"Why is everyone acting weird today?" Joreen murmured to herself.

She had woken up with a scare when she saw Sara looking like a Zombie while staring blankly at the window. Her hair was scattered, her eyes, lifeless, and underneath it were dark shadows to prove she did not sleep at all last night.

Even when she had shouted in fright, Sara still did not turn to look at her. It was as if she did not hear her at all.

It was when she tapped Sara gently to ask what she was staring at, that was when Sara managed to look at her but said nothing and just continued looking outside.

After going out to go check on her father so he would come check what was wrong with Sara, she saw him sprawled on the bed with his panda eyes looking at the ceiling.

She scratched her head in frustration of not knowing what to do. No one had heard from her mother. She had used Sara's phone to call her but it was still not reachable.

She heard her stomach growl and knew there was soon going to be a war inside, if nothing was done to fill up her stomach.

A few minutes later, Sara and Jianjun appeared inside the kitchen when they heard the loud clattering sound of plates breaking.

When they both entered, they saw Joreen looking at the floor in shock and blood dripping from two of her fingers.

"Jo...what happened?" Sara asked in shock when she saw the blood.

Joreen looked at the both of them who finally looked like they were living people, and began to cry.

"You both scared me. I don't know what is wrong with you both today but I wanted to make breakfast and this happened." She said in between tears and cried even harder when she looked at her bloody hand.

"I'm really sorry Jo. It's my fault. I am so sorry" Jianjun apologize as he hurriedly went to stand in front of her to comfort her.

Sara had already pulled her into a hug and she didn't know what happened next but she soon found herself crying along side Joreen.

Jianjun apologized one more time before going to get the trashcan and dustpan to take care of the messy floor.

As Jianjun prepared breakfast, Sara helped Joreen administer first aid on her fingers.

When they were all done and it was time to eat, everyone was quiet.

Sara and Jianjun did not even see how the other was looking to realise that something was wrong. They were simply lost in their own thoughts.

Sara continued to weigh both options.

It was the reason she had not wanted to date Muchen in the first place. She had been so scared of something like this happening in the future; where he would have to find out about her past.

She had taken a bold step by falling in love with someone as perfect as Muchen and now, there is nothing she could possibly do about it other than to accept her fate and pay the price.

Jianjun also had a lot on his mind. The thought of him hating Changyu for the past decades because of a stupid misunderstanding drove him crazy.

He did not think she was lying. She could be anything else but a liar. Besides, why would she lie about something like that?

He had thought about going to her family's house to confront her parents. But he knew it was not wise to do so.

They had ruined his family before, they could still do it again. He had to protect his family. If her parents wanted to do something bad to them now, he did not have the power or connection to protect them from their attack.

He remembered how some members of an agency in charge of food and drugs regulation had come to his parents' restaurant to charge them for using an illegal substance in his meal to get people addicted to it.

They had all been surprised by such outrageous charge but because they knew they were innocent, his parents had granted them a free access to check everywhere.

But unfortunately for them, not only did they find the drug they were talking about, they were even able to detect it with a device in the food they had just finished preparing.

Till date, he had no idea who had done that amongst all the employees there at that time.

He sighed when he thought about Changyu. She must have really suffered a lot. He wanted to ask her more questions, but he knew it was not the right time to do so now.

They both needed time to heal and accept the fact that they had been idiots for not trusting each other.

Yes, he had been an idiot. He should have trusted Changyu's love for him. He should have believed she would not have been able to send that kind of letter out of the blue.

But what about her? How could she ever believe that kind of stupid message? How could she believe he would send something like that to her for any reason?

She also did not trust him. In fact, hers was even worse. She could have easily believed his mail was hacked. But she had used her own writing to send her letter. So it was even more difficult for him to not believe hers.

Tears threatened to escape his eyes and so he quickly excused himself and went back inside his room, leaving his meal completely untouched.

Joreen's eyes followed him before she turned to look at Sara who also had not touched her food.

"What is wrong with you? You are scaring me? Did something happen to you and dad last night?" She asked with a worried expression.

Sara turned her pale face to look at Joreen.

"Jo...I want to ask you a question" She said in a hoarse voice.

"What is it? Ask me anything" She sat up and gave her full attention to Sara.

