The gang could not believe that the battle against Ao Quan was just a day away. Tomorrow would be the verdict on whether or not they would win against him and his gang. Everything was already set, the battle plan, strategy, defense, and attack, well basically everything. Truthfully, they could just relax because everything was set and they claimed that the plan is foolproof, but after seeing Ao Quan surprising power and attack, they could not be over confident. Anything could happen, anything, so they had to prepare for the worst.

The gang was just walking back from their campus. They were on their way towards Wu Hu Jiang’s mansion, which roughly took about 10 minutes’ walk from the campus.

While walking there, the gang was suddenly stopped by a young man, who seemed to be just about their age if not a bit older. Well, technically he did not stop them; it is just that he stood in their way.

“Everyone please stay for a moment,” the guy said to them with the most charming smile.

“Ya Lun,” Wu Xiong whispered.

Everyone seemed to miss her because they were too preoccupied with the mysterious guy in front of them, everyone except GuiGui. Wu Xiong took a glance at GuiGui, feeling a bit uneasy with the whole situation. GuiGui did not look back at her, but Wu Xiong knew that GuiGui knew what was coming for her.

“May I ask you to move away? You’re kind of blocking our way,” Shao Xiang said.

“Unfortunately, I can’t do that,” the guy said with a smirk.

Sensing that something was not right and it was not just a simple greeting, Wang Zi immediately stepped forward. “What do you want?” he asked.

“I just need to speak to Young Mistress for a moment,” he said while looking at GuiGui, making eye contact with her.

GuiGui was startled by the intense gaze he was sending to her and quietly stepped backward. However, this action did not go unnoticed by the others, especially George and Wang Zi.

“As you can see, GuiGui doesn’t want to talk to you. So it’s best if you leave now,” George said.

“Sorry, but I can’t do that. Young Mistress, please,” he called.

“Ya Lun, stop it!” Wu Xiong suddenly shouted. “Can’t you see that she doesn’t want to talk to you?”

“Second Young Mistress Cai, it’s been a long time. It seems that you’re doing well. I see you’ve gotten yourself a new boyfriend here,” he said while stealing a glance at Calvin.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Calvin retorted, feeling somewhat offended by what he said.

“Sorry for my rudeness. Let me introduce myself,” he said before forming a gongshou with his hands. “My name is Yan Ya Lun, Second Young Master of the Yan Family, second son of Yan Ru Ji, little brother of the conqueror of the city of Lu Ying, Jerry Yan Cheng Xu, and the right hand man of the Young Master Wu Ji Zun of The Wu Noble Family. Pleasure to meet you all.”

“Ah, the famous Little Yan has finally appeared before us,” George said.

“Please, call me Aaron,” he said. “It’s an honor to meet you, President Hu,” he bowed slightly.

“Likewise, Aaron,” George stated.

“I can see that your reputation did not lie. Turning down the invitation to train in Platinum Academy to remain the president of Dong Wu Academy is quite shocking for everyone. But I think you have made the right choice. I know very well that Young Master Wu and Young Master Da Dong would be very happy with how their academy turns out,” Aaron praised.

“You are praising me too much, Aaron,” George said with a smirk. “I have to say being the right hand man of Young Master Wu is definitely not an easy job and I admire you for that.”

“Oh come on!” Wu Xiong suddenly interrupted. “Do we really need to hear and see all these nonsense and courtesy talk? Just stop it, okay? It’s sickening. And I thought I already asked you to stop all those crappy greetings whenever I’m around, Ya Lun?”

“My apologies, Second Young Mistress Cai, but I think a proper greeting is highly necessary especially when I am face to face with the highly reputable President George Hu.”

“Just cut it short, Ya Lun. What are you planning to do here?” Wu Xiong asked again. She was usually not like this, especially to Ya Lun, one of her good friend, but he had ticked off something that she really hated. One, he was going to force GuiGui, and two; he brought up her love life. And those two were just something that she could not tolerate.

