Emotion takes only a glance, but true love lasts ten thousand years
How many times must we be reborn for this love to be extinguished?
Use life to spread the red blanket,
bear witness to our boundaries
To create a sentence about
the pain of love would take ten thousand years
An oath lasts further than eternity
- One Eye, Ten Thousand Years, JJ Lin/S.H.E
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Her mobile phone rang when she was in the shower, and Tian Yu helped her answer it.
"She's in the shower," he had told her aunt when she called.
"Who is this?" her aunt had asked.
"Auntie, this is Gao Tian Yu," he had casually answered.
"Are you Xun Xun's boyfriend?" her aunt had asked without a thought. He smiled, thinking that Zhi Xun's straightforward personality must have been inherited from her aunt.
"I'll let her answer you on that."
"If not, why would you be holding her phone? She has never let anyone near her phone back home. She says it's her privacy."
"That...." Tian Yu considered for a second. "Maybe." Or maybe I'm not perfect enough that she doesn't want to take me with her to see the family, he smiled to himself.
"Hmmmm. Let's put it this way. Xun Xun has never spoken of any man in her life. If you don't mind, why don't you accompany her back home? Her mother has been nagging at her for years to find a boyfriend. Since she's terminally ill, it's a good time for you to meet her now. At least she will be happy to see that Xun Xun has someone to take care of her."
"Dear, who is it?" a sound came from the shower.
"It's your aunt!" Her aunt shouted back. Tian Yu had the call on speaker, so her voice had been clearly heard. She quickly flashed him a "why did you do that" annoyed look.
She quickly took the phone from him and turned off speaker mode as her bath towel dropped to the floor in her panic. Tian Yu quickly pulled the clean dress lying on the bed over her bare body, concerned that she would catch a cold.
"Auntie, it's tomorrow's morning flight. I'll be reaching at noon."
"Xun Xun, your mother is asking to see your boyfriend. I've already asked him to come. He sounds so charming over the phone."
She started intently at Tian Yu, as if trying to say 'what did you tell her?'. He shrugged in response.
"Auntie, he needs to work. He can't come." She tried to invent an excuse. "He has a big project, and he might get fired."
It had been such a lousy excuse. "It's fine, Auntie. I can come if you all need me to. I have a number of vacation days left. It's good to travel the world," he said mischievously, to Zhi Xun's horror.
"Very well, I'll pick you up from the airport at noon then." The phone call disconnected. Tian Yu was going to be in so much trouble. She was going to strangle him for what he had said.
"Sorry, I couldn't let you go, and meet some super handsome guy when I'm gone. I have to protect what is mine."
She was beaming at his answer. "But I bought the tickets months ago, before some kind Samaritan paid my mum's hospital bills. Oh well. Let's hope my aunt isn't too upset you're not a rich suitor. Hey, wait." She looked at a framed photograph of Tian Yu and his family on the wall and put two and two together. "You don't seem to be just staying the night here at your sister's place. Is this seriously your place?"
"It's my parents'. But I don't depend on them. I don't work for them," he explained. "Probably if not for Tian Yin, I wouldn't be here."
"Where is she?"
"Away on a camping trip for one of her courses. She's just a second year university student. She does plant studies as one of her courses, so it's a learning thing for her."
"Ahh, I see. Does she know about me?"
"Definitely she does." Right, his sister must have seen her at the library that day, Zhi Xun thought.
"It must be nice having a sibling. I've felt so lonely all my life. We never had much, and I was a surprise baby, so I doubt my parents would be able to afford a second child."
"I see. I wasn't planned, my sister was. She's the baby of the family, but she's a tough cookie, I guess. And uh, Xiao Xun? I better get the tickets now before they run out. Which airline are you taking?"
She told him. He tapped on his keyboard and a few seconds later, he asked what her seat number was. "48A."
"Okay. I'll just get a seat next to you."
"That's really fast," she said. "But really, it's okay for me to go alone."
"Too late, I've already bought the tickets. Is there anything I probably should prepare? Maybe like what your mother would like her prospective son-in-law to wear."
