Kaylee's thoughts drifted back to the mission trip she had joined with her parents in Long Singut fifteen years ago. The memory of that night remained vivid, because of a remarkable woman of faith she had met on the trip – Long Lefyna Lee.
It was the third evening in the remote village. As on the previous nights, most of the mission trip participants gathered around the campfire. Some were praying with the Penan people, others were conducting basic medical checks on the young Penan girls, and some were conversing with the village elders to better understand their needs.
The fourteen-year-old Kaylee scanned the flickering glow of the fire, her gaze landing on Long Lefyna Lee, who was speaking softly to a group of Penan villagers. Aunty Long, as Kaylee had affectionately called her since their first meeting at the trip's start, was around her parents' age and had always seemed composed and kind.
Over the first three days, Aunty Long had shared her testimonies and Bible teachings during various sessions, and her words had consistently encouraged the young Kaylee.
Later that night, as the camp settled into silence, Kaylee heard a distant, distressed cry. Her heart raced, and she immediately sensed something was wrong. She wanted to alert her parents, but they were engaged in a discussion with the village head. Determined, she grabbed a flashlight, a small knife, and a piece of rope, and ventured into the dark forest in the direction of the cries, which were growing fainter.
Before leaving the camp, she told a Penan boy to relay a message to her parents, instructing them to come and find her following the marks she would leave behind. Then she hurried into the forest.
The hillside was treacherous, with loose rocks and uneven footing. Kaylee's small figure navigated the underbrush with agility, her flashlight cutting through the darkness. The cries for help grew louder, and she marked her path with her knife on the tree bark, ensuring she could find her way back and her parents could track her.
Suddenly, her foot slipped on a loose stone, and she tumbled down the hillside, landing with a thud at the bottom. Dazed but resolute, she scrambled to her feet and saw a figure lying on the ground – it was Aunty Long, injured but conscious.
Long's eyes widened with relief as she recognized Kaylee, a familiar face from their mission trip. Despite her pain, she managed a weak, grateful smile. Kaylee immediately knelt beside her, her calm demeanor and quick thinking evident even in the dim light.
"Help is on the way," Kaylee reassured Long. "Just hang on."
To comfort Long and to pass the time, Kaylee decided to share her newfound power song, "Big God."
"...When we are weak, let's pray.
When we are sick, let's pray.
When we need help, just pray.
When we're afraid, just pray.
Just pray," her sweet voice concluded the song at the bridge.
Long was deeply encouraged by the lyrics of this original song that the kind-hearted teenager was sharing.
She asked Kaylee to teach her the lyrics, also to distract herself from the pain in her injured legs, and Kaylee gladly began writing them on the muddy ground with a stone she found nearby:
"We have a big, big God
Who cares to be our Father, our Shield, our Strength..."
They both learned to sing the song together, from the verse to the pre-chorus, the chorus, the bridge, and the ending.
Though her wound still stung with pain, Long felt a profound sense of relief. Her heart was filled with joy and peace as they chatted about various topics and occasionally hummed the song together, waiting for the rescue that Kaylee had repeatedly assured her.
"Yi? Aunty Long, your crown pendant looks really beautiful. Are those white jade stones?" Kaylee's keen eyes caught the graceful pendant hanging from Long's necklace under the dim moonlight.
The necklace featured a delicate, slender chain of shimmering white gold that glistened softly against the skin. Suspended from the chain was a captivating pendant shaped like a crown, symbolizing elegance and royalty. The crown was intricately crafted, with each curve and contour of the white gold meticulously detailed to create a sense of depth and texture.
At the center of the crown pendant were several exquisite pieces of white jade from Shaanxi. Renowned for their purity and serene, milky-white hue, these gemstones added an ethereal glow to the pendant. The jade pieces were set to highlight their natural beauty, surrounded by a subtle halo of small, sparkling white diamonds that enhanced the overall radiance of the piece. The combination of white gold and white jade exuded timeless elegance, making the necklace a sophisticated accessory for any occasion.
