The Inconceivable Flame: A Fallen Angel's Disguise

"Who’s that?" Qin Qu came beside Xiao Zhi-Ren as he was looking in the direction where Ru was walking to.

"Bellissimo," Xiao Zhi-Ren replied without even thinking.

Qin Qu knitted his brows and looked at Xiao Zhi-Ren. "What’s with that look in your eyes?" Qin Qu had noticed the way Xiao Zhi-Ren’s eyes held the feeling of hope and an immense tenderness.

Xiao Zhi-Ren stayed quiet for so long that Qin Qu thought he wouldn’t answer anymore. But he did, "That young man reminds me of... her."

Qin Qu’s eyes flashed as he asked, "Her? As in, the girl you’d been looking for the past decade?" Qin Qu slapped the back of his head and went on, "Have you lost your mind?" Xiao Zhi-Ren scowled at his assistant/best friend. "You’re trying to look for a long lost girl of your obsession in a MAN? How ridiculous can you possibly be?"

Xiao Zhi-Ren knew that Qin Qu was right. He wasn’t supposed to look for her in the ’green-eyed man’ but he couldn’t help but notice the similarities. And those uncanny similarities pulled him towards that ’man’. He was really being ridiculous but what could he do when after looking for so long, he still had no clue where had she vanished to.

"His face holds the same look of emptiness that she had." Xiao Zhi-Ren spoke softly as the memory of a wan and sallow slender figure invaded his mind.

He remembered the moment he laid eyes on her lonely figure sitting on a wheelchair. She had a bandage wrapped around her eyes obstructing him from seeing her face clearly but he would forget never that beautiful black mole right above the edge of her upper lip.

Today, thinking back to that time, he could only say,

"And I read her soul through her face’ mirror,

but I forgot to keep the image in my heart clearer."

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Because no matter what he couldn’t seem to decide whether what he saw on her face was the truth or just an illusion? And he knew that the ’young man’ he met coincidently time and again didn’t have the same mole as her but he had the same way of talking. So what if the voice was different?

His trance broke when he heard Qin Qu’s voice again.

"Then focus on other stuff. Like, have you seen the way he walks? I only saw it from the back but even I can’t deny that his manners spoke volumes of eloquence and aristocracy." He ruefully patted Xiao Zhi-Ren’s shoulder saying, "I know that you miss that girl a lot but Zhi-Ren, you can’t just look for her in someone else. Especially not in a man!"

Xiao Zhi-Ren sighed heavily and nodded his head. He had also observed how the ’young man’ seemed to be not just well-educated but also well-mannered. This kind of mannerism can’t just be learned, they come with genes, naturally. He shook his head to himself thinking, ’Qu is right. I should stop trying to get close to that man just because he reminds me of her. If anything I should be avoiding him since he reminds me of her.’ With that conviction, he stood under the rain for a while longer before leaving along with Qin Qu.

In the next few days, Ru had personally been visiting Feng Bar under the disguise of an ordinary bartender. In all her time at the bar, she had already observed plenty of things and tonight, she knew that a big deal was going to be cracked right in this seemingly low-class bar.

"Hey, give me a tequila cocktail," Ru heard a familiar voice making her turn to see the teenage boy who had just taken a seat on the stool before the counter.

"Are you even allowed to drink?" She asked looking at Xiao Zhi-Yuan’s school uniform.

"Does that concern you? Your job is to serve me," Xiao Zhi-Yuan spoke snidely and lifted his eyes from the tablet in his hand to look at Ru’s familiar eyes. For a moment, he was stuck. "It’s you!" He managed to breath out.

Today, Ru was neither wearing a cap nor a hood which left room for Xiao Zhi-Yuan to see her head full of thick chocolate brown hair. Ru was donning simple black jeans with a black button-up shirt which was the requirements for working in this bar.

After getting out of the daze, Xiao Zhi-Yuan commented, "Never took you for a bartender."

"Why not?" Ru asked seemingly interested in knowing about his answer.

"Well... You don’t have that kind of aura or feel to you." Xiao Zhi-Yuan spoke with hesitation.

"What kind of aura do I have?" Her voice was akin to melting honey making Xiao Zhi-Yuan want to pour his heart out.

"You seem strong, confident. You have a feeling of being mysterious, powerful, and all that."

"Look at you being so observing," Ru’s lips curled a bit upward in an almost imperceptible way.

"Can I get my cocktail now," Xiao Zhi-Yuan avoided looking into ’his’ piercing green eyes afraid that they might make him show his real self.

"Sure, you will," Ru spoke with a smirk and turned around to get busy.

When Ru slid a cocktail glass before him, Xiao Zhi-Yuan didn’t notice anything amiss since the drink was colorless. But when he took a single sip, his mouth felt like burning. As the drink passed through his throat, his body was set aflame.

Instead of making him a simple and boring tequila cocktail, Ru had added the twist of reposado tequila making it into a ’Sweaty Hipster Cocktail’. The cocktail was famous for its spicy burning taste making it one of the spiciest cocktails. Adults might not be able to handle the drink much less an eighteen-year-old.

He opened his mouth to breathe out the hot air as his eyes sting. He glared at Ru who was pleased with his reaction. "What’s that?" He spat out.

"It’s a cocktail," Ru answered matter-of-factly. "Of course, if you didn’t like this one, I can make you a Bloody Maria. I’m quite skilled."

Xiao Zhi-Yuan might not know what ’Bloody Maria’ was but he figured it wasn’t anything better than what he had tasted. "You’re mean and annoying!" His words were sharp as swords but Ru was unfazed.

Her expression only shifted when she saw a group of people entering a private room in the back. She held Xiao Zhi-Yuan’s collar from over the counter and pulled him towards herself saying, "I have a hundred more ways to make your soul burn to ashes. So, I’m warning you, if you don’t want to taste what does it feel like burning in flames, leave this bar. NOW!" Her voice’s texture was still low and deep but it held an edge of a silent storm within it which scared Xiao Zhi-Yuan for some reason.

Although he was one of those rebellious kids who didn’t like listening to others, he still listened to her and picked his school bag to leave.

Ru turned to look at the closed door of the private room and picked up her cap to wear. After that, she rubbed her hands together while her eyes shone with a strange light. "It surely will be a fun night." She said to herself and trudged towards the private room.