Ch 01: Brotherhood

"Hahaha.... hehe.... Xiao Lan, huff... don't run. You- huff... You're gonna fall down. Huff... come back. Come to me. huff...."

"I won't. Hehe... You'll hit me if I go to you."

A childlike chirping voice echoed through that whole garden. His pinkish Fair skin was covered in sweat drops, looked like morning dew on rose petals.

"Huff... huff... I- I can't run after you anymore. Huff..." The one who chased the other stopped after running after him for a while. He just looked little older than the previous one and those looks did match his age of 16 as the one in the front is only 14.

As the reason for that childlike voice, the 14 year old one possesed a childlike voice, appearance and characters except for his height. He had long legs and thin waist yet he reminded of a child to anyone who looked at him. But, other one possesed approximately the same height as him yet, gave off a vibe of an matured adult.

"You won't stop running, will you?" The kid in behind caught his breath before speaking again. "Fine, run.. run all you want. But, don't you dare come crying back to me if you trip and fall down. Run."

Zhou Lan stopped as he saw Li Qiang stopping in his tracks and sneered and shouted with a voice full of confidence, "Who'll cry? Listen to me carefully Young master Li, I; Zhou Lan; am a strong man. Strong men never cry even if they got skinned alive."

After he said so, he started to sprint once again while leaving Li Qiang behind. Without having a single strand of energy left in him to chase after him, Li Qiang stood there looking at him running around in the middle of the sea of flowers.

He heard some footsteps behind him while he was wondering about how Zhou Lan posses so much energy to run around all day. He turned around and saw his grandfather's personal assistant behind.

Seeing only his assistant, Li Qiang asked with a matured yet innocent smile on his face, "Oh, Uncle Luo, Where's grandpa?"

Luo Zhen smiled back, a carefree smile even in his busy schedule of work. Luo Zhen used to be an orphan but, he got adopted at the age of 4 by Li Qiang's grandpa Mr.Li 18 years ago and after finishing his studies in a famous university he volunteered to work as Mr.Li's personal assistant to repay his kindness.

He is a little taller than Li Qiang as he is 22, so he slightly bent down and ruffled Li Qiang's hair while he answered.

"He got an important matter to deal with, so he sent me here."

Li Qiang glanced at Luo Zhen with a lifted eyebrow before brushing away his hand, he said grumpily, "What are you ruffling my hair for? Don't you dare treat me like a child just because you're 6 years older than me? And, what are you bending down for? Are you mocking me of my height?!"

Luo Zhen laughed slightly in amusement, 'How come this little bastard always manages to stay this grumpy?' then he replied, "Well, you're calling me Uncle, can't I treat you like a child?"

Li Qiang hmphed.

"Alright, what's the reason for that grumpy face now?"

Li Qiang tilted his head towards Zhou Lan in response.

Luo Zhen looked at Zhou Lan as well before handing out a bottle of water to Li Qiang who replied sarcastically, "You're not that useless after all." Luo Zhen ignored him and straightened his back and waved his hand towards Zhou Lan.

"Xiao Lan...!"

Zhou Lan who busied himself in admiring the flowers one by one looked up with excitement as he heard his name being called out by a familiar voice.

"Eh, Luo ge...!" He waved back before running back. He crashed straight into Luo Zhen's arms before pulling him away from Li Qiang.

"Oh, so you won't talk to me but, you're willing to talk with Uncle Luo." Li Qiang said with a voice full of grievance.

Luo Zhen showed an expression which represented his mind thoughts, 'Da Ge, Why am I becoming your uncle every time you get grumpy. Is it really that satisfying for you to address me as Uncle?'

"I already told you that I will talk with you once you promise me that you won't hit or punish me." Zhou Lan also put on a grumpy face leaving Luo Zhen in an awkward position. He didn't know which grumpy child he should console first.

"You two, always saying that you're not children anymore yet, look at you two right now, fighting like children." He chose to stay neutral as he knew that he will get skinned alive by the other once he sided with one.

"You shut up." Li Qiang growled.

Luo Zhen smiled awkwardly before zipping his lips tightly.

"If you didn't leave behind the card I gave you deliberately, I wouldn't have gotten angry in the first place, right?" Li Qiang complained.

Zhou Lan hmphed and turned his head away while folding his arms together which made him look cold and distant in the two pairs of eyes around him.

Ever since he was a child, Zhou Lan have always been like this. He will show his silly childish side when he likes someone but, once he comes to dislike a person, he can't be more cold and distant. However, the cold and distant personality of him usually holds a more intense and powerful aura than the way he acted cold towards Li Qiang and Luo Zhen. Because, deep in his heart he knew that Li Qiang's words were only the outcome of Li Qiang's care towards him.

But, since he didn't have any liking towards those words Li Qiang spilled a moment ago, he wanted to ignore him so that he changed his attitude within a second.

Although, that act of coldness was not much intense, it still hurt Li Qiang's heart which resulted in the sudden gentleness in his tone. But, he still didn't want to give up on that matter so he started an emotional attack.

He said, "You.... Why are you like this? You didn't take me as your brother at all, or else, why would you refuse to accept a small amount of money from me. I'm so stupid that I thought I was your best brother all along." He then pouted uncontrollably.

Having watched this drama th whole time, Luo Zhen screamed internally, 'Can somebody save me from these two drama Queens? Come on, If you keep going on like this, Oscar award winner will have to give up on his career.'

After watching both of them pouting without a break, Luo Zhen finally decided to open his mouth. "Eh eh, It's enough, isn't it? Xiao Qiang, you should look at the positive side. See, Xiao Lan learnt to spend money with care. He's a matured boy now. And, Xiao Lan, you do know that Xiao Qiang is doing this only because he care for you. Then, why are you pouting? It's enough."

Luo Zhen filled his face with a honest smile only to receive a virtual slap.

Li Qiang, "Who cares for him?"

Zhou Lan, "Who's pouting?"

Two angry voices rang at the same time.