EMBERS OF RESISTANCE

In the rolling hills of Scovia, nestled within the lush landscape, stood the grand Luan estate beautiful ranch that stretched far beyond the eye could see. The land was abundant with vineyards, herbs, and fruit-bearing trees, all of which contributed to the prized wines produced by the Luan family's small yet prosperous factory. Mr. Luan, a man of vision and ambition, was not just a skilled winemaker but also one of the wealthiest men in the quaint city.

Alongside his wife, they raised three children sons, Edgar and Mike, and their younger daughter, Stella, who was five seconds younger than her twin brother Mike.

The Luan family was, by all appearances, perfect.

Edgar, the eldest at fourteen, embodied his father's good looks but little of his work ethic. While charming and sociable, he resented the family's expectations, preferring the company of his friends to the backbreaking work of the vineyards. His natural charisma often got him what he wanted, but he harbored a hidden bitterness toward Mike, whose diligent nature had earned him their father's favor. The praise Mr. Luan lavished on Mike for his quiet, steadfast dedication felt like a slight to Edgar, igniting a deep-seated resentment that he masked behind an easy smile.

Mike, twelve, was the opposite. Methodical and thoughtful, he took pride in helping his father, often spending long hours learning the intricacies of winemaking. His devotion to the estate's future set him apart, earning him the subtle nod of his father's approval. Though he was only a few minutes younger than his twin, he balanced Stella's spontaneity with his quiet strength, and together, they shared a bond that seemed nearly unbreakable.

Stella, the youngest by seconds, was a free spirit. Artistic and adventurous, she had a heart as vast as the land around her and an understanding beyond her years. Always the mediator between Edgar and Mike, she cherished her family deeply and, despite her dreams of adventure, was rooted firmly in the land she loved. She saw Edgar's struggles and Mike's burdens, often working to bridge the gap between them, her presence softening the friction that seemed to brew beneath the surface.

As the years passed, Edgar's resentment only deepened. Watching Mike work alongside their father, Edgar felt the sting of being overlooked. In his eyes, the family business was his birthright, a legacy that should have been destined for the eldest son. Every moment Mike spent learning the craft, every word of encouragement from Mr. Luan, felt like another reminder that he, Edgar, was being passed over.

One late afternoon, after a long day at the factory, Mike found Edgar lounging under a tree, idly tossing pebbles into the nearby pond. Wiping his hands on a rag, Mike approached, noticing the familiar look of disdain in Edgar's eyes.

"Edgar," Mike started gently, "you know Dad needs all the help he can get. Why don't you come and join us at the vineyard? He'd appreciate it."

Edgar's face twisted into a scowl. "Oh, he'd appreciate it, would he?" His voice was thick with sarcasm. "Just like he appreciates all the time he spends with you. Spare me, Mike. I don't need your little lectures. You think you're so much better than me, don't you?"

Stunned by his brother's venom, Mike tried to stay calm. "I don't think I'm better than you, Edgar. We're a family. We have to help each other."

"Family?" Edgar's voice dripped with contempt. "The only 'family' Dad cares about is you. You and your precious devotion to this estate."

Their father, Mr. Luan, had always been proud of his children, but it was Mike who captured his heart with his dedication to the family business. Edgar, sensing his father's preference, began to harbor deep resentment. It wasn't just about the attention Mike received was about the growing realization that he, Edgar, might not inherit the Luan legacy, despite being the eldest. The unspoken favoritism, though subtle, cut Edgar deeply, and with each passing year, his jealousy only grew.

FIVE YEARS LATER

The years were blurred by a mix of responsibilities, sibling quarrels, and the steady march of time. As they grew older, the siblings' bonds remained, but the tensions simmering between Edgar and Mike became more volatile. Stella, now a teenager, continued to play peacemaker, torn between the love she held for her brothers and the pain of seeing them drift apart.

Then came the accident that changed everything.

It was a day like any other. Mr. and Mrs. Luan had decided to take Stella with them to visit a nearby vineyard, an educational outing for their curious daughter. They planned to be back by nightfall, and Mike had wanted to join them, but Mr. Luan asked him to stay back to help Edgar with the estate a rare opportunity to bridge the gap between the two brothers. Edgar wanted to join in but since Mike was to stay behind, he preferred to stay.

Fate, however, had other plans.

A mechanical failure sent their car careening off a narrow road into a ravine, a tragedy that would leave the family shattered. Edgar and Mike received the devastating call that evening, their world crashing down around them. Their parents and beloved sister, Stella, were gone in an instant, leaving a void that could never be filled. The estate fell into a haunting silence, the once-thriving land now a ghost of its former self, as if the spirit of the place had been taken along with the family members they lost.

The aftermath of the tragedy weighed heavily on both brothers. Mike, plagued by guilt, felt that he should have been with them that day. Edgar, however, harbored a different kind of toxic mix of grief and blame that turned his resentment toward Mike even darker.