Long cherished the crown pendant and white gold necklace. It was a family heirloom passed down from her grandmother, a Hokkien woman who had married her grandfather in Belaga. As she gently touched the white jade stones on the pendant, her tired eyes softened with a smile. "Yes, these are white jade stones, from my Ahma," she replied.
Kaylee could see from Long's softened expression how much she cherished her grandmother. "I'm not usually into jewelry, but I've always loved white jade. This necklace and its pendant are truly precious and meaningful. They fit you perfectly – gracious and dignified," she remarked.
Long felt a deep connection with Kaylee despite their brief time together. She genuinely liked the girl in front of her and felt very comfortable around her.
Just as Long was about to ask Kaylee her name, a group of hurried footsteps approached.
"There!" a man called out to the rest. Soon, a group of people arrived at the spot where they had fallen.
Kaylee's eyebrows relaxed in relief as her gaze eagerly sought her father's presence.
A man in his 40s rushed to Kaylee's side, lifting her face to check if she was alright. "Leely!" he exclaimed, pulling her into a gentle embrace. His face showed a deep sigh of relief upon finding his daughter.
"Pa, I'm okay. Aunty Long hurt her legs," Kaylee reassured him, then turned to look at Long's bleeding and sprained legs.
The other volunteers who came with Stone Evan had begun tending to Long, cleaning her wounds carefully and helping her onto a stretcher they had brought along.
Stone turned to Long and said sincerely, "Madam Long, we've arranged for transport to take you back to town immediately for treatment. We're grateful to have had you with us, even for just a few days. Thank you for your service."
Long sighed quietly, saddened by the thought of missing out on the rest of the mission, but she understood the necessity of her situation. She nodded in reply, "Thank you all so much. It has been an honor and a privilege to join you, even if only for three days."
After that night, Kaylee never saw this Aunty Long again. She asked her parents about her, but they didn't know much beyond the fact that Long was a devoted Christian involved in numerous ministries and volunteer projects, including the mission trip where they had met.
Fifteen years had passed, but from time to time, Kaylee thought of that Aunty Long and wished they could meet again.
"Long Lefyna is my mom," Victor said, his eyes fixed on Kaylee's shocked face. Her eyes widened in disbelief as Victor continued, "She passed away two years after that. Before she died, she had been searching for the brave and inspiring girl who saved her, but she never managed to find you, even after tracing the registered volunteer list from that mission trip."
Tears welled up in Kaylee's eyes, and a heavy silence settled over the small garden where they sat. She fought to hold back her tears, sniffled, and said, "I asked my parents about her too after the incident, but they only knew she was very active in church and missionary work."
Victor's heart ached with a tumultuous mix of disbelief and relief. He was glad to discover that the woman he had fallen for was the same girl his late mother had wanted to find, yet he felt a profound sadness that his mother never had the chance to reunite with Kaylee. He was at a loss for words.
Kaylee, too, felt the weight of the loss at not having met the remarkable and godly Aunty Long again. Slowly, she recalled and explained, "I joined my parents on that mission trip at the last minute, so I didn't register officially. The leader allowed me to tag along with them."
No wonder, Victor thought. "Actually, a year after that, when my mom sang that song the second time to me to calm my troubled heart, she told me about her wish to find you, but she never managed to until that time. So, I took it upon myself to investigate further, and we found another couple who had brought their teenage daughter to that mission trip – the only teenage girl we could trace based on the registration list."
As Victor spoke, Kaylee noticed a look of profound fear and trauma cross his face. Strangely, she felt she had seen this same expression before, but she couldn't recall where...
Suddenly, she remembered – the cold room!
"Victor..." she called softly, reaching for his hand on the tea table to offer comfort.
Cold sweat trickled down Victor's pale face. He took a deep breath before continuing, "The following year, my mom's health deteriorated. I was desperate to fulfill her wish of finding the girl who saved her. I contacted the other teenage girl from the registration list and met with her. She wasn't at all like how my mom had described her – at least, that's how it felt based on her demeanor. But there was no one else on the list."
