost someone very precious to me because I had nothing at that time. I chose to work hard even at the cost of being away from you because I want you to lead a happy and carefree life. I don’t care if you fail to score higher marks in high school. As long as you give your best and learn the lessons of life as well as school, I will be happy with you. My only expectation is to see you smiling.”

“I also want to see mom smiling all the time,” An Xiulan said. She had found a mother in An Qinyan. She knew that she wasn’t her real mother but this woman was the only mother she knew and recognized. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for her.

“Then, Lanlan has to smile all the time too.”

Later, An Qinyan showed An Xiulan pictures of the underwater rooms, but she still wasn’t able to convince her daughter. It wasn’t like she was convincing her in the first place. She was just too excited that her daughter showed interest in her life. She got too overwhelmed by her interest that they spent hours scrolling the website of the newly established hotel.

In the end, An Xiulan agreed to go there with her mom but she made it crystal clear that she wasn’t going inside underwater rooms or near any water bodies.

Currently, An Xiulan was standing outside a grand hotel made on the banks of the sea in City H. It was two hours away from their home city. With squinted eyes, she was gazing at the building in deep interest.

She was dressed in her usual fashion. She was wearing a pure white dress and her hands were tucked inside the dress pocket while she was languidly leaning against the car. Her hair was made into two loose braids. White ribbons were draped at the end of her braids in butterfly-shaped.

Of course, her dress and hairstyle was chosen by An Qinyan who loved to dress up her baby girl.