EIGHTEEN

The entire hall fell dead silent, as the belle of the ball walked in and Lee slowly walked forward.

He took scarlet Sapphira by the hand as Jack Johnson walked towards the crowd, feeling the guilt hovering around Amane, he was told everything, then Jack Johnson looked back, then turned to him and said,"I have something to tell you..."

Scarlet Sapphira and Song Lee slowly waltzed across the large space that was just freed for them and looking into Lee's eyes, Scarlet Sapphira spoke,"Lee, I have something to tell you..."

"Anything, my love..."

Those words stabbed her like a sword and seeing Akane, or Brair Rose at the side, trembling with fear, she turned back to him then said,"Lee...we may not be able to be together forever."

"Why? Is it because of Amane? Ignore him, he doesn't know what words exit his mouth most of the time."

"It's not that, it's you...and me..."

"What are you talking about?"He asked.

Suddenly, Amane dragged Lee to a corner and said,"You have to break up with her, now."

"What? Why?"

"I get it, you win, you're great with girls, but please, we have to go."

Lee pulled his hand from Amane's and said,"I can't just leave her like that."

Amane then spoke,"She's your cousin."

"What?"

"She's your mother's sister's daughter, you are her cousin, so as Akane and Jack Johnson."

Lee looked at him in disbelief, till he saw Akane's beautiful face turned into one of sorrow and regret as he said,"It doesn't change anything, I still love her."

"So you don't see it wrong dating your own blood for fun?"

"I never said I was doing this for fun."

"Wait, so you're breaking up with me?"

"Yes! You finally got that through your thick skull, Scarlet Sapphira's the one I love, not you."

Amane felt hurt by his words as he walked away, then spoke undertone,"I guess you were right, you are good with girls, I just never thought you'd let them come between us..."

Lee punched Amane across the face, but this time, Amane pounced on him and the two guys wrestled each other on the floor till Scarlet Sapphira, Akane and a bunch of other people were able to pull them apart.

Amane was furious as Lee yelled that he wished that he had never met him, then Amane spoke,"Then we'll end this in the ring, where it began...be there."

He forced out of the people's grasp then stormed off and Lee immediately grabbed Scarlet Sapphira by the wrist and dragged her out of the hall.

She struggled till he pulled her to face him and yelled,"Stop trying to leave mother!"

She looked at him, breathing slowly, then asked,"You don't really love me, do you?"

"Of course I do, I just..."

"Imprinted on me because I looked like her...Lee, I'm so sorry, but..."

"No! Stop saying that! Please, Scarlet Sapphira, tell me right now that you love me, so we can leave this place and start anew, some place else."

She shivered violently, not of the ear that he would hurt her, but rather that she'd hurt him, but she had to tell the truth this time...

"No...I can't..."

"What?"

"I love Akane..."

He took a step back, hurt and confused as he asked about all the good times they had, he said that his were true, but Akane was just trying to win a stupid bet, he asked Scarlet Sapphira again, but with tears in her eyes, she said no again.

He yelled in fury then gripped her tightly by her wrists and dragged her away again as she screamed for help.

Akane and Jack Johnson saw what was happening, then Akane ran away, leaving Jack Johnson to go after them.

Lee threw Scarlet Sapphira into the back seat of his car then started revving the engine, she banged the separating barrier but he ignored her, he had gone mad.

She screamed for help as her brother ran after her, till a motorcycle zoomed past...

***

Scarlet Sapphira looked around the car, then smashed through the window with her elbow and jumped out, with the thin dress fitting like a sleeve.

She absorbed some of the impact of her fall with her hands, but the inertia still made her roll right to her feet, yet the pain made her fall back to her knees, till someone grabbed her by the waist and dragged her away on a motorcycle.

She looked around then at the person and asked,"Akane?"

"It's me cous..."

Akane stopped the motorcycle by doing a donut curve as Lee had stopped his car, fury blazing in his eyes, like he brightest flame of blue, as he said,"Move away from her Akane."

"Then you first stop this madness!"She retorted,"Even I know she doesn't deserve this... you don't deserve this, please, come back and we could be together again..."

"I'm not going to ask again, kid, leave."

Akane stood her ground and he was about to attack her when someone said,"Lee Wong Song!"

He immediately stopped moving, shivering violently as he looked in the direction of the voice, all so sweet, all so familiar.

He saw her, her ruby red hair, her sapphire blue eyes, her beautiful and gentle smile...his mother.

She slowly walked closer, then opened wide her arms and he ran into her embrace and she kissed him numerous times with tears in both their eyes, telling him everything would be okay.

She looked at the girls, specifically at her daughter, who burst into tears then ran away, Ruby knew it wouldn't happen instantly, but her prayers had finally been answered.

Lee spoke of how much he'd missed her and at that moment, everything in the world faded to him, including Scarlet Sapphira.

His mother then said,"My young and sweet son, how I've missed you..."

"And how I've wrongly missed you mother...Scarlet Sapphira...did I do that to you?!"

He ran to her to examine the small scrape on her elbow but she said it was from the fall, though not directly responsible, he felt very directly responsible.

Ruby then said,"Your cousin has told me so much about you...but clearly it wasn't enough..."

***

"So how did you two meet?"Ruby asked.

"...it was about a year ago, he came to China for a bout he had been preparing for for weeks and I somehow found myself there by fascination of their arts. He was the undefeated champion, and looked incredibly hot at that...after four rounds, there was no one left to challenge him and since I had nothing to lose, I gave it a go and picked the first name that came to my mind...the Blue Inferno...we faced off and, well, I came closer to winning than anyone else had and after that match, we stayed in touch, then one thing led to another and we eventually began dating...it was the best time of my life, because he made me feel like a had a purpose I had never seen before...he made me feel loved..."

"And I'm sorry you had to go through all that pain alone..."Ruby said,"...but is this what you really want? To be with a person of the same gender? Lee Wong Song, why did you agree to date him?"

"I don't know...I had been with boys all my life, so it felt normal and he had been that way all his life."

"...a lot of people are weird in their own way, in fact, everyone in our family is weird one way or another, but there are some differences you embrace and others you should monitor, if not constrict...my son, if this is really what you want, to be with him, I wouldn't disagree, all I will say is, do what you know is right..."

He was in thought for a few seconds, then looked at her with a sour expression and said,"I can't choose..."

"You don't have to choose now, you have nothing but time...but in the meantime, there's something I wish to do..."