"Where is Yuan?" Qin Qu asked as he noticed that there was only Xiao Zhi Ren at home. He had been gone to the United States to deal with some matters and only today, he managed to find his way back.
"He went out with Rong." Qin Qu quirked his brows in surprise.
'Did he just said 'Rong'? When did they become so close? I was only gone for a couple of weeks.' Qin Qu thought to himself as he found this familiarity rather odd.
"And you let him go? You'd always been overprotective of your brother, what changed?" He asked indecisively.
"It doesn't matter as long as Rong is with him." Xiao Zhi Ren answered indifferently as he looked through his emails.
"You have got to be kidding with me!" Qin Qu couldn't believe that his best friend was actually trusting a stranger with his own brother. "Have you heard of all those rumors about Mr. Xie Rong? He's known to be a ruthless tyrant. He shouldn't even be the last person you could trust your brother to."
Xiao Zhi Ren gave him a look that left him silent. "I have heard of all the rumors."
"So? Do you think those are just rumors?" Qin Qu inquired.
Xiao Zhi Ren got up from his chair and walked towards the windows to look outside at the dark night. "No... I actually think that all the rumors are true but those people don't know Rong in person. Leaving Yaun in his care is essential for now." Qin Qu frowned at his sentence as he went on, "I've protected Yuan so well that he'd grown to be extremely sensitive. His perspective of life and people are all aligned with my own self and I want to change that. Yuan needs a role model like Rong in his life who likes to question every single thing in life."
Qin Qu kept listening attentively while Xiao Zhi Ren spoke with his gaze stuck on the outside world. "I want Yuan to see the world with Rong's eyes. There is something in this world that Yuan can only learn from Rong." Xiao Zhi Ren wasn't just saying it. He believed this wholeheartedly. He had seen Ru and Xiao Zhi Yuan's interactions and he was sure that Ru could teach Xiao Zhi Yuan that he wasn't able to.
Xiao Zhi Ren had plenty of arguments with Ru and yet he felt that none of those arguments were meaningless. Because in the end, he always learned something absolutely new.
Like earlier when Ru came to take Yuan with her, he had said, "Take care of my brother. He doesn't usually go out at this time of the night."
Ru had answered him with, "Zhi, your overprotectiveness towards little squirrel is giving me wrong ideas."
"What kind of ideas?" asked Xiao Zhi Ren while furrowing his brows.
Although inwardly, Ru was thinking that his protectiveness must have come from a deep scar, on the outside, she didn't show it. "Nothing special..." She shrugged her shoulders and added, "I just think that you should let your brother grow now."
"I just don't want him to get hurt," said Xiao Zhi Ren matter-of-factly.
"And how will he grow up without being hurt? In judo's first lesson, we learn to fall before they teach us how to stand back up. That means, in life, we have to fall before we could learn to fly." She took a pause as she patted his shoulder and continued, "Don't hide your brother behind yourself. While protecting him for all these years, you have already learned to face this world. Now, it's his turn to learn. And you can't be an obstacle in that."
Xiao Zhi Ren had no answer for her since she loved to leave him in a daze. It was true that he had been hiding Xiao Zhi Yuan behind himself but he had his reasons. He'd been scared of losing his brother. He didn't want to experience the same pain all over again which he went through back then.
Right at this moment, the doorbell rang and pulled Xiao Zhi Ren out of his reverie.
When Xiao Zhi Ren opened the door, he saw Ru smiling at him with her charming green eyes stuck on his face. "Hi, big bear!" Xiao Zhi Yuan entered the house with frozen yogurt in his hand. And that's when Xiao Zhi Ren noticed the ice cream cone in Ru's hands.
She had three-tier ice cream with three different flavors; vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. "I've dropped your brother off safely. Just as I promised." With that, Ru turned to leave but she was yanked back as Xiao Zhi Ren pulled her hoodie from the back.
"Don't you think it's not the right time for ice cream?" Xiao Zhi Ren asked before Ru could even glare at him for yanking her like that again.
"I guess Zhi, you haven't heard before that the best time to eat ice cream is... ALWAYS!" She beamed while taking a bite off of the chocolate scoop at the top of her cone.
"What I mean is, it's already cold enough outside, do you have to eat such cold snack as well?" Xiao Zhi Ren didn't know when he adopted the habit of talking this much but apparently, he always enjoyed bickering with Ru over these small and insignificant matters.
"What cold weather? It's never too cold for ice cream. You can only have the real taste of ice cream in winter. Eating ice cream in summer is such an ordinary thing. That's why I love ice cream in winter and hot chocolate in summers." Listening to her, Xiao Zhi Ren couldn't help but smile. As always, she again managed to make him feel amused. "Also, spring is right around the corner. Let's not fuss over my ice cream."
She again turned to leave but Xiao Zhi Ren's voice made her stop walking. "Where did you take Yuan?"
Ru scratched her head sheepishly before saying, "It's top secret. I can't tell you." She didn't know how he'll react and she wasn't in the mood to be told that she did something wrong.
Xiao Zhi Ren rolled his eyes at her reply. "So, did you show my brother how to fall?" He asked taking a moment.
Ru smiled back at him and said, "Apparently, I can't bring myself to push him down. Rather than teaching him how to rise after falling down. I'd teach him how to fly. As for falling down, I'll make sure nobody gets the chance to do that with him." Although she said the last sentence in a low voice, Xiao Zhi Ren still managed to catch her words.
Before leaving, Ru left a few words behind for Xiao Zhi Ren, "I know you're trying to be perfect for the sake of your brother. Try not to disappoint him as a person since it'd be a painful lesson for him."