The Inconceivable Flame: A Fallen Angel's Disguise

"You’re here!"

"Oniisan!"

Ru heard the voices of both Xiao brothers as she entered the tailor shop. Why was she invited here by Big Xiao brother, she didn’t know. But she had a hunch.

Before the small Xiao brother could come running towards her to hug her, big Xiao brother held him back saying, "Rong doesn’t like hugs." The small Xiao brother scowled and turned his eyes away showing that he wasn’t very happy with his brother.

Looking at them Ru suddenly said, "Da Xiao, why am I here?" The big Xiao brother who was just called out gave her a surprised look.

"Obviously to check whether the suit has the right fitting or not?" Saying that Xiao Zhi Ren had already pushed a tailor-made suit towards Ru.

Surprisingly or not so surprisingly, the suit was actually black but the shirt he gave her was white.

"You want me to wear that shirt?" Ru gave him a look of disbelief.

"Yeah. What’s wrong with it?" Xiao Zhi Ren didn’t think there was anything wrong but Ru thought otherwise.

"The fact that it’s white. That’s what’s wrong with it." She said in a ’duh’ tone before continuing on, "Da Xiao, have you tried drawing on a black paper with a black marker?"

’Here we go again.’ Xiao Zhi Ren thought to himself. "Not really."

"Why not?"

"Because black marker will just merge with the black paper. It won’t even make a difference." Xiao Zhi Ren answered calmly as he pushed Xiao Zhi Yuan to try his own suit on.

"Now, how about if we use the same marker on a white paper?" She asked again.

’Oh, we are not done yet.’ Xiao Zhi Ren really didn’t know why he didn’t want to tell Ru to shut up. Apparently, he really loved her weird way of talking. "If we draw on a white paper, the black marker lines will be prominent."

"Bingo! You are really smart, Da Xiao!" Ru smiled at him as she supported her elbow on his shoulder. Xiao Zhi Ren could only roll his eyes at her sarcastic remark but he didn’t try to push her away. He even bent his body a bit to allow her easy access to drop all of her weight on his shoulder.

"Your point here is?" Getting a bit impatient with her dragging the time, he finally asked.

"My point is... How can you ask this dark lord to wear white when you know it will be too weird? I’m a black kind of a person. White and I don’t go together."

"But you and I go together." Ru was a bit taken aback by his reply. She tilted her face to look at him but who knew he was also looking at her. A pair of green and a pair of black orbs collided. Their faces were undeniably close to each other and both pulled away as if struck with lightning or something. Xiao Zhi Ren coughed dryly before clearing his meaning, "I mean to say that I’m your sworn brother and I do love white."

Getting back his composure, he added, "Besides, even dark night has a shade of silvery and silky moonlight and starlight. That means black and white are supposed to fit perfectly."

["Stop looking at the darkest nights, brightest stars will eventually become prominent." His voice felt like melting honey letting its sweetness seep into her soul.

"You and I are very different." She answered in a delicate voice seemingly her forlorn got the best of her.

She felt a calloused hand hold her own and could feel the warmth of the other body. "How are we different? We both are standing under the same starry night." His voice seemed to have stroked her heart delicately like the evening wind was caressing her face; reassuringly.

"Isn’t there a difference? You can see that starry night, I can only see the darkness left in my eyes." The hand that held hers tightened as if her words hurt him more than she was hurting inside.

Suddenly, she felt him relaxing again as he said, "If you can’t see this starry night. Then look for your own." He brought her hand to touch her chest right above her heart and added, "Look for it right here. Life begins at night. And the night isn’t worthwhile without the stars to accompany it."]

As Ru came back to reality, she took the suit from his hand without a word and walked into a fitting room. Walking in, she looked at her own reflection in the mirror and whispered to herself, "Perhaps, I’ve loved the night too fondly... Now, I’m left with even the fear of stars." She smiled mockingly at herself. "What have we come to, young master Ru?"