The Inconceivable Flame: A Fallen Angel's Disguise

Xiao Zhi-Ren dropped his brother off at one of the biggest bookstores in the mall before he left with Ru for the supermarket at the ground floor of the mall. With twinkling green eyes, Ru followed Xiao Zhi-Ren inside the huge supermarket. She stood before the aisles, closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath.

"What are you doing?" Her concentration was broken by Xiao Zhi-Ren’s curious voice beside her.

"I’m trying to find the food section. I heard there will be plenty of free food samples there." She rubbed her hands excitedly with a wide grin on her face.

Xiao Zhi-Ren’s face scrunched up a bit as he asked, "You came for free food samples?"

"Yup!" She answered in all honesty since there was no need to hide such a small matter.

Xiao Zhi-Ren facepalmed himself and shook his head. While he was distracted, Ru was already turning to find the food section but her collar was tightly clutched from behind making her clench her fists.

"Mr. Xie, where is your cellphone?" Although his question was unexpected, Ru didn’t pay attention to it at all.

"Mr. Xiao, let me make it clear," she lifted her index finger before him and added, "First, no-one dares to hold my collar. Stop doing that! It might be my last warning to you." She further lifted her middle finger and went on, "Second, stop calling me Mr. Xie. It’s really annoying." Finally, she uncurled her thumb and said, "Third, I left my phone at the apartment."

Xiao Zhi-Ren gave her a forced smile which wasn’t sincere at all and reciprocated her actions by lifting his index finger before her. "First, I’ll try not to hold your collar again." Obviously, Ru felt that he was insincere with his words but didn’t interrupt him as he continued, "Second, how can you leave your cell phone at home? Don’t tell me, that’s also a waste of space for you." Ru scratched her head sheepishly since she found cell phones to be really a waste. "Third, what else am I supposed to call you if not Mr. Xie?"

Ru waved her hand saying, "You can just call me Ru-" she bit her own tongue at this slip of the tongue.

"Huh?" Xiao Zhi-Ren frowned in confusion but Ru tactfully altered her words.

"Just call me Rong. Yes! You can just call me Rong." Ru avoided his gaze trying hard not to look straight at him.

After observing her with suspicion, Xiao Zhi-Ren said, "Okay! I’ll call you Rong. But..." he took a brief pause before adding, "You have to stop calling me Mr. Xiao."

Ru tapped her chin in a thoughtful manner and nodded as she said, "Alright! I can do that but I told you I can’t call you Zhi-Ren. Therefore, I’ll call you Zhi."

"Why don’t you just call me Ren?" Xiao Zhi-Ren suggested in a plain voice.

Ru shrugged her shoulders and answered, "Just because I don’t want to." Does she need a reason for that? No! She didn’t think so! Then she turned to head towards the food section again but felt a tug at her back as someone pulled her back by holding her sweatshirt. Ru tilted her head to glare at Xiao Zhi-Ren but he disregarded it.

"Since you have left your cell phone at home, it’s better that you stay with me. I don’t want to waste time by looking for you." Ru opened her mouth to tell him that she had a smartwatch on her wrist, he could just call her there but he didn’t give her a chance. "Sshhh... I know you love to talk but let’s not say a word for a while." Saying that holding her sweatshirt, he almost dragged her with himself towards the aisles.

Ru joined Xiao Zhi-Ren in his grocery shopping reluctantly. Notice the keyword; reluctantly! But her reluctance was thrown out the window and was even trampled on by a truck as her gaze fell on the shelves brimming with junk food. Her eyes nearly popped open as she ran towards a shelf and picked up a few boxes of choco pie, throwing them right in the trolly. Xiao Zhi-Ren gave her an inquiring look but she wasn’t even sparing him a glance since her mind was only focused on the pile of food that was yet calling out to her.

’Take me! Take me, young master Ru!’ Ru could even hear the shoutings of all those packets before her. How could she possibly ignore such a call for help? She wasn’t that much of a heartless one.

Xiao Zhi-Ren stood watching as the trolly was being assaulted by the piles of Doritos, pretzels, wavy’s and the likes. He was speechless at the foodie before his eyes but instead of finding her a nuisance, he was beginning to feel, ’Does he only have food to accompany him? How much of a loner is he to find solace in a bunch of food?’

