7 "State of Focus" (1/2)

Hartley was greeted by Zhi Ruo holding a package standing at his door, ”come in” he said.

Zhi Ruo came in and handed the package to Hartley, she then said ”Go try it out and see if it fits, I rushed it a bit but I think it came out good considering the short amount of time.”

Hartley nodded and went back into his bedroom..

After opening the package he discovered 2 beautiful yellow robes, embroidered with a Capital H right where the breast pocket should have been. Hartley changed into the lose fitting robe, stood in front of the full size mirror in his bedroom and swept his hair back with his right palm, he looked around and found a piece of string to tie his hair at the back then inspected himself, he was taken aback, he looked like a tanned version of one of those young lords of the Luo clan he despised so much during his younger days.

He returned with his hair tied neatly with the simple string, he pranced into the living room with his arms spread..

Zhi Ruo stared...

she couldn't stop staring, the wild youth she met earlier always had a mysterious element to him, but now he was standing in front of her, back straight and with those striking blue eyes staring directly at her.... It sent a jolt through her body, she blushed and tried to get out of there as quick as possible but Hartley held onto her wrist gently while saying.

”Thank you Sister Ruo,” her body went stiff, she forced a fake smile while still looking at him, stammered out a few words and then left in a flustered manner.

Zhi Ruo stopped 5 paces from the door to catch her breath, she didn't think the wild youth would have been so strikingly handsome, she blushed once more just thinking about him and then left.

Hartley had a wry smile on his face, he had not had much interaction with other people for the last couple years so he was genuinely thankful for Zhi Ruo's help...

The strange thing was, he still felt a bit of an unknown feeling when thinking about her. ”Hmm?” He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and continued to cultivate....

It was a quiet night, the occasional sound of a horse would travel through the night every now and then, the candle sitting on the wooden table had burned all the way to the end and extinguished itself in the liquefied wax that was collected and cooling in the candle holder. Hartley was diligently cultivating Blue Star Energy...He was on the cusp of getting back that familiar feeling.