A New Life in City N

-- Before her departure to City N --

A month after Cree's rumoured date with Xu Bing

Everything before her was brand-new.

Xinyuan had coaxed her into abandoning her phone with her saved memories, and together, they placed it inside a storage box, which would be left behind at the Xias' castle in City B. Her new life would start in City N. There, he promised she would never have to worry about her life, and she would get to finish university.

Everything was now different for her that she was the second daughter of the Xia family, Xia Xing's goddaughter and naturally translated to premium treatment. As she didn't want her family knowing of her whereabouts, she went under the new identity Xia Xinyue. She only received the best out of the best.

Xinyuan accompanied her to process her change of name, and on the way there, she hadn't expected to chance upon Cree and Xu Bing. Dressed formally as if about to attend an important event, the two were walking together and laughing happily. They hadn't noticed her when she had walked past them. Xinyuan hurriedly grabbed her hand and swung her around so that her eyes ceased to be on them. They left immediately and headed up the stairs to be about their business. In their haste, neither of them noticed a man in a tuxedo come up to them and greet Cree warmly.

"Congratulations," Cree whispered. He had made arrangements for this special occasion, and though it would appear to the paparazzi that Cree and Xu Bing were registering their marriage, it was Xu Bing and her boyfriend who were. Because Xu Bing's boyfriend trailed behind them and appeared to be his assistant, it was not obvious who was the actual couple getting their marriage registered. Cree walked alongside Xu Bing and continued to engage in conversation with the couple. Her pregnancy was not apparent at this time, and by the time her tummy was prominent, she and her boyfriend would already have been married for a few months.

By then, he would be able to explain the entire story to Qiao Ruo, and he would make up for their lost time. He only hoped that she would forgive him, and then, the future would hold their only time together. He had figured so many different possibilities of where they could head to next. As he would have the full financial support of the Xu family as promised by then, and there would be no grounds for Li Yao or Ye Nantian to oppose their relationship, they could resume their relationship. Besides, with his financial stability as the new head of Qing Tian, he would have no qualms about giving her a happy and comfortable life, not to mention having to work for anyone ever again. She could be his rich tai-tai (wife) and live luxuriously and blissfully under his care and protection.

Had Qiao Ruo noticed the trio at that unfated moment and listened to their conversation, she would not have carried herself in pain and misery for months following the incident.

............

A week later, on the flight.

"Miss Xia Xinyue."

Qiao Ruo heard her new name called and acknowledged the flight attendant standing before her. She gladly accepted a rolled-up blanket and several accessories ranging from a sleeping mask to toiletries and towels from the attendant.

She understood that it was going to be a long flight, and she smiled at the attendant. No matter how rich she would eventually become, she would never forget who she was.

"Thank you," she said, and the attendant nodded with a courteous smile, and returned to take her seat among the cabin crew. She faced Xinyuan who had just returned from the flight restroom and took his seat beside her.

"Are you getting used to the treatment, sister?"

"I guess I am adapting well, so far."

He held her hand and squeezed her fingers gently, another gesture he would often do as a child. "It'll get better once we get there, I promise."

She took out her new classy smartphone, the latest Samsung that Xinyuan had bought for her immediately upon her first impression of liking it, and opened the gallery. A sea of disappointment came over her as she discovered it was empty. She was very used to entering the gallery of her smartphone to take a glance at the photographs she had taken of Cree back when they were living together. All these photographs were left behind at the castle in her old smartphone, kept away in the box that she and Xinyuan had hidden. She had to make new memories and forget the past.

It dawned upon her that she had left the smartphone behind, but she wasn't able to leave her memories with Cree behind.

She would continue to scrawl messages to Cree and tear them up to roll them into little strips of paper, which she put in small glass bottles that she would cast into the water when she went to the beach. Of course, this was not feasible considering this was pollution, and Xinyuan had to pick them up and dispose of them without her knowledge. In her belief, Cree might have a chance of receiving her messages in bottles. But otherwise, she felt a lot better by letting her feelings out.

Every ten days, she would write him a new message.

Day 30 of not seeing you... I wonder if you are alright... if your mother treated you well?

Day 40 of not seeing you... I wonder if you love her more than you would have loved me?

It eventually continued to reach day ninety of not seeing him, but by then, she had read the news of how Xu Bing was seen with a protruding stomach and the public incorrectly guessed that Cree was the father. She was exhausted, and Xinyuan decided the best medicine for her would be to expand her social circle. He even sourced for a maid whose only role was to accompany her by just talking and connected her with other rich girls who were also suffering from heartbreak. In time, she built up a friendship with one of these girls, a rich girl named Jia Mengchen who Xinyuan developed a crush for, but made Qiao Ruo promise not to tell anyone.

