"I don't recall…" She sounded sad with the made-up excuse.

"I stopped drawing a satisfying art for quite some time now." She lamented as he met her gaze and kissed her lips as encouragement.

"It was in high school. I peeped through the glass door when you were sitting under the sheds. It was raining heavily and like a mad woman, totally engrossed in your art." He revealed when they parted from their lingering kiss.

"So you knew where my favorite hideout was?" Her lips curled into a smile watching him.

"Of course, I do... You always wanted to head there, don't you?" He pointed to the view of the hill from afar in front of them as she looked at it sadly.

"Perhaps missing home too back then when I saw you? You memorised the route up there, I was told by Joy. I'm sure you remembered every single detail of the scenery up there back then. Do you know how much that place and route have changed?" He said gently as Xue Ting sighed, understanding his motive.

"Then what's holding you back to head there?" He asked as she met his gaze with hesitation.

"Ting Ting, you drew just fine with your left hand. Although the fine details didn't turn out the way you wanted it to be, the end result is still breathtaking." He added while holding up her sketch as she looked away.

"Why can't you just have a little more confidence in yourself?" He encouraged her as she sat up from leaning on him and smiled at how caring he was of her.

"Why let an unfortunate event break down that talent?" He asked while he held her shoulders and noticed her reddened eyes.

"Qiu Qiu is inheriting it. I'm blessed and happy about it. That's sufficient." She answered in a defeated way.

"But it's not to me. I want to see you complete that satisfying art again. I want you to pull that courage to head up there and draw the scenery that has changed because I will always be with you in all of this and build new memories to wipe out all those bad ones that had happened before." Qiu Wen coaxed.

"But I just can't. No matter what I tried I still fail…" She answered hopelessly.

"You just did it." He pointed at the sketch.

"With my left hand." She replied angrily.

"It would be a masterpiece with both hands." He encouraged.

She sighed as she blinked her tears of disappointment with the constant memories of her being kidnapped passing by her core mind.

"I will help you get through it and overcome your fear like you did with me." He held her palms together.

"We checked multiple times and your right arm is healed. So it must be the trauma your arm remembered that is hindering you from drawing again and so happened the prettiest scenery is already known by heart here." He touched where her heart is.

"Let's give it a try again. Start with your left then alternate to right?" He instructed while flipping the drawing block.

He handed over to her a pencil on her right. She took it by the right but quickly switched to the left. He hugged her to make her feel protected while taking the pencil on her left and put it back into her right hand.

"Go on. Draw what your heart wants you to although you're unsure." He urged as she drew the first stroke and went on to develop them into a trail of mountains. He gave her another pencil on the left while she rubbed away some unsatisfying strokes but he stopped her.

"Let it be. Fix it with another few strokes." He nudged her right arm.

It was shaky at first as he continued locking her into his embrace tightly. She told herself it was a scenery she wanted him to remember. She must draw; she needed to draw.

She could feel the security he provided as though they were surrounded by the shimmering stars and occasional flying through fireflies.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

She let herself be reminded of the first time, sixteen years ago when her dreams were of so many possibilities but it was then when she met a crossroad that made her feel so lost.

The sweetest memories of her teenage days which she always preserved in mind.

The bitter-sweet memories of her early twenties she wanted to throw out of her life.

That familiar voice that called out to her name that faithful night, reunited her with the one she always wished she could meet again and embrace life with.

The once huge secret of her twins' father's identity which she wanted to bring to death alone was still something she reminded herself of the right time to tell him.

Life had taught her the toughest route to her desires. Those plans may remain as plans. Dreams and hopes may flush away but life brings many diverted roads and surprises along the way.

He was her everything from the very start.

When they returned from the rejuvenating trip, Qiu Wen was stuck in Wai Tao's office for two days in a row. Xue Ting had noticed he was not well on the way back to Cravine but he insisted on heading directly to Wai Tao after sending them home.

She was trying to catch hold of him but to no avail. Every time she called Jia Yi, he would inform her that he was in an urgent meeting. She could only patiently wait to be notified once he was done but it never came.

