Chapter 1

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I’m missing you right now

Thinking of you wherever I wander

All regrets are not the future

All love is inevitable in the end

Cannot escape from the pain

- NanHai by Liang Bo

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It’s been 3 years since I spent the most intense moment of my life. It all began in late spring of 2018. It seemed like it lasted an eternity, or maybe too short to be real, all I could say is it was the most mesmerizing experience that branded me forever.

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As a professional performer, I travelled all over China and sometimes to overseas. So, there I was, unpacking my trunk yet again in a hotel room I was to stay for the next few weeks for a concert when I sensed a ping from my phone.

As soon as I saw the screen, I halted and swallowed the urge to throw it very far away or destroy it right then and there. I didn’t need to see from whose it was nor what it was written.

— Hi. Hope life has treated you kind, my little star. Miss you. XZ

So it’s already been a year since I last received the same message. A message from an unknown number. It was always from an unregistered sender because I changed my number randomly for security reasons, yet this message never failed to reach me.

I sighed in resignation knowing the effect it’d have on me and opened up the message. I traced after the signature as if in search for a non-existent warmth emanating from him. It brought back painful memories.

Him calling me “little star” was an inside joke between us. He used to call me that when we were just the two of us. Still too vivid and still too raw to reminisce. I suppose it hasn’t passed enough time to disregard such a short and seemingly meaningless message.

Although it was an affair meant to end since the beginning, I seemed incapable to let it go even after all these years. That annoyed me and destroyed me all at once. I wish I could just be done and get it over with. Yet the message that comes timely every time the same day of the year was enough to ignite my emotions and that was when I realized I’m still chained down to him.

He refused to stay with me when I begged him to, yet after all these years apart, his presence still silently hovered around me. I gritted my my teeth.

He’s cruel that way.

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We met in a private party of a high ranked military officer that invited me as his daughter’s chaperone, claiming she was a great fan of mine and whatnot.

I let out a heavy sigh when my manager handed me a blank envelope with no signature that meant no names were to be mentioned. Clearly, I had no say in this job since if you want to keep a job in China, you had to be on the good side of the government. When you are summoned, you simply obey, no questions asked.

Being this a highly exclusive private party, they made me sign a confidentiality contract where I had to swear that anything and everything I see or hear must not be divulged. Did I mention I had no say in this? There was little I could do as a rookie actor that I was, but to comply.

So when the day came, very reluctantly, I wore the tux they gifted me for the occasion.

Silver tux with black embroidery, seriously? Well, whatever. I’m no better than a dress-up doll tonight.

As exclusive and ostentatious party that it was, the venue was the Liu Mansion in a secluded suburbs that could only be reached by helicopter and I resigned myself to became a clown and perhaps something else for the night.

At the ball room, I was introduced to the General Liu Guohua, the host of the party and then to his daughter, Liu Yuxi, who just turned of age. And tonight was her first introduction to the inner-circle of the General.

When I approached him to exchange greetings, he subtly drew closer and whispered to my ear that I was not to put a finger on his daughter, if I wanted to see another day. Like I wanted anything else. I wholeheartedly agreed and swore an oath contentedly.

The Liu girl had a square jaw with overall small facial features and was very short. I totally looked like a ludicrous silver peacock beside her. So it was a matter of enduring the excruciatingly boring evening, wearing a fake smile on my face. Not that I wasn’t good at it, but I wished to be anywhere else but here. The Liu girl preened all evening among the guests with me in tow. The majority of the guests were elderly military officers and government officials clad in either dark uniforms or formal tux. Everywhere I trudged along with her, I felt scrutinized by the male guests and felt, ogling gazes on me in more than a few occasions. Old creeps.

As night deepened and the guests were scattering from the main ball room, I was summoned to another room for gentlemen only reunion. I was half relieved to finally be excused and half perplexed as to what to expect next.

When I entered the dimly lit room, I spotted him. A tall, young man with clear-cut features, pristinely dressed in a tailored black tux. He stood out from the crowd right away, as though a spotlight was chasing him. He had fair skin, dark, lush hair and the most amazing brown eyes.

Much to my luck, the other man seemed to notice me as well and with a feline grace, he snaked his way toward me.

“Hi, there, little star. Enjoying the night?”

He said lightly and handed me an extra glass of Champaign he snatched from a waiter on his way. But my eyes were transfixed to his luscious red lips.

“Uh, er, hi yourself. Thanks for the drink.”

*I blurted. Damn, Yibo, how smart of you! *I cursed under my breath. What am I, a school boy or something?

He looked me in the eye and then smiled, the most enticing smile I’ve ever seen and I couldn’t help but gawk.

“So, I assume you’re the one to offer your service tonight?”

“Uh, service? What service? You mean the chaperone thing, is it?”

Bewildered, I asked him back. Suddenly, the gorgeous man seemed alarmed.

“You haven’t been informed?”

“Excuse me, but what am I missing?”

“Come with me. Quick!”

Never mind my puzzlement, he pulled me by my arm and went out to the ground level balcony and jumped off of it, all the while pulling me with him. We promptly crossed the perfectly pruned garden and after some more jogging, a mortar building appeared from among the carefully planted fruit trees and well-trimmed bushes.

He opened the door to the square construction and shoved me inside.

“Be a good pup and stay put, okay? I’ll be back soon”

“What? Wait! Hey!!”

Before I knew it, he locked the door from the outside and I was a captive.

TBC…

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