The most waited day of Jong-In and Jung Soo Jung has come - the Inter-Asian-Battle-of-the-Wits. The two were excited and thrilled at the same time for competing at an Asian contest for the first time. Sure, they have competed as partners for numerous times in Korea already and have proven themselves for being extremely witty.

Seohyun and Yi Xing went together despite the tight schedule in the hospital to support the other two.

Milady Kim cannot contain herself feeling the tension for her husband that became too evident to the serene gentleman who was with her.

"Loosen up Joo Hyun, I bet those two really prepared for this event." he squeezed the latter's hand for support.

"I am pretty sure about those two, it's just that look at their competitors, seems that these people seem to look serious."

"And those two look like kids who are just playing around?" he abridged jesting to the latter.

"You can put it like that." she could help but to smile how the serene gentleman is always there to brighten up the atmosphere for her.

"I was wondering if those two were able to sleep last night.” he paused as he looked for the presence of the two on the crowd of contestants on stage. "Ms. Victoria sanctioned them to guard the cadavers in the morgue, because they played with the blood bag stickers." he diverted his attention to Joo Hyun, "You should have seen how your husband looked like, he was too pissed off with Krystal."

She couldn't respond to the latter remembering the time when she and her husband got trapped inside the morgue and just stared blankly on the stage several meters away in front of the.

"Did I say something wrong Joo Hyun?" the serene looking gentleman took a closer look of the latter's face.

"Nothing Yi Xing." she denied looking down.

"Hmmm..." He thought as he held his chin.” Maybe you remembered something?" he presumed.

Still she did not move an inch and remained silent.

"Okay, I will be rude if I'm still going to ask you such." he smiled and held her shoulder. "I'll wait until you eventually learn how to open up to me partner, but for now let's not spoil the day. We still have to support two kids you know."

"Yeah, you're right." she eventually agreed plastering a faint yet sincere smile on her face.’ This person is really comfortable to be with. Thank you Yi Xing.'

On the other hand, the all-time duo was talking as they observe their opponents from back stage. Jong-In was still holding a medical book and Krystal argued with him.

"Don't read anymore, you'll cram!" she tried to snatch the thick book from his hands.

"Not a chance Jung!" he instantly shove the book away from the latter.

"Seriously Jong-In you don't want to mess this, right?"

"Of I don't, who would?" he argued with his usual sarcasm when it comes to her. "And you keep looking on the others, why are you intimidated?"

"I told you, intimidation has never come across my vocabulary Jong-In!" she reasoned out. Then asked, looking intently to the latter's face, "Did you even sleep last night?"

"Yeah, I had four hours of sleep. All thanks to you!"

"Are you blaming me?"

"Who said that I'm blaming you?"

And the two began arguing again.

It was almost call time when all the contestants were called on stage and we instructed with their positions.

"We're number five Jong-In, we take the most center post! I can smell victory!" Krystal stretched out.

"What are you? Going to a marathon race? Sheesh!" he smirked.

"It will be too obvious if you will start arguing with me here.” she glared to the heir.

"Fine. I'll be good to you until we win this."

"Let me do this to you then."

"What?"

Krystal elbowed the latter's limb hard.

"Ouch!" he irked, "What was that for?"

"Cause you're not allowed to argue with me, then I grabbed the chance." she smiled sarcastically.

From the crowd, the two were watching and talking about the two.

"Seriously, those two cannot stop fighting." Yi Xing chuckled.

"I guess they won't be who they are when they don't."

"May I ask you something?" he suddenly brought out.

"Hmm, yes. What is it?"

"It's just based from my observation, but promise me you won't get offended."

She raised her right hand, "I won't partner."

"I've observe that you two -" he looked at Jong-In's direction and then to her again, "...seems not-so-husband-and-wife to me. Hey, it's just an observation, partner. If you don't want to answer me then it's okay."

She faintly smiled and looked at her husband's direction. "You're right. We're really not."

He heaved a sigh in relief, "So I was right."

She merely nodded.

"Joo Hyun, may I have a moment with you later?” He suddenly requested.

"Later?"

"Yes." he paused, "...well if you have time. I-I just have something to tell you." he nervously smiled.

"What is it?" she gave him a puzzled look.

"That's why I told you to give me a moment later partner."

"Oh, okay."

They still have three minutes before the actual contest start, and the heir looked for his wife in the crowd for moral support.

"Good thing she's there." he smiled, and sprinted his way down from the stage to the audience, and approached them.

"Yi Xing-hyung. Let me have a moment with her first." he then pulled his wife's hand and dragged her without even waiting for the approval of the latter.

They then walked near back stage.

"Thank you for coming." he said still not releasing the hand of the latter.

