Bai Li changed his mind. Instead of sitting facing the pond, in the same direction as the man beside him. He instead sat with his back to the pond.

They sat in silence, and he did his best to ignore the person sitting beside him.

He didn't know why he sat down, other than the fact that walking away would have alerted the man next to him that something was wrong.

He couldn’t help wondering if walking away was the best option.

This person wasn't ordinary. The longer Bai Li was near him, the more he realized it. This man had a similar feel to his grandfather and those other dangerous old-timers.

He should know this man.

They should have crossed paths in his last life. There was no way this person wasn’t successful.

In his mind, he ran through a list of people. No one came close to fitting this person. He didn't see his face, so he couldn't say for sure if he knew him or not.

His voice wasn't familiar, but that didn't mean much. Bai Li's voice changed over the years. Ten years from now, this person's voice could be completely different.

Should he try and take a peek at his face?

No. That would not be a smart idea.

He fought back a sigh that wanted to slip out. He came out here to relax. Not get more stressed out.

"The view of the pond is better," the man said. His voice low and hoarse.

"I am people watching." Bai Li saw no shame in lying.

"Is that so," the man said. He spun around so that they were facing the same direction. "Who are you watching?"

This bastard. Bai Li would not have taken this stranger to be a talkative person. The aura around him screamed ‘Do Not Approach’.

"I am wondering who they are and making up stories in my head." Bai Li resisted the desire to look to the side. He had enough on his plate without getting involved with anyone new.

"Are you?" The man sounded amused.

He was. It was a partial truth. He was making up stories about the person beside him. "Hmmm."

This was an international hospital hailed around the world for its cutting-edge medical technology. Either this man beside him died in Bai Li's last life, or he was from a different country.

The man persisted. "What have you made up so far?"

He couldn't figure out why this person was engaging him. Would he be more suspicious if he stopped communicating?

Pointing at an orderly he passed by earlier. "That person came out of a supply closet. A doctor followed out after him. They looked up and down the corridor before separating. I thought they might be having a romantic affair."

"Are you wondering about what they were doing in the closet?" For some reason, his voice had an edge to it.

He wasn't. He'd seen them organizing their clothes, and they parted with a kiss. It was obvious what they had been doing.

At 15, though, that was all he thought about. That was when he wasn't fighting with his father. Or trying to make it look like he barely scraped through school.

He couldn't fight the smile that twisted up the edge of his lips. He was sure it wasn’t a happy look. "At my age, I am curious about a lot of things." He should have been. All his worries should have been about how to get a girl to like him.

Shifting, the stranger leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "Is that so. How old are you?"

Despite how tense he was when he first sat down, it was surprisingly easy to talk to this man about nothing in particular. "I am fifteen years old." He giggled. Would this man think he was crazy if he said he was forty years old?

He was losing it. He should wrap this conversation up.

It took a while for him to realize, but he was nervous.

That didn’t even happen when he was facing Ping An and Bai Tao.

The rustling of fabric accompanied a soft voice. "You are very young."

Bai Li felt a burning gaze turned on him. He breathed deeply and prevented his body from stiffening up. "Am I?"

The gaze didn't move off of him. "You are. Aren't you going to ask how old I am?" It was small, but there was a goading edge to his words.

I am not curious, he said decisively in his head. While actually giving a meek reply. "I thought it might be rude to ask. You are older than me."

There was a soft chuckle to his left. "I am not that much older than you. I just turned twenty-five." There was a hint of amusement in that voice.

He was younger than Bai Li first assumed, but still. What kind of nonsense was this man spewing?

In what way was a ten-year age difference not small. Especially to a fifteen-year-old.
Even at twenty-five, thinking about being thirty-five was a huge gap.

Only when you reached your late-thirties and beyond did ten years not seem like much. At forty, people who were fifty were friends and in the same age group. At sixty, who cared to keep score.

It wasn't every day he felt it, but today he felt old. "Old," he whispered under his breath.

His body stiffened when he realized what he'd said. "Sorry, I didn't mean that." He really didn't. He'd been thinking about himself.

A rumbling laugh started. "I guess to you I seem very old. I am a bit hurt." This man was laughing, but he didn’t seem amused.

Bai Li wanted to walk away. He'd actually been thinking that this man was half his age. He looked down at his hand and noticed a knee close to his.

He shouldn’t have looked down. There was a powerful leg next to his that emphasized how wingy his body was at this age.

Bai Li was certain of it now. He did not know this man. This was a person that you would never forget or confuse with someone else.

There was a nagging desire to look across and see what the man beside him looked like.

"Sorry," he said again. "I need to get going." He got up and started to walk off. He only managed to take two steps before the stranger grabbed his wrist.

Didn't this guy know about personal boundaries? They just met. Who just grabs onto someone else? He resisted the urge to yank his hand out.

"Sorry," he said before releasing his grip. "What is your name?"

Lie! Every instinct was telling him to lie.

Reason cautioned him not to be rash. This man would be able to find out the truth if he wanted to.

In a second, he weighed the pros and cons.

It would be safer not to lie. "Bai Li." He answered before starting to walk off.

"Aren’t you going to ask my name?" A laugh trailed after him.

This stranger made him feel annoyed and on edge, but he still kept his tone mild. "I thought it would be rude to ask." Just like last time, he really didn’t want to know.

Bai Li kept walking.

He could feel a burning gaze on his back. His instincts were telling him that this wasn't the last time he would be seeing this man.