The clattering of the cup was loud enough to reach Xu Mey’s ears making her frown. Realizing what she had just said and what effect it must have had on Li Qiao she facepalmed herself.

  "Qiao, calm down. Nothing happened to me at all. I’m in perfect condition. You know I won’t lie to you ever." Xu Mey said slowly trying to get her words across to soothe his uneasy heart.

  Li Qiao was not convinced completely but he tried to calm down knowing well enough that she really won’t just lie to him. "Then why are you at the hospital?"

  "It’s all this stupid heart’s fault. I did nothing. Trust me, I’m very innocent in this case." Xu Mey depicted the reason for coming to the hospital and also what the doctor told her.

  Li Qiao’s tensed muscles finally eased up as he reclined back on his seat. He felt a droplet of something trickle into his eye making him realize that he’s broken into a cold sweat.

  In just the span of two minutes, Li Qiao had walked to the door of heart failure and back. He was drained emotionally and physically feeling really tired. He heaved a long sigh of relief and then smiled at his Mey-Mey’s antics of running to the hospital for a simple thing.

  Xu Mey experienced all kinds of feelings; hate, fear, anger. But love was new to her. Li Qiao knew it might be a bizarre feeling but she wasn’t as dense as to run to the hospital for it.

  The real issue was in her belief:

  "Love?

  It’s a mirage……

  It lures you in……

  And devours you whole……"

  Even Li Qiao had no idea who taught it to her. But she wholeheartedly believed in it. And he couldn’t do anything about it.

  "So, your heart skipped a beat around Ye Jie?" His voice was calm, doting but hiding his amusement.

  "Yeah……"

  "And you want to know why it happens?"

  "Yeah…… That’s exactly what I want to know." She was feeling mystified. She kept rubbing her temple to ease the pain that was crawling in.

  "Give it some time. You’ll know the reason." He tapped his fingers on the armrest casually. "Just remember, when it comes to Ye Jie, stop running your mind faster than your motorbike. Always focus more on what your heart thinks."

  Xu Mey frowned at his words. "Qiao, what are you trying to imply?"

  "Mey, it’s not like you have a low EQ. You and your heart both know very well about what you’re going through. But the problem lies in your attitude…… You don’t want to accept what your heart is desperately trying to tell you."

  Where it was true that love was foreign territory to Xu Mey but she heard about it. He Jian and Li Qiao never talked about love with her and Wu Wang stopped talking after his own belief was trampled on. But Lin Shen and Jun Li Na never stopped talking about how beautiful and magical love is.

  Xu Mey had an idea about her heart’s abnormal behavior. But the truth was; she didn’t want to accept it. She desperately needed a reason to escape from this feeling. To deny it. And that’s why she chose to believe that it was a disease rather than believing that a new feeling was trying to make cracks in the thick walls around her heart.

  Some walls are built to protect ourselves from the storm. But sometimes, these walls stop us from seeing the world beyond that storm.

  Love is an existence that makes you forget even your own self. But Xu Mey was scared of forgetting. She lived with only a single aim. Revenge. She was afraid that love will make her weak and in weakness, she’ll forget the promise she made to herself. And if she forgot that, her reason for existence will vanish.

  After staying quiet for a long while she said, "There was never a place for that feeling in my life."

  There was a bitter smile on Li Qiao’s face. "The more you’ll run, the closer it’ll be to you. And that feeling is unpredictable. It can never be planned Mey-Mey. It comes like an unannounced storm."

  "Yeah and that storm ends up destroying you." She snickered. "I’ll talk to later, Qiao. I have to go to the office. I have a meeting with some new investors."

  Xu Mey disconnected the call without waiting for his reply. Li Qiao shook his head as he thought: ’You can run…… You can hide…… But it’s called love…… Because you can’t survive……’ He sighed.

  He crouched down to pick up the shattered pieces of his favorite cup. The cup was favorite because it was a gift from his one and only aunt. While picking the pieces, the knock at the door distracted him for a second and in that second of recklessness, a sharp shard of the ceramic cup pierced the skin of his hand. He took a sharp intake of cold breath at the pain as the blood gushed out of his palm.

  "Sir, what are you doing?" Yu Kim’s voice penetrated the silence in his office as she took large strides and came closer to his crouched figure. She inclined her body intending to take the broken cup from his hand but his hand gesture made her halt her movement.

  "It’s not in your job description to pick up the broken pieces." He replied calmly as he continued to take the rest of pieces off the ground. "Walk back." He ordered and Yu Kim took a few steps with a hurt expression but hid it very well.

  He was afraid that she’ll get hurt while not taking note of his own blood dying the marble floor in red color.

  She was clutching her chest in her hand as she saw his blood falling. "It’s not your job either. Let me call the cleaning staff." Li Qiao didn’t stop her.

  He placed all the broken pieces in a small box to keep them safe while Yu Kim brought the medicine box.

  Li Qiao arched his brow in question at her and took a step back from her. It was actually funny that a grown man was not afraid of getting hurt but he was certainly scared of disinfectants.

  Yu Kim knew what was running through his mind very well. "Take a seat Sir and let me help you clean that wound before you get an infection." She was very calm but the worry in her eyes was betraying her big time.