30 Like a Fiery Halo around a White Cloud.
"First!" Shao Jinhai stood akimbo, he paused and stroked his nose, observing Chan Juan for a while. She looked so not concerned about any of this, it seemed his fore lessons will be in vain.
"Have you perharps learnt pottery before?" Shao Jinhai asked curiously.
Chan Juan raised her brows,
"Me?" She asked pointing directly to her chest.
Obviously he was referring to her, she coughed in acknowledgement and replied curtly.
"No..."
"Okay then. Well, since you don't have any knowledge on pottery, I will start from the basis," Shao Jinhai began, walking back and forth as he spoke.
"Using a pottery wheel might seem deceptively easy, but it's actually a process that takes skill, patience and lots of practice to master. Since you're doing a vase, I'll get straight to the point as possible.
"Of course..." Chan Juan said,
Shao Jinhai tore his eyes away from her, on the table next to him were nearly folded aprons, he took one and passed it to Chan Juan.
"Using the pottery wheel is called throwing, and these wheels are specifically designed for forming uniformly circular pieces like plates, cups and bowls and vases, First step is to prepare your clay..."
Shao Jinhai walked into a room, while Chan Juan was knotting her apron and mumbling at the same time.
"Here, before starting the wheel is to prepare this clay which gets the air bubbles out."
"And how is it done?" Chan Juan asked staring at the lump of clay on the table.
"Well, you just knead it with your palm, until it compresses the clay to pop the air bubbles..." Shao Jinhai explained with so much tenaciousness, Chan Juan nodded in affirmation. She was finding it rather interesting but not the teacher.
About Ten minutes later,
Chan Juan was still kneading the clay, but was becoming less interested. Shao Jinhai just kept gazing at her and it felt so exasperating, in her trance of thoughts she noticed the bracelet on her left hand.
Chan Juan jaw dropped,
How did this get on my hand? It was on the side table before I left the room, I definitely did not have it on. Then, how? Chan Juan frowned at her thinking.
She took off the bracelet and kept it in her apron pocket.
Shao Jinhai continued to gaze at Chan Juan from the corner of where he sat, but wasn't as obvious. She looked just like the girl he had met at the restaurant, four years ago.
It all flashed back again;
That night at Xi'an restaurant, a lady walked in, she had so many eyes googling her enchanting beauty. Shao Jinhai was seated at the other end of the restaurant, his eye had caught her and couldn't take it off the beauty that had just come his way.
He was in disguise, he had ran away from the prison he called home; after the leaked news that assassins were after the life of the only heir of the Shao Family, he had so many eyes watching him closely.
He wasn't allowed to step a feet across the boundaries laid out for him, he was getting sick from the boredom and took the initiative to escape. He stopped by at the restaurant, and fortunately, luck was on his side, for he had found something worthwhile to hold.
He was about to stand up when he felt his cell vibrate, he took it out from his coat pocket and checked the home screen. It was a text from his personal assistant, Lin Xiaozhai.
He knew what it was all about, and became uninterested in whatever it maybe, he shoved the cell back into his coat pocket and called the waiter.
It was winter and it was snowing outside, it will be nice and gentlemanly enough to treat her to a nice and creamy hot cup of coffee.
Shao Jinhai relaxed on the arm chair, and watched the waiter serve her his treat, with a visible smirk on his face. She was looking so beautiful, he feed his eyes on her charm, and luckily they both locked eyes. Meanwhile, his cell was vibrating continuously from numerous texts and calls, but he neglected it.
He decided to text Lin Xiaozhai back, to relieve her of the worries, his parents weren't around, it would be lesser stress if he assured her of his safety.
Then his phone started to ring, he went outside to pick up the call,
"Shao Jinhai, where the hell have you been? You got me worried." Lin Xiaozhai lamented over the phone, Shao Jinhai was about to reply when he noticed a guy dressed in a black hood and black pants dropped a bag in front of the restaurant and ran off.
He looked away and glanced at the young lady inside the restaurant and smiled before answering Lin Xiaozhai,
"You don't have to worry, I...."
His words trailed off, when he discovered a beeping sound coming from the bag.
"Shao Jinhai! Shao Jinhai? Are you there?" Lin Xiaozhai's exclaimed over the phone.
Shao Jinhai curiously ambled towards the black bag, as the beeping got louder as he went.
He opened the bag and what he saw almost sent him crashing to the floor.
He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, he wanted to save her, but in the next instance.
Boom!
With the overwhelming pressure, the explosion polluted the sky with a cloud of heavy smoke and covered the earth, the quakes from the blast knocking over many people nearby.
All he could he see was an ocean of strong blazes amidst the beautiful snowflakes falling gracefully to the ground, just like a fiery halo around a white cloud. Various thunderous noises met his ears and the enormous fires behind him attained for the atmosphere.
He fell to the floor filled with shattered glasses, distinct noise of the sparking flames and the irk sound from the ambulance, and then his vision went bleak before submitting to total darkness.
