Love Began with the First Meeting

Aaron looked at the doctor with a pained expression. The words that he heard seemingly dropped a very heavy stone on his heart, and it was making his body feel heavier than it actually was. His bones felt weak, his knees started to buckle, and tears were forming in his eyes. He tried steadying himself. After that, he asked the doctor, though his voice was shaky. "Is there any way to cure her?" "Yes," the doctor answered, letting out a deep sigh. "But then again, there is only a very slim chance that it would work."

Aaron thanked the doctor and returned to Ximena's room. Ximena was sleeping, and Aaron couldn't help but watch her. The doctor's words were still echoing in his ears. Melancholic darkness was gradually filling his chest, and an aura of despair started to manifest in his handsome face.

'Will the gap between us exist forever if we don't have a baby? Our baby is now gone! With it is the bridge that would help us cross that gap! Just when we saw an opportunity to finally have a fresh start, this happens. Why?' he thought, almost tearing up. All he was feeling was coldness, as if he had fallen into a freezing river. He felt that he would dwell in the bottom of the abyss built by their misunderstanding forever and that he would never be able to swim back to land.

The whole thing was becoming too much to handle for Aaron, and so he decided to go out and get some fresh air. As the dim light of the corridor hit him, he looked like a ghost with nowhere to go. Everywhere he looked reminded him of the abyss he was dreading, and it didn't make him feel good.

His footsteps were the only sound he heard as he went towards the lift. It made him feel deeply lonely and alone.

When he got to the front of the lift, he pressed the button, waited, and watched the changing number on the lift display.

A pattering of footstep wafted into Aaron's ears as a nurse on her night patrol approached from the other end of the corridor. She was holding a pile of medical records in her arms. Aaron's lonely shadow startled her. She thought he was a ghost, but she quickly realized that it was a living, breathing human being. Although it was not strange to see a couple of lonely people in the hospital at such an hour, Aaron had a peculiar quality to him. For some reason, the intensity of his despair impressed her. When she got in front of the lift, she looked at him with a pair of suspicious eyes, wondering who he was. The sadness and helplessness surrounding him was so strong that she could clearly, and eerily, feel it.

Ding!

The lift came and its door opened. Aaron stepped inside and pushed the button for the underground parking lot. He stood still, like a statue, as the lift went down. Aaron's car zoomed at full speed along the streets decorated by colorful neon lights. It ran so fast that its lights drew a luminous line in the darkness of the night.

The car then halted suddenly, which was interjected by a sharp loud noise.

Rubbing his eyes, Aaron turned to look at the manor his car stopped in front of. His eyes blinked fast, as if he had not realized where he was. After regaining his senses, he turned off the engine and stepped out of the car.

Instead of going directly into the manor, he stood by his car for a little while. He looked around to have a clear view of the surroundings under the dim light from the manor. Time passed and he just stood there, looking at one direction as if in deep thought. But his mind was as empty as a sheet of white paper. After taking in a deep breath, he finally walked towards the manor.

"Your Highness!" the door keeper addressed him, in surprise. Quickly, he opened the gate for him. It was so late and he didn't expect that His Highness would come home at such an hour.

Saying nothing to him, Aaron went straight through the gate. Unlike his usual self, he walked in an unsteady manner because his legs felt wobbly, as if he was stepping on a soft mat. When he reached the garden house, he stopped.

He pressed a button and the gates automatically opened. With his legs still feeling wobbly, he walked into the garden house and the lights automatically turned on. He walked towards the sofa and threw himself onto it. The roses looked extremely beautiful under the bright light. For some reason, he felt that the flowers in full bloom were mocking him.

Without looking, he was able to find the remote control and get it. After that, he pushed a button and the glass wall slowly slid open to let cold air in.

"Aaron, we will have babies, right?" Ximena was laying on the sofa by Aaron's side, her head on his legs. There was a glass bowl which was full of fresh strawberries. She reached her hand out, picked one, bit off half of it, and fed Aaron the other half. Chewing, Aaron struggled to answer but he was only able to let out a sound that vaguely resembled a yes.

"How many babies do you want to have?" Ximena continued. "Two," Aaron replied with a smile on his lips. "A son who would be my heir and a daughter who would learn arts and design from you."

"Just two kids. That's far from enough." Ximena put the glass bowl full of strawberries aside on a tea table carved with flowers before turning towards Aaron. "Aaron, I want to have four kids! Two boys and two girls."

Aaron met her gaze and smiled gently, "Well, then. If you say so, then okay!"

That delighted Ximena extremely. She laid on the sofa again, looking up at the stars sprawled out on the black sky. A beautiful picture formed in her mind as she murmured, "Babies make a home. They will give us a family. Aaron, we'll have a perfect family. Father, mother and the kids. A loving family."

A smile crept up on Aaron's lips. His heart felt happiness, and his eyes showed it. Turning to Ximena, he took her face in his hands and said eagerly, "Yes, Ximena, we will have a loving family. Definitely!"

The sweet songs of the birds were noise to the sleeping man's ears.

The sun rose from behind the grey clouds. Birds sang with joy as the first rays of warm sunshine illuminated their world. They flew from one twig to another, singing jubilant songs and playing with each other.

Aaron furrowed his brows. Nature was noisy, and he wanted to sleep more. But then he couldn't get back to sleep anymore, and so he opened his eyes. What he saw was the familiar surroundings in the garden house. A smooth, cool breeze was caressing his face and the sweet scent of roses wafted through the air. Its smell was exactly the same scent he smelled in his dream. The only difference was that Ximena was not by his side.

The dream was sweet, but his reality was cruel. It made it worse for him, since he had already tasted the sweetness of the dream.

He was, by no means, a dreamer. Reality was where he was living, and he rarely dreamt of a different circumstance. But the dream that he had last night was something he really wanted, but he knew that it would be a luxury he would not be able to afford his whole life. After some time, he stood up, pushed down the button on the remote control that closed the glass wall, and walked towards the door. The soft morning sunshine shined on him, making him feel warm, but it also cast a long, lonely shadow on the floor behind him. "Let's see some latest news. Leng's Corporations has gone through a thorough shuffling of its personnel in the three months since Aaron took control of it. Most of the corrupt supervisors and employees have been fired and have been handed over to the police for their crimes. Hundreds of millions of dollars were recovered..."

The big LED screen was playing the news about the extensive purging in Leng's Corporations that was spearheaded by Aaron. It attracted everyone's attention on the bustling street. Every kind of newspaper and magazine reported it on their front page. All newspaper kiosks were crowded with people who wanted to purchase a newspaper. Almost every pedestrian was holding a piece of newspaper.

"Jesus! There were so many problems in Leng's Corporations. Can you believe it?"

"I'm surprised to learn about that, too. I know this man. He was awarded as the most successful manager by the Leng's Corporations last year. It's unbelievable that he embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars from the company!"

The thorough change of personnel in the Leng's Corporations became a fervent topic in the country. People everywhere talked about it all the time and their enthusiasm about it would seem to last a very long time.

In the hospital, Ximena was watching the TV with sadness in her eyes. The reports on the Leng's Corporations, however, meant nothing to her.

Five days had passed since he visited her. Her heart ached the first few days, but it finally became numb. She accepted her fate with no resistance. 'Does this mean... that our relationship has ended?' she wondered. 0000000