Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 869 Extra Story 17 Of Aaron Gossip

"Have you heard about what happened?" The hairdresser conditioning Ximena's hair was talking to another girl who was serving another customer. "Rumour has it that the current situation of the Leng's Corporation was caused by internal problems.' Ximena quickly glanced at the hairdresser through the mirror and continued browsing through the fashion magazine with a straight face.

"No, I didn't know that," the girl shrugged, "there are too many versions to that story and I have no idea which one to believe."

The hairdresser raised an arrogant eyebrow. "I just heard about it last night at a party," She paused for a moment and continued, "People have been saying that Aldrich Leng has a bastard son."

"Ah, really?" The girl stared at her with astonishment. "It can't be true! Everyone knows, that," she paused again and continued, "Helen was a sophisticated woman, who would never allow such things to happen."

"More than sophisticated," agreed the hairdresser. They smiled at each other and she continued, "And I heard that the bastard son was actually the son of Aldrich and his true love."

The girl's mouth gaped open in shock and her customer looked at the hairdresser in disbelief as well. Even Ximena's gaze was drawn to her in the mirror.

"But unfortunately, they never got married." The hairdresser shrugged, "Sounds like a soap opera to me."

Keenly observing the chatty hairdressers through the mirror and listening to her gossip, Ximena was gradually lost in her thoughts...

Thunder rolled across the charcoal sky that night. "Boom!" A bolt of white hot lightning broke the utter blackness, cleaving the night in parts, but just for the briefest of moments. The silence in the villa was depressing and stifling. "Bang!"

Ximena looked out the window of her bedroom and saw that the big wind had simply toppled the other woodpile out back and gone away, leaving a heavy downpour rain to follow right after the thunder and lightning. "Knock! Knock!"

Ximena shot her eyes to the door and said, "Come in."

The steward pushed open the door and stepped in. "Miss Mo, his highness will not be back today. You should have dinner when you want."

"Okay." Ximena followed the steward out and went to the dining room for dinner.

Without Aaron's company, Ximena felt relaxed but it wasn't as enjoyable as she would have expected it to be.

Her eyes glazed over the table full of her favourite food in awe. Shaking her head in self-ridicule, she smiled and muttered, "I wonder what's wrong with me? I thought I couldn't sit at the same table with him, but now I can't seem to replace joy without him." The steward glanced at her and said, "People tend to form new habits after 45 days of regular repetitions. Don't let it surprise you, madam."

Ximena cocked her head to the steward and nodded with a wry smile. Looking at the bountiful dinner spread out in front of her with disappointment, she said, "I have no appetite. Please clear the table."

"Sure, madam," The steward replied and gestured the servants with him to clear the table.

Ximena dragged herself upstairs in silence and found herself a book to read on a couch near the window. As time passed by, the clock struck twelve eventually, but Aaron still hadn't come back yet.

Ximena put down the book and stood up to stretch her legs, while she stared at the clock for a while. "Will he come back and have sex with me this late? Probably not." She muttered, allowing in a combination of self-loathing, self-pity and feeling sick. When Ximena got out of the shower it was half past twelve. Gently rubbing her hair with a towel, she stepped out of the bathroom. She was about to go downstairs for a glass of water, when she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

She raised her head upwards and found a faint light coming from somewhere on the fourth floor.

On her first day there, Ken had made it very clear to her that she could

go anywhere else in the villa, but the third and fourth floors were off-limits, no exception.

Having lived here for more than one month, she had come to learn that Aaron's bedroom and study room were on the third floor. However, she knew nothing about the fourth floor and now that there was light coming from there, she wondered what it could be. Curiosity killed the cat!

Curiosity piqued her harboured interest and the more she thought about it the more she couldn't help wondering what was it about the fourth floor that made it so secretive.

She moved gingerly and the thick carpet eliminated the sound of her footsteps. Her feet hardly touched the stairs as she cautiously crept up the staircase coming to a pause on the landing.

The door was slightly ajar. Ximena held her breath, feeling a strong urge to sneak a peek through the door. So she did.

Ximena stared in wide-eyed surprise as she saw Aaron sitting on a cushion with his back against a pillar, a bottle of wine in his hand and another empty bottle beside him. The sight of him made her frown and she moved her sight up to see a black and white portrait of a woman on the desk.

Ximena stared at the portrait pensively. Although distance made it seem unclear, but she recognized a beautiful woman with what seemed to be a scar on her face. "Crack!"

A sudden bolt of white hot lightning crackled against the black sky, illuminating the dim room.

