Chapter 24 Being Alone & Being Lonely

Xiao Zhi-Ren was stupified seeing Ru before his eyes. She had worn the cap on her head as he had seen before. Her green eyes were looking ahead as she rode a sleek black... bicycle?

He had the urge to shout at her, ’Like seriously? I mean are you for real?’

When Ru told him earlier that she has the ride of her own. Never in his wildest dreams would he have guessed that the so-called ride was actually a bicycle. The bicycle was classy and oddly, under Ru’s tall frame, it didn’t feel odd.

If anything Xiao Zhi-Ren found the young ’man’ quite elegant riding that bicycle. ’How can he do everything so elegantly?’ He thought to himself as Ru’s figure vanished from his sight.

Earlier when he saw Ru drinking tea, Xiao Zhi-Ren couldn’t help but think that Ru must have been a part of some real aristocratic family because of that distinguished aura along with those rich refined manners. One couldn’t fake those things even if they want to. For Xiao Zhi-Ren, the green-eyed ’man’ was a perfect example of noble bearings with a calm persona.

Xiao Zhi-Ren could only shake his head at the prejudice he has had since the time he used to live with his father’s family in Imperial. He was taught even in Ji Family house that noble men like them should always allow people to only see their dignified selves. And with time, he started thinking that perhaps money was the way to be dignified among people.

Today, this stranger taught him another lesson. One needed to have cultural values and an enchanting aura that wouldn’t need the help of money to show your noble status. This made him think even more highly of Ru.

The car revved back on the road towards his destination with his mind stuck on the peculiar chairman of Metrix Consortium who could have bought any car he wanted and yet chose to drive a bicycle.

On the contrary, Ru had nothing in her mind. She was aimlessly riding the bicycle which she specifically bought as means for her transport.

When she was young, the car was a foreign thing for her. Why? Because until the age of 13, the younger generation was kept away from modern technology.

In other words, the younger generation was taught to survive without modern technology until the age of 13. They were taught martial arts, traditional medicine, and other basic studies. But at the age of 13, Ru was finally introduced to the real technology. It wasn’t that her clan was benighted when it came to technology. Quite the contrary actually.

Ru’s family clan was much more advanced than the world around them. They just liked keeping their advancement hidden since it could cause a lot of uproars.

But even being exposed to such level of technological advancement, Ru was unfazed and showed no particular interest in learning about it. She knew how to drive a car but her life’s training had molded her in a way that she always ran away from driving.

Also, riding a bicycle or walking on foot both would make her tire out and that could help in her sleep at some level. That’s why she chose to buy a bicycle instead of a car.

In her thoughts, she didn’t realize when she reached the school district of Imperial. She looked around and was quite surprised that she was back at this place. In her subconsciousness, she was aware that she was hoping to meet that aloof and cold teenager who called her Oniisan making one of her biggest wish come true. But she tried to reason with herself that she only came to eat those ramens again.

Her eyes were darting around looking for something or rather someone but she couldn’t see him. She sat inside the ramen shop and ordered a bowl of Vegan ramen bowl for herself.

Even while eating, her whole attention was at the door. But to her dismay, Xiao Zhi-Yuan didn’t show up. She sighed heavily and left the shop after paying for the ramen. She was feeling grumpy. Why? She couldn’t tell.

She wanted to hear Oniisan in his voice again and yet she didn’t. She was confusing her own self. But it wasn’t her fault. Even though she had a younger brother, he wasn’t allowed to even call her anything other than ’Young master Ru’. At one point, she hated that title. She hated the fact that she wasn’t even allowed to spend time with her own brother. She hated that she had to spend more hours training than the other people of her age.

But with time, she figured all the reasons for these abnormal restrictions on herself. Oddly, it didn’t even hurt anymore. Or perhaps, she forgot what pain felt like. Or possibly, she got used to the pain so much that the pain didn’t felt like pain again.

With these past things wandering in her mind, she was riding the bicycle to the side of the school to take a shortcut. But to her surprise, she saw Xiao Zhi-Yuan being held against the wall by a few other kids.

She rolled her eyes at the irony and climbed off of her ride. "Hey, kids! I guess you never learned that bullying is not a nice thing to do."

The three kids that were around Xiao Zhi-Yuan turned to look at Ru and were quite surprised that someone actually came to this side of the school. "Go away! It has nothing to do with you!" A teenager sneered. He looked like a typical thug with his shirt’s button left open.

"Well, actually it has everything to do with me since that’s my little brother you dared to touch," Ru answered in a calm voice yet the teenagers felt a strange chill running up their spine. Before they could move, Ru stood right before the one who was holding Xiao Zhi-Yuan’s collar. She held his wrist and the teenager burst out crying in pain.

"You’re noisy." She rubbed her ears in annoyance as she pressed on his pressure point on the elbow making him faint instantly.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The other two looked horrified with the scene before them. "Now, who’s next?" Her eyes landed on the other two and they sprinted away without thinking. "Eh? Such cowards!" She had disdain in her eyes as she turned to look at Xiao Zhi-Yuan, who was grinning like an idiot.

He immediately lunged at her and hugged her tightly saying, "Oniisan! You’re the best!" Ru was gonna push him away since she didn’t like hugs but hearing him say ’Oniisan’, she couldn’t bring herself to do so. Instead, she patted his back awkwardly since she had no idea what she was supposed to do in this situation.

"Why is it always you who gets targeted by such thugs?" Ru teased him a bit making Xiao Zhi-Yuan scowl.

He pulled away and said, "And why is it that you’re always so lonely?"

Ru gave him a set smile as she replied, "Correction. I’m always alone. Not lonely."

"There is a difference?" Xiao Zhi-Yuan frowned.

"Yup! Being lonely means that your loneliness can devour you while being alone means you can rule your solitude." She took a pause and further added, "Lonely are the people who can’t come to terms with their solitude while alone are the people who rule the world with their solitude as their companion."

Xiao Zhi-Yuan bobbed his head in understanding and remarked, "That logic was weird but I guess it was the best one I’ve ever heard."

Xiao Zhi-Yuan hooked his arm with Ru’s and said, "Come Oniisan, I’ll treat you to a bowl of ramen."

He was about to trudge away when Ru didn’t move from her spot. She smelled a familiar metallic scent. This scent was too familiar for someone like her who had been playing with blood from an early age. She looked at Xiao Zhi-Yuan again, surveying his body and saw the side of his abdomen bleeding.

"Who did that?" Hearing a strange fierceness in her voice, Xiao Zhi-Yuan was startled.