“As I said before, I am here to talk to Young Mistress,” he said while looking at GuiGui.

“If you want to talk then just talk,” GuiGui said.

“Can’t we talk in private, Young Mistress?” he asked.

“I don’t think that is necessary. And it will be rude to leave my friends here just to talk to you, don’t you think? So please, just talk and make it fast.”

“I’m afraid the matter that I want to talk about is highly confidential, Young Mistress. It is a direct message from Young Master himself.”

“Fine. But I want them to see,” she said.

“As you wish, Young Mistress,” Aaron said while bowing slightly, motioning her to lead the way.

Without a word, GuiGui immediately walked away from the group without a word, leaving the boys and Pets dumbfounded and a fuming Wu Xiong.

Aaron quickly trailed behind her as she walked away from the gang. And after few meters of walking, they finally stopped. The others were still in sight, not too close though, but not too far away either. After deciding that it will be the right spot to have their talk, GuiGui quickly put out a force field around them so that the others could not hear what they were going to say, just like what Wu Chun did when he visited her.

The boys and Pets where left dumbfounded by GuiGui’s action. But Pets quickly recovered and decided to focus on watching GuiGui and Aaron talk, just in case something happened.

“I’ve never seen GuiGui like this before. She seems so…” Pets said, trying to find the correct word. “Intimidated?”

Wu Xiong sighed upon hearing Pets’ remarks. “Brace yourselves. The outcome of this talk might not be pretty,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Shao Xiang asked.

“For the time I have known her, there is only one person that can make her change her mind and make her follow orders. And that person is not Wu Chun. That person is actually Aaron. This has always happens. Whenever Chun Ge cannot convince GuiGui to do something or not to do something, he will ask Aaron to convince her. And somehow she will follow. So be prepared, she might back out from the fight,” Wu Xiong said while crossing her arms.

Worries could be seen in front of everyone’s faces. George in particular was worried on why GuiGui would act the way she was around Aaron. Didn’t this mean that she had special relationship with Aaron? If not, why would she listen to him more than she listened to her brother? Wasn’t that odd?

“Well, if that happens then we should respect her decision,” Wang Zi suddenly said. “After all, don’t we initially hope that you girls won’t join the fight? And besides, no one is forced to join anyway.”

The others just nodded upon hearing what Wang Zi said. Well, it was true what he said. They shall respect whatever decision she made.

“I don’t really like him,” Calvin suddenly stated. “Just look at how he greeted you, it sounded rather insulting.”

Wu Xiong replayed the scene back in her mind. Of course, Aaron would always comment on her having a new boyfriend because somehow he always met every one of her boyfriends, coincidentally or not.

“What was that all about anyway?” Calvin asked.

Wu Xiong went quiet. Her mind drifted off to the one scene that made her the way she was right now, the scene that happened three years ago. She was hoping that this scene would never come up in her mind anymore, but apparently the past would always haunt her.

“Nothing,” she answered, but Calvin doesn’t really look convinced. “It’s complicated. But you don’t have to worry about it. It’s all in the past now, trust me,” she said with a smile.

Truthfully, Calvin was still not convinced upon hearing what she said, but he decided not to ponder on the matter further, especially in front of their friends. There would be a perfect time and place for her to tell him about it and when she iss ready she will tell him. And now all he could do was to nod at her answer and look straight ahead, watching the show that was going to unveil in front of his eyes.

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“I’m not backing out, Ya Lun. My decision is final and neither you nor my brother will stop me,” GuiGui said as soon as the force field around them was secured.

“Of course, Young Mistress,” Aaron replied.

“What do you mean?” GuiGui asked, puzzled by his statement.

“The reason why I’m here is not to make you withdraw from the battle, Young Mistress,” Aaron said. “But Young Master is still very worried about you. I really hope you understand that.”

