Ye Jie splashed his face with cold water for a long time. He was tired but at this moment, he looked completely beaten up. The wisps of his hair fell over his eyes. His eyes were getting bloodshot. Through deep breaths, he calmed down himself and walked inside the E.R.

  The doctor was relating some precautions to Xu Mey who gave the impression of being concentrated on his words. Her swelling had visibly gone down but there were still some red spots on her body and face. When he came near her bed, he heard the doctor’s voice. "Take care of your diet and sleep. Both are necessary for speedy recovery."

  "Thank you, doctor." Ye Jie thanked him sincerely. The doctor nodded before walking away. "We can go home now. Let’s go!" Ye Jie’s voice was stern and he didn’t look at Xu Mey while speaking. But Xu Mey wasn’t in her observing mode. She was rather in her sleepy mode at that time. All she wanted to do was escape from the hospital.

  The tranquility in the car was exuberant to the point that Ye Jie felt stifled. But Xu Mey was feeling congenial. Enjoying silence was her forte and at this time, when she just escaped a hell she called the hospital, she was even more content.

  She was leaning back at her seat with her eyes closed. "Are you feeling okay?" Ye Jie started the conversation.

  "En." She replied with closed eyes.

  Ye Jie didn’t want to be direct with his confrontation. But he needed the answers. He felt like he’d go mad if he didn’t speak. "My company is starting a new resort. They called me this late for some important details related to the location." Ye Jie lied keeping his eyes on the road ahead.

  "Ahan……"

  "Some directors suggested we should choose Kun Village." The moment he said ’Kun Village’, Xu Mey’s sleep was thrown out the window. She abruptly opened her eyes, sat straight and looked at him in horror. Under the dim road lights, he saw the way her face went pale in a second. She was breathing heavily. "Have you been there?"

  ’Get a grip of yourself, Xu Mey! He doesn’t know anything about your time there. Calm down! Don’t make him suspicious.’ Xu Mey calmed her mind and replied, "No…… I haven’t."

  "Oh……" Ye Jie’s eyes were brimming with the accusation but Xu Mey couldn’t see it. "Well, I heard it’s a beautiful place with mountainous forests and shallow lakes." Ye Jie was marveling about the beauty of Kun Village without paying attention that his every word was making Xu Mey uncomfortable. "Would you like to visit? We haven’t even gone on our honeymoon yet. So, we can spend a weekend there for relaxation. It’ll be like a mini-holiday."

  For normal people, that suggestion was very ordinary. But Xu Mey’s heart was being pricked slowly. The pain was getting unbearable with each passing second. Her chest felt stuffed up making it harder to breathe. Her head was pounding loudly blocking every other sound around her. "Stop the car." She said slowly.

  "Huh?" Ye Jie didn’t understand her intention.

  "I said, stop the car!" She yelled all of a sudden taking Ye Jie by surprise. He parked the car on the roadside and Xu got off immediately. The cold night breeze stung her face but she enjoyed it. Ye Jie got off after her and ran towards her. Before he could ask for a reason, he saw her bent down and puke her guts out.

  Ye Jie was alarmed. He didn’t expect this to be the reason. His earlier frenzied mind now only focused on one thing; she was looking paler and sickly. Ye Jie rubbed her back slowly and held her hair in place for her. He passed his handkerchief to her which she accepted with gratitude.

  "We should go back to the hospital." Ye Jie decided all by himself feeling the worry seeping in his heart.

  Xu Mey held his hand and shook her head. "It’s alright." Her voice was feeble.

  "How is this alright?" He was agitated by her stubbornness.

  "This is nothing to worry about." She said.

  "You said that about that allergy as well." He retorted.

  "That was different. This is different."

  "How? Enlighten me?" Ye Jie had a displeased written all over his face.

  "I can’t explain." She tried to argue weakly.

  "Can you explain anything to me?" Ye Jie was fuming at his point as he crossed his arms over his chest and pointed his chin at her.

  Both kept their eyes at one another without a word. The cold night breeze was freezing but both were standing without any concern. There were occasional sounds of vehicles passing on the road. His eyes were asking a million questions, her eyes were hiding a million emotions. But both were equally stubborn.

  After a long while, when Ye Jie was about to give up he heard her low voice, "When my mind is overly stressed, I can’t digest anything. It leads to vomiting. It’s very common. Nothing out of the ordinary for me." She was looking down at her hands which held his beautiful silk handkerchief.

  ’Stress? Vomiting? Common? Nothing out of the ordinary?’ Ye Jie’s mind was running around for answers while his heart felt like being pricked by a needle. ’How much are you burying inside that it’s unbearable? And why did you get stressed so suddenly today? Was it because of Xu Liqing and Fu Lan or did I do something to trigger it?’ Apparently, these questions were worth asking but Ye Jie had no courage left to ask any further.

  He supported her in walking and brought her to the car. The rest of the ride was spent in complete silence. But this time, the silence was earth-shattering for Xu Mey. She felt like caged between a double-edged sword. There didn’t seem a way to escape at all.

  If the secret is simple, it wouldn’t be worthy of being a secret anymore. Some secrets might only break a relationship. But some secrets break a person.