{Note:- This update is not divided into past and present timelines.}

Wei Xian's parents and Uncle Jiang Fengmian had grown up together. They were best friends.

His dad and uncle Jiang were practically brothers. But since Jiang Fengmian's marriage, the two families had lost touch. They had met only a couple of times after that. And those meetings had been more about Jiang Family wanting financial help from the Wei family.

For the two families meeting and spending time together was not something Jiang Yu had wanted. She had made sure that her husband stayed away from Wei Cheng and his wife.

So, when Jiang Fengmian had fallen on hard times, he had not wanted to ask for his friend's help. But after exhausting all options, the Jiang family had no choice but to do that.

And Wei Cheng had helped, without hesitation.

After all, Wei Cheng had always considered Jiang Fengmian as his brother.

So when Wei Cheng and his wife had passed away in a freak accident, it was but natural for the Jiang family to adopt Xian, their only son.

Xian was three at the time.

After the funeral, which the entire Jiang family had attended, and all the guests had left, Jiang Fengmian had looked for Xian. He had spotted him playing with the other younger kids. A girl of about six was quietly sitting and observing the kids play. The girl had smiled at Jiang Fengmian, and he had smiled back at her affectionately.

Not wanting to stop the kids, Jiang Fengmian had just stood there watching the kids play.

At dusk, Xian had suddenly stopped playing and run to the window. He had stood there quietly, looking at the setting sun.

"Not again... " His friends had whined.

"What is it, Xian?" Jiang Fengmian had asked.

"I don't know... " Xian had trailed off, without looking at Jiang Fengmian. Xian had kept looking at the sun until it had set. Then, he had turned and walked back to his friends, with a sad look on his face.

Jiang Fengmian had two children. A daughter and a son named Yanli and Cheng, respectively. The girl was six, and the son was one at the time.

When uncle had brought him home, he had told Yanli, "From today, you have two brothers. You have to love them equally. They are your responsibility, alright? "

To which Yanli had smiled joyfully and nodded.

Then he had turned to Wei Xian and said, "Wei Xian, you have always called Yanli 'Shijie'. However, from today, you are a member of our family, and that makes Yanli your Jiejie. Would you like to call her Jiejie? "

Yanli had smiled innocently, looked at Wei Xian, and nodded encouragingly.

At that time, Wei Xian had just looked at his Shijie and smiled cutely. Then, he had blushed and lowered his eyes, and whispered, "Shijie..? "

That was precisely the moment when Yanli had let this child enter into her family and her heart.

Jiang Fengmian had smiled, "If you like calling her Shijie, then Shijie it is."

Yanli had nodded approvingly and had bowed down to his level. She had taken his tiny hand into hers and smiled. Then she spoke the words Wei Xian still remembers to this day.

"A-Xian, Shijie will always be there for you no matter what. Shijie will protect you." she had said sweetly and hugged him.

And just like that, in an instant, Wei Xian had gained not only an elder sister, but also a mother. For that is how he had felt in her embrace.

Things were hard for Xian the day he had come to stay with the Jiang family; the night was worse.

On the first day, Xian had refused to go to bed without a goodnight kiss from his mom. Though was told that his parents had left him and were never coming back, he had thought that his parents were playing a trick on him. Thus, he had smiled and run away to continue doing what he was doing before he was called.

When Jiang Fengmian had asked him to come home with him, he had agreed, thinking it was just till his parents came to pick him up, like they always did.

So, when the night fell, and his parents had still not come for him, he had started crying.

Yanli had run to his room, and so had Jiang Fengmian.

"Uncle, I want my mommy and daddy, where are they, when am I going home?" The child had asked with tears in his eyes.

Yanli had hugged him then for the first time.

"Shijie... " Xian had asked in a low, uncertain voice, "Can you call them?"

"A Xian, don't you want to play with me and A Cheng, tomorrow?" She had asked, wiping his tears.

"Mn."

"If you stay here, then that is what we will do." Yanli had told him.

