Hearing that, Ximena's eyes turned redder. She was about to shed tears. She was so thankful to meet her protector during her childhood days. Hanson was the one who had fought for her in one of the darkest moments of her life. Ximena was so grateful to him, and thoughts of how to repay him run wildly on her head. In her childhood, nobody except this elder brother had helped her. He had even spared some bread for her. It had not been rancid or moldy. Instead, it had been a piece of delicious bread. He had told her that he would steal a new loaf of bread for her the next day. That was why she remembered him so clearly. She had longed to see him that day and the bread that he would steal for her. However, he had never appeared again since then.
"You didn't cry when you were a little girl, but now your eyes look teary when you have grown up," with a beaming smile, Hanson teased Ximena while stroking her head softly. "All right. I'm sorry for not seeing you that day and not saying goodbye to you before I left. I promised that I would bring you bread the next day."
"You must buy me some bread to eat until I don't want to eat anymore!" forcing the tears back in her eyes, Ximena said in a childish tone as if she were a child who wanted to be spoiled.
Looking at her, Hanson shook his head with a faint smile. He was about to say something when he saw her eyes turned redder as if her tears were about to spill over her eyes right away. He could do nothing but nod and say hastily,"Okay okay okay...I'm going to buy all the bread in QY Island for you. You can eat bread until you feel sick."
"No... I only want to eat that bread, like the one you stole for me," Ximena snuffled. With her arms around Hanson's, she said,"Hanson, now that we meet again, never disappear all of a sudden without letting me know in advance. Huh, promise me!" Now Ximena behaved as if she met her family member again all of a sudden. She forgot everything else completely. She poured all the affection she had for her family into Hanson.
Gradually, the restaurant became quiet. Everybody at the wine party fixed their eyes on the two of them. Everyone went curious as to how Hanson could display intimacy with Ximena in front of Aaron. They were excited as to what will happen next. Staring at them, Aaron's eyes turned dark slightly. Then he walked forward to Ximena.
"All right. I will never leave you behind again. Okay?" Holding her hand, Hanson said in a tone as if he was trying to soothe a crying baby. Different from Ximena, who was immersed in her own thoughts, he noticed everybody else was looking at them. Although he didn't care about them, he knew it was improper for them to behave like this, because the wine party was hosted by Aaron. "Won't Aaron mind us being like this?" he asked.
Hearing Aaron's name, Ximena came to herself and realized what she was doing abruptly. When she looked around and found that she had become the focus of everybody else, she blushed in embarrassment all of a sudden. Finally, she looked at Aaron, who was walking towards her.
While Hanson didn't care a scrap about the awkward sight around them, he ignored them thoroughly. Seeing that Aaron was coming to them, he took the lead in delivering his hand to him. While shaking hands with Aaron, he said,"Nice to meet you. Sorry for not introducing myself properly just now. I'm like...Ximena's brother."
Surprised by what he had heard, Aaron frowned slightly, as if he had doubts to what Hanson had said.
"I spent my childhood at tube-shaped apartments and I met Ximena once there at that time..." wearing a serious expression on his face, Hanson explained, slightly bending forward. "She is only a sister to me! She had a rough time in her childhood. If you feel that it was probably impossible for you to take good care of her for her lifetime, for the sake of Mr. Brian Long, please let me take her away and help her look for her own happiness." Because of the smile on Hanson's face from the start of their conversation to the end, people around thought that they were quite familiar with each other and were just getting along well with each other. Taking a look at the expression on Aaron's face, Hanson added,"Of course, if you're sure that you can take good care of her for her lifetime, I don't want to deprive her of her own happiness. After all, the whole of QY Island is under your control now. Under your care, I won't need to worry about her at all."
"She will not leave!" These few words were all that Aaron said to Hanson.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Love Began with the First Meeting