GuiGui sighed when she heard that. “I know my brother is worried about me. It’s his nature to be like that, but don’t think it’s time for him to let me go? I’m already an adult and I can make my own decisions. I’m already 20 for Pete’s sake!”

“I understand that, Young Mistress, but please also understand what Young Master is trying to do. Everything he does is solely to protect you. The incident three years ago was devastating to him and to Master and Lady Wu, and also to all of us. He just doesn’t want the same thing happens again.”

“It won’t,” GuiGui said before sighing. “I know mom, dad, Ge, and everyone is worried, but this battle is different. And I’m already prepared, so the same incident will not happen. I promise.”

Aaron sighed as he hung his head low and closed his eyes. He should have known that even soft persuasion could not convince her. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked at her, but this time not with stern look on his eyes. It was soft and warm, almost pleading.

“Just please, don’t push yourself too much. I don’t want to see you get hurt. Everyone doesn’t want you to get hurt,” he said.

Silence quickly enveloped the two as GuiGui could not find the words to reply him. It had been so long since she saw that soft eyes again, too long perhaps.

“I want to give you something,” he said, breaking the silence.

He reached to his left pocket in his pants and slowly pulled out a bracelet. A chain bracelet with big chains made of white gold. One did not have to know about jewelry to realize that the price of it was not cheap, especially seeing the diamonds that placed along the chains. The diamonds were small but when you look closely, the intrigued details would blow everyone’s mind away. And because they were small, the diamonds did not over power the bracelet and made it look simple, modest, and elegant. Just like GuiGui.

And in the middle of the bracelet there was one charm, a ghost charm. Just like the bracelet, it was made from pure white gold. The charm was outline with tiny diamonds and the features of the ghost charm, such as the eyes and mouth were made from black diamonds.

GuiGui was just stunned looking at the bracelet. Surely, being the Young Mistress of Wu Noble Family had allow her to deal with countless jewelry with all shapes and sizes, so there was definitely no surprise there. But what made her stunned was actually the fact that Aaron had given her that. He had never given her an accessory before. He always gave her something that relates to battle and mainly self-defense. Bracelets were usually her mom’s forte and jewelries in general were usually given by everyone else except him.

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The others who watch them from a far definitely saw the bracelet Aaron pulled out from his pocket and was not very happy about it. With eyes wide open and binoculars in hands (don’t ask how they got them), the flashing lights from the sun that got reflected by the diamonds really began to distract them, especially the girls.

“Twenty-two karats of white gold, diamond encrusted chains, a ghost charm with black diamonds,” Wu Xiong stated. Being born as Second Young Mistress Cai, she knew a good piece of jewelry when she saw them, even at that distance. “For a guy who rarely or should I say never give her a bracelet before, I must say, he has good taste.”

“Doesn’t it look a bit plain though? Isn’t charm bracelet supposed to have more than one charm?” Pets commented this time. Though her experience in jewelry is not as much as Wu Xiong’s, she was still a girl. And you know what they said ‘diamonds is a girl’s best friend’. Besides, she also had her shares of fine jewelry, you know.

“And I thought you two weren’t materialistic,” Hong Zheng snickered.

“We’re not,” Both girls said while glaring at him.

“It’s normal to be amaze at such delicate piece like that, okay? That bracelet is impressive and let me tell you, I’ve seen a lot of kind of accessories in my whole life than you boys have your entire life combined,” Wu Xiong said to him.

“Besides, is commenting a piece of jewelry means that we’re materialistic? And here I thought you weren’t so shallow,” Pets added, using the same tone Hong Zheng used on them before.

Knowing that he could not win against the two girls, Hong Zheng could not do anything besides stuck his tongue at them and continued to observe Aaron and GuiGui.

“So you don’t like jewelry?” Xiu asked suddenly.

“Well, jewelry is fine for special occasions like formal parties and balls, but other than that it is just bothersome. You don’t see me wearing a million dollar necklace every day, right?” Pets replied, to which Xiu just nodded in understanding before switching his attention back to GuiGui and Aaron.