She warmly smiled and eventually looked at their hands and eventually felt awkward and wanted to withdraw, but before she could even pull her hands off of him, her husband pulled her for a tight hug.

"Please stay for me until the end okay?" he requested. "I'm going to look for you right after the contest. I'm sure I'm gonna win so you should stay."

"I-I." she stammered as she doesn't really know what to respond to him. "I will don't wo -"

"Jong-In." Krystal summoned the heir. "Come on now, it has already started."

Jong-In then ended his hug. "I'll see you after this so don't go anywhere!"

He then went back to the stage beside his partner.

So the Inter-Asian-Battle-of-the Wits have begun. The two were to compete with the other seven Asian country representatives from: China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, India, Philippines, and Japan respectively.

The first round was the basic question and answer round in which every representative should earn a certain score that will qualify them to enter the second round, and the three countries that score the least score would be those that wouldn't advance for the second round.

"I heard, Philippines, and Japan representatives would be our great competitors." Krystal whispered to Jong-In.

"Why? I knew the fact about Japan. But what school does the Philippine duo particularly represent?" he asked.

"Have you heard UST?" she whispered once again.

"Yes, that's University of St. Thomas, right? I've heard of that."

"Dummy, it's Santo Tomas. I heard that's the university that provides the best medical curriculum in South East Asia."

"Why are you scared of them?" he teased.

"Let me handle this first round Jong-In." the heiress confidently replied.

And the question and answer began.

"Okay, so good luck to all the contestants." the host began, "For the first question, how many bones are there in a normal adult body?

Krystal as well as the other contestants touched typed to their tabs the answer: 206 bones

"Okay, let's see if there are really 206 bones in a normal human body."  The host added suspense.

"Sheesh, I know right?" Krystal muttered to herself confidently.

Jong-In who was beside the heiress rolled his eyes upon seeing the over confidence of the latter.

"Everybody got it correctly!" the host announced.

For the next question, this is still under Anatomy and Physiology; this is more specific so better listen carefully, the host warned, "Approximately how many bones compose a normal infant’s anatomy?”

"270 bones right?" Krystal confirmed to her partner.

"Sheesh, of course Jung!" he affirmed.

She then touch typed it on the tab. She got to answer the question right.

"So still from the anatomy..." then host asked, "What’s the longest bone in a normal human’s body that is approximately ¼ of the person’s height?"

The heiress looked up at the ceiling and carefully thought of the answer." Ah! Femur (thigh bone)."

The first round went on, and the all-time partners qualified for the next round.

In the audience, the Yi Xing and Seohyun were really rooting hard for the two.

"Our youngest...she seems so intelligent don't you think?" Yi Xing asked.

"Yes definitely she is." Seohyun agreed with obvious tensed expression written on her face.

"Why so tense? Trust them, second round is just about to start." he held the latter's hand in reassurance.

"Watch me Jung Soo Jung." the heir smirked to his partner.

"Be careful with your pronunciation dope!" the heiress rolled her eyes.

For the second round, each participants needed to wear ear mufflers that were sound proof, so that they will not hear the other contender's answers and could only read the question flashed on enormous LED screen in front of them.

"So before I ask the first question for the second round, remember guys pronouns the right answers properly or else your answer won't be counted so be extra careful because even if you answer it right, and your pronunciation is wrong the answer will still be uncounted." the host reminded the contestants before they wore their respective mufflers.

"First question…” the host began reading the question for the audiences, "Which particular part of the brain mainly functions is to think?"

The heir thought about the question carefully as he read the answer on the huge screen, when it was his turn, he answered,” CEREBRUM."

Knowing Jong-In's weak spot, Soo Jung joined her hands together out of nervousness and hoped that her partner would overcome the round smoothly.  "Jong-In you can do it, we've prepared for that for days, right?" she muttered to herself.

Question number two was flashed on the screen: A Medical term which is used to refer development that proceeds from head downward?

He furrowed his eyebrows waiting for his turn to answer, this time; he's the third to answer. "CE-PHA-LO-COW-DLE" he carefully muttered to himself before answer, and when it was his turn, "Cephalocaudal."

Heiress Jung pumped her fist in the air, as her partner was doing going and wasn't committing his usual error.

The second round went on; every question gets more-and-more intricate, and the pronunciation was getting more and more complicated.

“Jong-In you can do it.” Milady Kim nervously cheered for her husband as she sat stiff on her seat.

“You seem too nervous for Jong-In.” the serene gentleman noticed her reaction.

“Quite much, it’s his weakness.” She replied without even diverting her gaze to the latter. “Jong-In, it’s AUTOPSIA CADAVERUM (autopsy).” She was even shouting the answer whenever she knows the answer flashed on the LED screen.

And so the tenth question was flashed on the LED screen: What do you call the commonly used in tablet form to relieve pain and reduce fever and inflammation? And give its Chemical Term.

