After a refreshing quick makeover at home, Xue Ting was grateful that Qiu Yeh was also satisfied with her main draft from the night before.

"Let's hope the damage isn't too big to save." Xue Ting said while they alighted in front of the couple's authentic residence.

Qiu Yeh urged her to walk in his direction, leading to a shaded path reaching an old pavilion.

They saw Mrs. Auspicary sipping her tea and overheard the maid telling her she was receiving a gift for the couple's wedding anniversary. As Qiu Yeh and Xue Ting approached, Xue Ting could tell the exquisite design of the Chinese porcelain carries a high price.

She also noticed several art pieces hanging on the wall were from May's gallery. She glanced at Qiu Yeh who was oblivious about it till she discreetly directed his eyes at a painting of Shan Feng's hillside signed with her nickname. Qiu Yeh nodded in acknowledgment of the message she was trying to convey.

As Mrs. Auspicary was informed of the arrival of Qiu Yeh and Xue Ting by her maid, she grimaced at the bad experience she had recently as she continued reading her magazine.

"Mrs. Auspicary, I'm Xavier Tang from Tang's Jewellery. Here's our Design Advisor, Ms. Sicily Liew. We would like to sincerely apologise to you and Mr. Auspicary for the recent unpleasant experience you encountered. We hope this little gesture of Chinese meets Mediterranean vase as your wedding anniversary gift will let both of you prosper even more in your business and have an everlasting blossoming relationship." Qiu Yeh's introduction was ignored as Mrs. Auspicary continued flipping the magazine.

Xue Ting was surprised to find the gift was prepared in advance by Qiu Yeh as she took a deep breath to step forward to speak while noticing Mrs. Auspicary had been stealing glances at the vase.

"Mrs. Auspicary, if you don't mind, would you like to take a look at this design I have prepared? It's pretty much similar to what's on the vase." Xue Ting prompted as Mrs. Auspicary glanced at her and instantly knew who she was.

The sight of the design nearly made her put down the magazine instantly to admire the intriguing patterns but instead, Mrs. Auspicary regained her composure and took a good look at Xue Ting from head to toe, weighing her options.

"Using another family member to buy your way in?" Mrs. Auspicary asked sarcastically at Qiu Yeh while sipping her tea.

"That's not very polite to treat our guest, darling…" A hoarse voice was heard from one corner as a well-built mustache man walked into the pavilion while fanning himself with a classic Chinese paper fan.

"Mr. Auspicary, a pleasure to meet you. I'm Xavier Tang. The Director of Tang's Jewelry and here's Sicily Liew, our Design Advisor." Qiu Yeh introduced themself again to him as he nodded and waved at the couple to stop explaining before taking a seat next to his wife.

"Darling, this looks very exquisite… Have a look." Mr. Auspicary urged his wife who was reluctant thinking he was mentioning the vase but it was Xue Ting's design. Mrs. Auspicary took a good look at them and was fixated on the yin and yang concept where little blue evil eyes which are known to bring money luck were filling up the yin semi-circle and the elephants mixed with vegetation were filling up the yang semi-circle.

"Where exactly would this fit?" Mrs. Auspicary asked contemplating the same as Xue Ting stepped forward.

"A brooch or perhaps it could be a headpiece on its' own. However, on textile, it looks best on a scarf for females and for a male, on their samfu." Xue Ting suggested, remembering to add on Mediterranean and Chinese elements to them.

"But having the yin being illuminated by the eye of money luck is not really ideal…" Mrs. Auspicary reflected as she flipped to something more delicate. It surprised both Qiu Yeh and Xue Ting as Xue Ting gasped at the forgotten sketch she randomly did out of boredom the night before.

"This would look better on textile.." She said as everyone including Qiu Yeh took a look at a mandarin duck illuminated by tiny prints of elephants and vegetation on it. Qiu Yeh was surprised to find Xue Ting had another design.

"Would it also be fine to incorporate the eye of money luck as a repetitive pattern on the textile's background together with this as tiny prints?" Mrs. Auspicary asked as Xue Ting pondered while trying to stay composed.

"I could try to put it on prints and let you see the results…" Xue Ting suggested as Mrs. Auspicary beamed in delight.

"Very well. Looking forward to it." Mrs. Auspicary stood and left them to sort the matter out as Mr. Auspicary accompanied his wife after cordially bidding farewell to Xue Ting and Qiu Wen.

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"I'm sorry… That design wasn't supposed to be there." Xue Ting apologised as Qiu Yeh waved his hand. "At least she likes it… Can't wait to see how it would turn out." He comforted before picking up a call from Francesca.

On the way out, a glimpse of a suspicious person made Xue Ting follow his lead when Qiu Yeh was on a call with Francesca.

