Forgive me if this chapter isn't very good. I was having a major writer's block. Woo! snow-angel-anna has started her sequel to Miracles, and the title of the sequel is 'wanderlust'. It's really interesting! Check it out yea? Hee on with the chapter. Countdown: 4 more chapters to go!

Chapter 16- Birthday

She was what most guys would describe as stunning. Her raven black hair shifted whenever a slight breeze blew through the room, and it looked purple where the morning sun cast its light.

Her eyes were a soft lilac colour which made you feel like you were looking in a field of lilac flowers, and her puckered lips were full, making them look soft and inviting. Especially now since she was pouting.

Her body was curved in all the right areas, and those curves were further emphasized by the tight cheongsam she was wearing, similar to the black one Jun always wore, except it was sewed from silk thread as golden as the sun rays.

Most guys would be staring at her in awe, practically drooling by now. Tao Ren however, stared at her from the opposite end of the banquet table, his eyes a mixture of suspicion and disbelief.

The girl wrinkled her eyebrows at him in a disgusted fashion when she thought no one was looking, then quickly plastered her angelic smile back on her face whenever Ren's parents turned to her. Ren's left eye was twitching dangerously by now.

"What the hell is this?!" Ren exploded suddenly, standing up and slamming his palms down onto the banquet table. Tao En looked at him in surprise, smiling warmly at the girl who put on a show of being frightened by Ren's sudden behaviour.

"Why Ren…this is your fiancée!" En told him, turning so only Ren could see his face. The message, 'you had better behave yourself here…no more stunts…' was written clearly on his face.

"My fiancée?! Don't I have any say in this?!" Ren shouted in frustration. If Lyn found out about this, she would probably be quite upset.

"Ren! Stop being so fierce! You're scaring her." Ran told him curtly, then turned to the girl and began whispering soothing words in her ear. Ren saw that the girl had widened her eyes in mock fear, and had even gone to the expense of making her body tremble to add to the fearful image.

Ren snorted in disgust. He was scaring her? Were his parents blind? Ren sat back down, seething, his eyes flashing with rage. Jun patted him on the shoulder, whispering for him to calm down. But Ren could not calm himself.

"I don't even know her name!" Ren exclaimed, trying to emphasize his point that this match was not a good one. "That can be solved easily…Ren, this is your fiancée, Liao Hui."

Ren muttered a string of curses under his breath. "The whole point is, I don't even like her! There's someone else I…" En held a hand up for silence, cutting Ren off mid-sentence.

"We picked her for you because she is from a reputable Chinese shaman family, which has a large expanse of financial resources as well. Besides, she is quite the beauty, isn't she? Only someone as capable as her is deserving enough to marry into the Tao family."

Ren snorted again, earning him a death glare from En. Capable? He had yet to see any of that. From what he had seen so far, she was just a stupid attention-seeking bimbo, and a bitch to boot.

It was the first day of the new year, meaning it was not only the new year, but it was Ren's birthday too. He pictured the party Yoh and the rest had probably held to usher in the new year, and he smiled a little when the image of Lyn cheering came to mind.

He had missed all that so he could spend his birthday with his family, and he had expected his birthday celebration to be a happy one. This, was far from what he had expected.

Ren grabbed a bottle of milk from the centre of the table, wrenching the cap off and gulping the contents down in an attempt to extinguish the fires of his anger, but his efforts were to no avail.

Ren grabbed a second bottle of milk from the table and opened it, turning away from the table, and most importantly, Hui. When he turned back to the table, En shot him a look which clearly said, 'one more wrong move like that from you, and you're not going to get away with it.'.

"Tell the servants to start serving the food." Ran told their butler, who bowed and walked into the kitchen, clapping his hands shortly to call the servants to order.

The servants filed out and set the dishes at the centre of the table, bowing as they took a step back and filed into the kitchen, a few of the servants remaining to serve them.

