"You know you are a mean devil?" Jianjun asked his wife. As usual, Changyu's face was straight. She looked very serious as she walked majestically towards her room. Anyone who saw them would think this was a lady boss and her secretary trying to catch up with her.

"What did I do?" She turned to spare her husband a glance before looking forward and continued walking.

"How could you do that to that woman and her daughter? This is the reason Cixi didn't want you to find out about this because you always blow things out of proportion."

She scoffed and stopped walking to glare at him. "I beg your pardon? I was nice to them for Joreen's sake and also for your sake because I thought you would praise me for being nice!" She defended herself.

"Nice? You call that being nice? They paid for this trip yet you literally kicked them out."

"You make it sound like I pushed them into the sea or something. Of course I would have loved that but Jo is a sweet girl who doesn't like such violence. I mean... they are going to return with a boat."

"A boat! It's going to be very cold out there and the journey is going to be longer. It would take them more than five days to return to the country. You realise you also punished the innocent sailor who is going to be taking them back?" He asked in frustration. He could not get why she was always difficult.

She almost gasped. "Why are you blaming me. I told them the price and asked for one to volunteer. Maybe you forgot they mentioned three actually volunteered? Trust me, I will pay him well and take care of his health that he would want to sail in the cold for the rest of his lives." She grinned, feeling proud of herself.

He sighed before opening their room there and moved to the side to let her inside first.

"But promise me you won't hurt them more than that?"

"Of course I will!" She said as she entered inside their room. "If I do not, Hoy would. If I continue to let Hoy take care of things like this, Jo would like him more than me and depend on him more."

"Now it's a competition?" He asked in disbelief.

"Look... that woman is an idiot and unfortunately, she raised her kid poorly. I just need to teach them a little lesson and unfortunately for her, I've heard one or two unpleasant tales about her husband so..."

"Don't do that. I know you love Joreen, but this is too much."

"...."

"Please?"

She shook her head.

"Come here..." He was sitting on the bed and held out his hand for her to take it but she shook her head again. He sighed dejectedly. Why did she always act like a little girl?

He stood up and walked towards her. Seeing he was becoming soft for her, she opened her arms wide for him to hug her. He did just that and she smiled in victory.

"Do not be a mean person okay? You make a lot of people dislike you."

"Do you dislike me?"

"Of course not! Are you crazy to even ask me that?"

"Then it doesn't matter what others think about me. It's not like I am going to marry them anyway."

"Chang...."

"Fineee! You are so boring. Alright... I will only hurt them a little. I promise not to go too far."

"The last time you made such promise, you went ahead to look for that man and set his car on fire because he bashed ours and asked us to go get a better car instead of complaining."

"That was me being nice! At least he wasn't inside." She said in her defense.

********

"I feel terrible." Joreen said, sulking. She was done crying and now she remembered how she had reacted to everyone.

"Hey, it's fine. We all understand."

Joreen threw her face on the pillow and groaned. "I am trying to make him like me but I said all those things to him. I bet he must hate me now!"

"Stop that!! You are going to ruin your make up." Reen charged at her and pulled her from the pillow which already had dark stains on it.

She sat down beside her and placed her hands on her shoulders, "Look Jo, I'm sure he's really frustrated wherever he is and he'll try to reach out to you. That is why you need to look perfect tonight."

"Arghh! I really want to believe you." She groaned.

"Then do!" Reen said before standing up.

"God! Aunt Changyu is so cool! I want to be like her when I grow older." Reen said with bright eyes. "You needed to see how that woman began to shiver when aunt Changyu entered and introduced herself to the head of security."

"I hope she doesn't plan on hurting them." Joreen said with worry in her eyes.

"Well, I hope she does. Anyways, are you still up for our little show tonight?"

"I will do it." Joreen said, surprising Reen.

"You don't have to. You are not in a good mood."

"I cannot keep sulking because of those people. It's not like it's my first time experiencing something like that. I'm serious."

"But—

"No buts Reen. I haven't been having fun since we came here. Tomorrow evening, we will be landing on the island. I will regret it if I do not have enough fun."

"Are you sure?" Reen asked uncertainly. She really wanted Joreen to do it and was looking forward to it but if she wasn't in a good mood...

"I am serious. So come help me touch up my make up and let's leave. They started more than an hour ago."

"If you change your mind, let me know. You do not have to force yourself. Okay?"

"Okay." Joreen smiled at her.

After touching up each of their make ups, the girls left their room. When Joreen's eyes fell on the door opposite theirs, she became sad, remembering how she had reacted to him earlier.

"It's going to be fine. I'm sure he won't be mad at you or something. I mean, you are too pretty for him to be mad at." Reen said.

Joreen managed to smile before linking arms with Reen. The two girls head towards the hall in a bright mood.

Reen wished she was like Joreen. Things rarely got to her and whenever they did, it didn't take her long before she returned to her usual self.

*****

Realizing she wasn't going to be getting the kiss she wanted, she slowly opened her eyes to look at Zhu Liang. He had taken a step away from her and was looking at her strangely.

"I guess you haven't forgiven me then." She said with an embarrassed smile.

"I have."

"Then why didn't you kiss me?" She asked, her voice betraying the unhappiness she didn't want to reveal to him.

He sighed. If only he could tell her now that he wanted them to break up. All of this was his fault. If he had known, he wouldn't have agreed to this in the first place. The thing was, after Heya, he didn't have any intention of being with any other woman so it didn't really matter anymore to him. He was growing older and naturally, the pressure began to come from his family and friends to settle down. A typical arranged marriage for him and Suyin was organised and honestly, he didn't have a choice because it didn't matter whoever it was. But seeing how nice Suyin was, he regretted it all.

"Yan Suyin...."

She noticed how his look changed and she could guess he wanted to tell her something serious.

"Let's just leave."

"Suyin..."

"We really need to leave now—"

"We need to talk."

She turned around, ready to leave. "I don't want to hear it so let's just—"

"I'm in love with someone else." He confessed.

"I SAID I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR IT!" She turned around and raised her voice at him angrily. She looked nothing like the calm Suyin he knew. She was angry.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. When she opened them again, she looked calmer.

"Let's just go have fun okay?" She flashed him a gentle smile.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" He could not help but ask. Despite his father's advise, he could not hold himself back.

Of course he was not going to propose to Heya since he wasn't even sure of the possiblity of them coming back together but he could not do this to himself anymore. And he hoped Suyin wouldn't do this to herself either.

"I should be asking you that." She said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Me?" He had a feeling she knew more than she was letting on.

"Let's say I heard a rumour sometimes ago that you are still stuck on your ex girlfriend. Even before hearing such rumour, I suspected it. It was quite obvious whenever I looked at you." She revealed.

"Why are you holding onto shadows? Why can't you be happy and let the past be in the past? why are you holding onto something that is never going to work?"

"The same reason you are holding onto this thing between us despite knowing it won't work." He answered curtly.

"I love you. And that should be all that matters. When we marry, you will finally open up to me. Let's leave now." She said and turned around. This time, she left the room, determined.

She was curious to know who this girl was that was able to melt his stony heart. Was dhe prettier than her? From a richer family? Was she an actress or model or businesswoman?

She regretted not doing a proper research on this. This was going to be the first thing she would do once they returned home.

That girl who was her competition, she wanted to see her.