Unexpected Second Chance at Love

After dropping Yue Ling off at the new house, Liu Shan did not return home to enjoy the rest of his day like everyone else. He stopped by a convenience store to buy beer and cigarettes. From there, he drove in the opposite direction of his apartment.

Through the bustling streets of Imperial, he did not stop for thirty minutes until he arrived in an almost secluded part of the city.

Parking his car on the side of the empty road, he grabs the things he bought and stepped out of the car.

"Ha—"

Although the sky was clear, one can see the small, misty cloud of his breath when he sighed.

Holding the case of beer in one hand, he places the pack of cigarette in his coat pocket and walks away from his car.

Coming to a path with dried leaves on the ground, he can tell that maintenance hasn’t been here for a while to clean the place.

Through his steps, he arrives in front of a black metal fence. Pushing the door part open, his lonely figure enters.

Inside stood many tombstones in a neatly order, but he continues in his steps until he reached the end of the pathway. Making a turn, he finally stops in front of a tall gray marble tombstone.

Staring down at it, he stares at the picture of a young and healthy man smiling. He looked so free, like nothing in the world could disturb or make him angry.

Under the picture were the words ’Chen Yifeng, Beloved by family, cherished by friends’ engraved nicely.

However, staring at the words Beloved by family, Liu Shan reach out to wipe the dust on the tombstone with his free hand and scoff a sarcastic chuckle.

How can someone be loved by his family when it was his own family who murdered him.

He lowers to sit on the ground and set the case of beer down. Taking a can out, he opens it and set it in front of the tombstone.

"It’s been a while, my brother."

Saying this, he takes a cigarette out and lights it. Doing the same thing as the beer, he place it down on the tombstone.

When he finished, he opens a beer and light another cigarette for himself.

Sitting face to face with the tombstone, he stares at the photo of Chen Yifeng in silence.

Through the long silence, the full can of beer in one hand remains untouched as the cigarette in his other hand burned on its own without him smoking it.

He was never a person who smokes, but Chen Yifeng did. Holding the cigarette makes him feel like his deceased friend is still here with him.

Thinking of something, a faint smile curl on his lips and he finally takes a sip of the beer.

"Yue Ling couldn’t come see you, but... she finally met someone after Shin left us. She is doing great and going to be a mother soon. Not only that, she finally revealed herself as De L’amour’s designer and won first place against An Qing."

Saying this, he chuckles to himself and takes another sip of the beer.

"It’s funny isn’t it? She’s the one who created An Qing to support De L’amour and yet, she had to compete with her own company."

As his words finish, silence came again. Taking a deep breath, he slowly turn his head to look at the many surrounding tombstones.

"I guess you’re not that lonely since you have so many friends here with you. Are they nice... like you?"

He looks back at the man in the photo and he sighs a chuckle. However, this time, he felt as if someone had grabbed his heart and yanked it out of his chest.

"You know, most people would want the person who hurt them to suffer, but you... you said for us to forgive because she was your sister... you said to give her a chance..."

His lower lip lightly trembles as he struggles to put on a smile.

When he first met Chen Yifeng, he finally understood what it felt like to have a brother.

Chen Yifeng was the kind of person who would forgive someone even if they had wronged him. He was always the one who said to forgive and see the person for all the good they have done.

Thinking this, Liu Shan couldn’t help but softly chuckle. There was once a time when he had told Chen Yifeng, he should become a monk for having such kindness.

As he thought of the past, his trembling lips began to tremble tremendously as his vision began to blur.

"I know you didn’t want us to, but today... today we avenged you..."

His words continue in his normal tone until he could only choke his words out as the tears, he fought so hard to hold in slowly slides down his cheek.

"Every day... something happens, and I wish you were here to witness it with me."

He inhale a mouthful of air in agony and stares at Chen Yifeng. He tries to force a smile, but instead he choked out a heart aching sob.

"Why... Why didn’t you tell us sooner? Did you think we would judge your family?"

Even though he knew the person was no longer there, he stares at the person in the photo as if waiting for the man to answer his questions.

"Were we not like family to you at all? Why did you do something so stupid and decided on your own that we should know after you were gone?"

As he waited, only the sound of the light passing breeze answers him while the man in the photo kept a smile.

His lip trembles as more tears fell one after another with pain and anger crawling inside him.

"Answer me! Tell me why?!"

He roars in a hoarse voice at the man even though he already knew.

He knows that no matter how much he screams or shout, Chen Yifeng will not answer him.

His head lowers and he could only sob a faint whisper.

"Why...."

Yue Ling had allowed Chen Limei to be the CEO because Chen Yifeng had asked in his letter. He asked to give his sister a chance. However, they had given Chen Limei so many chances to redeem her crimes, but she did not stop. Instead, it only continued.

Even after Chen Yifeng passed away, no one from the Chen family came to pay him a visit. From the moment Chen Limei took on the role as CEO the Chen family became blinded by wealth.

That is how you know money can change someone so much that they even forget those they love.

Liu Shan stares with streams of tears down his cheeks. He didn’t care if he was a grown man crying with snot coming down his nose. For the pain of losing someone close to him, he would cry to the end of the world.

His eyes slowly close as more tears slid down his cheeks.

If he could go back in time, he would have chosen not to take the role as Yue Ling’s assistant.

He would swap places with Chen Yifeng and be the one who sat in the CEO seat of An Qing. The difference between them was that he was able to handle any mishap that comes his way while Chen Yifeng was too kind of a person.

If it had been him, there would have been no brother or sister to fight with him for the position.

If it had been him, there would have been no one to scheme against him.

If it had been him, Chen Yifeng would be standing in front of him right now and not a tombstone.

If only....