Qiao Ruo would often get Mengchen for a sleepover, and they would reflect on their childhood memories. Like herself, Mengchen was not born wealthy. She had obtained her status by giving up her true love to be engaged to a rich and impotent man as part of their parents' arrangements. The actual catch was that her mother was in the ICU, and she needed money to cover her medical bills.

She had thought that Mengchen's story sounded like something out of a harem game or drama, but she also realized that Mengchen's situation was like Cree's. He had gone into a marriage arrangement for the sake of his father's companies. Since moving to City N, she had not heard from him, nor had she checked her old email address to see if he had written to her. When she heard of Mengchen's story, it reminded her of Cree, and after racking her brains for minutes to obtain the password, she entered the inbox of her old email address on her notebook computer.

She clicked yes on the prompt on the screen to reactivate her inbox, and she went into the inbox. Because the inbox would only show emails received during the period the email address was active, she would not be able to see any emails received after deactivation. Somebody had sent her an email on the date she left the city had gone into her junk, and out of curiosity, she read it. The sender's email address had started with 5201314, and she knew it meant 'I love you for eternity'. Also, the domain of the sender's email address had included the abbreviation of their names together, CYQR, and this made her suspect further that the sender was Cree.

The first few paragraphs were a direct "copy and paste" from a regular spam message, but she persevered and continued to read the text further. It was all gibberish, but then she scribbled the first letter of the first word of each paragraph, on a page of her spiral notebook.

She had written down "X-I-A-O-R-U-O, W-A-I-T-F-O-R-M-E". The message puzzled her. What did Cree plan to do then, and why did he need to resort to emailing her in codes? If she had seen the message, then, would everything have been different now, and would she have not left?

Sadly, the answer in her heart was still no. If the child Xu Bing was carrying was Cree's, she wouldn't be able to deal with reality. She silently hoped everything was just a lie and didn't exist. Also, Qiao Ruo had to protect herself from the threat of Li Yao. But she still wished she could know what happened to him all this while. She wanted to know.

After pondering about it all night long, she created an online alias called missmask2496. She joined a forum that discussed on the wealthy, and both Cree and herself were often objects of discussion. There, she would at least know what was happening to him as of late.

Part One: The Return of Cree

Cree gathered the information that Qiao Ruo, now as the Xias' goddaughter, was last seen at City X. Immediately he caught the earliest flight there, but Cree was just moments too late. They had been at the same airport, and merely metres away from each other. It was just a matter of bad timing. Unforeseen weather circumstances caused his flight's delay, and the very minute he disembarked; he found that her gate had closed ten minutes ago.

This failure only added to his pain. Some time back, he travelled to the countryside to look for her and even attempted to connect with mutual contacts to seek her whereabouts. It all added up to one thing, the fact she didn't want to see him.

He wandered around the airport aimlessly, looking as bleak as ever. He wondered that if he could turn back time, he would have taken Qiao Ruo elsewhere, and perhaps, they would have a better chance at being together. He knew Qiao Ruo didn't care for his wealth, or worldly desires. She just desired happiness and someone to lessen her insecurities. Her biggest dream was to work towards her goal at becoming a full-fledged journalist. His fault had been in underestimating his enemies, and being overconfident that he could work together with Qiao Ruo to be independent of his adoptive parents' control. It had just taken Li Yao a few moves to split them apart.

As months went by, time reduced him to an emotional mess and the management eventually called in his psychiatrist to treat him. He refused therapy. He didn't want to forget her, he said. With everything that was going on, he couldn't afford to take a break, and he still needed to take care of Qing Tian. Ye An observed how pressure built up in him, affecting his performance at work. Cree was exhausted, and he didn't know how to go on with his life without Qiao Ruo. He almost gave up on everything and was on the verge of losing himself. Finally, after acting like a zombie for some weeks, it was Ye An who had struck some sense in him. Ye An couldn't allow him to go on hurting himself and attempted to persuade Cree. The number of talks he had with Cree was endless. However, nothing seemed to work.

"If you die, what will happen to Qiao Ruo?"

"Be strong, Cree! You have to get her back!"

"Will you be happy if someone takes her away and you would never get to see her again?"

While Ye An was shouting at Cree, he remained unmoved, silent as a rock, testing Ye An's patience. Day after day, Ye An struggled to convince him, but his attempts were in vain. Cree refused to step out of his room, and fortunately, a few trusted stakeholders took over in running the businesses, ensuring its sustainability for the time being.

