“So, you’re really getting married?”

A disbelieving voice rang out from the phone’s speaker that he had placed on the stack of paper on his desk. Right beside it, his laptop displayed rows of numbers. In his hand, he held a notebook and a black pen.

“Why is it so hard to believe?” Shui Xian’s monotonous voice asked in return. “Does divorced men don’t get married again?”

“Ge[1], you know that’s not what I meant,” answered the feminine voice. “It’s just hard to believe that you’re moving on so fast.”

“Fast?” he repeated. “It’s been over six years. How is it exactly fast?”

“I don’t know,” grumbled the female on the line. “Maybe it’s hard to believe because you’re actually marrying someone of dad’s choice. I mean, I get it you want to move on. You should move on. But why do you have to marry someone of dad’s choice? It’s your life, choose your own partner!”

Shui Xian’s eyes turned a degree colder, “Isn’t it enough that you’re living your own life? Without the involvement of dad or me?”

“Ge, I’m worried about you,” said the woman on the phone. “You’re the one who taught me that one can compromise on anything but not on love. You’re gonna spend your own whole life with that person? Without love, how will it work?”

Shui Xian subconsciously thought of what Raelle said to him and said forthrightly, “Someone recently made me realize something… Even with love, it didn’t work.”

His sister was left stumped for words for a moment. What he said really made it difficult for her to continue arguing. But she wasn’t willing to give up at all, “Ge, I understand your first love hurt you. It left you devastated but that doesn’t mean you should give up on love altogether.”

“You must be mistaken about something, little sister…” He leaned his head back as he continued, “Heartbreak didn’t make me give up on love. The pain only taught me to be cautious with love and people. Maybe that’s why I’m not willing to let just anyone into my heart anymore. So, now, even if someone has the key to the door leading to my heart, that person first has to find the door.”

He placed the notebook and the pen on the desk and fixed his cuffs. And while doing so, his gaze fell on his cufflinks. Since all of his cufflinks were customized, his initials were always engraved on them. And looking at it, he couldn’t help shaking his head. He really never thought something this small would give away his identity.

After his brief pause, he added in a hard tone, “Besides, you are not clear about what happened back then. You left home even before that. So, stop trying to tell me what choices I should make in life.”

His sister’s sighing was heard, “You’ve turned difficult to talk to. It’s really a challenge having a normal conversation with you.”

Shui Xian didn’t mind her words, he simply replied, “I don’t know what family you have built in this world. But I only have a dad now. So, I don’t mind doing something to make him happy. Especially when I know that he is only thinking about my happiness. I’ve tried being selfish like you, it only hurt me and the people around me.”

“Ge…”

Before she could say anything else, he stopped her, “I’m busy. Gonna hang up now. Take care of yourself.” With that, he hung up the phone.

He straightened up and held the notebook again. He had actually written down the words Raelle said to him the other day. The beliefs that challenged his own. The thoughts that didn’t align with his own. And the words that hit a sore spot!

She turned out to be even more interesting than he originally thought. It intrigued him. It made him curious to know why she was like this. This wasn’t something he wanted to ask her. This was something he wanted to find out himself.

“Master Xian…”

Shui Xian closed the notebook and looked up at his assistant with a straight face.

“You said you wanted me to find details of a person. But you didn’t give me a name. You said you’d let me know after the holidays.”

Shui Xian tapped at the cover of the notebook and replied, “That won’t be necessary any longer. She is a mystery I’d like to solve myself. She is full of surprises, I’d rather let her surprise me every day in a new way.”

Ma Jin stood with a dumbfounded look on his face. He couldn’t understand what his boss meant by those words or who he was talking about. And he wasn’t in the position to ask that either. His job was to do as he was told since he was told not to do anything regarding this, he won’t do anything at all!

“You have anything else to report,” inquired Shui Xian seeing how Ma Jin was still standing before his desk.

“I don’t know if I should give you this but…” he hesitated before finally mustering up the courage to place an invitation on his desk. Shui Xian gave him an inquisitive look. “Your college classmates are having a reunion party. You’re invited.”

“Do you think I have time for this?” Shui Xian’s voice had a dangerous touch.

“Right? I know you’re very busy and I repeatedly told them as well. But they insisted that I deliver this invitation to you.”

“Well, then your job is done now. You can leave.”

Ma Jin silently turned around and left his office without even turning back. He already knew his boss would not attend such gatherings and yet he was forced to put that invitation on his desk.

Shui Xian picked up the invitation but didn’t open it. Instead, he thought of something else and sent a photo of this invitation to Raelle and a line of text that read, ‘So, no wedding invitation card?’

After that, he threw the invitation in his drawer carelessly.

He held his phone in his hand and counted. Within three minutes, his phone rang and the caller was quite obvious.

[1] Ge: If by any chance you don’t know, ‘Ge’ means elder brother in Chinese.