Love Began with the First Meeting

Ximena felt her heart could not bear so much. While not a single question had been solved or covered, a new one had just appeared. If she hadn't misunderstood Aaron's words, he had just clarified that the man in front of her was not James. He was not the man she had

known. "Teddy?" she asked for confirmation, and looked at Aaron questioningly.

But Aaron didn't even look at her. His eyes were fixed on James, whose smile had finally frozen in discomfort.

Finding that she couldn't get a straight answer from Aaron, Ximena looked at James and asked, "You are not James?!"

He didn't look at Ximena either. Looking at Aaron with deep, unreadable eyes, he answered Ximena, "If I'm not James, then who could I be? Teddy is only my pet name. My family use it when they speak to me..." Hearing James' explanation, which hinted at the special relationship which he had with him, Aaron's face changed color. Seeing Aaron's discomfort, the smile which lingered on James' face softened and his face warmed again. "Right? Your Highness?" he asked.

"Of course." Aaron regained his composure and resumed his usually indifferent look in an instant. Again he was the iconic image of apathy.

James smiled politely at Aaron's response. Glancing at Ximena, whose face had gone a bit pale, he said, "It is almost time for the party. Please wait for us at the banquet hall. I'm going to escort my father there."

So saying, he rose and gave instruction to somebody outside to guide Aaron and Ximena to the hall where the banquet would be served.

Aaron and James again studied each other with cautious smiles. Then Aaron escorted Ximena from the room. As soon as their backs were turned, James' face gradually shed its smile.

"Mr. James," his assistant asked, now standing by his side, "don't you plan to take the Jade Seal back?"

"Since my second elder brother promised her that he would take it back by himself, then let him take it back by himself," he answered.

Hearing that, the assistant frowned. "But he..."

James regarded the assistant with his cold, sharp eyes, and the latter closed his mouth as he saw James' cold expression. James said in a gloomy voice, "It doesn't matter whether we take it back or not. It won't make any difference. Just as Aaron said, the Jade Seal is nothing but a charm. We can't keep Leng's Corporations just because we have the Jade Seal. It is not enough to save us."

In the current situation, the government still seemed to be backing up the Leng Family. But both he and his second elder brother knew that the government had probably been under Aaron's control for a long time. In recent years, the whole east coastline of QY Island, which the Leng's Corporations had wanted, had been given to Grand Night Casino and Dragon Empire Group by the government. The public explanation was that it was for the development of the island's economy. Due to the globally important position of Grand Night Casino, as well as the much superior influence of Dragon Empire Group to the Leng's Corporations, the government's decisions carried the support of most citizens of QY Island. As a result, Leng's Corporations could do nothing to publicly disagree with or object against these decisions.

Why would the Grand Night Casino choose to operate on such a small island as QY Island? Apart from being the economic support center of the National Congress of Dragon Island, why would Dragon Empire Group make such a large-scale investment here? This island clearly lacked any real significance at present.

Mulling these thoughts over in his mind, James smiled grimly. If he had to risk a guess, he would say that all of these decisions could be laid at Aaron's feet.

*

While walking side by side with Aaron along the garden path towards the main villa and the party, Ximena could not help but ask, "The third son of the Leng Family, the man we met just now, isn't James, right?" "Hmm," Aaron mused. Then he glanced slightly at Ximena and asked coldly, "Do you want to see the real James?"

Ximena stopped walking as soon as she heard him say that. Doubtfully she looked at Aaron and wondered what he meant by saying that, and what he was aiming at.

Aaron also stopped walking. Turning around to look at her, he continued, "I can take you to see the man who you want to see!" Taking two sudden steps towards Ximena, he asked, "Do you want to see him?"

A myriad of thoughts assaulted her mind all at once. She couldn't decide what to do or what to say. Staring at Aaron, she tried to figure out whether he was sincere by saying that, but she could not discover anything from the indifferent look on his face. "What if I say that I want to see him?" she asked, deciding to give it a try.

With cruelty twisting the corners of his mouth, Aaron answered, "Then I have to take something back for the deal." So saying, and without waiting for Ximena's response, he pushed her backwards and pressed her up against a wall. While clasping her chin between his fingers, his lips covered hers...

"Wo..." Ximena tried instinctively to resist. She tried to push him away with both her hands set against his chest. However, as soon as she began moving slightly, Aaron pressed her back against the wall by force.

Ximena turned her head, trying to avoid his lips, but the skin of her face was grazed painfully as it rubbed against the rough garden wall. Her chin was being held so tightly by Aaron that it ached numbly. Wanting to resist, she forgot the pain in her face as her cheeks flamed indignantly.

She glared at Aaron with her wrathful eyes wide open, but he was as heavy as a mountain and she was not able to push him away, even with all her strength. She continued trying to resist by turning her head aside. All of a sudden, her eyes widened as she looked off to the side... At that moment, she suddenly forgot everything. She only stared ahead blankly. Gradually, her eyes became red and moist.

Noticing the change in Ximena, Aaron slowly released her. He lowered his eyes slightly to look at her, seeing that she looked like her world had collapsed. Finally she understood what had happened to James. Seeing her comprehension and resulting pain, a faint smile appeared at the corners of Aaron's mouth. He raised his hand and softly wiped away a bloody dribble from the corner of her mouth. Then he bent forward and placed his mouth beside her ear as he spoke in a low voice, "I said that I would let you see him." "You're a mean soul!" Ximena shouted. She opened her eyes wide to prevent tears from spilling over onto her cheeks. From the direction of her gaze, a man approached in a wheelchair. On reflex, she turned her face away and hid behind Aaron's body. Seeing Ximena's reaction, a tinge of a smile flashed across Aaron's eyes. He straightened to look at her, as she seemed to be weeping but shed no tears. "James," he said slowly while turning around to look at the wheelchair bound man, "are you also going to attend the party today?!"

Barely glancing at Ximena, the disabled man replied in an indifferent tone, "Your Highness has good eyesight." He gave a seemingly irrelevant answer, but Aaron clearly knew what he meant.

Aaron continued smiling faintly and looked down at the man sitting in the wheelchair. It was exactly because Aaron had seen the man nearby just now that he had kissed Ximena on purpose. It was all a ploy to find out whether the man would give up as he had said earlier. "It makes no sense to test me in this way," the man added. He took a brief look at Ximena and then rotated the wheelchair, intending to go on his way.

"James!" Ximena called his name in a nervous and urgent voice from behind Aaron, trying to stop the man in wheelchair from leaving. Hearing her voice, the man's hands suddenly froze in their rotation of the wheels.

*00