When all these words didn't work, he did what he could to strike some sense in the rock, even if it seemed overwhelmingly aggressive, and discourteous. Energy rampaged through the normally-composed Ye An, who was no longer able to see his friend and boss behaving like a coward and a corpse. He was tired of shouting, and he decided that Cree needed to wake up from his trance now before he regretted it in the future when he permanently lost Qiao Ruo.

He had to do something!

Ye An went all physical on him, landing a few punches on him, and stunned him. When that didn't work either, Ye An pushed him into the swimming pool!

The effects were simply magical. All of a sudden, Cree saw a multitude of lights flashing before him, and the unexplainable occurred. He didn't know how it happened, but images had popped out of him and Qiao Ruo, and they appeared to be fading away. Was he about to die?

From that day onwards, it was as if Cree had woken up from a dream. Cree had instantly realized what he needed to do to get Qiao Ruo back. He had to persevere, and recreate the possibility for them being 'forever'. In that split second of him drowning, Cree remembered why he had let go of their love in the first place, which was to ensure her safety. He couldn't die now, because he needed to give her that happily-ever-after ending she deserved! He struggled in the water, and swam all he could, to get out of the pool. He wasn't an excellent swimmer, and the pool had been rather deep. But eventually, he managed!

Anger flowed through him. Cree just wanted to get his hands on Ye An, and give him a good beating. Fortunately, he hadn't swallowed much water. Otherwise, if he died and became a wandering ghost, he would haunt the man for eternity!

From a safe distance, Ye An hid behind a mock bush and chuckled, as he knew Cree had returned.

......................

Part Two: One and a half years after their separation

Mengchen smiled, and Qiao Ruo clapped her hands in applause as she and her groom approached in their wedding attire. Everyone was happy for them on their big day, and Qiao Ruo was glad they had finally made it.

She remembered her happy moments with Cree, and she wondered how it would have turned out if she and Cree had tied the knot. Mengchen was not much older than Qiao Ruo, and she had been a lot more mature and robust, having chosen to make her sacrifice.

Qiao Ruo didn't think she was capable of what Mengchen had done. But on the other hand, she had not known what it was like to have a mother. Still, it was thanks to her biological parents to have left her a birthright, although it was somewhat late for her to find out. She would often pray silently in her heart, to the parents she had never got to know. Because of what they had planned out for her, she had a new life.

She missed Cree a lot, and recently, the forum had no news of Cree. She looked up at the stars and wondered what he was doing. Had he forgotten her?

Perhaps he was occupied with work, or he had a new girlfriend now that the rich girl had parted ways with him. She was happy for him, but she would continue to love him from a distance.

She told herself, if two people are fated, they will meet again. Maybe it wasn't the time yet, and if there was a god in the world, he or she unusually answers prayers. Whether it was a test or the fruit of their love hadn't ripened yet, she didn't know.

Tonight, she would be joyful for two people who deserved happiness. Putting on her best smile, she madly catwalked up the stage and yelled, "I want to sing the newlyweds a song!"

The audience cheered, and a melodic tune filled the air. As Qiao Ruo sang, tears filled her eyes. She felt both happiness and sadness at the same time. While her heart stung with pain, she knew she would be okay. Expectedly, the song she had chosen to sing was 'tomorrow would be a better day', ming tian hui geng hao. She wanted to dedicate this song to Cree, and pass the message to him that if today he weren't successful in his endeavours, tomorrow would be a better day for him to try again.

How could she tell him, other than the 'message in a bottle' trick again?

Xinyuan watched her like a hawk as if anticipating that she would be polluting the river with bottles again, and he knew he was going to have to pick them up and dispose of them secretly. He didn't know whether to laugh or to cry that the girl he liked was now going to be married and soon, she would be far from them. But ever since knowing Mengchen, he had to be prepared for this day.

Nevertheless, he was also happy that he and his godsister Xinyue had got to meet Mengchen and befriended her. For the past year or more that they were friends, she had been a loyal confidante and companion to Xia Xinyue. He owed her so much, that only if she knew that he liked her, perhaps he would have done his best to create some memorable times between them. But he was afraid. Short-term pain was always better than long-term discomfort.

Like his godsister had sung, tomorrow would be a better day.

That night, as the chauffeur drove them home, he silently watched his godsister, heavily intoxicated sing randomly in a craze, one moment crying for her lost love, the other moment wishing Mengchen happiness.

He had no intention of seeing his godsister miserable like that ever again. If only then, he could have hired all the help he could to allow Cree and Qiao Ruo to escape, would that be a better ending for them? He had done what he thought was best for her, to nurture her into becoming a successful young heiress, just as what Qiao Ruo's parents would have wanted for her.

But he felt instead that he had made the worst decision in his life, and he regretted.