Through the receding waters

The small ripple of water

Hua Cheng woke up and looked around, it was the paradise manor and the place he lived in currently.

It has been a long time after he had a fateful meeting with Cale, who had disappeared for as long as he could remember.

That day when he was only a frail and weak boy, two people had descended into his life and gave him the reason to live.  

The other one was the crown prince of Xianle, Xie lian (but that's a story for another time) . 

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In The Past

As he started living with a youth named Cale, he had realized how fortunate he was to meet such a caring man.

Though it was not long since the both of them had that fateful meeting, the red haired youth soon explained himself to be from a wealthy family (as he expected) and had been separated from his family due to some 'unfortunate' reasons.

They lived together in a small but cozy house with farmland, Cale always seemed to laze around in bed or fall asleep in the warmth of the sun outside, muttering something about a slacker life.

It was a peaceful life, everything had seemed to be well, there was someone to defend him whenever people came to bully or hurt him because of his looks, someone who was nothing but kind and loving towards him like a parent towards a child.

That's right, Hong'er looked up to Cale as a father figure though he knew that this relationship wasn't to last.

It was only a few days ago that he had heard the older youth say that he had a family (which he sounded very fond of) and smiled in a way he had never seen before.

Somehow, that smile made him feel very bitter and it made his heart ache. 

'If only he had directed that smile to me'

If he had remembered correctly, Cale had a younger brother and sister, two loving parents, and three children he had taken in, that he would describe as 'energetic' and 'cute'. There were other people that was mentioned and by this, Hong'er knew that Cale must have a loved person with lots of people by his side, so couldn't help but feel greedy to keep all this love to himself which he knew was not possible.

This did not change anything and he continued to play and enjoy life with the red haired youth like any normal child should.

He knew that people had still hated him for who he was, bullying and insulting him, but there was always Cale to save him, just like his mother who had stayed strong to defend against his father.

Hong'er had everything he had wanted, clothes, toys and a parent to look after him, he was satisfied with what he had.

But soon things started to turn when Hong'er realized he got used to all the kindness and love that the older gave him, he had still not forgotten the death of his mother.

When these thoughts had come to his mind, it was not easy to get rid of them. 

'What if Cale had died too? What if his misfortune had affected the older as well?'

His thoughts were filled with 'what ifs' and he became more restless and uneasy, it didn't help that the red head was similar to his mother.

Hong'er wanted to protect this person very much even if it was a short time since they first met, he felt that it was a lifetime.

So he decided to leave.

Even if he would regret.