She seemed a little annoyed by his usage of that term, but then she said, "Too bad you can't transform yourself into a rich prince. They'd love that."
"Hmm, why not?" he asked. "I could cosplay as Prince Aladdin."
"Shameless," she remarked.
"Alright. I have a few things to grab at the supermarket. Are you coming?"
She didn't want to be alone at the condominium. "Okay, let me get my bag, and we can leave."
He enjoyed having her arm linked in his, like a married couple, as they shopped the aisles for Tian Yu's favourite snack recommendations that he wished to take with him as gifts.
"I want to get cup noodles," she suddenly said.
"That's not very healthy," he said.
"Well, I can't cook, and neither can my aunt."
"I can."
"It's not appropriate to let a guest cook for the host."
"I'm not a guest, I'm the prospective son-in-law."
"You're so annoying," she said, and walked down the aisle to look for biscuits instead.
When they were done, they had a shopping trolley full of gifts and groceries to pay for. "Good luck bringing that up the plane," she laughed as they headed towards the self-check out counter.
"Haven't you heard of plane cargo?" he teased in a sarcastic tone, to which she responded with a glare.
After some time had passed and Tian Yu was driving, he commented, "We probably should go to sleep early tonight, shouldn't we?"
"Do you have any work to do tonight?" she asked.
"I was referring to the check-in time. I wouldn't want to miss meeting my prospective in-laws."
"Will you stop with the in-laws thing?" she grumbled.
.........................................................
She tucked in heartily that night to his excellent cooking. He had prepared pan-seared chicken steaks topped with mushroom herb sauce. Why was she feeling so excited about him meeting her mother and aunt? she thought. It was just a meeting, it was not like she was getting married. Furthermore, it was considered early for her to be getting married at the tender age of 21.
"Xiao Xun," he called out. She was blogging and he was working on his project. "Would you like to take a look at my new proposal?"
She walked towards him curiously. "Can I?"
"Well, it's between us. No secrets, remember? It's just my business proposal, not my trade secrets."
She smiled as she joined him on the sofa, admiring his correct usage of business phrases and excellent command of English. "And this is a demo version of the application I created, which goes with my proposal. Do you have any insight on any areas of improvement?"
The application he was working on was an online survey data collector. She pointed to him how she found the corners of the application screen disruptive and suggesting using darker, more readable fonts and lighter coloured backgrounds as contrast, instead of the flashy ones he had, which would cater to the younger population rather than the majority of older users. He was thankful to her for her feedback, and playfully started fondling her gently on the sofa.
"As a reward for your help in my work, I will help you release all your tension and make you feel better," he whispered into her ear. He came closer to her, increasing the proximity of his body with hers. The lesser the distance was between them, the more she felt her heart beating wildly. Suspense was killing her right now on what his reward to her was. He ran his hand gently through her long, straight locks and gradually moved his hand down to her petite body, not leaving any part of her body untouched over her clothes. She was clad in a shoelace-style dress made of silk-like sheer material that was soft to his touch, but it was thin enough for him to feel her bare skin through it. She shivered as she felt her body responding to his touch. Her hormones were going crazy! It was as if she had been born in this world to experience crazy sexual desires with him. Even her ex's touches had never made her insane like how she was feeling right now. With Tian Yu, it just took one touch from him to transform her from an innocent angel into a naughty devil. This had been proven to be correct on so many notes.
Had she remembered her past lifetimes clearly, she would have the answer in her mind on how Tian Yu had been connected to her in their past lifetimes. But Lord Xie had made sure that she would only retain very minor and yet, significant parts of her memories. She had been a concubine to the emperor, a successful businesslady, an assassin, possibly even a guardian, but most of her memories had been sealed for reasons only Lord Xie and the Star Lord would be aware of. Lord Xie would not even tell her a single word of her purpose of rebirth in all her past lifetimes and what she had been looking for. Even when it was her seventh, as Lord Xie told her, she couldn't be totally sure she wouldn't be able to escape the cycle of rebirth. She believed Tian Yu must hold the key to her (and maybe him as well) chances of possibly escaping rebirth.
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