Kaylee listened quietly, her eyes fixed on Victor as she remained attentive, ensuring he was alright as he recounted the traumatic memory.
"After meeting her, she admitted that she was the one who saved my mom. However, she refused to come with me to see my bedridden mother. I pleaded with her several times; each time she agreed to meet me, she'd make me accompany her to a movie, meals, or shopping, but she wouldn't give me an answer for when she would come with me to see my mom. Then one day, after my patience was nearly exhausted, she gave me an address to meet her, saying that once I did what she wanted there, she would come with me to see my mom. I went, it was an outskirt location in Lundu. When I arrived, it was a small private medical facility owned by her parents," Victor said, his face etched with regret and pain.
Kaylee's grip on his hand tightened, her nerves frayed by his distress.
Suppressing his trauma, he continued telling Kaylee how, upon arriving at that facility, Lissa Ajang locked him in a cold room designed for cryotherapy. She forced him to sign a marriage agreement that would be effective immediately, making her the beneficiary of his 20% share in the then Langford Private Limited in exchange for her agreeing to see his mother. When he refused, she manipulated the cryogenic chamber's settings to expose him to extreme cold, just above dangerous levels.
He paused, his voice faltering as he continued recounting the traumatic experience. Lissa intended to leave him inside for as long as he wouldn't comply. If it hadn't been for a lab technician who noticed the tampered chamber while Lissa took a nap and subsequently rescued him before she returned, Victor wouldn't have escaped and survived that torture. That prolonged exposure to extreme cold left Victor with cold-induced muscle paralysis and trauma whenever his body was exposed to temperatures below 12°C. The rest was history.
Kaylee's heart ached as she listened to Victor's harrowing account. The mystery of Victor's reaction to cold now made sense to her.
She cringed as she imagined the fear and suffering Victor had endured all these years. Struggling to find the right words to comfort him, she simply sat quietly, her hand still gripping his.
Victor had feared that recounting his trauma would overwhelm him once more, but to his surprise, he felt a profound wave of relief after sharing the details with Kaylee – something he had never done even with his own mother after the incident.
A kind passerby had found him fainted by the roadside along a small lane in Lundu town and rushed him to the hospital. When Hann's father, who was his parents' personal assistant at the time, fetched him home, his mother received only a brief update on what had happened to him.
As the pallor faded from his face and color returned, Victor continued, "My mom passed away two months later. Before she died, out of her disappointment over what Lissa had done to me, she asked me to discard the white jade earrings I had designed for her a year earlier, which I had named The One I Treasure, in memory of the girl who saved her. I hadn't done so until recently, when I donated them at the charity auction where we first met."
He paused, his eyes locking with Kaylee's. A comforting smile gently crept across his face, softening his whole demeanor. "Fatefully, the earrings ended up back with you. Thank you for not giving up on the bid."
Kaylee felt overwhelmed by the revelations of the past fifteen minutes. The connection between her and Victor seemed almost surreal.
"You mean..." she struggled to grasp the reality.
"Yes," Victor confirmed. "That pair of earrings was designed in remembrance of you and your bravery. My mom was a great pillar of strength for me, so thank you for finding her in the dark and saving her. I treasured her, and I treasure the girl who saved her."
Kaylee's eyes widened, not for the first time that afternoon, as Victor added, "The velvet cushion inside the earrings' keepsake box was deliberately chosen in turquoise because my mom mentioned that the girl who saved her was wearing a turquoise hoodie."
***
The afternoon had been long, filled with revelations that left Kaylee's mind reeling. It seemed Victor had more to share, but their conversation was cut short by a business meeting he needed to attend.
Back in her room, Kaylee began to piece together the information. She had always been curious about what happened to Victor in the cold room but had assumed it was too personal for someone of his stature to discuss. Now that she knew the full story, her heart ached for him. Victor had endured so much, and it was remarkable that he had managed to build himself up despite his suffering.
