“Surprise, baby!”

As soon as Yueyue heard the voice, she felt all the effort she gathered to prevent herself from crying began to dissolve. One. Two. Three. Her tears dropped without her permission, as she stood where she was while looking at that person.

The smile on that person’s face started to disappear when he noticed her tears. He slowly opened his arms as if telling her that ‘It’s okay. He’s here.’

At that moment, Yueyue immediately ran into his arms and hugged him tightly. That person hugged her back and patted her head to comfort her. She started to hiccup as she broke down in his arms.

“I’m here, baby. I’m here,” he shushed while patting her head.

Yueyue cried harder in his embrace. The pain and the exhaustion hit her all at once. She knew she looked like a mess, but she did not care. At least in his arms, she knew she was safe. She knew it was okay to be vulnerable.

After a while, Yueyue began to calm down. She finally looked up to make eye contact with the person.

“Please take me away,” Yueyue begged.  That person’s eyes went wide before he frowned as if questioning her statement.

Yueyue slowly nodded and repeated again but this time she said with conviction, “Please take me away, Ge.” (Ge/哥= older brother)

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“Eh, Dylan is back!” the people in the workplace gasped and whispered among themselves when they saw Dylan confidently walked in.

“He came with someone! Who’s that?”

As soon as he came in, Dylan noticed something strange. His eyes fell on an office desk, and his brows soon furrowed. The moment the realization dawned on him, his grips slowly tightened. The flame of anger could be seen in his eyes when he furiously headed toward one particular direction.      

The Director was startled when his office door suddenly flew open. When he looked at that opened door, his blood began to drain from his face. All he noticed was a pair of deadly furious eyes staring back at him. The next thing he knew, he was yanked out of his chair by his collar.

“Where is Yueyue? What have you done to her?” Dylan asked with a venomous voice.

“S-she re-resigned-” the Director stuttered.

Dylan immediately slammed him on the wall. Dylan could hear the gasps from the employees who were watching everything from the window and the opened door, but he didn’t care.  

“What did you say?” Dylan shouted.

“Yueyue resigned. She realized she’s guilty and decided to resign,” the Director shakily answered while looking down to avoid Dylan’s eyes.

Dylan scoffed at the Director's answer before he violently grabbed the Director’s jaw, making him look at him.

“What do you take me for? A kindergarten kid?” Dylan coldly asked as he watched the Director trembled in fear.

“Hey, Dylan! You’re too much!”

“He’s still our Director! Have some respect-”

The employees went silent when Dylan gave them a death glare.

“How noble of you,” Dylan coldly said, “Have you people ever spoken up for Yue when she was being bullied?” His question was enough for some of them to look down out of guilt.

“Did I just hit the bullseye?” Dylan then sarcastically laughed before he coldly looked at them again, “Stay out of this. I will deal with all of you later.” Hearing that, those people could only gulf silently.

Dylan then turned his attention back to the Director and threw him to the ground. While maintaining eye contact with the Director, Dylan extended his hand towards the person who came him. The person nodded and handed him a folder of documents. Dylan opened through the documents page by page. They were the Director’s secret bank statements that Dylan had asked his father’s underground society network to dig up.

“1 million dollars. Don’t you think that this money is too little,” Dylan coldly smirk before he threw the folders on the Director who was still lying on the ground, “To risk your life for?” At that moment, the Director was already shaking in fear.

“I could make you disappear from this world with a snap of my fingers if I want to,” Dylan paused. He then thought of how forgiving Yueyue was and how she would possibly give him an earful if she knew he ever did that. He smiled at the thought before he looked coldly at the Director, “You should be glad I didn’t.”

“But you’ll need to get used to your new home, in jail.”

Dylan then turned his attention to the people who were watching everything silently.

“And all of you, where should I even begin,” Dylan coldly said.

“You know what’s important in the hotel industry?” Dylan asked, but all of them remained silent.

“Hospitality,” he then continued while giving them a death glare, “It’s an element that none of you have. All of you are just a bunch of jealous, greedy, and fake people who can do nothing but bully and exploit nice people.”     

“I want nothing more than to fire all of you right here and right now,” Dylan paused, “but if I do, a silly girl would definitely keep blaming herself although all of you really deserve it.”

“Every single one is you are now in a 3-month probation period. If you still don’t change your attitude and make yourself useful by then, you will be fired and blacklisted from the industry without a warning. And whatever happens today, you’d better keep your mouth shut,” Dylan continued, while the employees were shocked at his words.  

Dylan turned to the person who came with him and said, “As the first task for you as the new director, you have to watch over them.”

“Yes, sir,” the person politely nodded.

Dylan then walked out of the Director’s office. But he could only take a few steps before he stopped on his track. Someone was shouting at him.

“Who do you think are?” one employee said.

“Yeah, you want to fire and blacklist us? Who do you think you are?” the other said, while some others echoed their agreement.

Dylan’s lips curved up at their questions. He turned back and coldly looked at them.

“I forgot to introduce myself,” Dylan said.

“I am Wang Hedi,” he smiled when he saw the shock and fear started to appear on everyone’s faces, “If I were you, I would definitely keep my mouth shut by now. Don’t ever challenge me.” Dylan then turned around and confidently walked out of the place.

As soon as he's gone, the police immediately came in to arrest the Director, while everyone else was still processing what just happened.

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Dylan was standing in front of Yueyue’s apartment. He anxiously kept calling Yueyue, but his calls were always directed to her voicemail. It looked like she had turned off her phone. He sighed and kept ringing her bell and banging on her door, but all that responded back to him was silence.

'Where did this silly girl go? What if something happened to her?' Dylan worriedly thought.

