Chapter 230 - Cui

Mary Jackson smiled after she ended her call with Kale. "He didn't come to see Kale." She told Jiang Ce. "But, some soldiers saw he did come to the palace, but he's with… Rayver." She said. 

Jiang Ce sharply inhaled. "Coincidence! It must be a coincidence!" he told her. "They have always been civil to each other, and nothing more than that! You have to trust Huo Jinghua!" he said. 

"I trust him." Mary Jackson said. "However, do you think his memories returned?" she asked. "Both of them?" she added. 

Jiang Ce opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. "Meiying…" he could only say her name. 

"I guess Rayver's memories returned first." She said as if talking to herself and Jiang Ce wasn't there. "3 years ago, he was injured in the battle against the Tuwis. It was said his head was hit. It must be it. His memories must have returned that time." She said. "However, just as he had recovered and remembered Jinghua, the person he had kept in his heart for a long time, but forgotten the name and the face, Jinghua had married me." She looked at Jiang Ce whose eyes are filled with pity and pain for her. "I am the one who broke them apart. However, if you'd ask me I regretted it, I'll answer 'no'. what I regret is that I had witnessed their fate intertwined." 

…

"You… you - !" Huo Jinghua stuttered as he pointed at Rayver Quinn crouching on the ground. "Pft - !" he finally can't hold back his laughter. "Hahahahahaha! So childish! Hahahahahaha!" he laughed as he held his stomach. "What are you doing there acting like a child? I didn't know general Quinn is so childish!" he said as he looked at the other with teasing eyes. 

Rayver Quinn just coldly looked at him before he rose from the ground. 

"So, this is general Quinn's pastime?" Huo Jinghua grinned as he watched Rayver Quinn walking at him, wearing a calm expression like he didn't do that shameful act earlier. 

"You didn't remember anything earlier?" Rayver Quinn asked. 

Huo Jinghua's brows just raised. "What should I remember?" he asked, his eyes turning crescents as he raised his head to meet Rayver Quinn's gaze for the first time. As they stared at each other, he realized something in the past. 

Every time they'd meet each other, or crossed paths, it was always Rayver Quinn who would leave first, his back looking like he was defeated. Because they were 'opposing' parties, and that the other was taller, they never meet each other's gaze as they talked. Even in military meetings, they never glanced at each other. 

This is just in his perspective, but he had an inkling feeling that, every time Rayver Quinn leaves, maybe he wanted for him to follow him like today. Maybe as he never met the other's gaze, the other lowers his head to meet his, even if he never lowered himself before. 

But now, as Huo Jinghua looked at that familiar green eyes, as evergreen as the forest, he could see the other's emotions, and now he didn't miss that disappointment that flashed in the other's eyes that the other quickly hid, hiding his emotions once again. 

Rayver Quinn reluctantly looked away. Now that he can directly see the other's eyes, and very close, yet he had to withdrew his gaze first, even if he doesn't want to, to hide his emotions and then leave.

However, Huo Jinghua saw his intention to leave and he definitely wouldn't let the other escape. "What should I remember?" he asked again since the other didn't answer him earlier. 

"Nothing." Rayver Quinn quickly answered and he coughed when he felt something clogged in his throat. 

"Really nothing?" Huo Jinghua asked. Before Rayver Quinn could answer, he added. "Fine, then." He said as he looked at his light brain with his gaze hooded when he saw Mary Jackson's message along with an attachment. "I guess I should hit my head to forget you again and never ever remember you this time – " he said and turned. 

However, before he could walk away, his arm was grabbed. "Don't leave." Rayver Quinn spoke with a hoarse voice. 

"Why shouldn't I leave? Wasn't it you who left me first?" Huo Jinghua asked, his voice laced with pain. He finally let out all the emotions he felt that time when Rayver Quinn ran away. 

That day, it was only one day… no, even less than a day the time he spent with him – a stranger. They were even just kids that time. However, he really liked him. Twelve years old is the age where feelings started to bud. 

The first time he saw him, it was only a pity. The first time he saw his face after he personally washed his dirty body, he became attracted to him. When he saw his eyes and their gazes met, his soul was hooked. He likes him. He really liked him. However, the other left him without a warning. He tried to look for him, but he disappeared like a smoke – without a trace. He didn't believe he was just his dream. He was real. Yet, the years after that, he didn't see him again. 

He lost his first love in that winter. 

"You woke up! I'm the one who saved you! My name is Jinghua. You can just call me Joshua. That's the English name my parents gave me. What's your name?" a child of the same age as him asked, his voice full of enthusiasm and his eyes were bright like the stars as they stared at him with a fully concentrated gaze, making him feel he was the only person in his eyes. 

"Qui…" he felt his throat itched so his words were interrupted. 

"'Cui'?" Huo Jinghua's eyes brightened. "So your name is also Chinese! Though you looked like a foreigner… well, just call me 'Jinghua', then! I like my Chinese name more!" he told him. 

Huo Jinghua pulled his arm from Rayver Quinn's grasp as he activated his mech and left. Rayver Quinn stared at the familiar mech rising in the sky. He raised his hand as if to reach it, only for him to lower his hand and touched his face when he felt something wet hit it. 

It was Huo Jinghua's tear.