Daniel

Beijing No. 4 High School

The school was preparing for the 50th Anniversary. This year the school was making huge arrangements to celebrate the day. All the ex-students and teachers were invited to the event and Oliver Knight was the guest of honor. Many students were preparing for different kinds of performances.

Ben Sherman, who was a senior and one of the toppers was also participating in the program. He was the captain of the basketball team and the president of the school union. He was very famous among the girls for his charming personality but in Ben's eyes, it was only one girl who was beautiful enough to grab his attention.

Sarah!

He has been chasing Sarah for a while now but unfortunately, she refused him saying she didn't want to date before graduation. However, Ben was not heartbroken hearing that in fact he started to admire her even more and he would try to find more opportunities to interact with her, such as, he was the one who recommended Sarah to partner with him as an announcer at the program. Now because of the anniversary preparation, the two have already become friends.

Sarah was waiting for Ben at the auditorium for practice, after class, they would come here to practice together every day with the other performer. Sarah liked Ben but he was from a military family, everyone knew him as the grandson of the commander of a military. His family was very well known in the whole city. So Sarah never dared to express her feeling toward him, instead, she would always keep her distance from him. She was well aware that Ben's family would never accept someone like her. So she refused to be with him. But when they were paired up together to be the announcer she had no other choice but to cooperate with him. However, she didn't expect that just in a few days, they will come so close to each other.

Ben came running into the auditorium, he had to attend the school union meeting today for which he was running late for the practice. He saw Sarah was sitting at the corner watching others practice, he straightway came to her.

"Hey Sarah, sorry, I am late. The meeting ran late."

"No problem Ben. Shall we start?" Sarah said with a smile as she stood up.

However, at that moment Ben's phone started to ring. He took it out and his face immediately became warm looking at the caller ID.

"Sarah, give me 5 minutes, I'll be right back." Ben got out of the auditorium.

"Brother!" Ben said with a smile as he looked far away at the lawn.

"Hey Ben, guess what! I'm back." The man on the other end of the phone also said with a wide smile. He was standing in the pavilion of his garden with his back to the sun. The light hit his handsome angular side face, which made it more handsome than ever.

"Did you solve the case already?" Ben asked somewhat surprised somewhat excited.

"Of course."

Ben said with a smile: "brother, you are really fierce."

"Well, that's my job. How are you doing? The man on the phone asked lightly.

"I am fine. By the way, brother, the 50th anniversary of the school is at the end of this month. Will you come?"

The man squatted down and touched the petals of hyacinth in front of him. He smiled softly and said, "Sure."

"Great! I'll send you an invitation later." Ben said excitedly.

"Alright! So, how is your study going? I heard you have become the president of the student union?" The man said softly.

"It's nothing. You were also the president of the student union." Ben laughed and said.

The man chuckled on the other end and said with a smile, "That was a long time ago."

"Brother, come home for dinner sometime," Ben suddenly said after hesitating for a while.

The man lowered his eyes and looked at the pink hyacinth petals. He slowly stood up and said in a small voice, "OK."

The two brothers talked for a few more minutes than bid farewell and hung up.

After hanging up the phone, Ben closed his eyes with relief. He was talking to his half-brother Daniel. Although not many people knew his existence but Ben and Daniel always had a very good relationship even though Ben's mother hated Daniel.

Daniel's mother Daisy was Ben's father Carlos Sherman's first love at his young age, but he never married her. When Daisy found out she was pregnant with Daniel she went to the military base to inform Carlos, however there she heard the news of Carlos's marriage with the general's daughter. She was heartbroken but she was also a very strong woman. She decided not to tell him about the pregnancy and cut every contact with him. Daisy's family was a scholar family so after they found out, they abandoned her for giving birth out of wedlock. Daisy raised Daniel alone, she was a piano teacher and she was able to earn enough money to support herself and Daniel with that.

In fact, it was not until Daniel was 5 years old Carlos found out about him. He wanted to give Daniel his name but Daisy refused. She raised him with her maiden name and she didn't want anything to do with the Sherman family. However, Carlos didn't give up and he kept coming back to see his son. Leaving with no choice Dalia finally agreed to let him be a part of Daniel's life but as expected his family never accepted Daniel and his mother. For more than 20 years, Daniel has been living in exile with his mother by his side until four years ago, when his mother died mysteriously. In order to find out the truth of his mother's death, Daniel chose to be a prosecutor.

Daniel was doing great at his work, he was promising and dedicated to his job, so many people envied him for his talent at work including his immediate superior. To give him a hard time three months ago, he sent Daniel to Italy to investigate a mass gunshot case that was related to a fierce underworld don. To solve this case Daniel almost died a few times, however at last he solved it within three months and now he just came back home.

The courtyard of Daniel's villa was full of hyacinth. It was Daisy's favorite flower, she loved the smell of this flower and would grow them in the garden. After she died Daniel never let the flower die, in fact, he grew more hyacinth in the east garden. Daniel turned and his eyes fell on his mother's Piano room. Daisy had many piano students, but only one girl he never could forget. The girl would come to his house to play the piano every week.

Daniel suddenly closed his eyes as if he was hearing the girl's beautiful music and his mother's warm laughter. All these years he had no friends and family to think about. Only this girl's face, he never seems to get out of his mind. He still remembered her simple appearance, her soft laughter, and the look on her face when she played the piano like she had lost herself in it, just like his mother. He didn't know back then why he was so fascinated with that girl, he thought maybe she was just like his mother that's why he liked her but now that he grew up he knew he fell in love with that girl at the first sight, whose name was Ava Green!

Daniel's thoughts were interrupted by his phone ring.

"Hello!"

"Daniel, there has been a car explosion in Shangli village. Our people have investigated it but the explosion was so fierce that nothing left of the car and the body that burnt inside. The identity of the car and its owner is still unknown, so the boss wants you to come to the office right now. He wants you on this case."

"I see, I'll be right there." Daniel frowned. Looks like the city has become very violent these days. A car explosion in the broad daylight doesn't sound like a simple case. Only a bomb could tear human flesh into pieces. If it was not an accident then the person behind it must be very powerful to do such a thing.