1. HELLO AGAIN!

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He is kicking himself already. Why had he agreed to come? Is he dumb or something? Although his face is passive and expressionless, he cannot disguise the light tapping of his finger on his thigh that betrays how irritated he is feeling. He cannot believe he let himself be persuaded to come here. Although he loves music, he normally does not have the chance to enjoy such occasions. He is usually very busy at work and his work and identity hardly leave him to enjoy such luxuries. When he was younger and more carefree though….

The concert is a fund-raiser for a children's ward at C City's biggest hospital and Jin Corporation, his father's company, is a major sponsor of this event. There was need for someone to represent the company. Normally, their public relations director would have done that, but his sister and best friend had dragged him along, saying he needed a break from work. In the end, he had curved in because their continued nagging was getting on his nerves. He had learnt from past experiences that giving in to them once in while would placate them for a little while. They would leave him alone for a while; a bit like throwing a bone to a dog. Besides, being seen out and about doing charity work could do no harm for his image.

According to his personal secretary, there were about 10 different artists performing at this event. He has no expectations of them being to his taste. Thank goodness, the venue has seats. Maybe he could take this time to enjoy some shut-eye… He is already super tired after pulling another all-nighter at the office.

As one of the sponsors, he has a front row seat. He is still debating with himself whether that is a good thing or not. Even if he dozed off, no one would be brave enough to point it out. He is that powerful so he settles comfortably into his seat.

If anyone had asked him afterwards what the first three groups played, he would not in all honesty tell them. Maybe he had dozed off after all, but when a full and velvety voice sings, he jerks up as if he has been electrocuted. Is he still dreaming or did he just hear that voice again? His suddenly opened eyes and face have a rarely seen expression of confusion as he sits up and lifts his eyes to the stage. His eyes quickly affirm that he is indeed lucid because there she is, with both hands gracefully lifted up while she dances and sings at the same time. Half the crowd is on its feet swaying to the beat and the rest of the crowd is either whistling or screaming while seated. Needless to say how shocked Wen Yan is as he feels like he has been transferred straight into one of his dreams.

He had expected that he would react somehow to seeing her again after five long years, but even in his dreams he never envisioned the way his heart stops for a second, jumps and then starts thumping like it desires to free itself from his chest. Even in his wildest dreams, he never anticipated the way his body gets hot all over and starts sweating. It should not have surprised him really. She has always had that kind of power over his body.

His initial reaction should be overwhelming anger. He himself cannot understand why his body is reacting like this. After all this woman almost made him lose himself. Surely he should want to strangle her. Unfortunately for him, his hormones are just not cooperating. He grits his teeth in anger and frustration. Part of him, probably bigger than he realises, is excited just to see her again and seeing her dancing and singing like this. This feeling is just is like being hit by an avalanche. If anyone were to do a caricature of him at that moment, it would definitely have a double K.O. on him.

He fails to notice the way his eyes stay glued to her throughout the performance, or how his jaw literally hangs open the entire time. He fails to feel how his heart beat increases as he watches her gracefully glide across the stage. He does not realise how his normally quick brain seems to have ground to a halt in those three or so minutes. He fails to see the reaction he elicits from two of the closest people in his life, who quickly try to cover their grins as they discretely give each a high five. All he knows is, he cannot help admiring how beautiful her voice and dancing are. She combines both styles of classical and modern dances in her choreography. She has backing dancers with her on stage but something about her draws all eyes to her. Everyone who has any idea of singing or dancing would understand how fit someone would have to be to be able to sing and dance at the same time. She, however, does it beautifully even hitting high notes during the bridge of the song. It gets the audience excited and screaming.

She looks so amazing he cannot take his eyes off of her. He can see his favourite of her many awesome features even from this distance. Years after she left him, this had been one of the many things that made him sweat at night whenever he thought of her.

She has a small dark mole just above her full pink lips. Many people might have regarded it as a flaw on her exquisite face but not him. He remembers how that mole used to drive him absolutely crazy. He used to blame that mole for his never fading urge to kiss her. Here she is again, this cruel woman, with an angelic face, body of a mythological goddess and angelic voice but a cold unfeeling heart.