"If you by chance...hear that I am a bad person...that I have done unimaginable things.... How will you react to that?" She bit her lower lip and waited for Joreen's answer.

Joreen looked at her in confusion before answering her question "I know you. And I know you are not a bad person. Besides, we all do unimaginable things. I even spat in Miss Kang's coffee when she was not looking." She added with a cheeky grin.

A tiny smile appeared on Sara's face when she heard Joreen's answer. She was still a kid and thought life was probably as easy as she was imagining it to be.

"Thank goodness you are finally smiling. Please eat something. You both are making me lose my appetite."

Sara looked at Joreen's plate to see it was almost empty already. She furrowed her brows when she looked at her father's plate to see he did not touch his food at all.

She was able to guess it was related to Changyu so she decided to not butt in. The old people should handle their things themselves. For now, she had a whole lot on her mind.

But, she was suddenly curious about something... Did he ever love her mother?

Because from the look of things, it seemed like he always had a thing for Changyu. Did it mean he never really liked her mother?

She was going to ask him that question one day. But now, she had to settle her own problems.

She looked at her phone and noticed that it was almost time for her to go over to Muchen's place. She did not know how to face him now but she knew she had to make up her mind quickly.

***

"She is still refusing to come out?" The head maid asked Hani who was standing in front of Changyu's room door.

Hani and the driver had returned to Changyu's apartment around midnight and since then, she had been trying to get Changyu's attention but the door had been tightly locked. The only thing they could hear from inside were her sobs.

Hani nodded at the elderly maid who then asked anothet question "Have any idea whatever happened to her last night? She didn't even cry this much after cutting ties with her parents. If she continues this way, I'm scared she may fall sick again"

Hani looked at the door sadly. She was sure Changyu had gone to see Mr Wang last night. She wondered if he was the one who made her this way.

She considered paying him a visit to ask what he did to her but Changyu had warned her to never cross the line again so she could do nothing but sigh.

She had gotten an information from the man they had gone to see last night and wanted to share it with Changyu but the way things were right now, she wondered whether she would be able to share it with her anytime soon.

Hani shook her head to finally answer the maid's question. "I have no idea. But if she remains like this till noon, I will have to use the spare key." She said before walking away.

**

When Sara arrived at Muchen's place, she continued standing in front of the door for a couple of minutes without knowing what to do.

The surrounding was free of any stationed bodyguards or maids moving about. She guessed they had been given a Christmas leave.

Muchen had told her he didn't like having guards around. And left for him, he would gladly live without guards and maids. But his parents never agreed to that.

They wanted him to be safe at all cost since his life had been threatened a couple of times already.

She guessed he must have used this Christmas break as an excuse to get rid of all of them.

She was startled when the door suddenly opened and Heya came out wearing a black tracksuit with her hair in a ponytail.

If they thought the men in the Li family were all good looking, Sara thought they needed to see the only girl.

She was really pretty. And now, she was beginning to look more like a teenager.

Although she was still chubby, it did suit her now and her face was getting slimmer.

"Sara. Good morning." She greeted with a radiating smile.

Sara tried to force a smile back and greeted Heya. "How did you sleep?"

"Very well. I wanted to do some jogging before you arrive but seems like we'll just go on with the biking. I'll go get the bikes. Big bro is inside." Heya winked at her before walking away to go get the bikes in the garage.

Sara took in a deep breath before finally entering inside the apartment.

When she entered, she looked around and saw no one around.

As her eyes kept scanning inside, her attention was drawn to the painting which was hanging on the wall.

Her heart skipped when she saw it and slowly, she walked towards where it was hanging.

She looked at the painting with a sad expression before turning to look at the couch behind her.

She remembered the day she had been lying there with Muchen and he had told her about the painting. Everything had been so perfect then. But now....

She turned to look at the painting again. There was nothing so special about it to her. Just some strokes and lines..

What was so special about it for the person to want it so badly to the point where they had to ask the Blacks to get it for them?

As she was lost in thought, she felt a hand wrap around her waist in a back hug while his chin rested on her left shoulder.

"It was nice walking down those stairs and the first thing I saw was you" She heard Muchen's deep voice whisper to her.