As she thought about Lissa Ajang, a name she hadn't known until now, Kaylee remembered another teenage girl from the mission trip fifteen years ago. This girl had struck her as arrogant, behaving as though she were entitled to everything. She had even kicked a pot of hot porridge toward a volunteer who didn't fulfill her unreasonable request for medium-rare steak during one of the lunches.
The girl's behavior had embarrassed her parents, who had hoped the mission trip would temper her attitude, but it had only seemed to worsen. If this girl was indeed Lissa, her actions during the mission trip aligned disturbingly well with what she had done to Victor in the cryogenic chamber.
And Aunty Long... Kaylee's heart sank at the thought of her passing, especially carrying the disappointment of never finding the girl she had been searching for, only to learn that this girl had ultimately hurt her beloved son. Victor was only nineteen at that time!
Recalling Victor's mention of how he had channeled his energy into transforming Langford Private Limited into the Langford Group following his mother's passing, Kaylee marveled at his resilience and determination.
But what about his father? Kaylee wondered.
Just as she was about to delve deeper into her thoughts, her phone rang.
She glanced at the caller's ID and couldn't help but smile helplessly. She could already imagine what the caller would say once she answered.
"Xiang Er..." she began, but her greeting was immediately cut off by the excited, nervous voice on the other end, just as she expected.
"Leely Jie, what happened to you? I heard you're on a long medical leave, and hospitalized? How come? I was only away for a week and you end up in the hospital!" Xiang Er's high-pitched excitement was unmistakable.
Kaylee smiled at her cousin's animated tone, feeling warmth at the same time. She had missed Xiang Er. "How was your fashion week in Milan?" she asked, genuinely interested.
"Oh, you know me, just handling backstage tasks for now. But I found this really yummy restaurant when I was in Florence, Trattoria Za Za. Their medium-rare steak was melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and the truffled seafood spaghetti, seriously good... Their mascarpone cream! OMG! You have to make that for me!" Xiang Er rambled on enthusiastically. "I even secretly snapped a picture of it from their recipe book," she whispered. "Hahaa, smart me, right?" she concluded her food venture proudly.
Kaylee sighed quietly, relieved that Xiang Er had shifted the topic. She wasn't sure how to bring up Victor and their connection. However, she underestimated her cousin's complicated mind which could juggle multiple unrelated topics. Just moments later, Xiang Er asked, "Where are you now? I want to come and see you."
At that, Kaylee pinched the bridge of her nose.
***
"Ah... choo!" A man with tidily combed hair sneezed as he leaned forward in his office chair. Dressed in comfortable homewear, he sat facing a floor-to-ceiling glass window, lost in thought as he gazed at the bright sky.
"Who scolded me?" he murmured, rubbing his itchy nose.
An elderly man in a neatly pressed dark brown suit knocked on the study room door before entering. His face bore a slight resemblance to Hann Louis.
"Master," he greeted with deep respect, "All arrangements for Madam's memorial next month are in place, following our usual practices. Is there anything else you need?"
The man in the premium wooden and leather chair turned to face his loyal chamberlain, Louis Zechariah. The mature face revealed was a mirror image of Victor's, marked by subtle wrinkles on his forehead and a few streaks of white in his otherwise dark, neatly combed hair. Though Ford Dylan was in his late 50s, he appeared as healthy and vigorous as someone in their late 40s.
He thought about something for a while, and finally instructed, "Give Victoria a call. Make sure she will be home for her mother's memorial."
"Certainly, Master," Louis replied. As he was about to leave the study room, he hesitated before asking, "Did you catch a cold, sir?"
Hearing that, he sighed as he turned his office chair back to face the wide glass window and said, "I think it's just my son missing me." But a moment later, he burst into a small, cheeky laugh.
"Show me that picture of him and my future daughter-in-law again?" Ford requested, turning to Louis.
"Ah." Louis retrieved his phone from his pocket, opened the Gallery app, navigated to the Favorites folder, and pulled up the picture from the viral post. He held the phone out for his master to see, whose face was already widely grinning.
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