Hyson's lips twitched at her question. Seriously, his dear best friend never forgets! When did he exactly tell her that he was a snack? A delicious one at that too? He couldn't even remember the timeline but she did! And she even brought it up at such an occasion? Didn't she see he was suffering?

"Oh, is that why you love snacking on Xian Ge? He must be your favorite snack these days!" Hyson shot back at her.

Raelle looked at her husband and who instinctively straightened up before her. Raelle looked him up and down before telling Hyson, "A snack? Nah. He is a full-course meal. Exclusively mine and heavenly delicious."

Xiang Wai choked on air as she coughed profusely when she heard her brazen comment. She said it with such a straight face that she couldn't believe it. She was shocked. Yes, stunned to the core! But when she looked over at Shui Xian and saw that smile on his lips, she was certain that it wasn't the first time Raelle talked like this.

"But one thing you said right," added Raelle. "He is definitely my favorite."

"I knew it!" said Hyson. "I knew you'd say something like this." Even he was not surprised by her words at all. He was just that used to hearing whatever came to her mind. It had always been like that. "Anyway, I'm calling to tell you that..." he suddenly went quiet and didn't say anything to her.

"What?" she asked when he didn't speak for a while.

"Nothing. I just wanted to complain about the mosquitos," he said but Raelle knew that was an only half-truth.

"So what? It's not like I'd start a revenge campaign against those mosquitos?"

Hyson chuckled at that, "I don't want revenge. I just wanted to hear your voice."

"Are you done? You heard my voice already," she pointed out.

"Wow! How cruel are you really? Can't you console your best friend for a minute longer?"

"Scram already!"

"You too!" said Hyson and wanted to hang up the call.

But stopped when he heard Raelle's voice, "Wait."

Hyson put the phone back against his ear and grumbled, "Now what? Didn't you tell me to scram?"

"You can scram after a minute," she replied. "For now, send me the pictures of our ranch."

"Why?"

"Because I want it," she replied.

"Oh, you want to show it to Xian Ge?" he sounded smug. "Now you know the value of pictures? You always told me how pointless photos were."

"Are you done?" she questioned.

"I think so."

"Then do as I said."

"Consider it done," he told her.

"Okay then you can scram now," with that she hung up the call without waiting for his answer.

Raelle turned back to Xiang Wai and said, "Sorry about that." Xiang Wai shook her head indicating she didn't mind. "So, what I want you to do is..." Xiang Wai raised her brows in anticipation and a bit of anxiousness but Raelle dragged that pause for a dramatic effect making her impatient. "Go home to see grandfather."

Xiang Wai was shaken once she heard that request from her. Although her face didn't show it, she was feeling so complicated in her heart. That's what she wanted? Really? Xiang Wai didn't know what she was expecting but this was not it!

On the other hand, Shui Xian's brain finally clicked. Right! That's why she started that provocation to get to that bet. The end goal was to make Xiang Wai willingly go to see Grandfather Xiang. He facepalmed himself. How did he not realize it? Obviously, the only connection between these siblings was Grandfather Xiang. Why else would Raelle even go through the trouble of this bet?

"So, Major? You're not gonna back out now, are you?"

Xiang Wai gave her a complicated look, "You're a really good granddaughter."

"I don't need a good granddaughter card from you," said Raelle. "Are you going or not?"

"I don't have a habit of backing out," said Xiang Wai. "I'll go."

She had pulled out her phone and looked at the last message she exchanged with her brother.

Ge: [Wai, can you come over today? For dinner with grandfather?]

Wai: [Ok. I'll join you.]

These messages were exchanged before she even found Raelle and Shui Xian at the archery ground. She had a small smile playing on her lips now. Her complicated feelings from earlier were mostly because she was shocked by how her brother and sister asked her for the same thing on the same day.

As she was leaving, Raelle called out to her from behind, "Major!"

Xiang Wai stopped and turned to look at her inquisitively.

"I don't like people who lie," said Raelle. "Especially the ones who have the habit of lying to themselves."

Xiang Wai's brows squeezed together in confusion. She couldn't understand why Raelle brought this up. As her lips parted to question, Raelle continued,

"There is nothing wrong with being scared in life. Instead of denying this fear, you should accept that you're scared. Isn't it tiring to make constantly remind yourself that you're not scared? Especially when your biggest fear had always been your biggest weakness?"

Xiang Wai's body stiffened. She knew! This thought stunned her to her core. She felt like Raelle just read her inside out and that was definitely scary. She didn't say anything to her left hurriedly. Was she running from Raelle? No! As always she was running from her fears. Fears that lay bare before Raelle and fears that Xiang Wai didn't want to confront.

"For someone who had been in Special Armed Forces for so long, she is pretty delicate," commented Raelle as she watched her receding back.

Shui Xian hugged her shoulder and kissed the top of her head, "All that just to make her go home to see Opa?"

historical

"But she agreed, didn't she?" asked Raelle.

Shui Xian rubbed the side of his face against her hair as he continued, "Yeah. She agreed.. That's all that matters, I guess."