“What is he trying to do? Bribed her?” Boyan asked.

The rest of the gang looked at him before finally silently deciding to ignore his remark as they focused back on the two people in the distance in front of them.

George and Wang Zi suddenly glared as they saw Aaron slowly reached for GuiGui’s hand and held it in his. They saw the puzzled look on GuiGui’s face, but Aaron remained quiet. Instead he put on the bracelet for her.

What comes next had everyone gasping in surprise, well how could they not when they saw Aaron suddenly hugging an equally shocked GuiGui?

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“Ya Lun,” GuiGui called as she tried to break away from the hug.

“Shhh… Let’s just stay like this for a while,” he whispered while pulling her close.

GuiGui was about to retort, but then when she felt his warm chest against hers; she slowly gave in and began to close her eyes as her arms slowly s around his waist. She almost forgot how shooting the sound of his heart beat was; after all it had been so long since they had been this close to each other.

“Listen carefully. What I’m about to tell you is highly confidential and no one shall know about this. Not even Yi Zhen or Pets or the other guys,” Aaron whispered to her ear.

Because of the force field, the others could not see the two of them very clearly and Aaron had taken another precaution of the others reading his lips by hiding his face behind GuiGui’s face by whispering to her.

“The bracelet is a tracking device. Don’t protest, okay? I know you hate it, but it is for your safety, it is the least I can do for Young Master and it is the best plan I can come up with so that you can still join the battle. Now, if you want you can just take it off, but I will assure you that you will be drag back home tonight by Young Master personally and I will gladly help.”

And that was when GuiGui stiffened.

“Like I said, this is a tracking device I made, not the design of course. This will be monitored by Wu Army, Yan Army, Young Master, and myself, so if anything happens you will always have helps. And since I know you hate having someone trail on your every move, I have programmed so that Young Master, Wu Army, and Yan Army cannot track you unless you want them too. But to be on the save side, I still monitor you for 24/7. When you hold the ghost charm in your palm, the tracking device will be activated for the others to see. The ghost charm also acts as a pager. When you hold it and put it close to your mouth, it will automatically record whatever message and it will be immediately linked to the headquarters.”

Just as GuiGui finished processing everything he said, Aaron grabbed her hand and slowly released her from the hug. While still holding her hand, he opened her palm, put the ghost charm inside of it, and closed it with his. With her hand in his, he placed her hand on the side of his cheek.

“Just ask and I will surely find you. Understand?” Aaron said while looking deep into her eyes.

GuiGui was just too caught up in the moment that she could not do anything but nodded. Seeing her responds, Aaron finally smiled at her and let go of her hand. As he realized that his works were done, he slowly erased the force field around them.

When the force field completely gone, GuiGui snapped back to her original focus self and was immediately greeted by her confused friends. Apparently they are still shocked, stunned, and surprised by the ‘PDA’ (Public Display of Affection) Aaron and GuiGui just showed right before their eyes.

The two quietly walked back to the others in silence. Mainly with GuiGui still starring at her new bracelet, while Aaron watching her with amusement.

“My business here is done. I really hope everyone will have a good fight tomorrow and can win safely. Best luck for you all,” Aaron said after GuiGui finally back beside her friends.

“Thank you for letting GuiGui joins the fight,” George stated.

“You have to thank Young Master Wu for that, not me,” Aaron said. “I’ll be taking my leave now. Please be careful.”

He gave them his final bow and gongshou as a sign of respect. Everyone else also replied the same gesture to bid him farewell. And as soon as they finished, he immediately turned his back on them and walked away.

The peaceful atmosphere was suddenly broken when a loud ringing from a phone began to roar. Everyone was busy checking their phone, but quickly put it away when they realized it turned out to be Aaron’s phone.

“Hebe, what’s wrong?” Aaron said to the phone. “Okay, I’m on my way.”