“Excuse me. Are you looking for Yueyue?” Dylan turned to look at the source of the voice. He saw an old lady coming out of the apartment next to Yueyue, so he politely bowed at her. He had seen her a few times when he visited Yue before.

“Yes, Ms Lin. Do you happen to know where she is?” Dylan asked.

The lady smiled at him, “I saw her leaving with a man this morning. She said she’s returning home.”

Dylan frowned at the information. She returned home? Why? And with a man? 

“Thank you, Ms Lin. I think I have to go now. Have a good day.” Dylan decided to find that out, so he immediately bowed Ms Lin good bye.

“You too, young man.” Ms Lin warmly smiled.

Dylan walked out of Yueyue’s apartment building with a determined look. He pulled out his phone and made a call, as he got into his car.

“Get me an immediate flight to Shanghai. I need to return there for a while.”     

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“Eh, Hedi. What brings you here this late?” Shen Ming was surprised to see Dylan when he opened the door. He hadn’t seen him since the failed dinner, so he was confused about why Dylan suddenly appeared in front of his house this late at night.  

“Hello, uncle. I’m looking for Yueyue. Is she here?” Dylan politely greeted him.

“Yueyue?” Shen Ming frowned, “Yueyue is not here.”

“Yueyue’s not here?” Dylan was confused, “But she said she’s returning home.”

“Oh. Actually, she’s not coming home yet. Her brother just returned from abroad for his field study and dropped by to visit her. Oh right, he called earlier to tell us that he’s taking her on a trip,” Shen Ming paused when he realized something, “Wait, how did she tell you? You two have met?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll explain to you later, uncle. For now, I need to find Yueyue first,” Dylan explained.

Shen Ming hesitated, but as he saw the desperation in Dylan's eyes, he just sighed and nodded, “Alright.”

“Do you know where they’re going, uncle?” Dylan asked.

“No. He didn’t mention anything about the place,” Shen Ming shook his head.

“I see. I have to take my leave now since it’s already quite late. I apologize for disturbing you at this hour,” Dylan bowed again.

Shen Ming waved his hands, “No, it’s okay. I will tell you if I know where they are.”

“Thank you, uncle.” Dylan thanked and said good bye to Shen Ming before he walked back to his car.

‘Where are you?’ Dylan desperately thought while leaning on his driver’s seat. He recalled the last time he saw her. He was blaming her for not trusting him, but he should have trusted her more and held her tightly that day. He should’ve told her that it’s okay and that she had him. But instead, he coldly left her there alone in the meeting room. He walked away from her when everyone turned against her…when she desperately needed him to stay.  

Dylan kept violently punching the steering wheel out of anger. He’s mad at himself for letting his pettiness and anger got ahead of him that day. Now it’s clear that she’s hiding from him.

“Where are you, Yue?” he desperately whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Never in his life had he felt this desperate. He helplessly sat there in his seat for a while until he thought of something. He quickly shifted his gear and drove forward, with one place in mind.

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“Ahh,” Xize—who was sitting on the kitchen stool—opened his mouth, waiting for Jiaqi to feed him the cut fruit. Jiaqi rolled her eyes but fed him anyway.

“Sweet,” Xize said before he pulled Jiaqi to sit on his laps and gave her pecks.

Jiaqi giggled in between the kiss until Xize started to nibble her lips and wrapped one arm around her waist while the other went to grab the back of her neck. Jiaqi smiled against his lips and naturally wrapped her arms around his neck. When their makeout session got more intense, Jiaqi broke the kiss and breathlessly whispered, “Not here.”

Xize smirked before he captured her lips again. Jiaqi immediately wrapped her legs around his waist when he picked her up and walked to their bedroom without breaking the kiss.

As soon as he put her down on the bed, he immediately attacked her ears down to her neck. His hands went to untie her bathrobe, while she did the same to his.

“I love you so much,” Xize whispered between the kiss.

“If you love it, you should have put a ring on it,” Jiaqi wittily replied.

Xize smirked at her response, “Heck yeah.”

“The next wedding bell you hear will be ours,” Xize said before he went back to kiss her on the lips.

“Damn, I must want to marry you so much that I can already hear the wedding bell from afar,” Xize chuckled as he marked her neck.

“Xize,” Jiaqi whispered.

“Yeah, babe,” Xize mindlessly answered since his attention was still fully on marking his territory.    

“Xize,” Jiaqi called him again, but this time, she pushed his shoulder a little to get his attention. Once he finally looked at her, she continued, “Someone’s ringing the bell.”

Xize blinked a few times while he tried to digest what she said, “What?” He finally noticed the sound. Someone was indeed ringing the bell repeatedly.

“You should really go and check who that is,” Jiaqi giggled, “It must be important since that person’s ringing the bell as if their life depends on it.”

“It has to be freaking important, or else I’ll have to murder someone tonight,” Xize said through his gritted teeth before he got out of the bed and wore his bathrobe.

“Oh, bloody hell!” Xize cursed, as he furiously walked out of his room to get the door. That person did not even stop ringing for even a second. When he reached his door monitor, he rolled his eyes before he angrily swung his door open.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, ringing the goddamn bell this much at this hour?” Xize furiously asked. In front of him, Dylan was standing there with his arm still was hang up in mid-air and his fingers were still on Xize’s doorbell. Dylan looked at Xize from his messy hair down to his flushed face and bathrobe. Did he just come at the wrong time?      

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Yep, that person is Yue’s brother. Yep, I just inserted some XiJia’s moment. And yep, I added some comedy. I guess you guys would have noticed by now that I enjoy writing comedy here and there. XD On the serious note, Dylan now has to redeem himself, but first, he needs to find Yueyue. It may or may not be an easy task.

Thank you so much for waiting, reading, and commenting! The next update will be on Saturday! :D Hope you enjoy this chapter! Take care!