Xu Mey wasn’t sure if she should argue with her sensei or not. Because she knew already that Ye Jie’s feelings for her were on a whole new level than her own. But then again, her Ah-Jie was special and an exception.

  "Okay! I won’t argue with you on that." Xu Mey grumbled and kept staring at Xin Xiamu’s face with a thoughtful look. She spoke in a low voice which wasn’t audible to Xin Xiamu. "Sensei, do me a favor! Be a counselor for a moment and help me in guiding a young man through his tough time." Xu Mey was feeling proud of her own thinking not realizing that neither Xin Xiamu asked for her help nor her sensei was willing to help.

  "Do I look like a free counselor to you? Why should I help anyone?" Ru roared from the other side as she had an urge to smack Xu Mey.

  Obviously, Xu Mey was unaware of these thoughts as she went on, "Oho! Sensei, I know you love helping others. Even when you say that you don’t. Also, don’t you hate it when someone cries? Especially because of love!" There was silence at the other end and Xu Mey knew that she had hit the mark.

  "Fine! Let’s start……" Hearing Ru’s reply, Xu Mey grinned in victory, related the story of the accident and heard her sensei’s words carefully. After hanging up the phone she turned to Xin Xiamu.

  "Kaden," Xin Xiamu lifted his eyes. "I believe we are not strangers anymore since this is our third meeting. And I have a belief that three meetings are enough to move on from a stranger’s status." Xin Xiamu smiled a bit at her wording and nodded his head. How could he say that he didn’t want to move on from the stranger’s status? That’s all he wanted! He wanted his sister but first, he needed to build a bond between them.

  "So, Kaden! You helped me a lot by bringing me here. Now, how about I help you in finding that smile you lost?" Xu Mey smiled up at him making him feel at ease. "I’m sorry for trying to be a bit nosy here. But seeing your red eyes made me feel an ache in my heart which I can’t put in words." She really couldn’t understand her own reasons for being this considerate since she wasn’t the considerate one. A stranger’s worries had nothing to do with her and she lived by that rule until today when she came across Xin Xiamu’s puffy eyes.

  He smiled again as he thought, ’That’s the connection we share. How can one possibly describe it?’


  "Would you mind telling me why you cried?" Xu Mey had an eager look in her eyes and a gentle smile on her lips.

  Xin Xiamu had no idea why her words worked but they did and in a daze, he actually said, "Today, I realized that the love of my life and my cousin are in love." Xu Mey’s smile fell as she didn’t know how to react to this piece of news. "And I’m not sure what I can do about this. I mean I have only loved her. But I also love my brother perhaps more than I love her."

  "How long have you been in love with her?" Xu Mey asked with a heavy heart.

  "From the time we were in school." He replied plainly but Xu Mey saw the pool of tears forming in his eyes.

  "I think you should let go and move on." Xu Mey said straightforwardly and Xin Xiamu stared at her in disbelief.

  Looking at Xin Xiamu’s sad face, Xu Mey was questioning her actions but she still didn’t waver. "You’re hurting someone’s feelings." She heard his slightly hoarse voice.

  "If I go by what my sensei taught me just now, I’m not hurting you. My sensei had already predicted that it was about love and he said that you’ve already been broken by your love. And broken things only scatters, they don’t break again." That sentence struck Xin Xiamu as lightning. And unknowingly, he scooted close to Xu Mey’s side, trying to listen more closely as she went on, "Are you getting my point?"

  "Yeah!" He answered hesitantly.

  "Well, then…… Kaden, just as there is no use crying over spilled milk, there is also no use crying over a broken heart. It can’t get any worse than it already is. But it can get better." Xin Xiamu pondered the words in his mind as she added, "To make it better, you sometimes have to let go. If you won’t make space for the present, you’ll get stuck in the past called; the first love."

  After a long while in a daze, Xin Xiamu startled a bit as he asked, "Who was that on the phone?"

  Xu Mey smiled softly and told him, "He’s someone…… special but with a weird mind."

  "His words really struck a cord……" Xin Xiamu mumbled.

  "I know! His words had always been like that……" She smiled to her herself and Xin Xiamu didn’t ask any further. He had a lot to ponder on his own now.

  In his mind, he already knew that he had to be the one to let go. He couldn’t be selfish. If the price of marrying Yu Kim was putting his brother through the hell of loneliness, Xin Xiamu really had no courage to do it.

  But his heart wanted to stay in denial. One thing he was sure of now, the more he dragged this, his heart would really get stuck in this past. He looked at Xu Mey’s face as she patted his shoulder in encouragement. "Love might be ending…… But it’s the beginning of life. Don’t be so sad!"

  Seeing her bright eyes and gentle smile, he felt lighthearted as if his whole world just brightened up. She really played the role of an elder sister without even knowing it. For all he knew, this was called fate.

  Xin Xiamu stayed with Xu Mey for the next 2 hours and after the doctors cleared her, he drove her personally back to her home. He watched her figure entering the house and drove away towards his own destination with a clear mind.