He knew that the correct answer was Aspirin, but its chemical term was quite complicated to pronounce in his part, he hen began pronouncing I syllable-by-syllable, “A-CE-TYL-SA-LI-CY-LIC Acid”

‘Goodness Lord, let me get this.’ He mentally pleaded as he glanced on his side and saw that the contender nearest to him got the correct answer.

“Aspirin… Acetylsalicylic acid” He answered slowly and carefully, then he looked at his partner’s expression – Krystal was wearing an anxious expression.

‘Shoot!’ he mentally cursed him self.

“And Japan, Philippines, and South Korea… got the correct answer!” the host enthusiastically announced.

As soon as Jong-In removed the mufflers on his ears, Krystal literally jumped on him in excitement and gave him a tight bear hug. “Jong-In, you made it…you didn’t’ know how you made me anxious here!”

“I got to admit that, that was close.” He sighed in relief without releasing himself from the hug of the latter. “Thanks Krystal.”

For the first time in so many years of their friendship, he called the heiress by the way she wanted to be called. Hence, she was touched, “Let’s do well on this round together, Jong-In.”

Conversely, the two were intently watching the duo’s advancement to the final round; they even saw how cheerful the heiress was when Jong-In did not just obviously surpassed the round but also surpassed his weakness.

Yi Xing began, “For some reason, I think Krystal likes your husband.”

Hence, he was stating the obvious to the latter, and she is fully aware of it.

“I-I know that for the fact.” She meekly answered still in-shock of the act that the heiress just projected in front of so many people including them.

The serene gentleman couldn’t believe it himself that the latter who was sitting beside him and is the wife of the one being paired knows that the person who was paired with her husband actually likes her husband. “Don’t you find it queer? I mean, doesn’t it affect you?”

Deep inside it really does affect her, but what could she do? She was the one who set the boundary between them, and she was actually the one preventing her own husband to cross that boundary between them, even if the latter was eventually showing his real feelings towards her.

“I – I..forget about it.” She couldn’t even face the serene gentleman.

“You can tell me the truth.” he gently squeezed her hand in assurance.

“I don’t.” she lied.

As expected, representatives from Japan, and Philippines advanced with the duo for the final round. This time, they could help to answer one another since it was the head-to-head bout in which they needed not just pure intelligence but fast reflexes to press the buzzer for them to get a chance to answer.

Krystal heaved a deep sigh to get a hold of herself, “As expected…but I’m really not having a good vibe with the Philippine reps, we have to sweep them off. They still look calm to me at this point.”

“Chill Stal…we’ll work on this together.” he squeezed the hand of the latter.

True enough, never in their friendship Jong-In showed such warm attitude towards her. His warm attitude was really sudden. She thought, ‘This dope… you changed so much. Don’t make me like you even more. I really don't know now, don't blame me if I suddenly fall for you.’

So the moment of the truth began, the final bout between the three country representatives went on their buzzer posts.

"Be quick with your reflexes Soo Jung." he reminded the latter.

"You're there right? And I am also going to answer." the latter answered.

The other two duos really looked fierce and confident. Compared to them, they really look a lot serious and extremely competent.

And so, the first question was asked. "What do you call the fungus that causes Athlete’s foot?"

Jong-In immediately pressed the buzzer and Krystal answered, "Tinea pedis?" she was rather nervous.

"Tinea pedis." the host began, "Tinea pedis...the first point goes to team Korea."

The two high five each other, it gave them a good vibe and more motivation.

"Remember the first team to get five points will be 2012's Inter-Asian-Battle-of-the-Wits Champions. Team Korea, good start but don't rejoice for now, it's just there are still nine more questions." the host forewarned.

"Question number two..." the host began,” What particular gender and specie of mosquito causes Dengue?"

The representative of the Philippines was the first one to buzz and answered, "Female Aedes aegypti."

"One point for team Philippines!" the host announced.

"Jong-In, I told you." the heiress muttered.

"Keep calm, okay? There's nothing to be scared of I'm here."

The heir's words totally echoed in Soo Jung's head, it was her first time hearing him with encouraging words - that moment she knew herself that another wrong move or another sweet word from the latter would make her fall for him already. "Okay, let's do this."

And so the third question was asked by the host, as all the contestants listened to the question intently, "How do you call the gram positive rod-shaped bacterium that causes Botulism: (food poisoning) once a person ingested food from an expired canned good?"

The heiress immediately buzzer, and answered, "Clostridium botulinum."

And she got the second point for them.

They were the team that was leading. And the host began asking the fourth question, “How many liters of blood do a common adult homosapien (human) has?”

Team Japan buzzer first, and answered,”4-6 liters” and they got the right answer.

