Chapter 16: Jonathan's Past

I heard him clear his throat and said "No!"

I didn't think he would have any meaningful stories to tell if he did, I expected it would have some gory bits to it. The story he told me that night was about his life during his younger days as a gangster.

He was twenty-one years old that year. I couldn't remember the exact day, but Jonathan was drinking with his brother in a nightclub. He shouted to the steward, "Can't I get some peace?"

The steward immediately said, "Okay, I'll deal with it right away."

The loud music stopped and a girl wearing a long, white dress to the floor walked onto the stage towards a white piano. She didn't fit in with the razzle-dazzle of the night club, which enchanted him.

When she played the piano, her ethereal melody fell from the sky. Jonathan was completely fascinated by the sound, which seemed to purify his ruthless and brutal soul and let him find his lost self.

After the song was finished, Troy elbowed Jonathan, asking, "Are you interested in her?"

"Yes. I am interested in that piano! I'll buy one next time." he replied.

Troy pointed to that graceful girl, who exited the stage and said, "Do you think you could handle her?"

"Have you ever seen a woman I can't handle? But I'm not interested in her," Jonathan said. But, eventually, he admitted it, "Blow it! Do you believe I am not interested in her?"

That day he drank a lot as he sat with Troy. Then he said, "You'd better keep your eyes open."

He staggered backstage and met the girl who had just changed her clothes and was about to leave. "What's the matter?" she asked. Jonathan put one hand around her waist, lifting her chin with the other hand, and stared at her face. He just wanted to take a good look at her face, because the light on the stage was too dim to see her. Unexpectedly, the girl bit his finger and it started dripping blood.

Seeing Troy laughing from not so far away, he felt annoyed. So, pressing her close against the wall, he kissed her lips. Perhaps she was startled and could hardly move. Jonathan let go of her and said, "How boring!"

He thought she would cry and hit him, but she rubbed her lips, looking up, and asked him, "What's your name?"

"Jonathan Li!"

"This is my first kiss," she said.

"No wonder," Jonathan's thought.

She looked at him and said, "You'll be my boyfriend from this day on! Let's talk about getting married another time."

"I... You...." It was the first time that he had been tongue-tied by a woman. Seeing Troy laughing, Jonathan couldn't speak a word. "Hey! Wait a minute!" he shouted. She ignored him, fixed her hair and skirt, and left.

As the days passed, Jonathan had forgotten that matter completely, then Troy suddenly asked him, "How is Crystal Holt?"

He replied blankly, "Who is Crystal Holt?"

"The one who plays the piano. Don't tell me you don't remember her?" she tells everybody she's your girlfriend!" Troy said.

"What? Why don't I know that? No one informed me?" Jonathan said.

Jonathan had planned to go to the nightclub the next day to talk to her, telling her that such news couldn't spread carelessly, it would ruin his reputation. It was known that Jonathan Li would not be embarrassed by a woman.

As soon as he entered the club, he saw several drunk men staggering up the stage and placing a glass of white wine on Crystal's piano for her to drink. She resisted. One held her chin and forced her to drink. Seeing her struggling desperately, he let some of his men go up and teach them a lesson. His henchmen would never disappoint him and kicked the drunk men out.

After rescuing the damsel in distress, Jonathan wanted to exit. Then he thought about it. Crystal was in good shape, being his girlfriend was okay.

Jonathan had never concealed his vulgarity in front of Crystal. He frightened her and drove her away casually when he was displeased. Sometimes he would take her along for a drink with his brother. He thought that such an elegant girl who loved music would get tired of him in a few days.

But after dating for a month, she still snuggled up to his arms quietly and said to him, "Do you know that I love you so much!"

He replied casually, "Its physical love."

He thought she would slap him and scold him and run out of the room and never come back. After all, she was a special woman who was pure and innocent, longing for divine love without any filth.

He thought he knew women well, but he could not understand Crystal. He was only 21 years old at that time, young and wild, immersed in the materialistic nightclub.

It's not a lie that he didn't intend to try with her, after having been together for so long. He was a young man, who fantasized many times about taking off her clothes and pressing himself up against her body. He never touched her because she was so elegant, he was enchanted by her ethereal and moving music.

Jonathan said to Crystal, "It's late. I'll take you back."

"Jonathan Li, are you a man?" She said. All the men and women in the room watched them, except Troy.