"Mn. But I can't sleep without my mom's kiss."

"Simple." Yanli had said and kissed Xian's cheek.

Xian had felt shy and looked away.

"Now, will you sleep?"

The child had already exhausted himself, so he had promptly fallen asleep thinking that his parents would come to pick him up the next day. The next day came and went.

At dusk, once again, Xian had run to the window and looked at the sun. And after sunset, he had turned away with a disappointed look on his face.

When the night had fallen, and his parents had not come for him, he had become more agitated. He had cried a lot.

It was then that Aunty Yu had come and scolded him, "She is dead. She will never come back. You are our responsibility now."

With that, she had glared at her husband and walked out of the room, banging the door shut.

Jiang Fengmian had followed her, "He is a small boy, you could have been gentle..."

"Husband, don't you think you were gentle enough with his mother?"

"How can you say such a thing? Why don't you believe me?" Jiang Fengmian had said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"No, I don't believe you. I will never believe you. But she is dead now, and her husband helped us when we needed support, so as a repayment, I have agreed to raise the boy. But don't ask me to love him. And don't expect it either."

Yu had walked away without listening to a word her husband had wanted to say.

'If that is all she can accept, I will have to make do with it.' Jiang Fengmian had thought before returning to Wei Xian's room.

What he had seen in the room had warmed his soul.

Yanli was holding Little Xian in her arms and singing the latest nursery rhyme that she had learned in school, rocking the boy gently.

The child had fallen asleep.

Yanli had then tucked the boy in bed, placed a kiss on his cheek, and walked towards her father.

"He is sleeping. I don't ever want to see him cry. I want him to smile, always." She had told her father.

Yanli had then switched on a small lamp and switching off the bright light. "He doesn't like it when it's completely dark." She had added and walked back to her room.

***

Growing up in the Jiang family with his elder sister Yanli and younger brother Cheng was more than an orphan could have asked for.

Though his aunt Yu was not very fond of him, Xian knew that she cared about him as well.

Wei Xian got scolded by his aunt a lot. The aunt couldn't be blamed, though, for the little boy was a handful.

What Wei Xian didn't know and never came to know was the reason why Aunty Yu was always angry with him.

As the years passed, Wei Xian grew up to be a gentle, yet sometimes naughty young man. His good looks, and charming smile, had girls and a few boys swooning over him. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was the most popular boy in his school.

Everyone loved him.

Girls wanted him, and boys wanted to be him.

Many had approached him, proposed to him, but neither his body nor his heart had wanted any of them.

Finally, he had earned the nickname, 'Charming Saint'.

By the time he entered higher secondary school, people stopped approaching him to confess their love. They knew that the Saint's heart was unwavering.

When he had finally grown old enough to understand what had happened to his parents and what his uncle had done for him, he had vowed that he would repay their kindness by being the best brother to his siblings and would make his uncle and aunty proud.

Change is the only constant thing in this universe, and many things had changed over the years in Wei Xian's life. But some things had remained the same.

Xian still hated the dark, and he still went to the window to watch the setting sun at dusk.

No one asked him anymore why he did that. So, no one knew that when puberty had hit him, the need to look at the sun at dusk had changed into a strange undeniable pull. It was stronger now than when he was a child.

While looking at the setting sun, he had felt something akin to hope rise in his heart. Like he is waiting for something or someone.

Sometimes at that time, he felt soft lips caressing his cheeks and neck. Sometimes he heard his name called. Sometimes, he even got hard.

'What is wrong with me?' Xian had wondered at those times.

'For what am I waiting?... Who am I waiting for?' Xian had asked himself millions of times. He had not understood why he had felt that emotion every day at dusk. Only at dusk.

And every day, when the sun had set, he had felt disappointed and sad. Like he would never be able to smile again. Sometimes his heart hurt like it had been stabbed.

'Why does it hurt like this?' Xian had asked himself, clutching his heart.

His heart, though, had always remained silent.

{Note:- Word count 1696

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