Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 884 Extra Story 28 Of Aaron Love Rivals

James looked at the painful expression on Ximena's face and frowned. He cast his eyes towards Aaron and said, "Your Highness, is there a need for you to treat your woman like this?"

His voice sounded gentle, but there was a dignified contour to his words.

Tiny beads of sweat appeared on Ximena's forehead caused by the unbearable pain she felt from Aaron's tight grip on her wrist, but she kept silent, clenching her teeth to keep her from uttering a noise. "Well, perhaps, the second young master of the Leng family shouldn't meddle in matters that do not concern him," Aaron sneered contemptuously, pulling at Ximena's wrist as he turned around to leave. "I'm sorry, but actually, I'm the third son in our family," James corrected him, in neither a hostile nor a friendly tone, "I still have another brother who is older than Gale!"

All of sudden, Aaron turned, shooting his sharp and cold glance straight into the eyes of James, his face shrouded in a thick cloud of hostility.

James, however, did not shy away from Aaron's intimidation. Instead, he looked at him with a faint smile tugging at his lips and said, "Your Highness, if you do happen to chance upon my older brother, please kindly deliver a message to him for me. Tell him that we three brothers are hosting a dinner party at LW Hotel three days from now, and we sincerely hope that he will grace us with his presence at the party then."

Aaron squinted his eyes at James for a while, trying to read the thoughts hidden behind his eyes, but he failed. After a while, he answered, "I am afraid he wouldn't appreciate dining at the same table with members of the Leng family. He hates those people who surrender and back off from a war without even a fight." Then he scoffed with complete disgust. His eyes locked in a disdainful stare, before he turned away to leave, yanking Ximena's arm behind him, disregarding the pain he was subjecting her to.

"My brothers and I will wait for his presence three days from now," James muttered under his breath, looking at their backs.

Aaron strode out of the restaurant without pause. Ximena staggered a few times, struggling to keep up with his pace due to her high heels, but even so, she kept turning back to look at James from time to time.

James's heart contracted sharply, but his facial expression didn't reveal the slightest of emotions. Even under the doubtful and expectant eyes of Ximena, he still managed to turn around and continue eating with grace and ease.

Now that he had given up on pursuing Ximena, he had to follow through to the end. Otherwise, if he were to show even a trace of attachment towards Ximena, Aaron would make her life a living hell, just to get back at him. He put his knife and fork down the moment he saw Aaron and Ximena walked out of the restaurant. The food in his mouth felt tasteless and completely unsatisfying.

Taking on the look of deep and pensive thought, he stared at the reflection of the restaurant's colorful lights on his glass. James sniggered at himself and continued with his dinner.

'Just let bygones be bygones. Those who dwell in the past and cannot face the realities of the future are called cowards. I, am not a coward!' he told himself in his mind.

*

"Let go of me!" Meanwhile, just outside the restaurant, Ximena snapped and hurled abuse at Aaron. She wasn't willing to suffer even a minute longer than she had to right now. Thus, she desperately struggled to reclaim her arm and when she finally did, she cast a hateful glare at him. "Asshole!" She squeezed the word out of her gritted teeth. Expressing her annoyance, she turned around and walked away, pulling up the hemline of her skirt.

The raindrops fell on her face, then her body before quickly spreading over her clothes. She ignored them, simply letting them soak her as she walked defiantly without looking back.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, she sprained her ankle and yelped in pain as her body hit the ground like an inanimate rag-doll.

This was the straw that broke the camel's back. She could no longer hold back the anger and sadness she felt. In an instant, tears burst forth from her eyes, merging with the rainwater on her face, and streamed down her face. She fashioned her frustrations into a low growl, as she threw her heels away and continued walking barefoot in the rain.

"Bastard, asshole, son of a bitch-" Ximena grumbled under her breath, tilting her head up slightly. "You stinking men, bastards all of you..."

Finally, Ximena's legs gave out and she collapsed to the side of the road, burying her face in between her knees, weeping.

"I thought you'd never shed a tear." The sound of mockery and sarcasm came from above her and she looked up to see who it was. To her displeasure, it was the 'asshole' she had been cursing in her mind all along.

"What does it matter to you? What made you think I was crying?" Ximena looked up and bellowed, "Didn't you see it was raining? It's just rainwater on my face!" After that, she lowered her head in dismay and then began to cry hysterically.

Aaron rolled his eyes at her direction, sniffed coldly and sat down next to her.

The two of them sat there quietly, under the drizzling rain, while the cars that drove past quickly splashed them with water inadvertently.

Aaron frowned at the water stains on them and after a while a black car stopped right in front of them, sandwiched between them and the road. In due course, the sound of frantic honking from other cars came and broke the silence as the black car was blocking their way, but even so, the driver in the black car didn't budge an inch.

"I am not a big fan of this weather," Aaron said suddenly, breaking the ice between them, his sullen eyes much like an endless depth of ink, sorrow, and pain. "I heard that I was born on a cold and rainy day."

Ximena ignored him as she was still crying hard. She didn't want to break down like that in front of him, but she just couldn't help it.

"At the beginning of mom's irregular labor pains, the man received a phone call and left immediately, without a word..." Aaron's flat voice seemed to be telling a story. "I don't know whether he didn't notice how much of a pain she was in, or maybe he never really cared about her, but he left her without even saying a word to her. Fortunately, our neighbour was there to take mom to a nearby hospital... They told me that the moment I opened my eyes into this world, the drizzle suddenly became heavy rain, and the bitter cold wind swept away the withered leaves from the trees of QY Island."

Ximena choked up and sniffled, turning her head sideways at Aaron...

Although the rain fell on both of them indiscriminately, he didn't look as messy and desperate as she did. He still had his usual cold, condescending look on his face, and even though his meticulously combed hair was soaking wet, there was not a single trace of helplessness on his disposition.¶¶¶¶¶