Love Began with the First Meeting

In the reception room, Aaron sat on a sofa with his legs crossed in a casual manner. A still-steaming cup of coffee was grasped in his hand. Meanwhile, Ximena looked somewhat restless, as if she were sitting on pins and needles. With so many doubts plaguing her mind she couldn't figure out the right way forward, and she didn't want to meet James face to face while in such doubts. As she secretly swallowed to wet her mouth which was dry from nerves, an expression of self-mockery played at the corners of her mouth. Considering his coldness and indifference when he had seen her a moment ago, she thought that perhaps he had none of this difficulty in meeting with her at all. Glancing casually at Ximena, Aaron took a sip of his coffee and then slowly said, "What's wrong with you? You have been expecting seeing him, but when I give you the chance, you don't want to see him any longer?"

Hearing Aaron's sneer, Ximena abruptly turned her head to look at him with fury filled eyes. "Your Highness, I guess you don't know this, but even a grass root has its pride and privacy."

Aaron sneered at her again, "Don't think so highly of yourself. You're not a grass root. You're only a commodity..."

"..." Ximena was speechless. She couldn't find the words to contradict him, for the time being, and she could only glare at him impotently. After a moment's consideration she thought it unwise to continue this topic. Instead, she asked, "I wonder how you had already known that I know him, when you had only met me for the first time?"

"Him?" Aaron paused for effect. While Ximena was grinding her teeth in order to restrain her fury, he continued slowly, "In recent years, it has been said that Aldrich, the leader of the Leng Family, has chosen James to inherit the Leng Family's Corporations. He has even given him the Jade Seal, the family heirloom of the Leng Family..."

Upon hearing Aaron's explanation, Ximena frowned silently, as a myriad of thoughts crowded her mind at the same time. She could not initially fathom how she fit into what Aaron had just said. In the end, realization struck savagely as something came to her mind. Her eyes froze and then opened wide all of a sudden as the truth sank in.

Seeing her expression, Aaron confirmed her suspicions, "Yes, it is exactly that which you have treasured." Continuing, it seemed that he didn't plan to hide anything about this from her. "If it were not for the Jade Seal, which I noticed by chance during that evening, I'm afraid that you would have been cast down at the feet of a crowd of beggars. You would have become their plaything by now," he continued with a faint smile on his lips, both cruel and chilling. "Perhaps you would even have been dead at this moment?" he spoke slowly and on purpose to further irritate her.

Ximena tried her best to chain the feeling of coldness in her heart. She folded her hands across her handbag, which was becoming deformed by her strength as she gripped the object in silent rage.

"If at that time I could have known that I might be caught up in such a situation, I would rather have died!" she denied Aaron's accusations. Every word was squeezed from between her clenched jaws. Shocked by these facts, Ximena felt her heart quivering painfully in her chest. Everybody in QY Island knew that the Jade Seal of the Leng Family was a token which denominated the top leader of Leng's Corporations. Although outsiders might not have seen the Jade Seal with their own eyes and didn't know what it looked like, everyone of them knew clearly what it represented.

"Unfortunately..." Aaron replied with a faintly teasing smile, "you begged me for help. You shouldn't have done that if you wanted to die!"

Biting her lips and gritting her teeth, Ximena asked, "When you knew that the Jade Seal of the Leng Family is in my hands, why didn't you take it from me?"

"Unnecessary," Aaron answered in a cold and arrogant tone. "The story of the Jade Seal is nothing but nonsense. For me it is as easy as winking to take over Leng's Corporations. I don't need some mythical relic to accomplish that." He didn't care about the end result. There was no suspense in that at all. What offered more enjoyment for him was the process. He wanted Aldrich to witness how he played Leng's Corporations in a game of cat and mouse. That would be much more interesting!

"Since the Jade Seal is so useless to Your Highness..." an elegant, yet domineering voice drowned out their discussions. Both Aaron and Ximena looked in the direction of the sound, seeing that James was standing at the door with one of his hands casually tucked in his trouser pocket. When both people in the reception room had noticed him, James walked towards them with a leisurely smile hovering at the corners of his mouth. He nodded to Aaron by way of greeting and casually looked at Ximena, before completing his sentence, "With the Jade Seal having been given to you five years ago, I hope you can continue keeping it."

Hearing what he had said, Ximena could not help her jaw dropping open. Staring at the man who she had, for the past five years, been so looking forward to meeting again, she felt her heart gradually ache. On instinct, she called his name, "James?!"

A faint smiled played on James' lips. He didn't answer her, instead seating himself opposite Aaron. It was not until a maid had set a cup of tea in front of him that he spoke, "Thank you Your Highness, for attending my father's birthday party. Our humble house is honored by your presence."

"I'm sure..." Aaron said rather rudely.

James didn't mind Aaron's cold arrogance. Instead, he continued the conversation with a faint smile settled like a mask on his face. The content of their colloquy progressed from greetings in the beginning, to casual chatting later, and ended in insinuation at the conclusion. Ximena hardly paid any attention to a single word of their discussions. All she could do was to stare at James from beginning to end. Just a moment ago, he had been rather indifferent at seeing her. There was not even the faintest sign of recognition or of a disguised agenda. She believed that he really didn't know her, at least for the time being. But if he really didn't know her, then why did he tell her to keep the Jade Seal? What had he meant by saying that?

While wondering whether James remembered her or not, Ximena clenched and unclenched her hands in a nervous manner, reflective of her turbulent heart. James' handsome face, his attractive voice and even his presently spurious smile, were all the same as in her memory.

When she remembered his past promise, her heart began quivering. Her eyes, which had been fixed on James, gradually filled with sorrow. She kept staring at him. Lost in thought, she wondered why she didn't remember him in more detail. She should recall him more deeply, but she didn't. On the contrary, she felt her heart was resisting him, for reasons unknown to her.

"She?"

a low and deep voice broke through her reverie. Abruptly she was grasped in a cold embrace, completely devoid of even the barest of emotional warmth, as Aaron suddenly hugged her. Shocked, she looked at him blankly. "She's only a commodity." His cold and indifferent voice was a true reflection of his own emotionless virtues.

At his words, Ximena's face changed color all of a sudden. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. She hadn't expected Aaron could be capable of speaking such words so openly, and in the presence of another person. All of a sudden, she looked at James fearing that his face would reveal something. But when she found that there was no emotion there, she didn't know whether she should feel grateful or disappointed.

"I haven't seen Your Highness attend any past events with a commodity before," James said with a smile, as if he didn't mind Aaron's describing Ximena as a commodity at all.

"A commodity who carries the Jade Seal of the Leng Family is quite different," Aaron wore an almost invisible smile which ghosted at the corners of his mouth. "Right? Teddy?"☐☐☐☐