A light floral dress is hiding part of those long slim legs that he can still see in his mind; and her small feet that are in ballet slippers are just visible above the hem of her dress. He remembers with vivid detail the infinite number of times he had run his hand along those slim legs of hers. He shakes his head trying to discard that memory. Anger rises from his chest like bile from his gut. This woman does not deserve a second glance from him. Still he cannot resist lifting up his eyes to the stage again. Maybe he can blame on his curiosity or her irresistible presence.

Gu Yan Ran's (also known as Rene) dark hair had been left loose and flowing almost to her waistline. Her face is glowing like dew facing the first rays of the morning sun and those high cheek bones that used to make him so enthralled…

His chest feels tight and painful.

"Breathe Wen Yan, breathe," Zhao Shi Lin whispers, and jabs Wei Lan on his side. The slight pain does its job of shaking him out of the trance-like state he almost fell into.

It is then that he realises that the tightening of his chest is a result of no air coming into his lungs. He lets out a loud puff of air and inhales quickly and repeatedly. He feels slightly dizzy and suffocated and greedily takes air into his deprived lungs. He seriously cannot figure out why he is like this around her. It irritates him.

He knows that Shin Lin is probably smirking and does not waste time looking at him to confirm it. Instead he keeps his eyes glued to the woman on the stage. She is even more magnificent than he remembers and as graceful as ever. The first song finishes. She greets the audience, flashes her dazzling smile that has the power to cause a black-out in the entire city and starts singing the second song. It's a slower than the previous one and it allows her to concentrate on her vocals.

Her voice is like a veil of water cascading over a waterfall. She is singing with her eyes closed and he remembers that once, she had told him that it helps her when she is nervous. She said it helps her to focus and forget that there were thousands of people watching and probably judging her. He had always found it rather sweet and endearing that someone with so much talent would be so devoid of confidence in her own talents.

Besides her strong and beautiful voice, she has a stage presence that makes everyone sit up and take notice. And when she does open her eyes to look into the audience, she makes every single one of them feel like she is singing to each member of the audience individually.

A male backing dancer approaches her and they partner up in a sexy dance for a few moments. Clearly the lady has no mercy on her audience. Wei Lan has never seen her dance like that on stage before. Something bitter rises from the pit of his stomach that he cannot identify.

He knows about her history as her dancer but he had never experienced the power of her performance on stage. He sits unmoving like he has been glued to his seat while everyone around him starts screaming in excitement. She has the audience enthralled with her performance. After the dance break the song comes a climax and towards the end.

Wei Lan finds himself right in the vortex of the spell she has woven and he has no strength to fight against it. He feels helpless against her power at that moment. It should make him livid after what she has put him through, but he truly has no capacity at that moment to feel anything but enchanted with her remarkable presence. One part of his brain that is still functioning normally reminds him how this girl could not be as good in heart as she looks outside. Unfortunately, that part of his brain loses heavily to the rest of him especially certain parts of his anatomy that tend never to consider rational thought processes in her presence. His hands are balled into fists and he is clenching so hard that if he had long nails he might have cut himself badly.

The song finishes far too quickly for everyone else except him and everyone erupts as one into deafening applause and cheering with some calling out her name. Wei Lan looks around and realizes the whole crowd is on its feet except him. Part of him wants to be cool enough to cheer with everyone in the audience, but instead he feels suffocated and roughly pulls at his tie in a desperate bid to get air flowing into his airway. In anger he jumps off his seat, startling his friend who is beside him, and rushes off to the men's bath room. He needs to do something drastic to get his brains back to functional mode.

Wei Lan is thankful that there is no one else in the bathroom because he is sweating profusely by the time he gets there and his knees quickly buckle down as soon as the door closes. Was that woman some kind of witch? What kind of spell was she casting on him again?

He is reluctant to let anyone see him in this state. He is a respected and successful man after-all, known for his cool and unruffled personality. He has spent the past four years building that image for himself and there is no way he would dispel it over that … that…..woman!

When he feels strength returning to his limbs, he gets up and leans over the sink, both arms stretched on either side, and lifts his head. His eyes meet a mirror and what he sees makes his heart sink a little. He looks like a man who had done a ten miles sprint with no rest. He opens the cold water tap and throws some freezing cold water onto his face. It makes him feel a little better and repeats the action several times before he closes the faucet and grabs some paper towels and pats dry his skin.

It takes him more than five minutes to pull himself together. After putting back some order to his appearance, he emerges from the bathroom looking more like the cold and composed man that he usually is.