As an up and coming young actress, Valerie hadn't yet attained the status of celebrity G.o.dhood. Her fame mainly rested on a popular ongoing TV drama where she played a martyred wife ignored and abused by her louse of a husband.

She played the role of the put-upon wife so brilliantly and so sorrowfully that the fans started calling her "Pieta", which somewhat circles the truth since she was both angel and martyr when it comes to Richard. Because of her status as an up and coming actress, their relations.h.i.+p has so far stayed out of the radar of tabloid gossip. She's an up and coming. Not yet at the peak but still at the bottom of the vulgar heap.

Han lifted his beer in a toast when his brother introduced them. Valerie blinked in surprise when she saw him. The two brothers were of the same height and looked so much alike that they could be mistaken for twins. There was something of a hardened warrior in Han though. He stood tall and straight, like a monolithic sea captain standing quiet and grave aboard a s.h.i.+p about to crash and burn on an enemy frigate. Valerie was a little intimidated but relaxed when he smiled gently at her.

"So, you're Valerie," Han said, his voice deep and warm.

"I am."

"I should have known you'll be beautiful. My brother chose well."

"Cut the c.r.a.p, little Han," Richard said scornfully beside him. "What the h.e.l.l are you doing here?"

Han exhaled loudly. "Do I need an invitation to wish my big brother happy birthday?"

Richard flushed guiltily.

"What I mean is, what are you doing here in city M? I thought you'll be back in the army by now."

"Can't wait to see me go, huh," Han laughed easily. "My CO said to take my time so I'm taking my time."

"They didn't ditch you, did they?" Valerie asked.

"Me? Nah. I needed some time off anyway. The army owes me so here I am."

Han looked at the crowd. "I'm surprised little Danny isn't here. He's usually the first one to spring this kind of surprise."

There was an awkward silence. Richard refused to meet his brother's eyes.

"I see," Han said quietly.

The party wound into the early hours. Han and Richard stood silently watching the red glow of the rising sun on the roof top. Richard couldn't describe what he felt watching his brother. Han was a year younger but he somehow looked more solid, his features more carved with strength and a firmness it hadn't been in his youth.

He felt somewhat guilty. In fact he felt so many things he couldn't articulate each one without tripping up but he knew he had to say something, anything just to ease the pain in his own heart.

"I'm sorry," he said, turning to Han. 'I didn't ask why your CO needed to give you a vacation."

Han was silent. "Privileged info. Sorry, man."

"I understand."

"An Ning said to wish you happy birthday."

"How is she?"

"She's doing fine. She's strong, man. It would take more than a divorce to destroy her."

Richard nodded after a while. "She is that. I didn't realize before but I'm glad."

Han lighted a smoke.

"It's not easy to forget a childhood love, you know. But she's a tough old gal and she's not bitter. She said she must have put you through h.e.l.l following you around like she used to. It wasn't normal the things she did in the name of love," he laughed quietly.

"She realized she put you in a position where you were forced to own to a feeling you didn't feel just because you felt she was owed. I tell you, that girl is one clever chick. She'll be okay. Give her time to get over her disappointment and she'll be the same old An Ning again."

"Do you like her?"

Han puffed on his cigar, the smoke swirling like mist in the gathering darkness.

"She's pregnant. We're having the wedding in three months."

The words dropped with the precision of a bomb blast, exploding in Richard's ear louder and fiercer than a nuclear blast. He looked at his brother stupefied, his jaws slackened, his eyes turbulent with dark emotions that made them glitter with a strange light.

"I wanted to tell you personally that's why I came. Don't blame Ning Ning. You and she both…it just weren't fated. Anyway, you have Valerie now and you seem to be happy. I promise you, I will protect An Ning and the child with my life. There is nothing to be guilty about. Continue with your life and just be happy."

