Milady's Fine Gentleman

These past months she had been quite contented with her simple life. She had managed to set up her own little clay pots and vases store in the village. The villagers treated her well, despite her weird appearance – always wearing a veiled hat.

She felt secured, now that she had known her bodyguard, and had decided to keep him close to her most of the time.

However, the bodyguard had been acting so much weirder every single day – a little bit more than the previous day. She"s beginning to be worried about him.

"Zhu Li Qiang. Are you feeling ill?" She asked him one day, while manning her store. "May I?" She extended her hand, towards his forehead.

Before he could respond, Teng Man Rui placed her tiny hand on his forehead. Zhu Li Qiang was electrocuted at their contact. He stared at her, eyes full of torment. "Why has such fate befallen me? I cannot pursue this girl."

But then he acted contrary to what his mind was telling him. He held her hand, the hand she laid on his forehead. Teng Man Rui was taken aback and withdrew her hand abruptly. But, she decided not to say anything.

Zhu Li Qiang did not say anything either. He just followed her face, her movements with his tormented eyes.

A few more days pa.s.sed and the air grew stale and more awkward between them.

He sighed. "Yet another unrequited love, as I see it. I"m probably cursed."

"You"ve been down lately. Are you really alright? Do you want to go to the village clinic and have yourself checked?" Teng Man Rui suggested.

"Don"t mind me, milady. Perhaps, I"m just a little bit… lovesick." He was watching her reactions intently. The lady did not even react, her face stoic, as if she had not heard his little hint.

He sighed.

He had been giving her both subtle and direct hints, and he knew all of it had reached her. But, Teng Man Rui was subtler and had kept silent about it.

After a long silence, Teng Man Rui answered. "Not that I"m looking down on you or anything, but… There are lines you cannot cross. You are here for a purpose. You are serving me and my family. I hope you can act accordingly. This will be my first and last warning. Or I can do without you."

Zhu Li Qiang"s tour had ended a long time ago. He had informed his group, and his family that he would be left behind for a longer vacation. He simply could not leave this lovely lady beside him, even if it meant more torment for him.

He went to a joiner trip to mend his broken heart, but here he was, finding out that his broken heart was being broken again, far worse, and shattered to a million times more pieces than before his trip.

Regardless, his shattered, broken and unwell heart had found some qi energy and had miraculously been surviving and had even started beating again for Teng Man Rui. And this time, his heart was beating so fast and so demanding – nothing like anything he felt previously, not even how he felt with Xue Jinxu before. His petty infatuation for Xue Jinxu was only a tiny puny little dot compared to the humungous affection and veneration he had for Teng Man Rui.

It was tormenting him knowing that this lady could not be his, ever - knowing that this lady had chosen another "celestial being" like her and would never turn her head towards him, a mere mortal. He was convinced that he does not simply love her, rather, he venerates her, the ground that she walked on, the things that she had held. He could rather believe that he would have wors.h.i.+pped her, if it would mean starting a new religion. That was how serious he was feeling for her.

And still, he believed that Teng Man Rui was a celestial being, a tennyo visiting earth. If he had pushed just a little he would realize that indeed it was not the case.

Honestly speaking, if he could only find a confidante, most probably he would have been tagged as mad for believeing such celestial beings exist, and for considering this weird lady who always wears a veiled hat an actual tennyo who had descended from the heavens.

Too bad for him, Teng Man Rui was too strong in her resolve. She always turned a blind eye on his insinuations.

"Do you know, milady, that your voice is music to my ears?" Zhu Li Qiang faced her, defeated by anguish.

"Have you not heard what I just said? Are you mocking me?" Teng Man Rui was getting annoyed at being shrugged off.

He sighed again. "I"ve heard all of it. I"m a mere n.o.body. You cannot look into my direction. And you have a devil for a boyfriend. Fantastic!" He laughed wryly.

"Yeah. It has been past three months already…" She said sadly, quite unexpectedly. "Can you believe, I"m actually feeling a bit sad that he has not found me yet. Not that I want to because it will defeat the purpose of this whole hiding thing, but, it makes me feel as if he doesn"t care about me anymore."

"We"re simply having a cool-off. We simply need to sort it out. I"d like to believe that I am the only one who can understand him no matter who he is or what he has become."

"I still believe that he can change for the better." Teng Man Rui shared her deepest sentiments. "I"m doing this for him. For us."

"I"m hoping that he had done his own soulsearching this whole time, and had emerged a changed person, a better version of himself."

"Does she know that she"s tormenting me more with her words?" He scowled at the horizons while trying to keep his silence.

"She"s doing it deliberately to push me away." He realized.

"I wish the devil has forgotten her altogether." Jaws and fists both clenched, he prayed to the other G.o.ds in the heavens.

"I wish I can steal her hagoromo so that she won"t be able to return to where she came from."

"How I wish I have a shot with her." A prayer which he knew would never have a chance in this lifetime.

Alas, days continue to pa.s.s, yet Teng Man Rui continued to be cold to him. One day he had reached his heart"s limits, and decided to leave her, for good, without any promise of meeting her again.

He left a letter at her dining table, probably after dinner from the night before.