"Yitian—"

Cutting her off, he pleaded, "Please listen to me first. After I finish, I swear I'll listen to whatever you want to tell me and even if you don't wanna talk to me, I'll agree to that as well and I will leave without saying a word." ​​

Tightening his grip around her hand, Yitian added, "I know what I did wasn't appropriate and trust me Liying, I have cursed myself so many times for acting like an idiot."

Scrunching his brows, he muttered, "I don't know what was wrong with me, maybe I was possessed with something or—" he stopped when Liying started laughing.

Pulling his adorable cheeks, Liying chuckled, "Why are you so cute?"

"You think I am cute?"

"Of course you are cute." Keeping quiet for quite some time, she added, "Honestly, I came here because I thought I made things awkward between us and I made you feel uncomfortable. I really don't want to force anything on you Yitian, if you want us to be friends then—"

Cutting her off, he frowned, "You want us to be friends?" Without waiting for her reply, he stated, "I don't want us to be just friends, I didn't come all the way here just to make you my friend."

Taken aback by his sudden remark, Liying was dumbfounded. Her heart started beating fast and she felt butterflies in her stomach.

"But before I say anything, I want to ask you something."

"What?"

Tightening his grip around her hand, he was about to say something when someone knocked at the door.

Just then Carl entered the room. When he saw Liying and Yitian together, hand in hand, he awkwardly cleared his throat. "I—I didn't mean to interrupt but grandma is calling you both downstairs."

Letting her hand go, Yitian got up and smiled at him. "We will be right there."

After Carl left, Liying said, "You should quickly freshen up, I'll wait for you downstairs."

Before she could leave, he grabbed her hand. "Can we talk later?"

"Of course we can, let's go out for a walk later," she smiled at him before walking out.

Slumping on the bed, Yitian sighed in satisfaction. A weight had lifted off his shoulders which made him feel so relaxed and at peace. Sitting up straight, he frowned. But this wasn't the time to relax, he had many things to do. First, he had to tell Liying how he felt about her and make her his girlfriend and second, deal with the third pair of eyes which was already bugging him.

'Big brother is right, if I don't keep what is mine safe, who will?' he thought before rushing towards the washroom to freshen up.

…..

Yichan and Ning's place.

"Are you sure about that?" When Roger nods his head, Yichan curiously inquires, "Why now? I mean—"

Cutting him off, Roger explains, "I know what you are thinking but I want to do this for Lucas. I don't know how much we can trust the source I got the information from but don't you think I should tell him at least what I know?"

"I am not saying you should hide this from him but you need to think about the consequences as well. Lucas will definitely get agitated after hearing the reason behind his mothers death. What if he does something stupid and ends up getting hurt?" When Roger did not say anything, he further explained, "Listen Roger, I don't have to tell you how heartless your father is. He won't flinch to kill both of you if the situation calls for it. Once Lucas finds out his father killed his mother, it will be very difficult to calm him down."

"I know," Roger sighed. After his relationship with Lucas improved over time, the latter told him about his mother and how he wanted to find the real reason for her death. At that time, Roger promised to help him find the truth but now when he did, he was reluctant to tell him.

When he found out it was Kareem, their father who killed Lucas' mother, he was dumbfounded. The hatred he had for his father increased but at the same time he was scared to share the piece of news with Lucas.

After contemplating and juggling with his thoughts, he came to Yichan for some advice.

"Let me dig deeper, I'll ask Jason to look into it. I'll let you know after I have enough evidence to confirm the news you got." Since Yichan had found out the real culprit behind all the activities that were happening lately, he wanted to be extra cautious. He didn't want anyone around him to get hurt because they were reckless.

"I got the information from someone who has been working in our family for years. He was very much present when—"Closing his eyes, Roger sighed, "I don't know how I always ignored my father's behavior. Why didn't I notice his weird actions before?"

Patting his shoulder, Yichan comforted him. "It's okay, we all make mistakes, what matters is that we learn from it."

Roger sighed and nodded his head. Looking around, he asked, "Where is Ning?"

"She is at the hospital with her mother, I was there too but I rushed back when you called me."

…..

Hospital.

Hesitating for a while, Ning said, "I want to talk to you both about something." Without waiting for their reply, she explained, "Everything that has happened is the past doesn't matter anymore but it's very difficult to get past it in such a short period of time. I am not saying that I am still sad or angry with you both. I am not uncomfortable around you but I am also not comfortable."

Finding it very hard to express how she actually felt, Ning stuttered for a while. After taking Yichan's advice, she decided to talk to her parents about their situation and not to act like everything was normal.

"We can understand—" Weilong remarked.

"You can take all the time you need."

…..