The Inconceivable Flame: A Fallen Angel“s Disguise

Locking herself in the bathroom, Ru leaned against the door and took long breaths. All this while, her mind wandering off to the dream she just had. She shook her head vigorously until she felt a bit dizzy and walked inside the glass walls to take a shower.

After an ice-cold shower to numb the bloody itch in her whole body, she picked out a pair of a simple t-shirt and trousers. She didn’t even bother with the binding around her chest since she wasn’t planning on leaving the apartment at all. Also, the tightness in her chest earlier was too much. She needed to give her body some break at some point.

But who would tell this silly girl that the tightness in her chest was definitely not because of a binding she had grown accustomed to.

With a towel, she was drying her hair as she stepped inside her room. Suddenly as her eyes caught sight of something, she stopped in her track. Slowly, she turned her head and stared at the wall clock like it was some foreign thing.

The clock wasn’t foreign, it’d be the time that seemed foreign to her instead.

"Raven, what’s the time?" Her eyes were still looking at the huge clock that didn’t seem like a defected one.

"It’s 12:13 PM." Raven’s reply made the already stunned Ru feel like she was still dreaming.

She slept for almost 11 hours! This was like a historical moment for her. When was the last time she slept for this long? The answer would be NEVER!

Placing the back of her hand on her forehead, she tried to take her temperature but couldn’t tell the difference since both her hand and forehead were cold. Pursing her lips, she held her own wrist with the other hand and concentrated intently.

"I don’t seem to have a fever. But then how can I sleep for this long?" Ru was scratching her head like a fool while trying to understand what changed. Then it suddenly clicked, "He was sleeping beside me." Her eyes grew large considerably at this realization.

’HA! Took you long enough, GENIUS!’ Her conscious used the same sarcasm as she had used on Xiao Zhiren.

Ru made a sour face and with a reluctant look in her eyes, she said, "No way! How is that possible? I might have been too exhausted."

’If that floats your boat then why not...’ Her conscious was active with her reply making Ru roll her eyes. She really didn’t want to waste time having an arguing session with her own self.

With her still damp hair she walked out of the bedroom and came downstairs. Her eyes unconsciously darted around in search of a figure but when she couldn’t find him, she muttered, "He really left?"

’You asked him to leave. Oh, let me rephrase it, you told him to get lost!’ This reminder from her mind made her sour mood to turn bitter now.

"Hmph! I told him to get lost last night as well. Didn’t he disregard my words and still barged inside my house? Forget it! Why am I even wasting my breath on someone like him who smiles at other women even in my dreams? Hmph! Stupid! Jerk!" She kept rambling to herself while walking towards the kitchen.

Looking at the ingredients in her fridge, she decided to make some beef noodles for herself. Home-cooked meals weren’t so bad either. So, with this in mind, she took out the beef and other ingredients from the fridge.

Her cell phone rang somewhere but she wasn’t planning on looking for it until she felt that this person was rather persistent. Just like Xiao Zhiren was last night? With a flicker in her eyes, she ran to find her cellphone and finally found it under the coffee table in the living room.

Without looking at the called id, she touched the screen to attend the call but before she could speak she heard the other person’s voice, "What took you so long?"

Ru’s excitement went down the drain almost immediately as she mumbled, "Oh, it’s JieJie."

"Ouch! That tone of yours just bit me hard." Zhu Jie’s dramatic voice came from the other side as he continued, "Tell me honestly... Whose voice were you anticipating?" His curiosity took the best of him since he could feel the change in Ru even through the phone.

"What? I was not expecting anyone! Stop wasting my time!" Her defiance proved it further to him that she was indeed lying.

As if he had an epiphany, he came up with a plan to trick this narcissistic genius. "I heard you got attacked last night again."

"Mhmm..." Ru put the phone on speaker and started to chop the beef on a cutting board.

"Did you get hurt?" He inquired again.

"How is that possible? Those bounty hunters think too highly of themselves if they think that they can kill this lord. I have much worse up my sleeves." Ru replied confidently exactly along the lines of Zhu Jie’s thoughts. He really expected the same words from this proud-peacock.

"Yes, yes. Our young master Ru is a peerless genius. Who can survive after crossing his path?" He was rolling his eyes as these words left his mouth but inside even he was sure that there was nothing wrong in what she said. She wouldn’t be ruling the Underworld Syndicates of Europe if she was that gullible to let any Tom, Dick, and Harry get to her.

"Indeed. It’s almost impossible to live after messing with me. So, you better behave." Ru added a warning at the end.

"I’m always behaving myself." As he said that, Ru heard the sound of a door in his background and stayed quiet as she heard a loud but familiar voice from his end.

"Ah-Jie!"

"Yes, baby." She heard her best friend’s reply to his wife; Xu Mey and almost puked her guts out.

’She is a grown woman. Actually, a mother of two kids. Stop calling her baby already!’ Obviously, she didn’t scream this out at him. One, she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Second, he wouldn’t listen anyway. So, why waste her own breath? Right?

"Hold Xiao Juan for a while. She’s been crying for a while." Xu Mey’s voice was still as she remembered it. This woman was always in a hurry for some reason. There was no patience in her. But if she wasn’t impulsive, she might have lost a chance to be the wife of Zhu Jie as well.

Now, that Ru noticed, she realized that the loud voice wasn’t Xu Mey’s rather it was from a crying little baby. Just the crying sound made Ru cringe for some reason. Urgh! Her dislike for babies was getting to her.

"Ohh, my little princess, come to dad." Even her best friend’s sickly sweet voice made her feel sick.

Then she heard the door closing again and some soft murmurs which she couldn’t understand or rather didn’t want to.

"Hey! I get it that I like sweets but you don’t have to overload me with your perfect family love and sweetness." Ru’s voice made Zhu Jie smile as he lightly patted his daughter and laid her on his chest to sleep.

"Ru’er, were you expecting Xiao Zhiren’s call?" His question was way out of her expectations since their initial topic was certainly not this.

Perhaps, that’s why she replied with, "Yes." She bit her tongue after the words were already said. What a bummer! Why couldn’t she just control her bloody mouth before her best friend?

"I knew it!" Zhu Jie’s voice was soft but Ru could feel his smugness all the way there in her kitchen. She knew if his little baby girl wasn’t beside him, he would have screamed at the top of his lungs by now. "Now, come clean already. What happened since the last time I saw you?"

The way he asked made Ru think of those gossipy aunties who keeps an eye on the society romance. Imagining Zhu Jie in that scenario brought a big smile on her face. The idea was too funny for her.

Ru sighed and decided to talk to Zhu Jie. It was better to talk to someone since the dream from earlier was really unsettling for some odd reason. As she narrated the whole dream, Zhu Jie was left bewildered.

As she finished, she waited for his reply but Zhu Jie was left trying to digest everything first.

"Woah! That man really knows what he wants." That was the reply she got from him.

"And what is it that he wants?" She asked.

"Dumbo! He wants you!" Zhu Jie snapped at her. "Aiyo, my little princess, can you hear that? This is your dumb godmother. Don’t turn out to be clueless like her." Ru pouted as she heard him complaining about her to his daughter. "Except for being clueless, I’ll let you take every other quality of hers."

Ru felt a lot better with his last words... Indeed, this was still her best friend who chose his wife over her but really, who remembers that? Obviously, she didn’t!

’Liar! A BIG FAT LIAR!’ Her conscious nagged making her scowl but she would never accept it.