A Love Story...

Ji Chen sighed. "Our love story is a complicated one." he replied. "I have been friends with your grandma since we were children and we developed feelings for each other although we were not meant to be. It must be a sin against your grandfather and also to my late wife, but I believe we loved each other til the very end."

Charmaine tilted her head. "What happened then? Why were you separated?" she asked. No one told her there's a story like this behind the Ji and Song family friendship!

Ji Chen looked away. "Ming-er and I liked each other but we both have an existing engagement with other people. I told Ming-er we should just elope, but she's such a filial daughter that she refused to leave. At first I was able to convince her, but the night we were about to go, she changed her mind and said she dreamed of something. She said she had a premonition.... if she leaves, her parents will die and her future children will suffer a tragic fate. She's a very superstitious woman." grandpa Ji explained.

Charmaine froze. Something was telling her it wasn't just Ming-er being superstitious or paranoid. Could it be that she too experienced something like the recurring life that she had? If not, why would she refuse to elope with Ji Chen? "And then? You just broke up?" she asked with curious eyes.

Ji Chen shrugged his shoulders. "No matter what I do, or what I say, she wouldn't take me back. I waited for her to change her mind but she didn't. She still married her fiance- your grandpa Song. There was nothing I could do about it."

Charmaine stared at the old man's eyes. Sadness was written across his face. So that's what happened. Ming-er married her fiance and Ji Chen married his fiancee. Like her and Leo, they were bethrothed to them when they were just kids. If it wasn't bad enough, a premonition sealed their fate. But.... Why did they decide to be friends afterwards? Isn't that just pure torture on their part?

Ji Chen laughed. "I know what you're thinking of. We both decided to move on and accept our fate but I just couldn't let her go. So we went on as friends. When she left our old town to migrate in this continent, I followed her. I kept her close. I befriended her husband and the Song and Ji family friendship was then established. The two families became allies in business and our status in this city began to rise. I have long proposed an engagement between Ming-er's child and mine, but we both only had male offsprings." he said with a chuckle.

Charmaine covered her mouth with her hand, speechless. So the reason why she was engaged to Leo, it wasn't because the two family wanted a powerful couple; it's not to unite two powerful families but solely because of Ji Chen's obsession with her grandmother? That's crazy!

***

"Hey!"

Andrei turned his head. He was leaning against the door of a red car when he suddenly heared a man's voice coming from his right. He narrowed his eyes when he saw who it was. Him again? "Let me guess. Leo Ji told you to check up on me!" he remarked. Earlier, Andrei received a call from Leo asking him to drive Charmaine back to the old mansion. He didn't want Charmaine to drive on her own. He thought he already trust him, but it turned out that he's still sending this spy to check his movements?

Larson's face which was iniatially expressing delight turned a bit sour. "Hey! I'm not anyone's slave. I came here first. If anything, I'm the one who should accuse you of stalking me!" he refuted with a scowl. Drei just looked at him and didn't say anything. Suspicion was still evident in his eyes. "I'm telling the truth here. I came to look for Leo's cousin which is also my cousin. I relayed some family matters. You should know my relationship with Vanessa and Vince, right? You are a Ji family's secret guard after all." Larson said before bursting into laughter. "Secret guard... that sounds so ancient. What do you even actually call yourself?" he added.

Andrei narrowed his eyes. "Who told you that?" he asked. Was it little Luke? He is indeed a soldier hired by the Ji family for a mission. But only the old master of the family knew about it. Did Leo investigated about his identity? Still....

"No one told me." Larson replied. "I just figured all of it by my self. Luke said a lot of things about you when we were at the amusement park. I'm not dumb you know! I pieced everything together. A soldier in a mission was allowed to go out and have fun with friends? Very unlikely. Except.... if his actual mission is to protect someone in that area." Larson deduced. He then looked up at the top floors of the Ji mansion. "You followed Charmaine and her child from US to Chelsea. One of them must be the person you ought to protect." he mumbled.

"Stop!" Andrei blurted. "What do you want? Why are you saying all these?" Drei uttered with a vexed expression. He's starting to grew suspicious of the person in front of him.

Larson sighed and thought for a while. He then smiled and grabbed Andrei's wrist, leading him to the garden. "I want you to hang out with me. Let's go to the garden and chat for a bit. Charmaine won't be out for a while."

Andrei didn't resist and just followed him. They found a wooden bench and they just sat there. Larson stretched his arms and looked up at the sky before turning to Drei with a smile. "This is what I want from you. Let's be friends and hang out some times."

Andrei raised his brows. He was wondering if Larson is really serious. It could be that he just wanted to keep him close so he could spy on him. But why would he do that? Is it that he's really just a pathetic dude who don't have friends?

"Don't look at me like that. I just really want to chat." Larson said defensively. "So, let me tell you why I'm here. You already know that Vince's father was Leo's youngest uncle, and his mother was my only aunt. Now our grandfather sent me here to talk to him about the inheritance. But I think they just want to introduce a woman to him."

Andrei stared at Larson with a cold expression. "Do you enjoy gossip like that?" he uttered. He was casually chatting about other people's life!

"What? It's not like all these aren't related to me! Unlike you, I'm not running away from my engagement. Whether I like it or not, someday, I will still marry the person arranged for me." Larson explained.

Andrei was silent for a while before looking away. "My mother married a person she didn't love. She lived an unhappy life and died of sadness." Drei revealed. He then turned to Larson beside him. "So I'm not going to marry someone I don't love."

Larson looked at Drei straight into his eyes and then suddenly burst out laughing. Andrei's brows knitted to a frown at the man's rude reaction, but then he suddenly stopped laughing and took a deep breath. "How would you know that? You haven't even met the person. How would you know if you haven't tried?"

Andrei was stunned. He stared at the guy with questioning eyes. Just how did Larson know he hasn't met his fiance yet? What else does he know?