Chapter 1: When I First Met You - Part 1

If time could freeze for all eternity; what feelings would time transform into? Would these feelings of forever become the essence for a love that never changes? Or has the love changed to become eternal? For now, as he held her deep in his arms, one second would be enough. Satisfied for those brief seconds when she was in his arms, even when the thought of letting her go hurts him inside.

The man stood tall as he embraced the woman in his arms; he squeezed her tight. She was much shorter than him, so her head reaches to his chest. He inhaled the sweet scent of her hair, and listened to her angelic voice when she asked, "Are you okay?" He realised, he can't live without her. Someone he thought he could never love, an unreachable artifact he would never own. The one person he thought, "It's better if I hate you."

He remembered back to six months ago when he met her for the first time. It was Mid-April, and the sky was as bright and beautiful as it could be after the rain. The grass was wet, but a refreshing vivid green and the air smells like spring.

He sat near the window in a coffee shop that day. The shop was near his company. His full name was Yang Tian-Xu. Yang was his surname, and his birth name, Tian-Xu. As direct descendants of the Yang Family, he knew his burden. Many remembered the Generals of the Yang family as an old folklore; and the Yang family histories were long forgotten by many. However, their descendants still remembered and worshipped the family.

It took no effort for him to keep himself busy as he stared outside the window. The busy street kept him entertained as he sat across from Jin Qi-Long; both his friend and business partner. Jin Qi-Long may be Yang Tian-Xu childhood friend, but they have different personalities. Yang Tian-Xu had always been the serious type, never mixing his personal or business matters together. While his friend was more playful and likes to goof around, be it personal or business. Today's meeting was to discuss a new product that Jin Qi-Long's company were supposed to release in August.

Yang Tian-Xu's company was a family business, known as Yang Corps. They were a large corporation in the country but their main office was in a city, known as City Y. Legal offices, medical hospitals, banks, and real estates were a small portion of their operations. But if the business they invested in can gain them wealth, Yang Corps would invest.

Despite not needing to provide for his family, Yang Tian-Xu was a workaholic. Wealthy, but he still had goals to have Yang Corps become even bigger. He took over the marketing and advertising departments of Yang Corps. They scheduled a meeting today, to discuss the auditions plans for the commercial. However, Jin Qi-Long's only interest was women. He wanted to have the famous singer, Lee Yin-Yin; the lead actress in the commercial for his new product.

Yang Tian-Xu just sat and listened while the guy rambled on about how beautiful this actress and singer was. Yang Tian-Xu had a suit on, and he looks dashing and handsome as every girl that walks by would sneak a glance at him.

A handsome young and successful businessman. He sat with his back straight, he had an aura around him that showed his confidence. He had everything anyone ever wanted; money, power, even women if he desired. He listened to Jin Qi-Long talk as he sat still. The talk was about random things where it wasn't important or business related. The topic did not interest him, and he stared outside the window, again.

Outside on the busy street, with plenty of people moving back and forth. He stares at a homeless man who sat there with his pet dog across the street; they looked as if they eaten nothing for days and were dirty. Yang Tian-Xu stares at them with pity in his eyes.

Life must suck for them, he thought. Then a girl; who looked like she was still in High School, walked by, dressed in a simple light-blue T-shirt and a pair of ripped up dark-blue jeans, her shoulder-long black hair dangling in the wind.

She didn't just walk past them, she smiled and gave the homeless man a bag. Grateful for anything he could have, he nodded in appreciation as he opened to see it filled with food. He hurried to grab a bite, snatching a sandwich from the bag, munching it fast as he thanked her.

The girl gave him another bag. Pet food, it was the one with balanced nutrition for dogs. She then smiled at the dog as she bent down to pat its head. She got up and left, with a sweet innocent smile on her face, she waved farewell to them both. Yang Tian-Xu did not notice, but his eyes followed her for a minute or two before he turned his attention back to Jin Qi-Long.

The guy continued his talk about how great this singer was as if Yang Tian-Xu cared. Because they were friends for a long time, Yang Tian-Xu let him continue talking nonsense. The two spent at least two to three hours at the cafe, but it was just the chattering voice of Jin Qi-Long as he rambled on about the super-hot girl: Lee Yin-Yin, who was also an actress and model, however, Yang Tian-Xu nodded, not giving a care about anything else.

The time passed by slower than he wanted it to as he saw the time displayed 1:35 p.m. on his cellular phone. Yang Tian-Xu ended their meeting, "Hey, it's getting late. I have to go back."

Jin Qi-Long protested and complained, "Aw! But why? We can go out for a drink, it's rare for us to hang-out, you’ve been so busy." he wanted his friend to stay with him, hangout, grab a bite to eat and talk about girls. But Yang Tian-Xu rejected his offer as he got up from his seat.

"Yeah, I have a lot of documents to look over and sign." Going their separate ways, Yang Tian-Xu left the coffee shop.

A busy day in the area means no parking space close by, so he parked at a park-aide up the street from the cafe. As he walked over, he passed by the homeless man and the dog. However, just like anybody else he passed by, he ignored them and only took a glance.