Ren stared at the wide spread before him uninterestedly. Normally, these dishes would have set his hunger pangs off, but the incidents of the morning had whet his appetite.

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Ren closed the door behind him, sighing in relief after he had done so. His birthday breakfast had been nothing short of torture.

Throughout the whole meal, Hui had been casting him glares, as if the whole arrangement had been his fault. It wasn't like he had been asking for something like this either.

Of course, the sweet angel had been careful not to let any of the adults see her glares. When they looked at her, she simply gave them her most innocent, winning smile and they would start talking about how perfect she was.

She was a bitch, and that was that. He had to find some way to break off the engagement, and the sooner, the better. He wanted to stalk right up to the study room where his father was probably sitting there and then, but Jun had warned him not to do anything stupid.

Suddenly, Ren heard a knock on his door. He opened it and was surprised to see Pai-Long standing outside.

"Ren. Jun told me to come and keep an eye on you, and make sure you don't do anything stupid while she's talking to your father."

Ren turned around and walked towards his study table, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation, although he left the door open for Pai-Long.

"She just doesn't trust me, does she? Am I some kid who doesn't know how to think before he acts?" He growled, sitting down on the chair with a light thump.

"You do things without thinking sometimes." Pai-Long commented, walking into the room and closing the door behind him as he did so. Ren shot him a glare, but left it at that. Yea, so he was reckless at times. So what?

"Well, Jun said she would drop by to check on you once she's done talking to your father." Pai-Long told him with a small smile.

So she thought he was some kid who needed to be under a watchful eye all the time, did she? Ren muttered a string of curses, freezing in mid-curse when he realised what Pai-Long had just said.

"She's talking to father? About my engagement?" He asked in disbelief, a wild hope growing within him.

"Yes. She thinks that this should not be the case, since Lyn and you are so happy together." Pai-Long confirmed Ren's suspicions with a nod. A grin slowly spread on Ren's face.

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"But father! Ren truly loves that girl!" Jun told En, her strong feelings easily heard in her voice. En just refused to listen to reason.

"What's her family name?" En asked, and Jun looked at him in surprise. "Aizawa." She replied, wondering why En had asked a question like that.

"There you go. Her family is practically an unknown! I will not have a commoner marrying into the Tao family. She is not worthy." Jun stared at her father in disbelief.

"Does title really mean so much to you, that you would sacrifice your son's happiness for it?" Jun asked, her voice shaking as she lowered her head.

"Yes. The Tao family must uphold its honour, and as the heir, Ren must bring honour to the family, even at the cost of his own happiness. The pride of the Tao family must not be forgotten." Jun looked up at her father in disbelief before walking out the door in silence.

Sorry Ren. I tried my best.

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Hui walked silently down the corridors, looking around at the furnishings with a scornful look. So they were rich, but their sense of fashion was weird! She didn't understand why her father had been so eager to accept the proposal when Tao En had visited them.

Given, that Ren boy was cute. But the way he drank milk. He drank it like one would drink water. It was just so juvenile. And his hair. It was purple! Which normal human had PURPLE hair?

And that tongari was ridiculous. It was only useful for one thing, and that was to complete his clown getup.

His eyes were one of the only things she liked. They were gold, like her dress. And gold bars. Heavy bars of gold. Hui's eyes shone with the thought. She had loved gold, even as a kid.

"I should have known he wouldn't be so easy to convince…" Hui paused when she heard voices coming from a room. She realised that it was Ren's room, and she recognized the voices speaking.

"Please Ren…don't do anything stupid…he is our father after all…" That was Jun, the only one of the Tao family whom she had been unable to win over, excluding Ren.

"Patience, Ren. All in good time." That was Pai-Long, Jun's personal jiang-si. That one was creepy. Who in their right mind would want to be accompanied by a corpse wherever they went? And who in their right mind would willingly follow the one who had killed them in the first place?

