Hanging by a Thread

Everyone is busy.

And that includes the one who brought pandemonium to her room.

Sarah glanced once more at her room. Her meager clothes were all scattered on the floor. Her laptop smashed and her books wrinkled and some were torn into pieces.

"My goodness! What happened here?!" The first thing her eyes searched is her photo with her Mama Daisy.

She cried, with her hands covering her mouth to stop herself from producing sound for she might cry really loud. Who wouldn't be?!

Her hands tremble as she picks the photo with the frame badly destroyed. Her room was totally obliterated.

Who could have done such injustice to her?

This is supposed to be her home, where she would feel safe and cared for. But now, it was a total opposite. The one who came in her room, is evidently looking for something, which she has no idea.

It was really a wise decision she made when she was barely 12 years old to let Mira keep all the photo albums, jewelries and memorabilia her Mama Daisy left her.

Additionally, saving the life size painting with her adoptive mother in Mira's cottage in Fujian is one of these

While cleaning her room, someone knock at her door, but she was hesitant to open it. With what happened to her at the church earlier and to her just now, she feels paranoid and on guard.

She took a pair of scissors from the drawer and let out a deep sigh as she looks directly at the door with fiery in her eyes.

And the knocks were incessant. Then she heard her foster father's voice calling at her.

"Sarah..."

"Sarah..."

"Sarah, are you there?"

"Uncle, I'm here." She finally had the courage to utter words. Her throat was dry from nervousness.

She opened the door. Her uncle looks at her room and was shocked.

'Oh, my God! What happened here!?" Alfred exclaimed.

She got over her emotions and with let out a sigh of relief. Her uncle hugs her and she weeps. "Uncle, I guess, I shall leave earlier than I planned."

"No, Sarah. You have nowhere to go." Alfred holds his niece shoulders. Feeling guilty and remorseful with the hardships and of her sister's beloved adopted daughter.

"Come here. I bought a dress and shoes, which you will use tonight." He handed her two signature paper bags.

"I must go now. I will call Peter to help you here and be on guard with you. Promise me you take care. I'll explain things to you when this party is over."

She wipes her tears away, and couldn't help but feel sad not only for herself but also for his uncle. She looks at the paper bag and saw a pair of pumps and a pale yellow dress. And there is still something there. Something heavy.

She gasps when she realized what it is, "Mama Daisy's tiara!" She was surprised. It was the tiara she wore in one of her life size paintings.

But wait a sec...

"Why is this tiara with her uncle?"

A  week before her Mama Daisy passed on mysteriously,  the tiara went missing. It can't be...

Oh, no it can't be!

Her mind is about to explode, things are slowly unfolding before her very  eyes.

She has to leave now. Looking through the rummage, she spotted her bagpack and place there just few important things, them just as she pick her photo with her mama and removed the frame, she saw something.

An envelope, which perhaps before it was white, but now it looks rather dirty and with dark creases.

She opened it, and much to her surprise, there is a document  and a key with initials DL and at the other side VF...

"Think, Sarah... Think..." Then she remembered something. She took a ring on her pocket. "There most be something here." She looked at the initials inscribed inside the her Mama Daisy's ring "VF"...

If "DL" is DAISY LUI, then who is "VF?"

She recalls the man in the church who wears the same ring. He was the man who saved her.

And she remembered him saying in the car... "I'm Vincent Feng. My child, do  you know the men following you?"

"VF is VINCENT FENG!!!"

She is my mother's fiancé!!!

Then there was a sudden flashback...

A six years old girl being carried by a handsome man, she calls her "uncle"

The man kissed her rosy cheeks. My child, you are growing so fast.

"Of  course, I always takes care of her. She is now our daughter, my love."

"Be patient my dear, soon we will be married. Wait for me in few years time." He kisses her lips while the six years old girl claps her hand.

"Yippie, I will have an uncle papa!"

The words of her young self echoed in her heart, reminding her of the excitement and joy that had filled her soul at the thought of having a family.

"Oh my dearest daughter, call him 'Papa Vincent,'" the sweet loving voice of her beautiful Mama Daisy brought warmth and nostalgia. It was a gentle and loving request, a proof to once family. they had. Sarah cherished those memories, for they represented a time when life seemed simpler and love felt pure.

Mira is serving them dinner that time. And Mira eats with them as well. Though her mother was an actress and a business woman, she takes her most of the time wherever she goes, with Mira with them.

Back to reality...

Then she opened the document sealed. A last will and testament hand written by her mother with three specimen signatures and a finger marks in all the pages.

Sarah starts reading...

I, Daisy Zang Lui, who was born on the province of Fujian being of sound mind and disposing memory, do hereby declare this to be my last will and testament. I revoke all prior wills and codicils made by me.

Article I. Personal Representative

I appoint my daughter, Sarah Zang Lui, as the executor of this will...

Then Sarah proceeds to Article III. Bequests

I give, devise, and bequeath all my remaining estate and property, both real and personal, of whatever nature and wherever situated, to my beloved daughter, Sarah Zang Lui, to be her sole and absolute property.

And there was a follow up for her uncle, Mr. Alfred Lui...

Article IV: Specific Bequests to My Only Brother

In addition to the bequest mentioned in Article III, I hereby give, devise, and bequeath the following specific items to my only blood brother:

Alfred Zang Lui:

our family house in Fujian;

my two bank accounts in Shanghai International Bank;

200 acres of farmland in Fujian

(for which I know at this point he wishes to own ever since we were young.)

Sarah was almost at lost. She is the sole heiress to her adoptive mother's estate. She could imagine what she could do with her mother's fortune to help farmers and children's scholarship

At the end of the documents were the signatures of Mr. Richard Wane.

She placed it in her bag including her mother's tiara. There is another realization she made just as now.

Yesterday night, Mr. Wane said she is the rightful owner of everything, so she will not leave the mansion. But his attention and everyone's was shifted to Adelle's alleged  pregnancy.

It's obvious who is at hand in doing this to he, to the point of physically hurting and  threatening her life.

She felt her face is hot and so as with her nape. Perhaps her blood pressure is up and her heart pumps so much blood with everything that has transpired and she has found out.

She immediately went to the bathroom lavatory and splashed water on her face and gargled afterwards.

She was wiping her face with a handtowel when she heard heavy footsteps and knocks on the door. "Who could that be?"

She went out of the bathroom and grab her bag pack from the bed and the paper bags as well.

It is not Peter at all.

Peter is supposed to help her out fix her things but obviously he didn't come, so someone else does. She has been with Peter for so long she could remember.

That is not how Peter knocks. The knocks stops. She looks at her window, and there were shadows.

"God, help me!" Then an idea pops in her mind. In matter of minutes her door locks were open and her windows as well. Men in masks entered her room.

She's praying and calling out fervently God and her Mama Daisy. If there's something she has to thank for her wicked aunt Huifen, that is making her do errands most of the time, and letting her walk even kilometers in the village.

And of course letting her do even menial works, which made her muscles more defined and her reflexes faster.

She passed through the bathroom door and hang on old oak tree overlooking her room.. The branches were think and there's enough  leaves to hide her.

She is drenching with sweat and ants are attacking her now... Checking her wristwatch it's 6:00PM, and everyone was in mood for merriment. She could hear the music now.

Right now, celebration is far from her situation...

She's literally worse that hanging by a thread.

For she is hanging by an oak tree.

Looking at the men searching for something, she is sure now what they are looking for...

The last will testament of Daisy Zang Lui, her known mother.

And she isn't that stupid not to know who's behind it all.