"Hehe, you really know how to go about it." He also didn't have plans for marriage; he also didn't think he needed it.
"So are you..."
The Jeep rumbled down the cracked sub-highway as they minded their own business, the tires crunching over loose gravel that splattered all over their wheels as wind whipped through the half-open windows, sending chills inside the Jeep.
Today, it was darker than usual, they could no longer see the long shadows over the wild, untamed landscape stretching out on either side of them down the slopes. Dust swirled in golden clouds behind them, stirred by their reckless pace.
Inside the vehicle, silence settled again, heavy and introspective, broken only by the occasional hum of the engine or the click of Lu Zi Zhen's gun safety lock testing it from time to time. There's nothing fancy about firearms, but Lu Zi Zhen loved and admired them like they were babies. That machine gun was held in his arms while the guards checked him out.
Going through the highway, so many memories could flood back, It wasn't the first time they had taken a journey like this; heart pounding, maps spread on dashboards, adrenaline laced with unspoken fears; but this time, they were relaxed, they have been in these races and they were already used to it. Nothing about this was new to them.
"So are you planning to get married at some point?" Lu Zi Zhen asked finally, turning his head slightly, his eyes hidden behind his head bowed. His voice had lost its earlier teasing lilt. It was quieter now, grounded. He meant business, and who knows what he would do with the answer.
Lu Ting Cheng shrugged his shoulders and leaned against the back of his seat, his fingers fiddling with the steel clasp of his handguns while wiping them out from time to time. Nobody could tell what he was thinking about.
"I actually don't know. I'm still too young to even date, let's say, maybe in my forties..." He replied, his voice was low and uncertain, but he was certain about something: he had to accompany his Momma for long enough. "Maybe if I meet someone who makes the world slow down for me, who makes me stop all this and think, really think, about the kind of man I am. But do you think I can stop all these? And do you think it's possible to find such a kind of love as the one momma and Daddy exhibits?" He didn't think that could really happen. Just look at their biological mothers, they both had left their men when they had nothing!
There was a pause as Lu Ting Cheng heavily sighed, some things were just for dreams and not to be achieved. Lu Zi Zhen blinked a few times, but didn't answer immediately.
"You can't have the same kind of love or marriage momma and Daddy have... Even if you get married, your marriage would be different...." He paused for a second, "You already know the kind of man you are. The problem is, you're afraid to be him without the shield of violence and power. You want to hide behind me all the time, you should embrace yourself." His words were not meant to hurt; they were insightfully brutal, as always. A time would come when he would come clean with his parents, so what would happen with Lu Ting Cheng? Because their business is expanding, they would be involved in one way or the other.
Lu Ting Cheng smirked faintly, not denying it, and he actually didn't mind; this has always been Lu Zi Zhen's way of communication. The truth had always been Lu Zi Zhen's greatest weapon: sharp, unflinching, and inconvenient. He didn't hide anything from him.
"Isn't that rich, coming from you? As if you aren't the same..." he said, finally turning toward his younger brother, gazing at him. "You wear your trauma like tailored silk. Classy on the outside, messy stitches underneath. You're hiding too."