Chapter 219 - Fighting for love (II)

The moonlight shone brightly. It was the best moment for a heart to heart talk as the atmosphere easily gives a feeling of wanting to open one's heart out.

Lu Yin Ze sat beside the bed.

"There is, uhm… a boy," he awkwardly started his story.

Master Lu's brow raised.

"It is not me. Just a boy… from my class," Lu Yin Ze hastily said.

"Okay. It's not you. Just your classmate."

Lu Yin Ze avoided Master Lu's gaze.

"Yeah. And this boy is… the only child in the family. He doesn't have friends since he, well, really likes to play alone."

Lu Yin Ze added some details to convince his grandfather that it really was not him. Although, he was doing it in a rather suspicious and obvious manner.

Master Lu played along and nodded for him continue with his 'classmate's' story.

"This boy happened to be homeschooled, too. But one day, his grand—his father enrolled him to a school." He almost slipped there.

"Your school now?" Master Lu asked, still playing along.

"Yes," Lu Yin Zhe said, and then a hesitant look appeared in his eyes, but he still continued on. "And this boy… actually, well... wanted to give up life."

Master Lu's eyes instantly widened in disbelief.

"When did it happen?" 

"Huh?" Lu Yin Ze dazedly returned back in surprise.

"Ahem. I mean, why did the boy want to die?" the old man unnaturally coughed.

Lu Yin Ze did not meet Master Lu's penetrating eyes. His fluffy hair drooped, reminiscent of drooping ears of an aggrieved puppy.

"Because… he felt alone, lonely. And, err, he told me that maybe with his death, the world would be... better off… without him," Lu Yin Ze awkwardly explained, and he knew he was not really doing a good job in making things up in front of his grandfather. He could only tell half-truths and half lies.

The elderly Master Lu quietened, observing him with worried eyes that still reflected shock at the sudden veiled confession.

"Anyway, when he went to school, he met her. It was a girl who appeared cold, guarded, and expressionless most of the time." 

Lu Yin Ze remembered that day on the rooftop of the hospital where they had first met. Xiong Zhi grabbed his hand tightly and stopped him from fully throwing himself off the railings. Her cap was blown to the floor by the wind, and her hair danced wildly, her eyes seemingly able to read his thoughts. 

The girl he initially thought was heartless, actually became his very first friend.

"But, for some reason, she happened to know the situation of the boy. She did not avoid or leave him alone despite that. She became his very first friend."

And then… he got his freedom, he got more friends, he got more people who loved him and cared for him.

"Time passed, very quickly, and this boy gradually… felt something he had never felt before towards the girl." 

Lu Yin Ze then remembered his birthday. His favorite day. Xiong Zhi stood alone in the dark. Her blue ocean dress blended well with the surroundings, as if she was truly meant to be there. The blue rose which was illuminated by faintly glowing small lights reflected a bit of its color on her face, making her seem like a fairy. The lights appeared like starlights above and behind her.

It was so beautiful. But in his eyes, Xiong Zhi was the only one he could see, the sight which took his breath away.

"He fell... in love…" Eh? The moment he unconsciously uttered those words, he was jolted awake. So all this time, he felt this way because he… he fell in love? 

Lu Yin Ze bitterly laughed. He had just realized his feelings, but at the same was already defeated. It was futile. He did not even get a chance to dream, because before realizing his feelings, she had already extinguished the hope. 

How ironic that it was precisely that which led him to realize his feelings.

"But the girl likes another person." Lu Yin Ze had long noticed how Xiong Zhi acted so differently to her butler. From where he sat still, he could see how she smiled so gently and affectionately at him. He witnessed many instances when her thoughts were occupied by that person. Yet he chose to act blind and pretended he knew nothing. 

Lu Yin Ze felt envious of that butler. How he wished that it was him occupying Xiong Zhi's mind, even just for a while.

Master Lu patted Lu Yin Ze's head. He could see the pain in his grandson's eyes. This scene reminded him of his own self in the past. He, too, had fallen in love but found out that the person he loved already have someone in her heart.