Richard went back to the party and got roaring drunk. He was winning a dare to drop his shorts when he proposed to Valerie. He didn't remember anything after that. There was a shriek and a roar as he slid down the floor drunk as a skunk. It was noon when he woke up.

Valerie was on the phone excitedly talking to her mother. Richard was nursing a splitting headache and had the sudden urge to shoot himself. His eyes were bleary, his stomach empty. He very much wanted to throw Valerie out of the house and retch to his heart's content. Valerie suddenly flung herself at him and handed him the phone. He looked blankly at it, at her, and threw out the question that made his hang over worse.

"What are you so happy about?"

The innocent question cost him two weeks of volatility that included Valerie leaving him, getting back with him, breaking up with him again and his elder brother Alex who barged into his office to tell him that their father was dying.

He hadn't seen his family in weeks primarily because he was busy and because he was still uneasy about Han and An Ning and because he seemed to be at a loss on how to deal with his parents' virulent dislike of Valerie. There were too many volcanic issues he didn't want to concern himself about for the moment, especially his father's disappointment in him, which the elder Liu tacitly expressed during his last visit.

His father, Liu Chen, used to be a dominant figure in the academe. He taught physics in uni and entered the government service after he married his mother, a woman of immense business talent whose family practically feeds and nourishes the entire city. This labyrinthine network also intersects with An Ning's equally ill.u.s.trious clan, the two families engaged in a non-combative compet.i.tion that had lasted for nearly a century.

His marriage to the only daughter of the second most powerful clan in the country has been hailed as a union of two dragon empires. The celebration lasted for a week. The honeymoon, which was planned for Europe, was postponed because An Ning caught a severe cold and had to stay in the hospital for a week. And then the abrupt divorce two months later.

Two months. They didn't even last a year or even five years. That was what his father told him while alone with him in his study. Richard was embarra.s.sed. He could only stand there like a fool, not knowing what to say. He remembered the look in his father's eyes, the searching intensity of his glance, the probing stare.

"That's it then," the old man said after a while. "And the other woman?"

Straight to the point as usual, Richard thought wryly. He suddenly had an urge to defend himself, to explain but the grim expression on his father's face held his tongue. He could only keep his silence because, after all, there really was nothing to say anymore. He was not a child that needed his parents' protection. He was a grown man responsible for his own actions, be it right or wrong. But his father was disappointed, he knew.

Two days after his brother's visit, Richard drove to the hospital and met An Ning face to face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, somewhat annoyed.

"Nice to see you, too, Richard."

"Dad is here. Did Alex tell you?"

"I've been in to see him. I'm here for my prenatal so I dropped by to say hi."

Richard wanted to ask about Han but hesitated. His next words, however, had an almost accusing tone to it. "I didn't know you wanted kids," he said.

"We never talked about it before. And since there was Valerie, the moment sort of pa.s.sed, you know.

"You mean you didn't want my kid."

Her lips suddenly twisted in anger. "Stop putting words in my mouth, Richard. I don't want to talk about the past. What's the point?"

He really didn't want to argue with her in a hospital corridor about the bitter history of their marriage. He wanted to leave so he'll never have to look at her again but his feet refused to move. He was conscious of bitter envy, anger at himself, at her, at Valerie who should really stop living in his ex-wife's shadow and try to win his parents' approval instead; and his parents who didn't even try to stop him from marrying at a young age. Where were all the adults in his life who should have known better, who lived thru their mistakes and who tried to live off their regrets by telling him how to live his own life?

"I'd better go," An Ning was saying. She seemed to hesitate but seemed to thought better of it and left.

He watched her go, the anger and resentment dissipating, replaced with a quiet sort of throbbing in its wake.

"You've seen An Ning, I a.s.sume," his father asked afterwards.

"Hmnn…"

And that was that. There really wasn't anything to say anymore. It was none of their business anyway. An Ning's life and future didn't concern him anymore. It was all in the past and his future now lies with Valerie. The past gone and dealt with. It was over.