"Hello, Mom," Liu Longwei greeted.

"Hello Longwei, how are you and Hua'er doing? I heard that you two are back to the country," Lady Chen said from the other end of the phone.

​​

Liu Longwei sighed, "We are fine."

"Am sure you've seen the news about Lihua's father, does she know?" Lady Chen asked worriedly.

"Yes, she just found out about it."

"So…so, how did she take the news?"

Liu Longwei went ahead to summarize what happened and then added this sentence at the end.

"....But she is fast asleep now."

Lady Chen heaved a sigh of relief, and Chen K, who had been sitting beside her, asked, "What did he say, is our daughter, okay?"

"For now, yes. She just cried herself to sleep," Lady Chen replied to him, before going back to her conversation with Liu Longwei.

"Longwei please take care of her. We will come to see her in the evening, and please tell her that we are sorry, and we love her."

"No problem, mom. I will relay your message and also take good care of her," Liu Longwei assured Lady Chen.

Seeing that she was done with the call, Chen K said with a tinge of regret in his voice, "if I knew that things would turn out to be this way, I would have come back a long time ago and apologized to her. But I was afraid that she wouldn't want to see me, but now, I bet the hatred she had for me has multiplied by hundreds."

"You are not the only one at fault. I should have at least tried to inform her, but I was also afraid that it would ruin her mood. You really came back at the wrong time. But it's okay, we will go and see her in the evening, and then talk to her," Lady Chen said, looking at her husband.

"And that's if she would agree to meet with us," Chen K said.

"It won't be a big deal if she doesn't agree to me. We can still come back another time. I know the daughter I gave birth to, and I know her character in and out. So I know that she has a soft heart. It may not be easy for her to forgive us, but she will definitely forgive us. She can't stay mad at us for a long time, we are her parents and her only direct kin in the world," Lady Chen said.

Chen K sighed as he replied, "I really hope so."

"I know what she likes, and will prepare it for her. Maybe when she sees it, the resentment in her heart will lessen a lot," Lady Chen said with a smile as an idea popped up in her head.

"What does she like?" Chen K asked with furrowed brows.

"She likes Indian sweets, so I will try to prepare some for her," Lady Chen said as a smile turned up on her face.

"Have you tried making it before?" Chen K asked while gazing at her.

"No, but I can try," Lady Chen said assuredly.

"Hmmm. If you know you can't do it, you'd better leave it and get something else for her. Before we end up annoying her instead of soothing her," Chen K cautioned her.

"Don't worry, I will handle it," Lady Chen said before walking away.

Thirty minutes later, she was done going through the internet for the simplest Indian sweet recipe. Then, she dragged Chen K along as they went shopping to get the ingredients for the recipe.

"What will you be doing with that coconut you bought?" Chen K asked.

Now, Chen K and Lady Chen were back from the supermarket and arranging what they bought.

No servant was in the kitchen with them, as the two didn't need any help from them in other to make a dish for their beloved daughter.

"Coconut Ladoos," Lady Chen replied with a smile.

Coconut Ladoo is a quick and easy Indian sweet where coconut is cooked in milk, sugar, and flavored with ghee and cardamom powder.

Ingredients for Coconut Ladoo: Desiccated Coconut 11/3 cups (extra for coating), Milk 3/4 cup, Sugar 1/3 cup, Ghee 2 tsps., and Cardamon powder 1/8 tsp.

PROCEDURE:

First, take a large pan and sauté the coconut until it is slightly warm to touch. This basically removes excess moisture from the coconut. But take care to not change the color of the coconut.

Now add the milk and sugar and mix well. Stir at regular intervals and continue to cook in the medium-low flame until the mixture becomes dry.

Now add the ghee and give a quick mix. Add the cardamom powder and mix well. Cook, until the mixture, turns slightly sticky and starts to bind with itself.

Turn off the flame and let it cool down until it is cold enough to touch. Grease your palm with more ghee and roll out the coconut mixture into small balls. Roll the coconut ladoos into some more desiccated coconut. Leave it to cool completely to room temperature.

So this was the recipe Lady Chen followed from the internet in other to make these mouth-watering coconut ladoo for Chen Lihua.

"Mmmmmmmmm," Chen K shut his eyes while salivating over the delicious aroma he perceived from the kitchen.

"Can I have a taste?" Chen K asked while drooling at the sight of the tasty looking coconut ladoos.

Lady Chen hit the hand that was trying to snatch one of the sweets.

"Don't touch it, it's for our daughter."

"But at least, I have to take a taste to grade your cooking. What if the sweets are not palatable?" Chen K asked.

"I don't need your grading in that way. Besides, you have already graded my cooking by drooling at the sweets. So tell me which other grading are you looking for?" Lady Chen asked with a smirk on her face.

She actually knew of her husband's tricks. He was just giving silly excuses, so he could have a bite of the delicious coconut ladoos, but she won't fall it.

"Can't you just give a bite to taste, considering that I helped you out in the kitchen?" Chen K grumbled with furrowed brows.

"See how you were just wasting your time. Had it been you went straight to the point from the beginning, you would have long been licking your fingers after having a bite from the sweets," Lady Chen said before giving one of the sweets to him.