Imperfect Desires

"Baba, we are going to catch fish?" asked Rowan cutely to his father as he walked beside him with his own fishing gear which was smaller in size. He was looking forward to it. "Let's catch a big one."

"Okay," replied Darren to him.

Behind them, Ava looked at Jackie and blinked sweetly at him as she asked, "JJ, where are you going?"

"Why?" asked Jackie if though he knew the answer to that question all too well.

"Because I'll follow you," she really didn't disappoint him with that question. He really knew her way too well already.

"What if I'm also going fishing?" questioned Jackie. 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝒆𝘸𝚎𝙗𝒏oν𝙚𝘭.𝐜𝒐m

Ava's face scrunched up as she shook his arm, "Can't you rethink your decision? Let's change to something else."

"Why should we?"

"Because fishing is boring," argued Ava. "Let's go to the fruits ranch."

Jackie sighed out, "Why do I always give in to you?"

Ava giggled at him, "That's because I'm your one and only niece. And I'm the most adorable one as well. I'm also very funny."

"Stop it already," Jackie flicked her forehead lightly. "You aren't that great either."

Ava pouted at him, "JJ, how can you break my heart like this?" f𝚛e𝗲𝔀e𝚋𝑛o𝘃𝒆𝗹.c𝗼𝒎

Jackie pinched her nose saying, "Silly girl. Why don't you understand? Just because I follow your willfulness doesn't mean everyone in your life will do so."

Ava shrugged her shoulders, "I only want my favorite uncle. You're the only one I'm willful with. The rest doesn't matter that much."

"So, do you love me more or Rowan?" asked Jackie feeling like teasing her on purpose.

Ava's face looked sad as she said, "JJ, don't do that to me. How am I supposed to answer that?"

Jackie chuckled at her reaction and pulled her along, "Let's go and see what fruits they have here."

"Yay!" Ava jumped up excitedly and followed his lead.

Back on the fishing site, Darren thought Rowan would be impatient or get tired after a little while. He even thought Rowan would get disheartened after not catching any fish but it seemed he underestimated the level of positivity his son had.

Even though he couldn't catch any fish, he insisted on continuing and he would even cheer when he saw his father or his Uncle Li catching fish. His eyes would sparkle looking at the fishes they caught. Only Ashley was the one who had only caught one fish but she was still better than Rowan. But it wasn't that encouraging for her since Rowan was so much younger than her!

Ashley scooted over to her brother's side to take some pointers and then suddenly questioned, "Bro, how did you meet sister-in-law?"

Darren's brows knitted up slightly when he heard that question out of nowhere.

"We met at the men's bathroom," answered Darren as he looked back on that memory. That was certainly how he met Bai Xiu. He didn't bring up the first meeting with Chen Xiu since he believed it was a past now. A past that had nothing to do with his present.

"Huh?" Ashley was dumbfounded.

"She entered the wrong bathroom," he told her.

Ashley scratched her chin as she said, "Why am I not surprised though? It sounds like something she'd do."

Darren nodded along with her. "It's indeed something she'd do." He chuckled at the thought on his own.

Ashley looked at the side of his face and asked, "Bro, you love her very much, right?"

Darren didn't even have to think about that as he answered, "I do. I really do love her."

Ashley sighed out heavily, "You're lucky to meet someone like sister-in-law."

Darren looked at her face and saw the sadness she had been trying to hide from them. But he wasn't that blind. He could tell that what happened with her boyfriend and her best friend had hit her badly. Suddenly, she lost two people whom she trusted the most. Anyone would be shaken to the core.

"You know there are all kinds of heartless people in this world," said Darren. "We have all met at least one of those kinds."

"You did too?" she asked him.

Darren nodded his head, "I did too..." He smiled sadly to himself as he added, "After becoming the reason for me to live again, she decided to give up on her own life. She was indeed the cruelest person I met in my life. She never even noticed that I had been in love with her." He was of course talking about Chen Xiu at this moment. She was the only heartless person in his life who broke his heart by giving up on her own life. And left him feeling empty.

Sometimes he wondered what would have happened if life hadn't given them a second chance? Would he really have grown out of his obsession for a dead person? Or he'd have let himself be consumed by that love to the point of no return?

But perhaps, it was not Xiu's second chance. It was a second chance for him to learn to live and love again. It was his chance to get rid of the guilt within him. It was his chance to tell her that he loved her. In the end, it was truly a second chance granted to him to rewrite his love, with her. To not hold back anything anymore.

"When she left me, I felt like the world was ending," told Darren to Ashley. He hadn't talked about this in years and the last person who had spoken about this would be Dylan. "My heart felt so empty knowing I'd never be able to see her again."

"Then how did you manage to overcome that heartbreak?" she asked him. "Did you really try to look for love elsewhere to feel better?"

Darren shook his head at her, "Nah. I thought I'll become numb after a while but even after years, it kept hurting. And I couldn't bring myself to love again.. Love in itself scared me at that time."