Something Beautiful and Wicked

…     

Luo Wanting returned home from another full day of work. He couldn't wait for the day his old man retired so that he could take full control of the company without feeling suffocated. At home, his father treated him as if he didn't exist. But at work, he was his most precious son, the firstborn he was so proud of—bullshit, he thought.      

He went around the back of the estate, toward the garden, heading over to his wing. He was glad of his suite, his sanctuary. Despite living with his family, the suite was as big as an apartment, and it was all he needed for himself.      

Luo Wanting turned a corner when he saw Luo Tian walking alongside the path with an arm hooked around a girl. Shi Ailin. She was his brother's friend or lover—he didn't know or could ever tell. She had brown hair, pretty eyes, a lithe figure, but there was nothing extraordinary about her.      

She glanced his way and looked away fast and shyly.      

Luo Wanting disregarded it and went inside his home, desperately wanting to wash up and change into something more comfortable. He stepped out his bathroom, his silver hair brushing his shoulder. He picked up a piece of his hair, reminding himself of his much-needed haircut.      

He then went to join his family for dinner, and Shi Ailin was with them. The shy girl didn't say a word as they ate, and his brothers did most of the talking. Luo Wanting thought it was funny. She looked so uncomfortable and still that if he'd touch her, she might fall apart due to fear.      

A girl like her would never survive in Luo Tian's world, the world he, himself, was very much involved in. She seemed so oblivious, so innocent, like a gazelle eating dry grass by a shrub-filled meadow.      

She was fidgeting with her hands, and her silence didn't give his parents a memorable impression.      

After dinner, Luo Wanting went to the estate's library where he could place a book he'd just finish reading back on the shelf. He then picked up another and sat on the black settee, propping his legs over the cushion.      

He then started drifting asleep with the open book covering his face.      

Shi Ailin had stumbled in the room, staring at a bookshelf in awe. She looked at the shelves beside the books, filled with the Luo's most treasured and priceless collection. She didn't even realize that someone else was in the room.      

She looked at the valuable items, tracing the collectables, having a good look since she was too shy to ask Luo Tian to escort her. His father had summoned him for a chat, and he told her to explore. This. This is where she wanted to go.      

She found a black music box rimmed with gold. She touched it, and it began to play.      

"Shit!" she muttered. She tried to shut it up, but then she remembered that everyone else was far away. Maybe they wouldn't notice, or so she thought.      

She heard a faint groan, with a "so noisy," following it. Shi Ailin stilled, and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled.      

She turned, looking at an ash-blonde figure that rose from the settee. Her eyes widened. His clothes blended so well with the cushions that she didn't see him! He rubbed his eyes. "That nap only made me more tired," he said, tilting his head back, eyes closed as he sighed. Luo Wanting then opened his eyes after a full minute of silence, expecting an answer. Shi Ailin then watched as they widened as since he most likely expected it to be someone else in the room with him. Perhaps his brothers? His father?      

He ran a palm down his face. "I thought you were someone else."      

"I—I'm sorry," she squealed.      

He plugged one of his ears. "So annoying," he said.      

Shi Ailin frowned.      

Luo Wanting then realized he wasn't being nice, and Shi Ailin was a delicate person. But he didn't know how to be delicate. "Are you interested in valuable collectables?" he decided to begin with.      

She nodded. "It's pretty!"     

"Pretty?" he mused.      

She nodded again, nervously the time.      

"That's all?" he questioned. Surely this girl had more to say than 'it's pretty.'     

Shi Ailin shook her head.      

"Do tell," he said.     

She bit her lower lip as if she was afraid to speak her thoughts. It was annoying. "If you have something to say, then say it."      

Her eyes gaped. "W-well, I like the stories behind collectables. What was it used for? Who used it? Who made it? Why did they make it? Why is it so significant now?"      

Luo Wanting smiled. "Now we're getting somewhere. Talking looks better on you."      

She reddened—and though he was used to blushes, flattering smiles, and flirting, it never affected him—but the sight of her flushed skin stirred something inside him.      

Luo Wanting raked a hand through his hair, a strand falling over his eye. Shi Ailin reached out—perhaps to put it away for him—but he caught her wrist. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked darkly.      

She looked at him, trembling. "I—I'm sorry," she stuttered. "I wanted to fix your hair."      

He narrowed his eyes. "Don't take our earlier conversation and warp it as familiarity or friendship. You have a boyfriend, don't you? To me, you're just like others—you're all the same. To you, it doesn't matter which brother you're with, is that right? Why be overly friendly with me?"      

Shi Ailin scrunched her brows, and she pulled her hand away from his grasp. "Apologies, Mr. Luo. I shouldn't have misunderstood your brief act of kindness as friendship, but you misunderstand me. I do not have any 'overly friendly' regards to you, and you're right. I have a boyfriend, and I love everything about him, unlike your arrogant attitude!"      

She then turned and stalked away, leaving him utterly speechless, so speechless that he stayed in the library for another hour, thinking about their conversation.      

A month after, he asked Luo Tian about his relationship: "We broke up," he said. "I ended things with her."      

"Why?"     

"Too quiet. Too plain," Luo Tian said, leaving more details out.      

Luo Wanting knitted his brows. "Idiot," he muttered, confusing his brother.      

Luo Wanting didn't have a chance to see Shi Ailin again, though he sought her out through Fang Qi. He told him that she was doing well, and that's all he needed to know.      

It wasn't until he'd seen her, in his home, during the dreadful evening his parents set up to match him and his brothers with "brides." She was more grown, more beautiful, fuller, slender, breathtaking, and he was baffled when he saw her crawling under a table to escape. He barked out a laugh.      

"What's so funny?" Luo Tian said. "Brother, this set up is not humorous."      

He kept his smile. "Is it to me."