Edgar and Mike were left to face the loss, but grief manifested differently for both.

Mike was crushed, the weight of the family legacy now his alone. The guilt gnawed at him. "I should've been with them," he confided to Edgar one night, his voice barely above a whisper.

Edgar's eyes were cold. "Maybe if you hadn't been such a golden child, Dad would've taken us both. Maybe they'd still be alive."

Mike, crushed under the weight of the loss, could only stare back in silence, unable to reconcile the blame in Edgar's voice with his overwhelming sorrow.

When their uncle Elias arrived to take them in, the brothers found a reluctant but caring guardian. Elias, Mr. Luan's estranged younger brother, was a compassionate and thoughtful man, who had lived openly as a gay man in the more conservative Scovia, Uncle Elias had been estranged from the family for years due to his differences with their father. Despite his estrangement from the family due to differences with Mr. Luan, Elias stepped forward without hesitation, taking on the role of both guardian and guide. Under his care, the estate continued to thrive, and he provided a haven for Mike, who grew closer to Eias, drawing strength from his mentorship.

But Edgar remained distant. Bitter and angry, he rejected Elias's attempts to support him, spiraling further into reckless behavior that only deepened the chasm between him and Mike.

When Mike officially took over the family business at eighteen, it was a bittersweet moment marked by lingering wounds. Edgar's rage erupted once more upon hearing their father's will, which entrusted the legacy of the vineyard to Mike. It was the final blow to their already fractured relationship, a confirmation to Edgar that his place in the family was secondary.

"Why Mike?" Edgar would ask himself late at night, staring at the ceiling of his room. "Why did they trust him with everything?"

"You think you deserve this?" Edgar's voice was venomous, his fists clenched at his sides. "Everything should've been mine."

"I never wanted this to be a competition," Mike replied, struggling to keep calm. "We're brothers. There's enough here for both of us."

"Brothers?" Edgar laughed bitterly. "You've never seen me as an equal. You think I don't see how Dad looked at you? Like you were the heir, not me."

"I'm not trying to take anything from you, Edgar."

"You already have." Edgar's eyes were dark with fury, years of anger spilling out. "You took everything from me. Dad's respect, his trust, his legacy. And now you get to play the hero, while I'm the failure."

"I never asked for this!" Mike's voice rose in frustration. "But I can't undo what happened. We can still fix this, Edgar. We can work together-"

"Fix it?" Edgar shook his head, a twisted smile on his face. "No, Mike. You've already destroyed everything."

Mike, pained by the rift between them, tried to reason. "This isn't about deserving anything, Edgar. I never wanted to take anything from you."

But the words fell flat, a gulf too wide for them to cross. Uncle Elias watched helplessly, his heart heavy with sorrow, as the brothers drifted further apart. Mike, determined to honor his father's legacy, knew that healing the family was beyond his power alone, he left for Bravia to pursue further education, hoping the distance might provide a fresh start.

Bravia's university campus, vibrant and alive with possibility, was a world away from the memories Mike carried with him. He roamed the campus with the quiet confidence of someone who had lived through more than his peers, his eyes carrying the weight of his past yet hopeful for the future.

The vineyard was thriving under the Foreman's careful guidance, but Mike knew his time at university was also about preparing for his future as the head of the family business. Bravia, with its sprawling parks and prestigious institutions, offered an escape from the tension that still simmered between him and his older brother Edgar. He couldn't afford distractions-especially not now.

And then he saw her.

Sitting on a bench, absorbed in a book, Stacy was the picture of calm. Her long brown hair caught the late afternoon light, and when she looked up, her ocean-blue eyes met Mike's. In that single glance, he felt a warmth he hadn't known in years sense of connection that transcended words.

He paused something stirring in his chest. She wasn't just beautiful; she had a quiet grace about her. Her blue eyes peeked up from her book for a second, glancing at the commotion of students passing by, and when they met Mike's gaze-just for a moment it was as if the world stilled.

Mike's heart skipped a beat. He wasn't used to feeling flustered, but something about the way she looked at him made him forget about everything else.

He'd never been one to approach women so brazenly, but this was different. Something about her drew him in like a magnet. His heart raced, but he managed to keep his voice steady as he approached. "Hey, mind if I sit here?"

The girl looked up from her book, her ocean-blue eyes now fully locking onto his emerald ones. She smiled, the kind of smile that warmed everything around her. "Sure," she said softly, sliding over to make space.

Mike sat down, feeling oddly aware of how close they were, though the bench could have easily fit another person. "What are you reading?"

She glanced at the cover, seemingly amused that he'd ask. "Twisted Love."

"Ah, intriguing," Mike replied, nodding. "Anna Huang, right?"

Stacy's eyebrows arched in mild surprise, clearly not expecting Mike to know the author. "You've read it?"