He could feel the heartache of his grandson. He felt distressed for him.

Lu Yin Ze smiled gently at his grandfather, his eyes a bit sad.

"My classmate thought, he should be grateful that he finally had friends, a place to return to and call home, and also got the freedom to go anywhere as he wished. But sometimes, he wanted to be greedier and have that person look at him, only him. Just as how she looked at that man. He is very selfish, isn't he?" Lu Yin Zhe wryly said.

Master Lu shook his head.

"Everyone wanted to be selfish when it comes to what they desire. That boy, would he be satisfied if keeps it to himself? Let his beloved girl meet him every day without even knowing what he felt?"

Lu Yin Ze slowly looked down. No, the answer was obviously no.

"If he is satisfied with that, then I think he could move on," Master Lu added, in case his grandson refused to confess to the girl.

"But what if… he could not move on? What if, as the days pass, he ends up falling for her more and more?" Lu Yin Ze asked hesitantly, his watery blue eyes lightly trembled in confusion.

"Then, he should try fighting back. It was still undecided who would win. Whether it be that man which the girl likes or your classmate, who will spend more time with her? Who had more chances to express their love for her? The boy needed to at least fight back and do everything he could before he heroically gives up his own feelings."

Lu Yin Ze widened his eyes, his fluffy silver hair trembled slightly as he turned his head to look at his grandfather in surprise. Could he really do that? 

The old man looked lovingly at the cute grandson tilting his fluffy head at him in almost naïve wonder.

"Let me tell you a story. It happened… I think, almost fifty years ago. Your grandma, Prescilla, was a very beautiful woman. Her silver hair, just like yours, made her glow whether in daylight or at night. Imagine the long line of rivals I had to face just to get her heart."

Master Lu looked at the distance reminiscently, seeming to see clearly the events from a long time ago. His love had also been both bitter and sweet. 

He had first met her in the banquet outside the country of a foreign businessman. He was only twenty-two years old back then. His first sight of Prescilla was of her dancing beautifully in the banquet as a part of a performing group. They were all beautiful dancers, but she shone the brightest with her sparkling silver hair and dazzling blue eyes.

He knew it then. It was love at first sight. 

It was infatuation at first that was fueled by a man's instinctual desire to meet the beautiful woman he fancied and know her name. As the banquet wrapped up, he followed the performing group so that he could ask for her name.

Then, at that time, he saw the heir of the Xiong family slip into the backstage.

The then-Young Master Xiong talked to the beautiful woman. It was the first time that he had seen that cold-hearted man smile at a woman. The woman also seemed to know him. They talked for a long time with pleasant smiles. 

That time, Young Master Lu stepped back and retreated into the banquet. He felt utter disappointment. At that time though, his feelings were not yet deep enough for him to feel heartbroken. He thought that the woman was already owned by the heir of the prestigious Xiong family, thus, he did not intervene and let them be.

It was a great scandal of the year when the Young Master Xiong brought a foreign woman into his country. 

They became the talk of the year. It was like a Cinderalla story wherein the Prince Xiong brought Cinderella to his home and made her his princess. Everything seemed fine and great. 

But it did not last long as the other branches of the Xiong family used the opportunity to attack the official heir. Chaos ensued, until it came down to the point that the Young Master Xiong's marriage had to be decided by the Xiong elders. Young Master Xiong had to marry a political partner in order to ensure more stability for the Xiong Empire. In order to do that, he needed to abandon his beloved, Prescilla.

Young Master Lu was at that banquet when the then-head of the Xiong family announced Young Master Xiong's marriage. 

The cold-hearted man was devoid of any emotion, his fiancée standing beside him, as they faced the swarm of congratulations from the elite people of the society.

Young Master Lu was stunned by this news. If this cold-hearted man married another woman, then what would happen to that beautiful lady? He had looked around the banquet, but he had not seen a single shadow of her. It was only a few days later that he had found out that the woman was no longer in the country.

It was just a spark of curiosity. With Young Master Lu's power, he looked for the woman that he had taken much liking to.

It was after a year of searching when he had finally found her.