While she served at the restaurant that night, she was worried and distracted about him so she decided to prepare lunch the next day and went to meet him. While waiting downstairs a little past lunch hour, she saw him coming out from the boardroom on the third floor as he caught a glimpse of her by the window.

He took some time to call her over the phone as he stood by the French window admiring her.

"Hey… What a pretty sight…" He croaked.

"Have you eaten? You sounded very terrible." Xue Ting shot her questions back to back without giving him a chance to answer while he kept coughing as he tried to keep his gaze on her.

"Ting Ting..." He managed as he continued to cough.

"I will come up." She said while heading to the escalator.

"Honey!" He finally managed to catch her attention as she stopped midway.

"Listen. I'm fine. I will come to you. Wait there." He let out a sneeze this time.

"But you're in such a ..." He cut off the line before dashing downstairs.

After a brief embrace, before she could open up the pack for him to enjoy at the lobby facing Dan's bakery, a call came to cut short the very brief lunch. She made him take with him a bottle of herbal tea and stuffed the lunch box to Jia Yi before they ashed back into the office.

Pam noticed the commotion from the cashier counter as she stepped out to greet Xue Ting who looked haggard.

"Pretty face… What happened?" She squeaked as Xue Ting stood to hug her.

"Just a tired husband who has not been home after a long break. Bet he had been grilled for his actions." Xue Ting explained briefly.

"What happened?" Pam asked curiously as Xue Ting took a little time to briefly explain to Pam the entire scenario which made Pam very proud of her.

"I'm glad you did that. Guess my little girl must have enjoyed herself very much. She had been asking to stay over your home again but I wanted to keep her around for a while since there's a break in between the legal case." Pam explained as Xue Ting grimaced.

"How's it going?" She asked as Pam shrugged.

"He is adding more criteria to the affidavit. Each time it just pisses me off. The same with my mother-in-law's side." Pam sighed as Xue Ting gently patted her arm knowing there was not much she could do for them except to be supportive in times of need.

Qiu Wen was not only grilled by Mrs. Tang the day before but also by Mr. Wei privately and in every meeting. It had caused the shareholders to be involved unwillingly in their personal affairs as Mr. Wei was threatening to withdraw his investment.

Qiu Yeh managed to keep them under control by letting Mr. Wei know of the pros and cons. Mr. Wei definitely did not want to pay a hefty fine, thanks to Qiu Yeh's smart business mind adding such a clause protecting the company from new short-term investors to pay a penalty for pulling out their investments as shareholders within six months unless the performance of the company was at dire state.

Mr. Wei was willing to let the matter go after the board agreed to Francesca's request to be involved with Cravine's branch decision-making as well. Qiu Wen had no choice but to oblige to the request instead.

Thinking he could finally head home to his wife early that evening, Qiu Wen was slapped immediately with a sensitive client being agitated with the way Francesca dealt with them. In just less than a day she held her new position, she managed to cause a potential loss to the branch which Qiu Wen had been sitting with the entire office management excluding Francesca to find remedial actions through the night.

Amid the long hours of meeting, Qiu Wen's body finally gave up holding on as he halted the meeting abruptly, succumbing to an excruciating gastric pain. Jia Yi was instructed to not inform Xue Ting before Qiu Wen allowed himself to medical care but Jia Yi knew it had been two days since he headed home or had a proper meal that Xue Ting must be worried.

Jia Yi did what he could best for his superior.

"Hello, Mdm. Tang." He said solemnly as Xue Ting chuckled.

"Jia Yi, where are you? Is he finally freed from all the meetings?" She asked thinking it was probably cause he was not in a private area that he addressed her so formally.

"I'm at Cravine Hospital. Mr. Tang had a gastric attack earlier but he is under medical care now. He should be able to be discharged soon. So don't worry. I was told not to tell you but I felt you should at least know." Jia Yi explained.

Xue Ting was shocked. "But I thought he was outstation! What happened?" Jia Yi decided not to side with Qiu Wen this round for the benefit of his health and explained the entire situation to Xue Ting.