The Inconceivable Flame: A Fallen Angel's Disguise

"Big brother, when are you getting me a car?" Xiao Zhi-Yuan asked his elder brother over breakfast.

Xiao Zhi-Ren pushed the plate of scrambled eggs towards him saying, "Didn’t I already got a car for you?"

Since Xiao Zhi-Yuan was the most important person in his life, Xiao Zhi-Ren always fulfilled his wishes before his own. To look for a perfect house, Xiao Zhi-Ren stayed at the Imperial Grand hotel for a month. Finally, he found an apartment in a residential building.

Xiao Zhi-Ren chose a very peaceful and beautiful environment. The residential area was in the suburbs of the Imperial City with lush green gardens surrounding it. The duplex apartment was on the ground floor of the building.

"Big brother, you bought a Bugatti Chiron for me. I want a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport." Xiao Zhi-Yuan replied indifferently. Xiao Zhi-Ren was familiar with his younger brother’s aloof and cold nature, hence he didn’t mind the way he spoke.

He sighed and looked at Qin Qu who was eating with them. "Qu, order Bugatti Veyron Super Sport for Yuan."

Qin Qu darted his eyes between the polar opposite brothers before him. Elder one was carefree, poetic, fun loving, and yet mature while the younger one was aloof, cold, indifferent, and yet childish. Being Xiao Zhi-Ren’s best friend, Qin Qu knew that he was a very compromising kind of person who always adjusted himself with time and people.

Qin Qu had seen the way Xiao Zhi-Ren raised Xiao Zhi-Yuan all alone in the past decade. Perhaps that’s why he was overprotective of his younger brother.

"Fine! I’ll place an order for it." Qin Qu replied in a dull tone.

"Oh, big brother!" Xiao Zhi-Yuan called his brother to get his attention, "Are you going to transfer all the business from America to here?"

Xiao Zhi-Ren gazed at his brother’s inquiring eyes and replied, "Nope!" he popped the ’p’ unnecessarily. "SnapVise Technologies will work exactly as it’d been. We’re just expanding our business to Asian Market."

Xiao Zhi-Yuan scoffed. "Don’t you think that the European market has more potential?"

"I have my reasons for avoiding the European market." Xiao Zhi-Ren spoke calmly taking a bite of his Crepe.

"Name one reason," Xiao Zhi-Yuan challenged.

Xiao Zhi-Ren placed his fork and knife in the plate without making a sound and said, "Lord Alev Knight!" Xiao Zhi-Yuan’s brows creased up. "You asked for a reason. I gave you one."

Xiao Zhi-Yuan fell into thought, ’I need to see who this Lord Alev Knight is. And what power does he have?’ He ate the rest of breakfast in silence.

After breakfast, Xiao Zhi-Ren personally came to drop his younger brother to high school. Xiao Zhi-Yuan was reluctant but he still had to leave for school. Knowing his younger brother, Xiao Zhi-Ren could tell why he was so reluctant, he wasn’t able to adjust in this new study system and that too when he was already a senior in high school.

"You’re spoiling him!" Qin Qu commented while driving the car.

"I don’t have anyone else to spoil." Xiao Zhi-Ren gave the same answer as he always did.

Qin Qu shook his head, his face a mixture of crestfallen and thwart while he reminded Xiao Zhi-Ren, "Don’t forget, you have to attend a party this evening." In response, Xiao Zhi-Ren nodded his head in acknowledgment but didn’t speak.

He never liked socializing with people. It wasn’t his cup of tea. Although he was known as an amiable and insouciant kind of a person, he wasn’t an extrovert.

In the evening when Xiao Zhi-Ren came to the party hall, the chattering and music made him scrunch up his face. "Don’t make that face! We need connections in Asia. Parties are a good way for networking." Hearing Qin Qu’s lecture, Xiao Zhi-Ren had the urge to tape his mouth.

Qin Qu patiently and pleasantly introduced Xiao Zhi-Ren to every important person in the party. Xiao Zhi-Ren was known as the eye-candy in America, he had several girls running around for his attention and coming to China was no better, if not worse.

Several girls came up to him and tried to strike a conversation. Xiao Zhi-Ren being the polite one managed to make small talk with them but the strong stench of their perfumes made him want to puke.

With much effort, he managed to escape from the hall and entered the back garden for a breather. He looked heavenwards and closed his eyes briefly as he thought, ’Why are girls so damn scary?’ He wasn’t allergic to girls, but he had developed a strange habit of keeping his distance from the opposite sex after his mother died.

He opened his eyes as he heard a soft whisper from behind the shrubs. "Couldn’t you have taught me how to cry?" Xiao Zhi-Ren’s brows knitted together.

He took a few steps and turned to look at the person who was talking. Behind the shrubs, at a far corner on a wooden bench, a lanky figure was reclining with both arms sprawled out and legs wide apart. The posture was both languid and imposing.

Xiao Zhi-Ren became motionless as he stared at those green twinkling eyes gazing at the sky. The ’young man’ on the bench puffed out rings of smoke and that’s when Xiao Zhi-Ren noticed a thin stick of cigarette between ’his’ fingers.

He didn’t want to make his presence known at all. He wanted to silently leave and yet his feet didn’t listen to him. That ’young man’ reminded him of someone and it made him want to go closer to ’him’.

"I never thought I’d see you here," Xiao Zhi-Ren spoke up making Ru turn her face a bit in his direction. Under the dim lights, she could see his exquisite smiling face which was warmer than the sun.

Ru gave him a once over before saying, "You seem to be everywhere."

Xiao Zhi-Ren chuckled softly taking Ru by surprise. His chuckle was low, soft but mesmerizing. Then she heard his even more charismatic voice,

"Here we meet under the semblance of serendipity,

And yet again it feels like the connection is made befittingly."

"Poetic much?" Ru asked staring straight into his ink-black eyes.

"Why? Didn’t you like it?" Xiao Zhi-Ren questioned taking a seat beside her on the wooden bench. Looking into her green eyes, he seemed to have lost himself yet again.

"There is no such thing as coincidences," Ru spoke staring at the burning cigarette in her hand.

Xiao Zhi-Ren smiled as he said, "No, there is only fate! Because using a small word like ’coincidence’ to describe such huge signs will be humiliating for fate."