"Aselia..." he uttered her name in shock.

"Why such an absurd notion about life? Love is important." He wasn’t sitting relaxed now, she had jolted him and there was uneasiness in his heart.

"Love makes one weak, it gives others a tangible edge over you. Once they know they have an advantage, they will hurt you. I don’t like people having an advantage over me. I want peace not love." She stared at him with a determined face, her expressions telling him, she wasn’t joking.

"Peace and love are leaves of the same branch, my dear. You can’t have one without the other. Besides, you can’t stop love from creeping into your heart and residing in there, making your heart its permanent abode." He was surprised that she wanted to pursue a loveless life.

"Xiran, I don’t want a broken heart. I don’t think I can trust someone with it. Once you let your guard down and let the wrong person in. You are done for life." It was one of her worst fears to get her heart broken and get rejected by someone. It was better to be alone, especially in her field of work.

"But life is full of risks and gambles. Don’t you take risks in other fields of life? Why are you so afraid to take a risk when it comes to love? You are missing out on something beautiful. You will be surprised what it will unravel for you as it’s doing for me and I don’t regret it." Although he was heartbroken because she didn’t feel the same way as he did, it didn’t stop him from loving her and with each passing second, he was loving her even more.

"And it hurts me to think I am being a cause of your pain. That’s why I don’t want this love shit." She was getting angry now and it showed in her voice and face.

"Aselia...come here," he whispered extending his hand.

"No. Don’t do this to me Xiran. I don’t want you to suffer because of me." She was barely holding back her tears, now.

"I won’t, come closer. Please...." She finally took his hand and he wrapped her into a warm hug and kissed her head, before saying:

"We don’t have to talk about this ever again if you are not comfortable. I will never press you about this matter any further. Just calm down. I have enough love for both of us." His words didn’t calm her down at all. Her lips began to tremble and her eyes welled up with tears as she began to cry silently. Why was he so loving towards her? She didn’t deserve his love, his affections, his hugs, his feelings, his kisses, she didn’t deserve any of it any part of him. Why was he so perfect?

Her silent sobs turned into loud whimpers and Xiran felt his heart sinking. His body had tensed up feeling her tears getting soaked in his shirt and dampening his chest, he felt they were needles being pierced in his heart, slowly, one by one. It devasted him for he knew she was strong and she didn’t cry easily. How much was she hurting?

"Don’t cry for your tears are tearing me apart. It’s shredding my heart and my soul." He lifted her face so she would face him. Her nose and eyes were red and her lips were quivering as she met his tormented gaze.

The swirl of emotions between the two had them on the edge. But he had to bring the situation under control before it would escalate more. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Aselia, I planned all this so we could have some fun and memorable moments together. Hurting you and making you cry was not on my list. Forgive me for I didn’t realize that I would be burdening you with guilt. You don’t have to feel guilty. Now chin up."

He smoothly wiped her tears with his lithe fingers. Although it was just salty water, it felt warm for it held her emotions. She sniffled softly and tried to hold them back as she stared in his greyish eyes, which held thousands of emotional storms.

"You know you look like Rudolph the Red nose reindeer right now." His joke made her laugh a bit and the pooling tears stopped but her body was still trembling so he rubbed her back gently.

"You wanna eat ice cream?" He tried another method to cheer her up. Her eyes flickered for a second and she nodded, her trembling lips were becoming stable now.

"That’s my good girl, let’s go get some ice cream. There is an ice cream parlour right around the corner. Go wear a hoodie, I will wait for you."

She moved forward and embraced him in her cold arms and murmured a "Thank you," in his ear before letting go and rushing up the stairs.

She came down after 15 minutes. She had changed into Black jeans and a white hoodie to cover her ears. She was wearing a strong perfume to mask her scent. Xiran had changed his clothes as well. He was now wearing blue jeans and a black hood, he was holding two masks.

She came towards him and he handed her one of the masks. "Aselia, we will go on foot but our identities should remain concealed so keep your head covered and don’t take off your mask when around people." She nodded before taking the mask and wearing it. While Xiran covered his head and wore the mask as well, concealing his silver hair and handsome face from the world.

He took her hand in his and said: "Don’t let go of my hand."

"I won’t," she squeezed his warm hand.

He took the keys to the house and they stepped outside. Locking the main door they made their way to the deserted street. The wind picked up a few stray leaves on the road and hurled them forward. Aselia took a deep breath and tried to take in as much as fresh air possible as her mask permitted. The street was lined with houses but everything was quiet for people must have gone to sleep.

The weather was changing rapidly and nights were getting cold. Soon winter season will be upon them and it will bring heavy snow. It was cloudy outside now and they were going to eat ice cream in such conditions. But Ice cream doesn’t need a season and she would eat it even sitting in the snow.

"Xiran...no one has ever taken me to eat ice cream like this before." She had eaten it plenty of times with Yurian but it was never like this for she considered him her younger brother.

"Well, I am glad you get to experience this. Tonight you can make a list of everything you haven’t done and we will do it." He added, giving her hand a slight squeeze, reminding her he was there for her.

"I don’t want to burden you with anything."

"You are not a burden, quit that thinking." They had reached the end of the street so they turned to enter the main road which was still bustling with activity. Cars, bikes and taxis were en route to their destinations.

People from all walks of life lined the roadsides. Some were enjoying the romantic weather, others were savouring miscellaneous foods, and a few were just taking a stroll. It felt strange to Aselia to walk among so many people after such a long time.

Some of them threw them a glance or two but most people minded their own business. Xiran’s grip had tightened on her hand since they had entered the main road and he kept her close as if she was something fragile he needed to protect.

They reached the Ice Cream parlour, which was shaped like a huge Ice Cone with its name written in Neon lights on top. The boy serving the ice cream handed a menu to Xiran.

"What would you like to have?" He showed the menu to Aselia. She saw her favourite Rocky Road was on the menu so she pointed toward it.

"Four Rocky Roads and one Chocolate Sundae for the go." Xiran gave him the order and turned towards Aselia.

"Four?" She questioned him with her eyebrows raised.

"Yes for you." His expression was deadpan and serious.

"Don’t you think that’s a lot? You occasionally forget I am a human." She finally chuckled.

"Not at all, I want you to eat your heart’s fill." She shook her head in amusement. He was going to make her fat if she wasn’t careful. She hadn’t been training and burning as much energy as she used to.

"We need to have a sparring session again. I need to keep in shape." She told him as they waited for the order.

" We will soon. I have activities planned for tomorrow but the day after tomorrow we will have a session."

"Perfect," her eyes danced with excitement thinking about training again. She had missed about one and a half months.

It began to drizzle and they hadn’t brought an umbrella. People began to take cover and those carrying umbrellas opened them. The boy quickly wrapped the Ice Cream cups in a plastic covering and handed them to Xiran.

"We should hurry, rain of this season is dangerous and it can make you sick," Xiran told her as they began to rush back home. The rain had picked up speed and small puddles were being formed on the roadside. Walkers became fewer and fewer.

The cold wind with torrents of rain hit them and they were drenched to the bone.

Aselia’s teeth were chattering due to the cold. They quickly entered their street trying to shield themselves from the onslaught of rain with their hands but were failing miserably. Aselia sneezed twice and this worried Xiran that she would catch a cold.

As they reached the house both of them were dripping from head to toe. Xiran opened the door so they could enter the house. Xiran placed the ice cream in the freezer. While Aselia tried not to wet the whole living room. Her white hoodie was clinging to her body as she took off the mask from her face.

"Aselia let’s take a hot bath."