Mike chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, let's just say I've heard of it." His charm was effortless, but there was something genuine in his awkwardness as if he was just as taken aback by his boldness as she was.

She smiled again, a soft laugh escaping her lips. "I wouldn't have pegged you for a romance novel kind of guy."

"Oh, I'm full of surprises," Mike shot back, his emerald eyes twinkling with mischief.

Stacy closed the book, turning her full attention to him. "So, what brings you here? Aside from analyzing my reading choices," she teased, though there was curiosity in her voice.

Mike hesitated for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"Honestly? I was just walking, thinking about a lot of things, and then..." He paused, looking directly at her. "I saw you. And suddenly, I wasn't thinking anymore."

Stacy blinked, caught off guard by his sincerity. The air between them shifted, the playful banter giving way to something more meaningful, more real. She didn't look away, and for a moment, it felt like the world around them had slowed down, the bustling campus fading into the background.

"Bold move," she said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Mike grinned, though his heart was racing. "Yeah, well, I don't do this often."

Stacy's smile softened, her gaze lingering on him. "Neither do I."

For a few moments, they sat there in comfortable silence, the kind that didn't need to be filled with words. It was as if they were both waiting for something to happen, something neither of them could quite explain.

"So, what's your story?" Stacy asked, breaking the quiet. "What's a guy like you doing here on a sunny day instead of out there saving the world?"

Mike laughed, the sound light and easy. "Saving the world might be a bit much, but I'm here for university. Studying business. And you?"

"Psychology," Stacy replied. "Trying to figure out how the human mind works... and why people do the things they do."

Mike's grin widened. "That's pretty ambitious."

"Is it?" she asked, her tone thoughtful. "I just think it's fascinating. People are complicated, you know? There's always more to them than what you see on the surface."

Mike nodded, his gaze never leaving hers. "Yeah, I can see that. I'm starting to believe it more and more."

Stacy blushed slightly at the intensity of his gaze, but there was something comforting about it. Something safe. "So, you said you're studying business? Is that what you want to do? Run a company or something?"

Mike shrugged, his smile fading slightly. "It's... complicated. I mean, yeah, that's the plan. My family has this vineyard back home in Scovia. It's kind of expected that I'll take over one day."

"And you don't want to?" Stacy asked, picking up on the subtle hesitation in his voice.

Mike sighed, leaning back against the bench. "I don't know. It's not that I don't want to... I just don't know if it's me, you know? There's a lot of family history tied up in it, a lot of expectations. Sometimes it feels like it's more about them than about me."

Stacy nodded, understanding far more than he realized. "I get it. Expectations can be heavy. It's hard to know where your path ends and theirs begins."

Mike looked at her, his expression softening. "Yeah... exactly."

There was another pause, but it wasn't awkward. It was the kind of silence that felt full of unspoken things as if they both knew they'd stumbled into something that could be important.

"I'm Stacy, by the way," she said suddenly, realizing they hadn't even exchanged names.

"Mike," he replied, holding out his hand. She took it, and for a brief moment, the contact sent a jolt through him. It was as if something had clicked into place like meeting her was more than just a random encounter.

"So," Mike began, his smile returning, "since you're into psychology, maybe you can explain why I suddenly feel like I've known you forever."

Stacy laughed, her ocean-blue eyes twinkling with amusement. "I'm not sure psychology covers that kind of thing."

"Maybe it's a mystery then," Mike said, his tone teasing but his gaze serious.

"Maybe," Stacy agreed, holding his gaze a little longer than necessary.

They stayed there for a while, talking about everything and nothing, the conversation flowing as naturally as if they'd known each other for years. Mike found himself opening up in ways he hadn't expected, and Stacy, too, shared more than she usually would with a stranger. There was something easy about being with him, something that made her feel at ease like she could be herself without worrying about what came next.

As the sun began to dip lower in the sky, casting a golden glow over the campus, Mike glanced at his watch and sighed. "I should probably get going. Got a study group in an hour."

Stacy smiled, though she felt a small pang of disappointment. "Yeah, I should head back too."

Mike stood up, but he hesitated for a moment before turning to her. "Hey, um... would you maybe want to grab coffee sometime? I mean, if you're not too busy reading the twisted series."

Stacy grinned, her heart skipping a beat. "I think I could make time for that."

Mike's face lit up, his boyish charm on full display. "Great. I'll find you."

As he walked away, Stacy watched him go, her heart feeling lighter than it had in a long time. Something told her this was the beginning of something special-something that went beyond textbooks and expectations. And for the first time in a while, she felt like maybe, just maybe, she'd found someone who could understand her introverted life.

Mike, too, walked away with a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, feeling as if his life had just shifted in a way he couldn't quite explain. Meeting Stacy hadn't been part of the plan, but now, he couldn't imagine the future without her in it.

There was something about Stacy that made him feel light as if the weight he carried on his shoulders lifted just by being near her.