The Brother of My First Love

“Chen Ping.”

He was nothing like the well-behaved intern from the office.

He held a baseball bat.

Clearly the one who had attacked me.

“You wrote the threatening letter too?”

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“Don’t look at me like that,” he said, pinching my face. “I might lose control.”

His eyes were full of madness I had never seen.

“Why?” I asked again.

“Because I love you?”

He laughed.

“Of course not.”

He took out a photo.

“Do you remember him?”

The man in the photo looked much like Chen Ping.

But cleaner.

Brighter.

A handsome righteousness instead of darkness.

“It’s him,” I said. “You’re his brother?”

He lifted my chin with false cruelty.

“Aren’t you afraid? I can kill you anytime.”

“No,” I said. “He couldn’t bear for me to die. So you won’t kill me.”

“Correct.”

He threw aside the bat.

“He couldn’t bear it. So I won’t kill you.”

“But you won’t leave either. You’ll stay in this dark place and guard him for the rest of your life.”

The man in the photo was my true first love.

The best memory of my youth.

A car accident took him away.

If not for that, perhaps we would have married.

No wonder Chen Ping felt familiar the first time I saw him.

“Chen Ping, your brother died in an accident. Was I supposed to mourn him like a widow forever?”

“Accident?”

His eyes reddened.

“If not for you wanting some dessert, my brother wouldn’t have gone out!”

“So you hate me.”

I understood now.

His only family died, and he blamed the woman who lived freely afterward.

“Chen Ping,” I said, “you claim I wronged your brother. What about you?”

“You fell in love with your brother’s woman. Don’t you feel guilty?”

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t.”

“How could I love a promiscuous woman? Getting close to you was only a method.”

“Heh.”

I did not argue.

Whether he did or not, he knew best.

Bang.

The door was violently kicked open.

Chris rushed in and ran straight to me.

“Are you hurt?”

After confirming I was intact, he picked up the discarded bat.

“Kid, touching my woman? Tired of living?”

Chris was the youngest person here.

Yet somehow, those words did not sound out of place.

Looking at him standing before me, I suddenly thought:

A childish boy has his good points.

At least in this moment, I liked him very much.

“What is there to like about a woman like her?” Chen Ping took out a fruit knife.

“Ask yourself.”

Chris did not waste words and kicked him.

They fought fiercely.

To my surprise, slender-looking Chen Ping was skilled.

Chris’s arm was cut.

“Not bad,” Chris said.

“Since you love her so much, I’ll let you die together.”

Chris pulled me close and kissed me beside my ear.

“When we fight, run out and call the police. There’s no signal here.”

“What about you?”

“I won’t die.”

He patted my head.

“But he might.”

I knew this was not the time to be dramatic.

I watched for an opening and ran.

Chen Ping tried to stop me but was blocked by Chris.

Outside, I realized the place was a warehouse at an abandoned processing plant.

I quickly called the police.

Chen Ping could not escape.

Later, in the ambulance, I looked at Chris’s bloody arm.

“Does it hurt?”

“Why are you crying?” he said. “If you cried like this in bed, I’d be thrilled.”

I spat at him.

Even now, he had no seriousness.

Suddenly, I felt his arm deserved it.

I turned to look at Chen Ping in another police car.

Chris pulled my face back with his uninjured hand.

“I’m right here, and you’re still thinking of another man?”

“Missing your old lover?”

I did not ask how he knew.

Money can make ghosts push millstones.

Especially if it belongs to Young Master Chu.

I looked at him.

“Do you also think I’m heartless and promiscuous?”

Maybe he had not expected me to ask so seriously.

Chris patted my head.

“I’m jealous. Can’t you tell?”

So I told him.

“His brother had already broken up with me.”

“He didn’t die because of me.”

“That day, he was going to buy a birthday gift for Chen Ping.”

I remembered the scene clearly.

“Will you really not come with me?” the young girl under the tree asked.

“My family can help you transfer schools.”

“No,” the boy said. “I have to take care of my brother. I hope everything goes well for you there.”

“Even if we break up?”

The girl used separation as a threat.

The boy looked reluctant.

But unmoved.

“You have many people to love you.”

“My brother only has me.”

“Fine. I understand.”

She threw down the bracelet he had given her and walked away without looking back.

He probably thought there would be another chance.

Neither of them knew that farewell was forever.

“Sister.”

“Chris, don’t.”

“For the sake of my injury, can we change position tonight?”

I stared at him.

This man was impossible.

But the wound in my chest, the one buried for years beneath flirting and laughter, seemed less cold now.

Maybe I had not met someone who made me want to stop before.

Maybe I had been afraid to stop.

But Chris held my hand with his bloodied fingers and grinned like a wolf who had found his moon.

And for once, I did not pull away.