With this thought, Xiao Zhi-Ren felt a strange sadness engulfing his heart and he didn’t try to stop Ru anymore. But he still found the smile on Ru’s face to be captivating. He had seen her smile all the time and yet at that moment, he felt like it was the very first time for him to see her real smile which she wasn’t wearing as a mask to hide her despondency.

Ru with her own happy thoughts skipped around the aisles as if she had found the treasure of her life. While picking some candies, she caught sight of Xiao Zhi-Ren checking a jar of sauce. "Hey, Zhi!" Xiao Zhi-Ren looked at her in astonishment since the way she just called him sounded quite cordial. "Why are you buying this pasta sauce? You should make it fresh at home."

"It takes too much time," Xiao Zhi-Ren answered looking through a whole range of jars.

"So? You’re not the one who’s going to cook. Isn’t your chef quite skilled?"

"I don’t even have a maid at my place. Do you really think I have a chef?" Ru thought for a moment. He was right. He had been raising his brother all alone. If he didn’t even bother to hire a housemaid for cleaning, why would he have a chef for food? Then the food last time...

"You!" Ru pointed an accusing finger at him. "You lied to me last time."

"You just believed it. It’s not my fault." Xiao Zhi-Ren shrugged his shoulders as if he wasn’t in the wrong at all.

Both of them bought other necessary stuff and Ru even helped him in picking out some fresh vegetables using her expertise. Xiao Zhi-Ren was even impressed with her way of explaining him the art of choosing a fresh tomato. It went a bit like this, "Tomatoes are essential ingredients since they can be used in plenty of ways. And I’m not being biased just because I love tomatoes." Now, that part was a lie. She was definitely being biased at the moment. But who cares? Xiao Zhi-Ren didn’t! "Okay! We should first check why are we buying tomatoes. For instance, are we going to use them for sandwiches, salads or sauce, and stuff."

"What’s the difference?" He asked amusingly since he was enjoying her long speech.

"There is a huge difference here. For salads and stir-fries, we can opt for cherry tomatoes since they are sweet in taste..." Just like that, she spent half an hour in making him understand this art of tomatoes which she excelled in. Xiao Zhi-Ren realized that she wasn’t just fond of eating, she was fond of being Mr. Know-it-all as well.

"Rong, do you know how to cook?" It took Ru a moment to realize that he was calling her.

"Me? There is nothing that this young master can’t do." Ru tried to brag before him arrogantly but Xiao Zhi-Ren didn’t found her to be narcissistic. He reckoned that the young ’man’ before him really was unpredictable, so it wouldn’t be odd for ’him’ to have more than one skill.

"Do you like learning that much?" He asked as they made their way out of the vegetable section.

"Haven’t you learned in Confucius, ’Life is finite. While knowledge is infinite.’ I like to learn because that makes me believe that the more knowledge one have, the more fulfilling life one has lived." Ru answered coming back to her scholar version. "Oh, look! There are the free samples!" Ru tried to run away from him but Xiao Zhi-Ren’s voice halted her.

"I’ll buy you food after getting out of here."

Turning to look at Xiao Zhi-Ren, she asked, "You really are going to buy me food?" Xiao Zhi-Ren nodded his head. "You’ll have to also invite me over for food as well." He readily agreed and she came back to pull Xiao Zhi-Ren with him towards the checkouts and said, "Don’t be a killjoy later on."

"I won’t!" Xiao Zhi-Ren promised solemnly as he couldn’t help but lift his hand to ruffle her fluffy hair.

The scene of them together was to behold and lost in their own world, both Xiao Zhi-Ren and Ru didn’t notice the looks they were receiving from all around. Both were tall, had well-built bodies, along with those striking features, they were the true definition of eye-candy for girls. One was like a refined angel and the other was akin to a rebellious demon. Oddly, they complimented each other perfectly.

They didn’t have any issue at the checkout except for the fact that the cashier kept smiling at them coquettishly. Both both of them didn’t notice it since they still had something to bicker about as always.

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