Mother chuckled and answered, "Well, lets just say that you turned out to be very lucky because mushroom is one of Meili's favourite dishes."

"Well, you should taste the way Meili makes them, after that I am sure they will become your favorite too," Grandpa Zhang exclaimed before walking away. ​​

After Grandpa Zhang left, mother Zhang sighed, "I know this is a bit weird, even I would freak out and have my doubts if anything like this happened to me."

Passing her a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, she continued, "I know that my behaviour for the last three years hasn't been very appropriate, in short, I was really very rude to you and you have all the right to hate on me."

Taking the glass from her hand, Meili sighed, "It's not that I hated you but—"

Cutting her off, mother Zhang stated, "Oh come on, even Guiren hated his parents for their behaviour."

"He also never hated you, he was just angry but more than that, he was very upset," Meili explained.

Grabbing her other free hand, mother Zhang said, "I know we have had our differences and the way we treated you was really not okay, I just failed to realize that whatever I told you or the way I treated you was very bad. It's like I was blinded with my stupidity which brought the worst out of me."

"I know you might be wondering what changed me overnight, I know you are curious and so is everyone." Tightening her grip on Meili's hand, she continued, "When I heard that Guiren's father had met with an accident, that shook me and when I saw him in the hospital hanging between life and death, I realized how short life is to hate on people and to be stubborn over things which can be solved within seconds. And do you know who was the first person I thought of at that moment?" Without waiting for her reply, she added, "You."

Helplessly shaking her head, mother Zhang chuckled, "I know that it's funny and hard to believe but it was you and it made me feel guilty. So when I approached you to help me convince Guiren, I was expecting you to taunt me and mock me but nothing of that sort happened. Instead, you helped me without saying a word which made me feel even more guilty."

"You really don't have to feel guilty about anything, I did what was right. Guiren is your only son and it was only right for him to be with his parents when they needed him the most. My parents have always taught me that even if a family isn't together during the happy times, they need to stick together during the hard times because that is what a family is supposed to do," Meili answered.

Taking a deep breath, mother Zhang sighed, "I don't expect you to forgive or believe us all of a sudden, take all the time you need but I request you to give us a chance to prove ourselves to you. I don't want you to accept us only because we are Guiren's parents but I want you to do it when you want to."

Keeping the glass on the table, Meili shook her head, "Please, you don't have to do this I—"

Cutting her off, mother Zhang insisted, "No please, now it's our chance to prove ourselves to you."

"Mo—" Stopping midway, Meili restrained herself from calling her that because she still remembered how mother Zhang had forbidden her from calling her that. Though it was all in the past, she still had no idea what to call her. Should she call her Mrs Zhang? But that would sound very formal and aunt was very inappropriate, how could she call her mother-in-law that? Left with no other choice, she decided to skip the calling part.

"Let's just forget what happened in the past and start everything from the very beginning. You are Guiren's mother and despite everything, my respect for you is still intact and it will always stay that way. I also understand why you did not accept our relationship and me in the first place. Guiren is your only son and I know you had many expectations from him and his wife but things blew up when I showed up in front of you as your son's wife. The kind of daughter-in-law that you wanted is definitely nothing like me but things just sometimes things don't turn out to be the way we want them to be."

Pausing for a while, Meili continued, "I am not sorry for marrying Guiren or falling in love with him because that is the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me and if I get a chance, I am willing to do it over and over again without getting sick or tired of it. But what I am truly sorry for is not giving you people any time or a chance to think about it. I mean, we just showed up in front of you after signing the papers which is actually quite bold and daring. I have no idea why we were even expecting you all to welcome us with garlands."

Helplessly shaking her head, she chuckled. "I don't know but maybe things would have been different if we would've given you all some time to think it through and a chance to get to know me first. I have no idea if there was any chance that this chaotic situation would have never happened if we did that but I am still sorry because I feel that Guiren and I owe you an apology too."

Shrugging her shoulders, mother Zhang answered, "I will not lie to you, I did have high expectations from my daughter-in-law but that was all bulshit because no one would have been perfect for my son other than you." Placing her hand on Meili's shoulder, she added, "You are smart, sensible, honest, beautiful and above everything, you have a heart of gold."

Smiling at her, Meili inquired, "So we are good right?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"

Nodding her head, Meili answered, "Yes we are."

Giving Meili a hug, mother Zhang smiled, "Welcome to the family honey."

"Hugs without me? How is that even fair?" Guiren complained.

Pulling away, mother Zhang answered, "No hugs for uninvited people, what are you doing here?"

Sitting beside Meili, Guiren shrugged his shoulders. "Well you asked me Meili's favourite dishes in the morning but you did not invite me over for lunch so I assumed that you probably forgot because you were too anxious to impress your daughter-in-law so I shamelessly invited myself."

"You assumed wrong son, I purposely did not invite you but since you are already here, we can offer you the leftovers," Mother Zhang answered.

"If there are any because I am very hungry today." Rubbing her stomach, Meili sighed, "It's rumbling."

"I'll go heat the food and then we can all eat together." Getting up, mother Zhang added, "Guiren, go call your grandpa and after having lun—" Stopping midway, mother Zhang chuckled, "It's too late for lunch and too early for dinner so what should we call it?"

"Drunch," Meili answered.

"Ah yes, that is a perfect name honey. So after having drunch, give Meili a house tour," Mother Zhang added before walking towards the kitchen.

"You both seem to catch up quite well." Wrapping his arms around her waist, he added, "Are you comfortable with it?"

Leaning against his chest with her back pressed on his chest, she nodded her head, "Of course I am, she is really nice."

"She actually is very nice, I always wondered how and what she suddenly turned so cold and rude," he sighed.

Pausing for a while, she inquired, "Honey, did you apologize to your parents?"

"Wait, why do I need to apologize?" Guiren frowned.

Looking at him, she raised her brows, "You were incredibly rude to them and that is not cool."

"Well, they were rude to you and according to Newton, every action has an equal and opposite reaction," Guiren defended his actions.

Knocking his forget, she frowned, "Stop with that stupid physics laws, you know how much I have always hated that subject but even if you follow that law then they did apologized to us so it's your turn to return that action."

Helplessly shaking his head, he scoffed, "That is such a clever move Mrs Zhang, you shall be rewarded tonight with a special full body massage."

Pinching his waist, she chuckled, "You never complete that massage."

"Duh huh because you beg me to do other things."

"I beg you? Seriously?"

…..