"I'm leaving first thing tomorrow morning. I'm not going to stay here with that woman a moment longer than necessary." Hui heard Ren growl, 'that woman' being her. She narrowed her eyes in anger.

Then, she heard a rustling sound, like a wrapped parcel being moved. "What's that?" She heard Jun ask curiously.

"It's a present from Lyn. She told me to open it only on my birthday." Ren replied. Hui narrowed her eyes further when she heard a tiny ring of joy in his voice. Who was this Lyn whom Ren spoke of so happily?

Ren was her fiancée, even if she wasn't exactly happy with that fact. That meant that he was hers, and no one else could have him! She would destroy his relationship with that Lyn girl through any means necessary. But she would only put her plan in action after seeing what that girl was like.

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Ren opened Lyn's present and was given a punch on the nose from a boxing glove which jumped out. She had attached it to a large spring and pushed it down so that it would act as an actual punch.

"Miss Lyn is so cheeky, master. That's what you like about her, isn't it?" Bason suddenly said, appearing next to him. Ren flushed and hid it with a scowl, grabbing Kwan Dao from the side and cutting Bason into half.

Bason looked at Ren with his puppy-dog eyes, but Ren turned away and ignored him. He heard a giggle, followed by a laugh, and saw Jun laughing at him, her eyes shining with amusement. Even Pai-Long was smiling.

Ren scowled and turned his back to them, turning back to Lyn's present. He noticed that the glove was holding something and he removed it, to find a wooden carving of himself catching a girl who was falling down.

A piece of paper slipped out of from under the carving, and he took it out and read it, a grin spreading across his face.

Haha! Bet you got hit by the boxing glove! That glove is acting as my fist, just in case you aren't smiling on this special day. It's your birthday! You should be happy, no matter what!

Anyway, I had no idea what to get you, so I just carved a random image that came to mind. This is for the many times you've been there to catch me when I'm falling.

Ouch! Sorry my chair just toppled over. I must have been rocking it too hard.

Anyway, I'm guessing you've celebrated with your family before opening my present? So how was it? I'll bet you enjoyed yourself. It's been a long time since you saw your parents, and even Jun. She returned to China last month right?

I'm sorry I can't be there with you on this special day. And when you come back, I'll be…busy. I hope I can find some time to talk to you. I need to tell you something important.

Have fun for the rest of your birthday! While little me sits in my room, thinking hard on some decisions I have to make.

Happy Birthday!

Lyn

(I hope you liked the birthday punch. Treat that as a combined present from ALL of us back in Funbari.)

Ren looked at the wooden carving again, and noticed some spots of red, tiny spots, almost unnoticeable. That silly girl had probably cut herself carving this.

Suddenly, a hand reached over his shoulder and whisked the letter and carving away. He turned around and saw Jun, who had started reading the letter. "Aww…Ren's feeling embarrassed!" She teased, laughing.

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Lyn sat at the dining table, eating her meal in silence while Yoh and Horo Horo were acting as comedians. Lyzerg peered up at her face, and she was shaken out of her thoughts.

Lyn blinked in surprise, and Lyzerg looked at her concernedly. "Are you alright?" He asked her worriedly. Lyn nodded and went back to thinking.

She had made her choice. It hurt, but she had no choice. And she would have to come up with a bluff.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and when Yoh went to answer it, Ren walked in, followed by a girl with raven black hair.

"You're back? How was your birthday? Who's this girl?" Yoh asked Ren as he walked towards the dining table, smiling weakly at Lyn.

"Birthday sucked except for one thing. And this girl…" Ren started speaking, a sad look in his eyes when he looked at Lyn.

"I'm his fiancée! The name's Hui!" The girl interrupted him, wrapping her hands around his arm and cuddling up to him.

That girl is seriously a bitch eh? I feel like killing her man. One minute, she acts as if Ren owes her the world, and the next, she's all sweet and clingly. –shudders- and she's such a bootlicker too! Argh! How will Lyn react to this new development? And what is that decision she made? Read on to find out!