In his past life, his Mom would say that smoking was a big no for her. As long as she was alive with him, he would not be allowed to do that. However, Mom would give him bits of advice to help people who smoke. Do physical activities to take the mind off the thought of it, chew on gum and more.
One of them was if you want to take care of your breath after smoking, eat something sweet. It would lessen the taste of it.
When he was at the restaurant he was surprised at they gave their residents free candies. With sugar being a rare thing in Terra, this showed how prestige this place was, to give out free sweets was not a simple thing to do here. So he took as much as he needed.
That was why he was offering some candies to the woman.
When he offered them to the girl, he saw the cigarette that was in her hand fall from the balcony.
What if something got it below them? He was about to remind her to not do that.
He glanced at the girl and saw her body was trembling. He shut his mouth and waited to hear a reply from her.
After half a minute, Ying Li came back to her senses and turned to look at the figure in the dark. She bit her lower lip tightly, and then whispered, "Yes."
"Yes?" He hummed, "Yes what?"
"You just asked me if I wanted a candy," Ying Li said, "I said Yes."
"Ah," He smiled and held up the candy in his hand. "Glad to hear that."
Lin Ye threw the candy, and Ying Li caught it.
She looked at the piece of sweet in her hand. She slowly unwrap it and threw it into her mouth. The sudden sweetness of it made her squit her eyes.
Then she heard the man talking again.
"Although It's not my place to say this to you, I think you should try to quit smoking," He glanced at her, "It's not good for your health. So how about this? Every time you have the urge of smoking, eat something sweet. That might help you."
She wanted to say why should she follow his advice? He was a stranger. What gives him the right to say this to her?
However, when she heard his voice, she couldn't say anything against it.
She lowered her head. Then, after a while, she nodded, "Mhm."
The man must have seen her doing this with how he was humming.
A thought ran through her mind.
Why was he so similar to that person?
On Lin Ye's side, he did not know that he was giving the Princess of Yan trouble with how he was acting. His very actions made Ying Li confused.
Lin Ye glanced back into the living room and saw Nian sleeping peacefully under his coat. Seeing this made him realize he was slowly getting tired. It would be best to end their conversation and sleep.
However, he did not want to. Not just yet. This person who he was talking to, had a lot of things that she was facing. She must be stressed. So Lin Ye was more than happy to listen to her. It was not like this was the first time he slept late.
Then he heard the girl started talking again. Her voice was barely a whisper, but he could hear her.
"I used to have a brother who was a bit like you."
"A brother, huh?" Lin Ye glanced at her, "Where's he now?"
"He's no longer alive," Ying Li said, "So I have been thinking about what he would say to me if he was still alive."
"Ah," He exclaimed, "Sorry to hear that."
"It's fine," Ying Li shrugged his apology, "You did not know."
Lin Ye thought for a while, and smiled,
"And about what your brother would say to you. Happy wedding?" He hummed, "Maybe that?"
"Well..." She thought for a while about what he just said. Ying Li then smiled, "That... sounds like something he would say."
"... So the reason you are so melancholy tonight is that your future marriage makes you unsatisfactory," He said, "That and your very important brother cannot send you blessings at one of the most important moments in your life?"
Ying Li was surprised at how close his guess was.
"..." Ying Li slowly nodded, "That's right."
"... Is that so?" Lin Ye thought for a while and asked, "Then what is your brother like? Did he sound like me?"
"... Why do you ask?" Ying Li leaned closer to where he was.
"Because if he can't bless you, I can be his replacement," Lin Ye said with a smile, "If you okay with it."
Ying Li did not know how to react to this.
In her mind, she thought, how dare this person compared himself with his Gege? He was the third prince of Yan. This person was only a normal person.
However, then she remembered how he despised that title of his.
"If being a prince meant me being trapped in this place forever, someone else can take it."
Even the people of Yan did not know who Gege was. The only information that the royal family gave to the native about him was he was too sick to be present.
Gege wanted nothing more to be normal. To be a person. Not a prince...
Like this person in front of her.
Realizing this, Ying Li felt even sadder. She gripped onto her skirt.
Hearing no reply from the girl, Lin Ye thought that he might have overstepped something. Did he offend her? With how much trouble his mouth brought to him, he would not be surprised.
"Sorry, if you don't want to, forget it," He blurted, "I am just saying this-."
"... if it..."
He heard her muttering.
"... What?" He went closer to her, "I did not catch that."
"I said... If it's not troublesome for you...." Ying Li said softly, "If you can, please tell me to have a happy wedding... I haven't heard his voice for a long time..." She did not know what she was doing, "Yours sounds just like his... I really want to hear him say this to me."
"... Is that so?" Lin Ye didn't expect that she would really agree with him. He looked at the stars above him, "Can you give me some time to think? This must mean something important to you. I don't want to mess it up."
"... Okay."
What would a brother say to his sister that was about to get married?
This was unfamiliar territory for Lin Ye. Although he had been a brother figure to a handful of children, he really do not know what to say in this situation.
Maybe he should use the internet and search for this?
... No. He would be mocking her brother if he did that.
And... This girl sounded desperate to hear this from her brother. She even asked a stranger to act as her brother to hear him again.
She must truly love her brother. This person must be something to be loved so much by her.
Now that person was gone from this girl's life.
Seeing that she lost him... It made him sad. Losing a family member, he could not imagine what this person must be feeling.
If he lost either of his parents... He did not know what would happen to him.
He glanced at the girl's figure.
"I've never been in this type of situation before, so it's hard for me to say anything on the spot now," Lin Ye admitted. Then he came up with a solution, "How about we do this tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" Ying Li was stunned by this.
"Yeah," The man said, "We can meet up like this tomorrow."
She didn't expect this man to be so persistent.
She was going to say that he shouldn't do that, that it would be too troublesome for him to do.
However, she could not say those words to him. His voice made her emotions spiral out of control. She did not know what was happening to her.
... She was just... happy hearing his voice.
Then her phone rang suddenly. Ying Li picked up her phone and found that it was the second prince, Ying Jie, who was calling her.
She had the idea of hanging up directly, but she didn't dare to do so. She could only turn the phone to mute and leave it be.
"Tomorrow. Here," Then she said to Lin Ye. Then she looked at the time on her phone, "I have to go back first. You also have a good rest."
She turned around and was about to leave.
A thought came into her mind as she was walking away.
She was willing to spend time with her fake brother more than her actual brother.
When she was about to leave, Ying Li heard the man speak.
"Everything will be fine."
Ying Li spun around and looked at the figure on the balcony. He was waving at her gently.
"Trust me," Although it was dark, Ying Li could feel the smile that the man was giving at her now, "Also, goodnight."
The man's figure then walked into the room again, leaving her alone.
Now alone, Ying Li's only company were the stars above her.
That and something else...
*Ba-dump*!
Her heart was beating faster than ever now.
"Gege?" She muttered under her breath.
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
Draft: Jaq
Proofread: Jaq
Edit: Jaqd