Lola

Shera refilled her glass and took a sip of the wine. "It's actually a girl... your girlfriend?"

Leo chocked on his wine and coughed in a fit. "Heavens! No."

"Oh. Boring..." Shera twirled her newly refilled wineglass in slow circles. "I had expected some juicy gossip."

Leo chocked once again. When he recovered, he looked at Shera like he was looking at an alien. "I didn't expect you to be interested in gossip too."

Shera was cracking with laughter. What was so shocking about it? Was there any woman who didn't enjoy gossip? "So, are you going to tell me about her or not?"

Leo screwed up a face. She was seriously asking? And she seemed eager to hear it too... he must have overthought things.

"Lola is... she was like a little sister to me. I loved her more than I would ever love my actual sister. She was..."

"Hold on." Shera interrupted with a ridiculing eyeroll. "She was like a sister? Seriously? She was really not some lover of sorts?"

Leo scowled at her. "Do you think this is a novel or something? She was five years younger than me, okay? Five whole years. In fact, it was because she thought I was too old to be her friend that I became her brother instead."

"And what's the problem with having five years between you and a girl? That's the perfect age gap for all I know."

"As an adult, it is perfect. But for..." Leo was fed up already. It was easier to discuss a business deal than tell this woman a story. "Look, are you listening or not?"

"Of course I am! Go ahead."

"She was only nine at the time, but she was on her own with..."

"Why would a nine-year-old be on her own?"

Leo turned to glare at her. "Do you know there's a similarity between you and her?

She was just as bad at listening as you are."

"How is that so?" Shera was having a last driving him up the wall. It was just too thrilling.

Leo didn't know this and actually answered her. "She asked about my background. But every time I actually told her about it, she would interrupt with questions. In the end we came up with a strategy."

"What strategy? Wait. Tell me your background... Uhm... is it too late? Never mind. Just tell me about Lola."

"You're impossible." Leo was defeated. Are you sure this wasn't Lola in disguise?

He scrutinized her face inch my inch. The way her eyelids fluttered, her eyes... although this woman was not Lola, she gave him the same feeling at times. Just like right now, she was gazing at him the same way Lola did many years ago when she said that she didn't want to have a brother, but would love it if her future husband was like him.

Even he couldn't believe he was thinking this but it was that same innocent look.

his gaze moved all the way to her lips. She was speaking.

"That Lola has such a bad taste. She actually wanted to be your sister...

Many women would have made you something else. A bed partner perhaps?

A husband is good too. After all, if any woman had a kind man like you for her husband, she would have sweet dreams all her life."

Leo suddenly snapped from his trance. "Lola?"

He stared at the woman before him in shock. "Are you Lola?"

"Of course not." She tittered. "I'm Shera Black through and through. Don't you know that?"

Leo stopped scrutinizing her. Indeed. This was Shera Black.

"What, did I say something that reminded you of her?"

Leo gripped the stem of his glass so tightly it almost snapped. Something that reminded him of Lola? Literally everything.

Back then, Lola had one day declared that she would be his wife in future.

When he chided her for spewing nonsense, her exact words had been, "Who wants a brother anyway? They are so naggy. But if I were to have a husband like you, I would have sweet dreams all my life!"

And now, Shera was saying the same words? How could there be such a coincidence?

Just as he thought of this, he felt her finger tap his shoulder.

He looked into her eyes as though searching for clues of her hiding something. "You are really not Lola?"

Shera looked annoyed. "You know, I have let you say what you want, but that doesn't include mistaking me for someone else."

When he saw that she was on the verge of losing her temper, he dispelled his thoughts.

"What was I even thinking? You would never be Lola. She is a sweet girl."

"Heh."

Leo had said that on purpose. If she was Lola, she would be antagonized by such words.

'Leo, what are you thinking?'

Ever since that girl disappeared, he had always unconsciously gotten close to girls that bore some similarities to her. Perhaps Shera was somehow similar to Lola too?

But looking at her, seriously, which part of them was similar?

"I thought I had seen it all." the woman suddenly laughed sarcastically. "A man who would not recognize his lover and mistake other people for her?

Poor girl..."

Leo was vexed. Was she doing it on purpose? "First of all, girls change a lot when they grow up. Everyone does. How am I supposed to know what she looks like eight years later?

Secondly, shut your mouth if nothing good is going to come out of it."

Shera took in his angry expression with a laugh. "Am I wrong?

She's such a poor girl. While she was away, you fell in love with other women and..."

"Shera Black!"

Shera threw her head back and held her tummy, laughing. Why was it so fun to annoy Leo Qin?

She could do it all day.

Of course, she was also trying to find his weakness. For a moment, she had almost thought that his weakness was Lola.

But then, there was no way Leo Qin would let his weakness be found out by anyone if he had any.

No matter how many times she trampled on it, he would remain silent about it. They were still from opposing sides after all.

Lola was important to him, but not important enough to be considered as his weakness.

"Right. So you were saying, you met this girl when you were fourteen? Then what happened?"

Leo cringed. "You are the worst audience ever. If the readers rely on you to let them know about Lola, they would grow old from waiting."

"What readers? They don't count. Come on, tell me."

Leo ignored her.

"We haven't fought in a while." she said meaningfully.