Too Rich, Too Poor

Chapter 20

Third Person POV

Ming observed closely as Kit said his good bye to him and to Ming's father.

There didn't seem to be much interaction between Kit and his dad after that, as far as Ming could see. It was just a very respectful and grateful goodbye and then he was gone.

"You seem to have grown attached to Kit after just a very brief period of time, Dad," said Ming casually, carefully choosing his words so as not to offend his father.

"He appears to be a very polite and considerate kid," said Ming's dad, "you should keep in touch with him."

"I'll try but I'm not promising anything," said Ming, "I keep a very busy and unpredictable schedule."

Kit, on the other hand, was deep in thought as he drove back to his house.

He remembered feeling startled by Ming's father's unrestrained show of affection towards him. It startled him because they had only met for a few hours but Ming's father seemed very emotional during the times that he hugged him. He had hugged him at least twice in that very short span of time.

Well, at least, he felt that if he could not get along with Ming, he would get along well with Ming's father, he was sure of that.

He wondered if Ming's father was aware of the kind of work that Ming was doing. He had not mentioned to him the circumstances of his and Ming's first meeting. He wondered if by now Ming had mentioned to his father how they had first met.

Kit's mind also went back to the scene at the store owned by Ming's dad. He even remembered the female student's name who called out to Ming. Sharon, yeah, Sharon was her name. Kit wondered if there was anything going on between her and Ming.

Kit shook his head. It was none of his business.

When he reached his house, Kit noticed a familiar car in his driveway. His heart shifted from a regular to an irregular beating.  The last time he had seen that car was a year and a half ago.

Why was she here. What did she want from him.

Kit had thought that when she had walked, no, not walked, ran, when she had run away from the altar, away from him, a year and a half ago, Kit had thought that he would never see her again.

Kit debated whether he should reverse his car and drive back to Ming's father's house and ask to use Ming's room that had been reserved for Ming each time that Ming visited.

But wait, Ming might be spending the night there, then there would be no room for him.

Kit sighed and decided to meet head on whatever was waiting for him inside his house.

Melanie did not waste any time with preliminaries. As soon as she saw Kit walk in through the door, she stood up from where she was sitting and ran to hug him tight.

Kit tried to pull her away from him as gently as he could. The gentleman instinct in him was deeply ingrained in his system.

"Please tell me what this unannounced visit is all about," he said, not looking at her because all the hurt feelings he had on that fateful day came flooding through his chest all over again.

"He left me, Kit, he left me for good," she said, her voice breaking as the tears started to flow.

"You were so sure of his undying love," said Kit, "he was the reason you left me at the altar."

"He turned out to be a very skilled actor, Kit, he faked all the affection and love that he was showing me. It turned out that he was only after my family's riches. He has embezzled my father's company of so much money and now he has left the country. My father doesn't even know where to start looking for him. He could be anywhere from Timbuktu to Tibet!"

"What do you want from me, Melanie?" Kit asked, feeling drained and exhausted.