Vol 1 Prologue

Prologue

The youth finally turned his chair around and looked up at me. "Lee, I've decided to go back." Silence hung for a moment before I bent down and kissed him on the forehead. Faintly pressing his lips together, he whispered, “Sorry.”

In that moment, I felt a little sad.

Lin Jing had been with me for seven years: seven years of quarrels, of break-ups and make-ups, and of complications until he clearly fell out of love. Yet I was still unable to give up. Sentiments aside, he was genuinely a good kid. When I had decided to bring him with me to LA, I had intended to stay together with him.

All it took was a call from Qin Lang to disrupt this false sense of stability in our relations.h.i.+p. After all, Ling Jing was his son—of course he would want him to come back. The sad reality was that all of the feelings that Lin Jing and I had these seven years were not strong enough for us to approach his father to get the acknowledgement of our relations.h.i.+p, a secret love between two men.

The check-in process was quick and I personally saw Lin Jing off at the gate. His hair was still messy, a tousle of mischievous curls. His face was small and his eyes dark and large as he looked back at me. Sparing only a glance, he quickly turned around and walked, pulling his luggage along as he disappeared into the crowd. That was the way he was. I knew that he would miss me, though he would never admit it.

Then again, so was I. I was a man rapidly approaching his forties, a seasoned business elite. Pride prevented me from openly expressing these feelings.

But being alone was really, very lonely.