The Fallen Prince

⋇- 13: Reminiscence -⋇

"Welcome to the royal palace," said Chen, gesturing with his hands as if he was presenting a show.

En examined the scarlet building, blinking repeatedly. Now that he was in the royal grounds, he really felt small looking at it. When admiring the edifice from the city, the palace looked small and it gave the appearance of numerous boxes with black roofs, that had curved edges, piled one after another. Now that he was in front of it, the architecture looked beautiful and majestic.

"The training area is behind the palace," said Chen, walking forward. "Let's go."

En followed him, examining his surroundings as they wandered around the vast area. Despite the ground being mostly cemented, he could spot various types of vegetation decorating the outdoors. His brows arched when they crossed a small bridge that had a calm stream passing under it; he could see a small number of fishes swimming around.

As they explored the land, they crossed paths with several employees who bowed at the sight of Chen and Chen nodded at them with a smile. They walked around for another minute more before they entered a small gray building not far from the large main edifice.

"I'm back," said Chen as soon as he opened the door.

"Finally," said an impatient voice. "I was about to leave."

As they entered the area, En was surprised to see how spacious the place was. It almost looked like a gymnasium with the different types of equipment he could see.

"Oh, come on, Mr. Feng," said Chen, walking forward. "Aren't you happy that I took you out of your retirement for a day? Fai told me you were looking bored in these last few days."

Feng?

Why did that name sound familiar? En gazed at his front and saw a lean, middle-aged man shaking his head as he talked to Chen. Somehow that man looked familiar to him. Where had he seen him before?

"We see each other again, Mysterious Teen." Someone patted En's shoulder.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw a young man with glasses, wearing the same dark blue fighting suit as Chen.

"It's you," said En, his brows raising.

Fai nodded. "It's good to see you again. That night I felt really guilty for letting you go in that state. I'm glad you turned out to be fine."

"Oh." En looked away and scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Sorry about that."

En still had fragmented memories of that night in the bar. No matter how hard he would try to remember what happened that night, his mind would only show him small and confusing pieces. From what he could remember, he was glad that he didn't cause any trouble.

"What for?" Fai's laugh brought En back to reality. "You didn't do anything wrong; I was just worried. However, I'm surprised that you ended up being Chen's relative. He wouldn't stop blabbering how you looked familiar. Now everything makes sense."

"Yeah," said En, his tone quiet.

It was incredible how he met one of his cousins this way. Fate could be really funny sometimes.

"Before we start with today's torture," said Chen playfully, "I would like to introduce you to someone. It's the reason I requested your presence today, Feng."

En saw Chen and Feng walk towards his spot. As soon as they reached him, Chen stood by En's side and rubbed En's shoulder.

"Can you recognize this guy?" Chen asked, his tone curious.

Extra wrinkles appeared on Feng's forehead as he frowned at Chen. He then shifted his coffee eyes to En, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"What are you trying to tell me?" Feng gazed back at Chen. "I'm not at an age to play a guessing game."