"I'll take you back!" he said and pulled her to her feet.

"Prove that you are a man!" she said. There was silence in the room! Jonathan took a look at the people, and one by one, they rushed out the door. The last one to go out was Troy who locked the door for them.

That night, Jonathan took Crystal to the sofa and tore her red skirt saying, "I'll show you whether I'm a man today!" That night, he found that she was different from other women. Her body was very sexual and warm.

As time went by, a lot of memories were blurred, but one scene engraved in his mind one where she half leaned over the arm of the sofa, looking up, her silky hair like the black starry sky. Under the shadow, she bit her lower lip, shining with innocence and purity...

She stroked his face, with deep love in her eyes, and said, "I love you!" Crystal told him that it was the first time she had been with a man so intimately. And she would rather stay single if she could not marry him. He didn't answer. He had never thought of marrying her, or not marrying her, for he knew that such a girl would leave him sooner or later.

For a nineteen-year-old girl, passion is temporary but not permanent. One day she would get tired of his way of life and then pursue a life that suited her. He was doomed to be alone in life, with a lonely heart that no one could warm.

More than half a year later, he saw Crystal walking on the street, holding another man's arm, he was handsome and well-educated, the perfect person for marriage. She looked at him calmly and steadily, as if he was a stranger. He smiled and nodded at her as he walked past them. He thought it was all over. The naive girl finally figured out what suited her most.

She would soon snuggle up to another man and say the same words, "Do you know I love you so much." This was the nature of women. When she changed her heart, she would almost forget the name of her ex-boyfriend, even though she swore that he was the only person she would marry! But it turned out that he was wrong.

When he came home that night, Crystal was sitting outside the door, with tears in her red and swollen eyes. Once she saw him, the first words burst out, "Jonathan, have you ever loved me?"

"What about the other guy," he said.

"He appreciates my talent and can send me to study abroad to pursue my dream! He knows my secrets and loves me with all his heart and soul. What's more' he cares for me, he can marry me and give me the life I want!"

"Then you should stay with him," Jonathan said and turned and went to his door. He took the key to open the door. For a moment he felt heart-broken for her and wanted to go over and hold her, saying, "I'm sorry! I can't afford such a future! I don't deserve you. Please forget me."

But he knew that it was no use saying that, it would only make her more distressed.

He didn't love her, so he didn't want her to be trapped in his world. He opened the door and went inside. Just as he was closing it, Crystal grabbed him by the waist.

She begged, "I only want you. I only want to be with you. I would give up the piano and my dream, or my life for you, I would not regret it, because I love you! As long as you love me, it's okay!" she cried. Her voice touched his heart as she said, "But why don't you love me?"

He rubbed his aching forehead and said, "What's the last question you asked?"

"Why don't you love me?" she asked.

"I don't like your childish ways! I'm tired of you asking those meaningless questions!" he replied.

"But I love you," she said.

"That's what I can't stand the most about you!" he shouted.

"Jonathan Li, you are cold-blooded and brutal!" Crystal replied.

"So... I am. Why do you love me?" he asked.

"You are handsome! Especially when you helped me get rid of those men who bullied me, and when you told me that I belonged to you. "She asked with a faint sigh, "What kind of a woman do you like?"

"It's simple, a woman who is not like you at all," he replied.

"I want someone who will always listen to me quietly, without any opinion but understands what I am thinking and what I want. Not only can she face reality, but she can take good care of herself, with no need for me being concerned about her daily life.

"She won't keep asking me questions that I don't want to answer. She will not stick to me like glue every day, but when I miss her, I will know where she is, quietly waiting for me..."

"What if I change my way of life?" Crystal said, "I can become such a woman for you, please don't leave me," she begged

"I didn't say I would leave you. If I remember correctly, it was you who abandoned me," he said.

"Are you hungry? I'll cook for you! Crystal said.

"Oh please, Crystal, get real," he said

"Jonathan, if I die one day, will you miss me?" she asked.

"What did you say?" Jonathan asked.

"Are you hungry?" she asked him again.

"Yes, I am hungry. Make a bowl of noodles for me, I have been hungry all day!" he moaned.

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his face. "If one day I die, you must remember me. I shall seek you in the next life. I beg you! Give me a break," she pleaded.

"I'll love you in this life, and I'll continue loving you in the next life! Forever. You'd better stab me to death!" she said.