Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 979 Extra Story 117 Of Aaron Findings

Ximena saw a woman who seemed to be in her late forties. She looked at Ximena in confusion, as if it was strange to see her here. The wrinkles on her face were a gift given by time. Since she looked puzzled and was frowning, the lines on her face looked much more apparent at the moment.

Ximena looked at her and then glanced at the bunch of white daisies that were in her hand. "You are?" she asked bewildered yet politely.

The woman walked over to the grave-site and placed the daisies in front of the headstone of Ximena's parents. She then took out a cloth that she had brought with her and began wiping the dust from the headstone. "This is the final resting place of my older sister and her husband. Who are you?" she asked and then turned to glance at Ximena. When she saw the astonished expression on Ximena's face, she frowned slightly. "I had noticed flowers in front of their tombstone several times before when I would come here... Were those flowers from you?" she asked as she continued cleaning the headstone.

Ximena's eyes had been fixed on the woman the whole time. First, she was stunned to see her here, and then she felt confused by what the woman had said. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Your sister and her husband are buried here?"

The woman nodded with a small smile and answered, "Yes. Is there anything wrong?" She stopped wiping the tombstone and straightened her back. "The real question is... who are you?" she asked.

"I, I..." Ximena hesitated. Looking at the photos of her parents on the tombstone, she pursed her lips into a tight straight line. However, because there were too many unanswered questions and confusion in her heart, she didn't tell the woman who she was. Instead, she looked at the woman and said, "As far as I know, she didn't have a sister. Right?"

Upon hearing that, the woman's expression had suddenly become solemn. She stroked the tombstone gently as if deep in thought about something and then with a bitter smile on her lips, she mumbled, "It was quite a long time ago. Many things happened so long ago that they seemed to have been forgotten now..." She sighed deeply, without saying any more and then looked at Ximena. "It doesn't matter who you are. Thank you for visiting my sister and my brother-in-law. Sometimes I'm too busy and don't get the chance to come and visit them." While she said that, the woman began to clear the plant litter and weeds around the grave.

Ximena watched what she was doing and didn't move. Instead, she regarded her quietly. Although Ximena couldn't be entirely sure, because she hadn't done a detailed investigation yet, either way, she didn't have any impression of this woman that could possibly be her aunt. Nevertheless, if that woman wasn't her mother's younger sister, then what was the reason for her being here?

With these thoughts playing on in her mind, she stepped forward and joined the woman, removing the weeds around the grave. At the same time, she engaged in small talk with the woman while she weeded. After chatting for a while, Ximena learned that the woman was working as a nanny for a family. She also found out that something had happened to her when she had been younger, and because of that incident, she had never married to this day. However, she didn't go into any details about what it was that had happened, so Ximena had no clue of what it could have been.

By the time they had finished and left the cemetery, it was getting dark, and the street lights were gradually beginning to turn on.

Ximena drove her roadster, heading to the urban area at a moderate speed. She had offered to give the woman a ride out, but the woman declined. She didn't want to inconvenience Ximena and said that she would take the last bus back. That being the case, Ximena hadn't insisted on driving her back.

While Ximena was thinking about the woman, her cellphone rang. After glancing at the screen on the phone, she pressed the key to answer the call.

"Where are you?" Aaron's voice came through from the other end of the line. Regardless of what had happened between them at noon today, or, any other time in the past when she had provoked him, his tone always remained steady and calm. "I'm on my way back to the manor," Ximena answered. Her voice sounded peaceful too.

"I will tell Ken to pick you up there." Aaron stood in front of the French window of his office on the top floor. He lowered his gaze to regard the panorama below the tall building. "We're going to have supper at the seaside today," he said. "Okay," Ximena answered and then hung up the phone. She sped up a little to get to the manor faster.

When she arrived at the manor, Ken was already waiting for her there. Hearing the roar of a car engine, he raised his eyes to look in the direction of the sound. In the blink of an eye, the royal blue Ford Mustang made a turn and pulled up by his side.

Ximena got out of the roadster, and as she walked to the main house, she called back, "I won't be long. I'm going to change my clothes." Half an hour later, she came back out of the manor dressed in a refreshing dress that had replaced the career apparel she had worn previously. Under the light of the night lamps, the rose red colored dress accentuated her lovely fair skin, and her long thick curly locks hung loosely around her shoulders. As a whole, she looked comfortable and relaxed, while giving off an air of charm that people found irresistible to turn their eyes away from.

After they both got into the car, Ximena asked, "How did the idea of having supper there enter his mind?"

As he drove, Ken glanced at her in the rearview mirror and answered respectfully, "Mr. Wang went fishing today and caught a grouper from the sea, and Mrs. Wang caught some shrimps and oysters which were enough to make a good meal. They were kind enough to invite His Highness to have dinner there."

Hearing that, Ximena nodded. Mr. Wang and Mrs. Wang were the old couple who opened a small restaurant by the seaside. It was two years ago when Ximena had dined in their restaurant for the first time. After that delicious meal, Aaron had taken her to watch a horrible scene at a tube-shaped apartment, which she would never forget. However, during that time as well, she had seen a different side to Aaron. She had never known that he could also be gentle towards certain people until then.

That couple, who were elderly now, had used to share their food with Aaron in his childhood days after his mother's death. Ximena guessed that Aaron would probably regard them as family members.

At the thought of that, she lowered her eyes and smiled softly. After a few moments, she remembered something and looked in the rearview mirror and said, "Ken..."

"Yes, Miss Mo!" he answered immediately.

"Find a reliable private detective for me tomorrow," Ximena said. She paused for a moment and then emphasized, "I don't want Aaron to know about it."

Ken glanced back at her from the rearview mirror and noticed the serious expression on her face. He then moved his gaze back to the road ahead. Ken was in a real dilemma and didn't know whether he should say yes or no. He worked for Aaron and vowed to be loyal to him all his life, from the very first day that he had begun. Even though Ximena was different from anyone else, and she was very important to Aaron, she would never take precedence over Aaron in Ken's heart.