Love Began with the First Meeting

Rare as it was, the greenhouse in the backyard of the Leng Family villa was lively at the moment. The three brothers were deep in conversation. The real James was seated in a wheelchair. As he carefully trimmed a potted plant, he said slowly, "If that's what you've

decided, just do it."

His twin brother, Teddy, who was pretending in public to be James, leaned against a pole with his arms crossed across his chest. He looked at Gale, and said hesitantly, "Dad was really pissed off at the banquet. Mom also knew that the woman whom Aaron brought today was the one you..." He quickly swallowed the rest of the sentence, looked at James and saw that he was still quietly pruning the potted plant. Ted frowned and said with uncertainty, "Brother, judging from the current situation, shouldn't we change our plan accordingly? I'm afraid mother will try to hinder us from carrying out our original plan, and besides, father may not be able to bear with such outcomes anymore."

"The Leng Family will slowly be financially drained, and will have no way but to declare bankruptcy in the end." James was satisfied with the pruned plant in his hand. "You should definitely delay that from happening too soon." He put down the potted plant, turned the wheelchair to face his brothers and looked at Gale first and then at Ted. With a serious expression, he said, "At present, executing the original plan is the only way to minimize the damage to our family."

Ted stood straight, a little frustrated. Looking at his twin brother in the wheelchair, he said huffily, "Brother, obviously, we could have a different ending. Your prowess is not inferior to that of Aaron's. As long as you don't give away Leng's Corporations to him, this will all still be ours. That way, mom will not be so hysterical, and dad will not be in any danger."

The corner of James' lips raised, and he said with a slight smile, "Teddy, even when Leng's Corporations is in Aaron's hand, it's still called Leng's Corporations." He rolled the wheelchair towards another potted plant on the other side of the greenhouse, picking up a scissor to continue pruning the other plants. "If Aaron remains the CEO of Leng's Corporations, Gale will be free to do whatever he wants, and you don't have to pretend to be me anymore either and will have the freedom to choose your own path." His hands stopped for a moment, while his eyes grew deep. "In fact, this is the best outcome for all of us."

'If Aaron's grudge against the Leng Family could be soothed, the plan would be well worthy, 'he thought.

Gale was drinking his cup of tea and had not uttered a word from the beginning. His gentle attention fell on the man in the wheelchair who was exuding a sad melody.

His younger brother, James, was one of God's perfect masterpieces--he was high-spirited, vigorous, handsome with oozing elegance, humorous, bold and tough with outstanding talent. He was so perfect that it would have made anyone envious of him. But fate was such a cruel thing and bad luck followed in the form of the accident which had made his life dark and gloomy. Gale sighed at the sight of his once brilliant brother, now in a wheelchair.

He turned towards Ted, who looked annoyed, and slightly beckoned to him with a blink of his eyes. Ted smacked his lower lip, glancing at James who was still nonchalantly pruning the plant. He finally signed deeply, gave up, and said nothing more.

"Now that it has been decided, I will go ahead with the original plan," Gale said firmly, putting down the teacup. He continued helplessly, "It gives me a headache to even think about the upcoming arguments and negotiations with the board of directors." He shook his head with a sigh, looked at his younger brothers with concern and said, "It's late. We should all get some rest."

Gale left the greenhouse, followed by Ted. The two brothers turned and took one last look at the greenhouse, which was lit by a soft light. And then, they left with a heavy heart.

Inside the greenhouse, James' hands stopped and he placed the plant back in its place.

Under the soft light, his figure exuded unspeakable loneliness.

"Young master!" the driver bellowed, panting. "What should we do now? There's no path ahead of us!"

James looked at the cliff sign on the road and forced himself to look around calmly. Within a second, he said loudly but firmly, "Jump out of the car."

"What?!" the driver asked disbelievingly as he looked around in panic. Apart from the road, which was only wide enough to allow a single car to pass, the two sides of the road were full of sharp stones and thorns. Jumping out of the car which was speeding at over a hundred miles per hour after its braking system failed, the consequences...

"There's no time to hesitate," James frowned and said urgently, "Jump!"

James's voice was filled with authority, allowing no room for an argument. The driver instinctively responded and opened the door, but still dared not jump due to extreme fear. James caught a glimpse of the sign ahead, indicating that they were not too far away from the cliff. Without another thought, he stood up and pushed the driver out of the car.

Just at the moment, the car ran over a rock and with a loud 'bang', James was thrown to the back seat. A sharp pain ran through his forehead.

The driver's inertial movement was stopped as he hit a sharp rock. He grimaced, gnashed his teeth to get him through the piercing pain and then looked up. His pupils dilated and his lips trembled as he watched the car race towards the cliff at its maximum speed. "Argh!"

James woke up from his nightmare, his body covered in cold sweat. His eyes were wide open in panic and he took several long breaths. After a while, he gradually calmed down.

He gulped, sat up and stretched out his hand to switch on the bedside lamp. After grabbing the glass of water near his bed and gulping it down, he panted for a while and then regained his composure.

During the accident that had happened four years ago, he had also jumped out of the car at the last minute. But since the front end of the car had already rolled out of the edge of the cliff, in addition to the harsh wind, he still fell over the cliff. If he hadn't held on to the edge of the rock subconsciously, he would have fallen to the bottom of the cliff and would have become a pile of white bones by now.

After he was rescued from the cliff, he had been in a coma for nearly two months. When he had finally woken up, everything had changed for the worse. Losing his legs was a huge hit to his pride as an independent man, and he was so depressed and lost that he had tried to commit suicide.

Laughing at his past, he put the glass back and lay back on the bed. The dim light from the ceiling let him get lost silently into his deep thoughts.