And so, the final round went on and they got a very close match with the Philippines that they even tied up with them; their scores were even head-to-head with four against four. And in order to win, they needed to answer two more questions correctly to proclaim the victory.

Seohyun was completely nervous feeling the tense of the headstrong fight between the team of her husband and the opponent.

'Let them win, please. Let Jong-In win this.' She joined her hands together tightly.

“So Team Korea, Team Philippines, good luck and may the best team wins! But before that would you like to acknowledge your respective schools since you already went this far.”

And the Philippine representative began, “We would like to thank our Pontifical and Royal University of Sto. Tomas, particularly the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery for giving us this opportunity to represent our country the Philippines in this Inter-Asian-Battle-of-the-Wits contest, Veritas in Caritate, Go USTe!”

So Jong-In began to speak after, “Jung Soo Jung and I would like to thank Dongguk University for choosing us to become Korea’s representatives in this event, it’s already an honor to make this far. But we’re looking forward to win this Inter-Asian-Battle-of-the-Wits. To the Lotus Blossom and Buddhist truth of Dongguk, Dae Han Min Guk!”

Indeed, he took pride and was really competitive.

After their acknowledgments, the head-to-head final bout immediately began.

“Ideally in milliliters (mL) how much amount of blood can a person donate every 2-3 months?” the host asked.

Team Philippines at once buzzer, and answered, “450mL”

The heiress felt rattled on how the contender answered within just a blink of an eye.

“Jong - ” she held her partner’s arm.

But before she could even complete calling his name, she got his reassurance, “Trust me.”

Then the next question was asked, “What do you call the largest intestinal Human roundworm which is the common cause of helminth infection in areas in the world with poor sanitation? And what’s the particular term of the said helminth’s infection?”

The opponent has thought for a few seconds as Jong-In instantly pushed the buzzer hard with his palm and answered, “Ascaris lumbrecoides”

“One against one!” the host built an up roaring tension between the contenders. “This last question would determine who’s going to be 2012’s Inter-Asian-Battle-of-the-Wits Champions!”

He then began to ask the final question, “Listen carefully Dongguk and UST. What is the kind of stimulating drugs, and also one of the most common drugs of abuse which mainly affects the central nervous system? It commonly cause wakefulness, euphoria, decreased fatigue, and increased ability to concentrate, but when overdosed it can cause paranoia, restlessness, insomnia, tremor, and irritability, and a deep depression? Answer it with its name and complete chemical name.”

UST confidently buzzer in an instant, “Amphetamine - alpha-methylphenethylamine”

The heiress knees were weakened, again the opponent were swift in answering. The heir then held her hand as he waited for the announcement of the host whether the opponent’s answer is right or wrong.

“Amphetamine - alpha-methylphenethylamine, is UST already the victors of this battle?” the host began. ”Amphetamine? Is it correct? Amphetamine…Dongguk you have five golden seconds to answer correct.”

Jong-In immediately smacked the buzzer and breathed deeply before answering, “Metamphetamine : alpha-methylphenethylamine”

All the people in the crowd were chanting, as the duo almost thump their heart out of their chest due to the tension.  

“Metamphetamine…” the host even prolonged the tension. "Congratulations to Dongguk University's Kim Jong-In and Jung Soo Jung, you guys are the 2012-s Inter-Asian-Battle-of-the-Wits champions!” he proclaimed

Yi Xing and Seohyun literally jumped on their seats upon hearing the two’s victory.

“See?” Yi Xing asked the latter gladly.

“Yes. Yi Xing, they did it.” Her eyes sparkled in delight.

They both can’t get enough to feel proud of the two that they couldn’t stop clapping their hands.

The duo cannot contain their happiness that both of them we’re all smiles to everybody.

“You also did great and thanks for giving us a good battle.” The heir thanked their opponent.

While the heiress was all hyped she was literally jumping up-and-down care-freely.

“Jong-In-ah! She shouted as she made her way to the latter and was about to gave him a back hug.

But just when she jumped to welcome the latter, Jong-In faced her and accidentally they almost crashed their lips to each other.

“I-I’m sorry.” Soo Jung got frozen from where she was standing as Jong-In immediately stepped back wearing an astonished expression.

As the loud applauding eventually faded away, someone else’s heart just got a complete heart break. That the serene gentleman couldn’t even figure out the most appropriate thing to do to mend the heart of the latter.

'How am I supposed to stay if I kept seeing you like this?' she muttered, as tears streamed down on her cheeks.

“Come on, I think we shouldn’t be staying here anymore.” Yi Xing pulled the latter’s hand and went out of the place.

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY TO OUR GoddessMaknae SEOHYUN : )

Sorry for the long wait, and please anticipate for the next part of this chapter :)