Ximena remained unruffled, staring at Aaron with lips pursed. The booze-soaked man, seemed to be talking to himself as he gulped down some wine.

"Mom, I really hate thunderstorms." Aaron closed his eyes in displeasure. This was the first time Ximena had seen Aaron being emotional; his usual indifferent disposition replaced by a broken-hearted boy desperate for a loving release.

Ximena looked at the portrait again. She gasped in amazement and her eyes were wide as saucers with shock as soon as she realized that the woman in the picture shared a striking resemblance with Aaron.

"I have planned this for a long time now," Aaron said, in between the odd hiccups, "How can they even think of defending a heartless man like him and that woman?"

Suddenly, he opened his eyes and the sadness that was once there now displayed a violent rage. "No way!

I will see to it that they get buried next to you!"

Ximena noticed that Aaron's had started to breathe heavily. He would have seen her by now if it weren't raining so profusely.

Suddenly, Aaron's eyes went towards the door. Ximena froze; her mind went blank momentarily before she tried to run downstairs without waiting another second. On her way down, she was in such a rush that she accidentally ran into the handrail and fell down. Looking over her shoulder in fear, she caught a glimpse of a figure standing behind the ajar door, looking at her and her face turned a deathly pallor. Her body trembled violently as he scrambled up to rush downstairs.

The door pushed open slowly, Aaron's glower became a frown as he scanned the empty corridor. But then he noticed drops of water on the carpet and his frown turned into a contemptuous sneer.

Ximena rushed back to her room and leaned onto the door, breathing heavily. After catching her breath, she swallowed, calming her nerves down.

...really hate thunderstorms...'

...buried next to you...'

...six years after you left, she died...'

All these words that played in her mind, painted a vivid picture of a painful childhood. Another bolt of lightning broke the utter blackness and her breathing paused. Could he be the bastard son people are talking about?

"Some say that he's come back for revenge," the hairdresser turned on the steam, "but that's not it, apparently, the president is not going to fight back at all."

The girl frowned and her brows furrowed with curiosity, "What about James?"

"Who knows?" The hairdresser shrugged her shoulders. Due to the high and unshakable nature of the Leng Corporations' status, it shouldn't be a big deal even if there was an illegitimate child. "This issue has become the talk of the town, people all over the country are stressing about it, but the Lengs don't seemed to be bothered yet.

How could they," the girl seemed deeply annoyed, "ignore something like this. It could easily affect the whole island's economy? What about Aldrich?"

"He's been hospitalized with a heart attack," the girl's customer said casually, "I heard from a friend who works in that hospital. The breaking news should be out soon."

"The leader of Leng Corporations has been hospitalized with a heart attack..."

The TV happened to broadcast the news just then. The women looked at each other for a minute, each silently communicating that things were more complicated than they could predict.

The news broadcast pulled Ximena's attention, even though her eyes were still on the magazine. Recently, gossips and rumors about the Leng Corporation have generated a lot of buzz in the medias. The line between fact and fiction, however, gets blurred with every speculated report. 'Could Aaron be the one pulling all the strings from behind the scenes?

Is he the son of Aldrich Leng?

So, is he the bastard or the legitimate son?'

"Miss Mo, all done." The hairdresser smiled, passing the gold card with both hands.

Ximena's phone rang just then. She fished out her phone and answered it without checking as she grabbed the gold card.

Nobody would call this number except him.

"Finished?" Aaron's distant voice came from the phone.

"Just finished." Ximena had been used to his attitude.

"The car is at the gate." Aaron said briefly and then hung up.

Ximena was about to reply but she stopped and looked outside spontaneously. Aaron's car was there waiting at the gate.

She frowned because she didn't know why he had come here to pick her up. She grabbed her bag and stepped out of the hairdresser's shop.

Inside the car, Aaron was so absorbed in the news on the computer that he didn't even glance at Ximena when she got in.

"Go," Aaron said imperturbably.

Ken nodded at the rear-view mirror before putting his foot on the accelerator and driving towards the seaside.

"So, what's the plan?" Ximena asked.

"To have lunch," he said.

Ximena stared at Aaron with a puzzled look. He had never taken her out for lunch or dinner whenever he was busy. Especially at noon!

She cast a side glance at the screen and saw the content. "How could you care about such gossips?"

"Everyone on the island cares about this, including me."

Ximena curled her lips to show her disapproval. Keeping an eye on his mood, she asked, "Then, which do you think is the truth? Bastard or the son of his true love?" Brandishing a mysterious smirk, Aaron looked up at her slowly and asked, "What do you think?"0000