Mei, still in her full panda form, cried along with her mother for what seemed to be an eternity. Now that they've both settled down, Mei reverted back to human, though her tail and panda ears remained. Ming decided to give Chen a call.
Chen, who was at the hospital in Hong Kong, saw Ming calling and answered her phone.
"Chen…. Sorry for earlier, I was-" stammered Ming, who was still sniffling from minutes of crying. She was cut off by Chen, reassuring her it's all fine.
"Ming… I know, and it's okay. None of us wanted this to happen to Mother. It was so sudden, so abrupt…. She was so healthy, we were even having fun together there in Toronto…." said Chen, who then proceeded to sob a bit afterwards. "I hate this!"
Ping then came along with a female detective assisted by a uniformed senior constable. Chen was interviewed.
"Good morning, Madam", the detective in plainclothes then flashed her warrant card. "I'm Inspector Claire Yee, and these are the responding officers, Agnes and Edwina," speaking in Cantonese. Clara then offered her hand to shake with Chen.
Agnes, a senior constable, was the responding officer along with her partner, a constable. Both were wearing sky blue uniform shirts simply marked with a "警POLICE察" above the flaps of their left breast pockets, wherein a badge would be usually present in that place on US police uniforms.
"Good morning, officers" replied Chen in Cantonese, returning the handshake although she was still visibly stricken.
"By the way, my sincere condolences for your loss, Madam." said Claire. The two uniformed cops took their hats off in respect. "I believe the woman is your mother, correct?" she asked yet again in Cantonese.
The sisters just nodded in unison.
"Okay, so we were at your house earlier because we, or this officer and her partner, were the nearest units to your place, and along with that, we also needed to make sure no foul play happened that caused your mother's demise."
Chen and Ping simply just nodded quietly.
The physician on duty then approached them, bringing with him a clipboard with papers.
"Good morning, Officers, and I believe you are Ms. Wu's daughters, am I right?" greeted the doctor.
Chen and Ping were silent but quietly nodded.
"Okay, before I introduce myself, I would like to extend my sincere condolences," said the doctor calmly. "I'm Doctor Lam, and we'll be handing over the body to the mortuary for a full autopsy of the body which can help in determining the cause of death of your mother," He was then interrupted by a phone call and immediately left the sisters to the cops. "Excuse me, Madam, Officers, I'll take this call."
Claire took over and engaged in a conversation to keep the sisters company.
"Ms. Ping, Ms. Chen… By 8 in the morning, you'll have to inform the Canadian consulate about the death of your mother, okay?"
The two just nodded again.
"I may not be in the position to ask this, but if I may ask, would you like your mother to be buried or cremated and ashes scattered in Hong Kong, or would you like her to be repatriated to Canada?"
"We'll wait for our other sister, and we'll decide once she's here," said Ping.
"Take your time, Madam. Anyway, would you two like breakfast or coffee, or anything?" asked Claire comfortingly as she empathised with the sisters.
"Thanks, Officer, but I think we can handle ourselves," replied Ping, still in distress.
"Okay, so we'll be seeing you again. Kindly inform the Canadian consulate right away whether you'd be burying her here or not, given that she's a full citizen of Canada. Have a pleasant day, and our sincere condolences once more," said Claire as she and her partner left the hospital.
In Toronto, Ming was at a travel agency near the temple, booking a flight right away to Hong Kong. She'd be leaving behind Jin and Mei in the process.
"Any available flight to Hong Kong, preferably immediately," said Ming who was keen on going to Hong Kong right away to regroup with her sisters. She was tapping her right foot on the ground, seemingly in a hurry and wanting to rush the agent.
"Gladly, Mrs. Lee! I'll look up the available flights."
"Any amount, I don't really care how much to pay, I just want to see my mother for the last time," said Ming who was half teary-eyed.
As the agent was searching through his computer for available flights, he found one and there were only 5 available seats remaining.
"We have CX829, departing this Wednesday, 1:40 in the morning. That's the earliest available."
"Please, please! Whatever seat is available, I need that,"
"One moment, please," said the agent. "As we book your seat, may I please have your passport and your ID?"
Ming quickly gave her passport and Ontario driver's licence, then the travel agent booked her into the flight.
"Cash or card?"
She then gave her credit card and paid a few thousand dollars round trip. Moments later, her ticket was printed and she was all set.
"Here's your ticket, Mrs. Lee, and your receipt. Have a safe flight!"
Ming gave a quick smile and booked out of the agency swiftly to return home and pack up.
[January 8, 2008, Tuesday]
As the Lees were done with dinner and Ming was done packing up for her 1 AM flight later, she turned to Mei to bid goodbye as she'll be leaving in her sleep.
"How I wish I could come with you to Hong Kong and pay my respects to Grandma, mother," said Mei somberly.
"I wish, but your grandmother would love it more if you focused on your studies and not ditch your school days just for her," sighed Ming assertively yet calmly to reassure her daughter. She then laid her hand on Mei's shoulder and said,
"May your grandmother always guide you and give you strength in the name of Sun Yee," Then, she proceeded to give a small kiss to Mei by her jawbone and proceeded to arrange her bags outside the temple.
