"I’ll be getting the car now," Li ZiChen said. It seed he had rushed and left his car in front of the hotel with the key still inside the car that had made everyone in the lobby to panic as it was an expensive model that they didn’t dare to touch, knowing it was only one in the entire Beijing. Even the valet fear of touching it and since they’re about to leave, Li ZiChen had to go first.
XanXi followed him as he said he would take care of the staffs in sight, letting Vicky and AiLin to be alone in the dining room. Vicky was pulling her collar while she drank more water down her throat as if parched and watching this all unfolding, AiLin walked up to her.
"Are you alright?" AiLin asked softly, settling in front of her sister. Her gaze was steady but kind. "I noticed how you looked at Li ZiChen earlier, like he was the Grim Reaper himself. He’s a good person, you know. So, what’s got you so unsettled around him?"
Vicky hesitated, her eyes darting toward the door, as if she was looking whether her mother would be there after stealing a snack. Coming clean to AiLin, she confessed, "It’s not that he’s not nice, sister. I know he cares about you and even wants to help mother, but... he’s not like that with everyone. His presence—" she shuddered faintly, "it’s daunting and overwhelming. People tense up around him for a reason. Even though I know in my head he’s good to you, my gut just... can’t shake the fear."
"But that’s not all is it?" she asked while finding her sister who seed surprised that she had guessed that the reason she had given wasn’t the entire truth. Easing Vicky with a soft pat on her hands, she lowered her voice and tendered her tone, "Look, I understand you. He can be intimidating—I’ve seen it too," AiLin admitted. "But you’re usually so fearless, even when standing up to others. With ZiChen, you seem... like you’re about to keel over. If there’s more to this, Vicky, I need to know. He’s going to be part of my life for the long run, and I want you to feel at ease."
Vicky bit her lip, struggling to et her sister’s gaze. "It’s not easy to explain," she murmured, "I’ve t him more than once since I was young. He always thought everyone in the Hua Family as his enemy so his eyes when he sees us, it’s so... dark and seed as if he was going to make sure he will make all of us end in one coffin by his hands. There’s also the way he looks at people. Like he’s asuring them, deciding whether they’re worth his ti or whether they’re worth to remain alive. Sotis he don’t feel human and it’s not just his presence; it’s how controlled he is. Like he’s holding back sothing dangerous. It wasn’t only who had said this, I wish I was the only one but I can tell you that many people will agree with .
AiLin wondered if what she sees in Li ZiChen was different from other people’s eyes. To her eyes, Li ZiChen was soone bright. The best way to describe him is a person who is so loving and calm, soone who would rather live peacefully under the sun rather than becoming the storm. But by what Vicky said, the man she sees as the sun was the thunder himself.
"ZiChen has been through a lot. The reason why he seems scary, it’s not because he’s trying to intimidate others. It’s probably how he’s survived, you know that sotis people have to act scary so other scarier people won’t hurt them? But he’s never hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it."
"That, sister," pointed Vicky, "He sounds like a judge, like soone who would control the world. He decides who deserves it. Who is to say one day he won’t look at or the people in our family the sa way? You’re different to him but we are still part of the Hua Family and I can’t help but seeing myself going to be punished by him because sothing that Elder Hua did."
AiLin was silent for a mont, processing the words and fear in her sister’s voice. "I understand why you feel that way," she admitted finally. "But you misunderstood him. He doesn’t choose who deserve it, he isn’t soone who would attack others unless he’s attacked first. He also knew how not everyone in Hua Family is evil, his only most despise person in the household is Elder Hua. He’s protective, not predatory. You saw how rattled he was when he heard I had to sit down with Elder Hua- our own grandmother- he stopped every eting he had and it must have cost him a lot but he rushed here, to protect ."
Vicky shook her head. "But people like him, they don’t just change overnight. You might trust him, but I don’t know if I can. At least not yet."
AiLin reached out, placing a hand over her sister’s. "That’s okay. You don’t have to trust him right away. But at least give him a chance. See who he really is, not just the image that scares you. I assure you of his kindness. He makes happy every day after all."
When she closed her eyes and think of Li ZiChen only good things co in mind which was odd because she wasn’t soone who could think of positive things from people a lot. Not because she was soone who would only rember the bad from others but because there hadn’t been a ti when people had left her with good mories.
She wasn’t aware of how her expressions quickly relaxed, how her shoulders soften and her expression was filled with so much joy as she spoke about Li ZiChen aloud, "He rembers the little things I like and makes feel safe, like I can truly breathe. I used to fear argunts, but he showed they’re a way to grow closer, not sothing to avoid. He’s so gentle, even in small monts, and above all that, he’s always there for . No matter what. I used to feel lonely and small but he’s soone who makes believe that I am allowed to live and be loved."
AiLin opened her eyes to see her sister’s eyes slightly teary and chuckled, "I can’t say this in front of him but sotis I wish he would find soone better than . He could do much better, you know; Soone more perfect, young, cute, and maybe not as broken as . It’s too much to worry about , my problems are a mountain and he is soone so flawless that I dread being that flaw in his life. He’s so lovely. So much so that I want to do my best just by seeing those brown eyes. Vicky, you might fear him, and I don’t want to make you feel unheard from your feelings but I hope you know how much he ans to ."
Vicky could see the soft pink hue on AiLin’s cheeks as if her skin had been touch by the kind gentle warmth during winter. Her eyes, usually so serious as they studied the expressions of those around her, softened with ease, as she was describing her favorite person amidst a sea of those who had just bring her into the verge of breaking.
How could Vicky say anything else? Seeing just the soft smile from her sister knowing what she had gone through was enough to break Vicky’s walls around Li ZiChen. He might be the most frightening person in Beijing, soone who controls the underworld in both Beijing and Japan but does it matter?
Does it really matter when her sister could smile?
he high school photos she had once sneaked a glance at in her mother’s room always seed so stiff and lifeless. Yet when she spoke about her most favorite person, she seed alive again, her voice vibrant and echoes with warmth.
"If he makes you happy sister, that’s all that matters to ," Vicky admitted that she could never go against her sister’s happy expression as nothing makes her happier than seeing those smile on her lips. "Well! That’s enough for my ddling. I feel at peace now, maybe I’ve been holding against Mr. Li a bit too much. Well, back then he really hates us you know? I heard how he spoke to his father about how he would have loved Elder Hua to live a long life so she could watch him destroy what she’s built to get back at him. I was young but he sounded so serious, so much that I almost feared him more than nightmares."
AiLin chuckled, "That must have been your fear as a child making him sound scarier," she then stood up from the chair, pushing her body to stand by her elbow and when she walked outside, she was startled to find XanXi and Li ZiChen who was standing in front of the room.
"We didn’t hear anything!" XanXi yelled as if he had seen fire in the restaurant.
AiLin blinked as she stared at Li ZiChen. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at her before shyly avoiding her gaze. Blood rushed to her face, heating her cheeks as her mind spiraled into overdrive. The sudden embarrassnt made her wish the ground to eat her whole.
She was speechless and looked at him, "I was just saying the t- truth," she then rushed forward, "Let’s go now. Let’s go ho."
Seeing her outstretched hands, Li ZiChen smiled as he placed his hands on her fingers, the warmth that could be the end of him. "Yes. Let’s go to our ho."
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