86 The Review 4 (1/2)

Joann stood before the door to her daughter's room, holding the article in her hand. When she saw the byline was Sylvia Xu earlier, her heart filled with a mixture of joy, pride and satisfaction.

Without thinking about it, she jumped off her bed, raced out of the room and went in search of her daughter to share in her pride. However, as she came closer to Sylvia's room, her footsteps slowed until she stopped fully at the door.

Standing there, she realized she did not know what to say to Sylvia. Was she going to thank her? Support her? Forgive her? Cheer for her? Joann honestly didn't know.

Furthermore, it hit her that there was a more immediate question that she had not considered, was Sylvia even home?

To find out, Joann leaned closer towards the door, and she could hear the sound of someone typing on the keyboard coming from behind it. That was how Joann confirmed Sylvia was home.

As mentioned earlier, Joann had been trying to talk to her daughter and, other than this, she knew no other better opportunity was going to present itself.

After some back and forth, Joann finally knocked on the wooden door.

”Come in.” Her daughter's familiar voice called from within.

When she entered, Sylvia was sitting before her computer, typing something that looked like an article draft.

Sylvia's room was like the young woman herself, simplistic and with a utilitarian touch. Everything in the room served its purpose and things were arranged neatly according to a system that was familiar to Sylvia only. The room was painted in shades of white and black to enhance its uncluttered nature. There was no items of sentimentality in the room other than a picture of the whole family which sat on Sylvia's working table.

Every member of the Xu family was smiling brightly at the camera and Sylvia kept the picture by her computer to remind herself where she came from and what she was working for.

Joann planted herself on Sylvia's bed but did not say anything, she wanted to wait for Sylvia to finish her work first.

Sensing her mother's presence in the room, Sylvia found it very difficult to concentrate. She stopped after finishing a paragraph, saved the document and turned to see what her mother was up to.

Everything clicked with she saw the familiar article in Joann's grasp. It belonged to the paper that she was affiliated to.

Sylvia began by way of explanation, ”I called a favour from a colleague.”

Joann was familiar with her daughter's way of conversing so she understood what she was referring to. However, she had other questions in mind, starting with, ”But how did you find out about this?”