"If you ever come at me that way again, I will leave. We will just call it quits with this whole thing because I am not going to put up with that."

  He nodded. "I understand."

  "I have seen you do this before with that female employee. You tried to physically intimidate her. And you tried to physically intimidate me into submitting to you. That was wrong of you."

  He nodded. "Yes, it was."

  "You scared me."

  She finally felt her eyes become hot with tears. The newly composed expression of his faltered, too. He looked pained, regretful.

  "I know. I am so sorry. I feel horrible. I know the look in your eye. I have seen it before."

  "I thought…" She blinked a few times, really trying not to cry. "I thought you were going to hit me."

  His face crumbled. His eyebrows came together as he felt nausea take over.

  "I… I would never."

  She sighed and sat back down on the be.

  "I know you grew up seeing your father treat your mother poorly. And I know it changed you. You might not have done it intentionally, but you were conditioned to lose your temper when someone questions you, when things don't go your way." She stopped. "I can't keep going back and forth with you. It's exhausting and it scares me."

  He sighed as he crossed his hands over his chest.

  "Can you not stand over me like that right now?" she asked, not wanting to feel like he was trying to assert dominance over her.

  So, he crouched down in front her instead. His hands were on the sides of her knees, so that she was the one looking down at him. She crossed her arms over her chest, not wanting to touch him.

  "Qian Meng, I am an asshole. I knew I was going to fuck this up at some point. Several points, actually. This morning, I was dealing with some stuff and then it just mounted until you accused me. It just set me off. But that is not an excuse. I have no excuse for scaring you like that." His head bowed.

  "You are right. You have no excuse. You can ignore me and be irritated. I don't give a fuck. You are allowed to have a lot on your mind. But I am going to deal with you coming at me physically or shouting at me. Don't ever do that again."

  The way he looked at her, he looked like Mo Qingchen from the night before. He was the warm Mo Qingchen, and not the one who didn't want anyone near him. She could see the regret in his eyes, and she believed him when he said he was sorry.

  But she continued. "You should have just told me what was going on with you this morning. You shut me out like you told me I was doing. What I told you might have sound bad, but I meant it."

  "I just didn't know how to tell you what I was up to. I was sure you would look at me differently." And he looked sincere.

  "Why did Bai Ye Qing call you?" she asked without delay.

  "I had already spoken to him before. He was calling to bitch at me, probably. I would have called the jail after I was sure he had calmed down," he stated.

  "You are not answering the question, Mo Qingchen. What was the call about?" she pressed. When he didn't answer, she sighed. "If you think keeping secrets from me will protect me, you are wrong. It means that I have no idea what I am stepping into. And I will know you are keeping secrets and think the worst-case scenario," she explained. She was calmer now, so she could speak without accusing him.

  "Bai Ye Qing has been having a hard time in jail. So, he thought it had something to do with me," he told her. He sat down on the ground and waited for her verdict.

  "And was he correct? Did it have something to do with you? Tell me honestly." She could see the hesitation on his face.

  "Before I answer that, I have to say something to you." Qian Meng looked at him expectantly.

  "About Bai Ye Qing?"

  He shook his head. "About Bai Ye Qing and the guy who tried to hurt you." He gulped. "I tracked them down."

  Qian Meng shook her head. "I'm sorry. You need to tell me one at a time. The guy who followed me. What happened with him?" Bai Ye Qing was already a prisoner, so she didn't feel threatened him.

  "I tracked him down."

  She gasped. She stared at him for a long moment, trying to comprehend what she was hearing. "How did you do that? Even the police didn't find any leads."

  He licked his lips. "I found out all the footage and tracked him down manually. I got a private investigator too." He looked at her sheepishly.

  "What are you trying to tell me, Mo Qingchen?" she demanded.

  "I got the private investigator to track down the guy and give me every little information he could possibly find on the perpetrator."

  "And when did this happen?" she asked.

  "I got all the information yesterday."

  "Yesterday? When you told me you were finishing things before deadline?" she cried out.

  "I am telling you now."

  She glared at him. "You could have told me yesterday, Mo Qingchen. What about the gun?" she inquired.

  "Our alarms went off in the house and the person trying to break in ran away. It was the same guy. I wasn't sure if there were people following us, so I had a gun on me."

  Qian Meng searched in her eyes to see that he was telling the truth. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

  "Because I didn't want you to be scared again."

  Qian Meng hid her face in her palms. "You tracked down the man who was trying to hurt me and you are casually telling me you found him now? Like we are talking about the weather?"