A deep secret dwelt within Hong Lian, he thought he knew who he was only to stumble upon what his "parents" were discussing in a corner of the private room at the hospital where he had to be rushed in for a ruptured appendix at the age of nine.

"Rui! How long do we have to hide this from Lian?! What if he becomes sick and none of us is nearby to donate blood for him? The doctor and a few other nurses know that our blood isn't compatible, even if we pay to have it taken off from his medical record, what if we aren't lucky the next time?!"

That was Madam Hong, the daughter to the President of Sheng Pharmaceutical, she was the first born and only daughter of President Sheng, while her younger brother Sheng Xiaobo died very young of an autoimmune disease, which not even money could save his life.

"Liena! We have gone through this already, I need a successor that will takeover Hongsheng Holdings. You and I both know the circ.u.mstance you're in, the last thing that I want is for you to be under undue stress." The tone of voice Hong Yongrui used on his wife, was marked with impatience.

Madam Hong had gone through four miscarriages, each one made her become more depressed and very stressed, when each pregnancy was confirmed by the personal doctor to the Hong family, at first she was over the moon with the news sharing it within her circle of friends and family, after the first miscarriage the wife to the President of Hongsheng holdings would lock herself in the room for days, leaving her husband to seek outside "distractions" the end result was a drunk man who felt disconnected from his wife, while sleeping in a room without his personal belongings. By the second, third and fourth miscarriage she grew worse and worse, no longer attending social gatherings, refusing to eat and bath for days, spiraling out of control.

Sheng Liena went through a circle of coming out of her depressed state, to make peace with her husband, while refusing to seek help and talk about what she actually felt within, the once radiant flower was slowly wilting away to create another ident.i.ty of her own where she could hide the pain in her heart, on the outside she was the "Big Madam" to both empires. Money and self deception served as a s.h.i.+eld to appear very much in control, Sheng Liena was unaware of the damaging effect it was doing to her mind and body. The fourth miscarriage pushed Sheng Liena to the edge to seek out an alternative that would save her marriage and sanity.

Pregnant the fifth time, she was sure that it was the same thing all over again, having developed a behavior that was almost akin to phobia and paranoia towards pregnancy, before then relatives would knock at her door on countless occasions only to be turned away by the butlers that their mistress wasn't seeing anyone. To pick up the phone was becoming a burden, not wanting to face the endless questions and show of concern from immediate family members and a.s.sociates.

President Sheng blamed himself for not taking time off to visit spiritual houses to ward off the "bad spirits" that may have taken hold of his family by seizing the life of his only son, while crus.h.i.+ng the hope of his daughter from ever holding a child in her arms. On the day her son was p.r.o.nounced dead by the family doctor who came in for the usual "house calls", the grief stricken mother of Sheng Liena hung herself from her room that same day. President Sheng suddenly aged on witnessing two deaths at once, the Sheng family was thrown into an endless period of mourning, the press release read, "Wife to the President of Sheng Pharmaceuticals died peacefully in her sleep"

The only ones that knew the "truth" were the people that worked for the Sheng household, but who among them was willing to risk their neck to tell such a tragic story to the press? This was why the unsavory tale remained hidden after many years.

Father and daughter became estranged, losing touch with each other to bury themselves into things that would take the pain from their heart.

"What if they find out that Lian isn't mine? I would die! If that comes out in the news!"

"..."

None of them noticed the child they thought was sleeping in bed was actually awake and could hear what they were whispering about.

"If you keep your mouth shut and treat him the same way, he wouldn't get to know."

Clamming her mouth, Madam Hong had an unhappy look in her eyes, while her husband's wasn't too far off from hers. Meanwhile, the child pretended to be asleep, neither of them knew the little demon that they just created by the careless words from their mouth.

From that time forward, Hong Lian lived as the "perfect" child and heir to Hongsheng holdings, at the back of his mind, every time his "sister" called out to him, showing off the brother she adored to friends, he could feel the pride she had for him as her brother, Hong Ruolan didn't know that those tiny acts of sibling love withheld the resentment and anger towards their "parents", he would attend to her every needs, humoring his "sister" was second nature to him. Sadly, the mask Hong Lian wore for many years was starting to crack underneath the weight of the forbidden desire that developed during the course of the years. Try as he may, there was no way he could get her out of his mind.

Residing in a different city in a way served as a small diversion from the feelings that would remain locked in his heart, no matter what, Hong Ruolan was his little sister, even if it meant hiding the pain from not being able to express how he felt, behind the facade of a loving smile. He, Hong Lian would do it, even if it killed him.