As Ming was about to leave with Jin to drop her off at Pearson, Mei was standing outside in her jacket along with her parents to bid goodbye to her mother, who would be gone for a while in Hong Kong. Sure, time would pass by quickly as if nothing had happened, but with Ming not disclosing when her return to Canada would be, this made her daughter worry, too.
"You always take care of yourself, okay?" said Ming calmly. "I promise you, when I return, I'll make up for all the days I was absent"
"You too take care, mother… I'll be fine, don't worry. Send my regards to the Aunties" replied Mei somberly. Ming then turned to Jin and told him,
"Meimei's under your care now, okay? Please… Please…. Make sure she's always well-fed and taken care of, and I know you can,"
Jin simply smiled and replied, "You can count on that, sweetie."
As Jin and Ming carried Ming's large suitcase to be loaded onto the trunk, Mei went full panda and assisted her parents with superhuman strength that comes along with the panda.
"Here, mom, dad. Finished," smiled Mei as she loaded Ming's suitcase on the trunk and closed it shut.
"Thanks for the hand, err, paw, Meimei" smiled Ming then gave her daughter a hug.
"Let's go? We don't wanna be late for your flight, sweetie," said Jin then entered the driver's seat and keyed the ignition.
Ming turned once more to Mei and gave her 1,000. "Keep this for your personal expenses, Meimei. Go out with friends, eat whatever you want, and whatever, but spend it wisely!"
Mei nodded in agreement.
"I'll deposit this tomorrow in the bank, thanks a lot, mother!"
She kissed her parents goodbye and then left, whilst Mei went back to the temple and retired for the night.
SOMETIME LATER
After weeks and weeks of processing Grandma Wu's autopsy, death certificate, and other papers with the mortuary, Canadian Consulate, police, and immigration, she was cremated and her ashes stored in an urn to be repatriated to Canada with her daughters taking her back.
Finally, it's her time to return to Canada, with Ming, Ping, and Chen carrying their mother's ashes with them at the Hong Kong International Airport. Originally, Wu, Chen, and Ping were having a holiday in warmer Hong Kong after celebrating the holidays in freezing Toronto with Ming and her family.
"At the very least, Mother's in a better place now and thankfully she had a peaceful and quiet death, without pain at all," sighed Ming, who was slightly teary-eyed.
"You're the next of our worries now, Ping… I mean, you're getting older and older, and so are we," said Chen, who was holding their mother's urn.
"Quiet, Chen! As long as we're still strong and alive, nobody's worrying about anything," hushed Ping.
The PA then announced their flight back to Toronto over the loudspeakers.
"Dear guests, we now announce the boarding of Cathay Pacific flight CX826 operating to Toronto. Passengers on this flight please proceed to gate 30 for boarding. Thank you and have a nice flight."
"This is it, Mother…. You're going home, finally…" whispered Ming, laying her hand on her mother's urn.
Although their actual home is Hong Kong and the Guangdong province, being Cantonese of origin.
Days after arriving in Canada, the temple doors were draped with a white banner, signifying that a death has occured. The Lees wore white during the funeral rites, with Mei playing "Amazing Grace" on her bagpipe. Close family members offered food items, incense, and joss paper. A prayer was carried out by shaman Mr. Gao and other monks, to help the deceased's soul to find peace and escape the fate of becoming a 'restless ghost'.
"Though it's extremely devastating what happened to your grandmother, let's know for a fact that she's in a much better place now," sighed Ming, holding Mei's shoulder.
Mei then shed off a tear from her eye and wiped her glasses clean.
"It's because of age too, I guess?" replied Mei.
Ming was saddened at that thought and shed a tear.
"You know, you're not wrong. Not everyone lasts forever in our lives, and sadly your grandmother is no exemption." she said, almost in tears. "And neither am I going to be forever in your life, we'll all get to that point."
Mei also felt like crying at those words. She suddenly thought about the future, feeling sad about aging. She realised that as she aged, her mother grew older too, and at this point, she was already worried about that.
"And I don't know how I would feel when it's already you and dad's time, mother,"
"We still have lots of time, sweetie. But for now, let's not mourn your grandmother, an instead, let's remember all the good times we had with her when she was with us." smiled Ming. "Mourning is for a while, but remembrance is forever", she added.
The pair and Jin then went back to the house and ate dinner. They retired for the day and as Mei was preparing herself to sleep, she received a text from Abby.
"Hey babe, sorry late, but for the last time, i jus wanna send my condolences for your loss. Grandma Wu is in a better place now 3"
Mei smiled at her friend's text. Her friends' messages, including Tyler's, made her feel uplifted during her period of mourning in the absence of her mother.
"Tnx babe, we all good now. :) Now get sum sleep, we still have a long day tomorrow", texted Mei.
To be continued
A/N: That's chapter 8 for you. Thanks for the support, Big Tuna2002 and Snackasm! Appreciate you guys so much.
The next few chapters may cause this story to be Rated M, so stay tuned! Oh, and I might complete this story after like 3-4 chapters? It'll be completed so I can create a new story where there'll be more stuff to come, particularly with the Tyler/Mei ship.
Happy reading and please review :D
