章 2: Shocked
Twenty-five Years Later...
The young man wearing a black sweater and a pair of black trousers and shoes gathered his remaining strength and walked to the door opposite the counter where he has been sitting and drinking for no one knows how long.
As he gets to the door and grabs the handle of the door firmly, his friend, the one and only person he takes as a brother walks up to him drunkenly with a group of ladies surrounding him.
"Haoran... My man..." His friend lands on his back a light slap which naturally got Haoran irritated.
"Let's go, Cheng... What you've had is enough"
But Cheng didn't give Haoran an expected answer. Instead, he belched out the stench of the liquor he had spent taking for like an hour plus now.
Haoran irritation tripled experiencing that act. He felt disgusted having to think that the drunk guy in front of him is whom he lives with and someone he takes as a bestie. Boy, only him knows how it feels right now.
He rolls his eyes and take Cheng by the wrist, wraps his arm around his neck and assisted him to the road beside the club house.
"Wait here, buddy" Haoran whispers
"Whe-where are you going?" Cheng asks still in his drunken state.
"I'm gonna be back soon" and Haoran turns and leaves Cheng seated on a bench by the road side without answering his bestie's question.
Haoran walks down the lonely street with his hands in his sweater's pocket and with his head bowed, deep in thoughts.
It's been awhile since he saw his twin sister... Why does she sound like it's an emergency?
"Haoran... "
He raises his head up to look right into the eyes of his sister. Mei.
Her husband who drives his brother-in-law crazy most times by just looking at him, comes out from the dark behind Mei with a cigarette in his mouth. The smoke doesn't take a minute before it engulfs the whole breathing space, leaving Haoran to nearly choke on his breath.
"What is it?"
"Is that how you talk to someone you barely see often?"
"Do I even see you at all?"
Mei smiles weirdly and brought out a cigarette, lit it up and placed it in-between her lips.
Haoran bites his inner lip until he tasted his blood. His furiousness cannot be expressed in words.
"Grandma's dead"
Haoran's eyebrow skyrocketed in mockery.
"What do you want me to do? Revive her?"
"You should be grateful that she took you in"
"I am grateful! I've always been! She died because she didn't listen to me when I said I saw something coming!"
Mei stares at her twin brother with pity and anguish in her eyes. No matter the effort she tried to use to conceal it, it still unveiled itself massively without her even knowing.
"I am surprised that you talk with so much confident"
Haoran eyes diverts to the man beside Mei. He is solely responsible for the bad manners Mei is trying to develop, but Mei can't see that... And he wonders why.
"This isn't your business, pretty boy" Haoran states
"He's way older than you"
"Why? Isn't it because you chose to marry someone fit to be our father?"
Mei's squints her eyes furiously.
"How dare you?" Mei's whispers and made short and slow strides towards her brother, but got stopped halfway by her husband, Jia.
"You have no respect, Haoran" Jia says
"And you have no regards... Concerning who you married-"
"Haoran!"
Mei took deep breaths, trying to control herself from screaming in the dark and silent place where they are.
"I don't have time for this"
Haoran gathers himself together, turns and leaves. Mei's chest heaves as she raises the cigarette to her mouth once more. Inhaled, dropped her hand and let the smoke which she inhaled form a pattern as she let it out.
Haoran moves towards Cheng who is still at a distance with his eyes looking straight at him, but his mind is far off from the place he's at.
Haoran and Mei lived with Xiao Kyung but their names are different. The twins name came after the name of Xiao's husband who, happened to leave Xiao because of some unknown reasons.
Mei and Haoran has always been together ever since birth. During their highschool days, Haoran would make sure Mei was always by his side because she attracted bullies rather than mere friends.
But no matter what Haoran also passed through, he made sure that Mei never got bullied while at school.
He thought that things would continue in that manner but it didn't. When the both of them got into the university, things started falling apart in their relationship as siblings.
Mei started attending parties, clubs... The brilliant twin sister he once had, became a total nightmare.
Three years earlier when they both graduated, Mei got a job with low graded results, but Haoran who had the best results has been searching for a job for three years now.
Mei did her best to get him a job at other companies but never talked to her boss about her twin brother.
Whenever Haoran came to see her in her office at times, she would have him go back to wherever he came from as if she was embarrassed of him. And it hurt Haoran.
But nothing made him furious, than the time Mei introduced her fiancè... Jia.
"Oh... I'm sorry!"
Haoran raises his head and stares directly into the eyes of a young girl in her early twenties.
Her brown eyes sparkled as the evening sun hit them. Her black short hair sparkled as the car lights smacks the strands hard.
"I'm sorry, Sir. I didn't mean to run into you" she says apologetically.
She can't raise her head to look at Haoran... And that's what makes her look quite cute before him.
"Hmm... It's okay. Why the rush?"
She bites her lower lip nervously and... In some kind of fear.
"I'm not going to rob you, why are you scared?"
The young girl raises her head and stared into the brown eyes of Haoran.
For a minute, someone will think she has already fallen for the guy... But that was otherwise for Haoran.
"My name is Zhi Ruo. A representative of Global Japan products. I-I was summoned not too long ago, and...."
Zhi Ruo bites her lower lip... And this time, brutally.
"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, but whatever it is, do your best and avoid trouble"
Zhi Ruo loosens her teeth on her lower lip and turn to look at the tall, handsome young man who just passed by her.
"Wait...!" Hoaran stops walking, his face as soft as his heart.
"Yo-You haven't told me your name yet"
"Haoran. Haoran Feng Ying"
For some reason, Zhi Ruo's eyes widen in shock and complete dumbness hearing his last name.
"Feng... Ying?..." Zhi Ruo whispers and stares at him blankly.
Haoran gets a bit uneasy. What's with the look?
"Nice to meet, Zhi Ruo"
The girl suddenly snaps back to reality hearing his soft voice. "Ah... Likewise. Thank you"
"See you later then... I guess..."
"Um wait!" Zhi Ruo rushes back to Haoran just before he turns to leave and brought out a business card with the label:
Global Japan Products (GJP)
Haoran raises a brow in surprise.
She wasn't lying.
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