''Now that you know your pet is alive and breathing, you can sit peacefully,'' Han Sheng pointed his hand towards the chair opposite to his.

Yu Mei glanced at Mia a little longer. Then, she walked around the swimming pool before approaching Han Sheng. Taking a sit in front of him, she looked at him, ''I am listening.''

Han Sheng's face went back to his usual stern one as he looked at the sky.

All this while, Yu Mei kept looking at Mia. She did not know what happened that she ended up sleeping but what she was aware of was the fact that she will have to get the gist of the whole story from Han Sheng if she wanted to leave this place.

''Once upon a time...'' Han Sheng glanced at her, ''Is that how stories are supposed to start?''

Yu Mei looked at him without having any intentions to respond to him. There was something eerie about the man, about the way he spoke and the he laughed.

After Han Jian Yu had detailed their childhood to her, Yu Mei didn't exactly have any sort of good impression of this man. She did not like him and somewhere in her heart, she hated him for hurting her brother.

Be it from the pictures or be it the time when he came to the internet cafe, Yu Mei thought of him as a stern person. And most of the times, she tried to not think about him lest she got enraged after being reminded of everything that he has done to Han Jian Yu.

But it was as if the person sitting in front of her was unrecognizable, and far away from the impression that she had on him.

''So, niece won't respond to me. I will tell you the story in my way then,'' Han Sheng said with a straight face as he looked at the chessboard quietly for a few seconds before he picked up the glass of wine, ''Once upon a time, there was a woman. She was gentle, kind and very sweet... Atleast, that's how she was described to me by the diary of the person who loved her. He said that he liked her from the moment he laid his eyes on her and he wanted to be her forever...''

Yu Mei looked at him while she waited for him to speak.

''Both of them got together since they loved each other even though the girl's family was unaware of it. Their daughter was engaged to another man while she was sleeping with someone else, how would they have felt about it?'' Han Sheng shook his head, ''So they were kept in dark about it and not to mention that their daughter was living and studying abroad so they never got to know what went on with her unless she told them. So, the girl in love got pregnant by the boy in love...'' He paused as he burst into laughter.

Yu Mei frowned but she refrained herself from speaking.

''But 8 months down her pregnancy, an unforseen incident took place. The boy in love lost his life in an accident, leaving the girl in love all by herself,'' Han Sheng sipped the wine from his glass as he threw his head back before laughing. After a few minutes he calmed himself down.

Noticing a distracted look on his face, Yu Mei crossed one of her legs over the other as she slightly lowered her body towards the front, letting her hand reach her left leg. She roamed her fingers on her leather boot and just as she had expected.... A hint of disappointment flashed across her eyes.

''Oh, are you looking for your gun?' Han Sheng asked, still looking at the sky. His voice was low and he seemed like a mellow elder with the calm look on his face.

But Yu Mei knew more than to judge him by his looks. The way he spoke.... it did not calm her down, it instead scared her a bit for some reason.

''Even though you are a brave one, my dear niece, I never like these disobedient people who don't play by the rules. When you are asked to sit, you should sit quietly,'' Han Sheng tilted his head to the side as he twirled the glass of wine twice.

A glint flashed on the glass because of the reflection caused by the lights and as Yu Mei glanced at the side, the nonchalant look on her face faded bit by bit, only to be replaced by sheer horror. ''No,'' She pushed herself to her feet but it was too late as the person holding Mia stabbed the dagger in her front paw.

''NO!!" Her throat tightened as she noticed Mia's ears twitching slightly but the small movement stopped and her small body stopped moving once again.

Yu Mei watched as the man twisted the knife in her small paw and fresh blood oozed out of the the place. It was as if a knot formed in her chest as she flipped the coffee table aside before grabbing Han Sheng's collar as she aimed a punch right at his face.

Instead of backing away however, Han Sheng smirked at her as if he was waiting for her to punch him.

'Kachk'

Yu Mei's grip on his collar loosened and she turned to look at Mia while the man removed the knife before stabbing it once again.

Tears welled up in her eyes and her chest felt stuffy as she weakly stepped back, ''L-Let her go... Please,'' She whispered softly, not finding any strength to speak, ''I won't move. I will listen to you... Please, don't harm her,'' Her legs wobbled slightly and she grabbed the arm of the chair for support.

''You should have been this obedient before instead of looking for your gun to shoot me,'' Han Sheng said before he took another sip from the glass of wine.

Han Sheng glanced to his left and the person hoding Mia pulled out the knife from her paw in one swift move.

Yu Mei's fingers clenched the arm of the chair so tightly that her knuckles turned pale, her eyes turned red.

''Don't worry. It won't die. The place where she was stabbed was not deadly but your pet does looks delicate and we won;t know when it will die,'' He laughed before taking a sip from the glass of the wine, ''But then it would be a pity if it dies given how much you care about it, am I right?"

Yu Mei stood rooted to her spot for some time before she quietly went to sit on the chair.

After a moment of stillness in the air, she glanced at him, ''What happened then? After the man died and his lover, the soon-to-be mother of his child was left alive, what happened after that?" Her heart felt numb and it took every ounce of self control in her to not turn to look at Mia.

Han Sheng nodded as he twirled the glass of wine in his hand, ''Yes, coming back to that... So the boy in love died and he left the girl in love with the symbol of their love. How great it is that the girl even gave birth to it, that child but then again, 8 months is too late to kill it.''

''Why would she want to kill her child?' Yu Mei asked him with a straight face, ''No mother would ever want to kill her own child.''

Han Sheng scoffed, ''She did give birth to the child, only to send the child to an orphanage later. Mother, it is.''

Yu Mei quietly looked at him while he continued speaking, ''The child grew up in the orphanage, all by himself, adjusting in the place, fighting for himself, struggling to make an identity for himself for not a day or week or a month, but for years. And after years, do you know who showed up?'' He tilted his head to look at her, ''She came, the girl in love and the mother that you spoke of. She was not any of those but she came as a rich lady this time around, to pity the poor boy and pick him up as an adopted son. What she never knew was that... the boy long knew of the truth, the father that he once had and the mother who discarded him like dirt, the boy was aware of everything. And you know what was more ironic? She married her first love's younger brother.''

Yu Mei did not say anything as she sat there with a straight expression on her face.

''Nothing to say, niece?"

''I have things to say,'' Yu Mei replied.

''Then you can say it out.''

historical

''I am worried about my...pet.''

''Get people over to treat her wound,'' Han Sheng said as he looked at the man who was holding Mia.

Yu Mei inwardly sighed in relief. Even though she knew that these wounds are nothing to Mia but her condition was different today and.... there was no way she would let her stay this way.