Qiu Yeh had noticed Xue Ting had been leading the wrong path and realised she was following someone in front of them. He let Francesca go on whining about Xue Ting taking over the negotiations and bringing up the agreement they had in the board meeting over the phone while tailing Xue Ting.

The person led them to the Auspicary's abandoned warehouse and when Qiu Yeh was about to pull Xue Ting who had entered the warehouse through a small opening at the door, they found themselves locked in it the next moment and panicked.

"Hey! Open up! There's someone inside!" Xue Ting screamed but to no avail.

"Hold it… Who was it you were following?" Qiu Yeh questioned urgently as Xue Ting shrugged before exploring the warehouse.

"I just thought he dressed up very suspiciously. He must not be from here so I decided to follow in case the couple was in danger but…" Xue Ting scouted around for a way to get out only to find the warehouse was full of old sewing materials and textiles.

"Oh, this must be their old warehouse. There're so many materials…" She mumbled to herself but when she noticed he was quietly observing their surroundings worriedly, she wondered whom he spoke with earlier.

"Who were you talking to on the phone?" She asked noticing Qiu Yeh was still following her.

"Who else if it wasn't the trouble maker…" He vented as she felt suspicious of Francesca's call timing. She frowned as he raised an eyebrow. "I just thought… Nevermind." She wanted to tell him her doubts that it might be Francesca but decided to make good use of the materials she found at hand to start the design she improvised earlier with Mrs. Auspicary first.

Francesca hung up the call when she knew she was talking to herself. Right on time, she also received a text message informing her revenge on locking Xue Ting in the warehouse was successful but the next thing she read made her panic.

She did not expect Qiu Yeh to be so vigilant and get trapped with Xue Ting in the warehouse too. Qiu Yeh tried to call out from his mobile the entire afternoon hoping to get some signal miraculously but it did not work.

He began to panic when he noticed the place got dimmer as the sun was setting. He had always hidden his fear of darkness well all this while but this round, he was caught off guard. Xue Ting who had been working on the design idea the whole afternoon, realised changes in Qiu Yeh's behavior when it got dimmer.

She decided to help him calm down as she turned on the torch on her mobile and flashed it upwards to light more surface area in a disguise that she could not see.

He delightedly walked towards her. "Can't see?" He asked nonchalantly as she nodded at the lie.

"Still no signal?" She asked trying to pretend she did not suspect he was not comfortable with the darkness while working on the last bit of the sewing on the textile for the scarf.

"No…" He said as he stood closer to her.

"Looks good… Sadly it's getting dark." He pointed out while sighing as she sensed a little tremble when their hands brushed each other.

"You…" Xue Ting paused at her sewing and took a look at his anxious self.

"I think we should talk…" Xue Ting said as she put down the cloth which finally made Qiu Yeh focus on her.

"Qiu Wen told me. And given your drunk visits…" Qiu Yeh raised his hand at her to stop.

"I know. He told me to speak to you too. But I think the night you discovered all that I did previously had given this topic a closure. I am at peace with it." He reassured her while the torch on her mobile suddenly closed off as her phone shut down.

Qiu Yeh was struggling to breathe at the sudden event as he collapsed to the ground.

"Qiu Yeh!" Xue Ting gasped as Xue Ting tried to hold him up to the chair.

"Give me your phone…" Xue Ting instructed as he handed it over to her and she did a face recognition to unlock it before switching the torchlight on.

"Sorry… I didn't know my phone was running out of battery…" She apologised as he shook his head while closing his eyes to keep himself composed.

"When did this start? Your fear of the dark…" She finally asked as he held her gaze.

"When we shifted to Wai Tao… at my senior years." He answered while still catching his breath

"No one knew?" She asked carefully as he shook his head.

"Was it the effects from the… incident…" She asked skeptically as he hesitantly nodded. She held his hand.

"Qiu Yeh…" Xue Ting swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Thank you. I owe you this much for saving my life that night." Xue Ting watched his eyes reddened for the first time as she smiled sadly.

"I couldn't bring myself back there too till today.." She continued, holding back tears.

"I could only think of it from my memory and you were in there too. Guarding over me and Qiu Wen while we played catch. Carrying me when I can't reach for the branch. Letting me swing on the branch of a tall tree with you guarding me down there..." She managed to get him to chuckle.

"See… Whether it was good or bad memories, I owe you this gratitude especially for saving the twins back then…" Xue Ting tightened her grip on his and he knew it meant the world to her.

"I can never repay you in this life. I could give you anything but I'm sorry I couldn't reciprocate that precious feeling you had for me…" Xue Ting said calmly as he pulled her in for a hug for a brief moment, hoping time could stop for them.

"If… there's a next life with you, I hope you won't reject me again after all I have done for you in this life." He finally said as her stomach growled and they chuckled.

"Well then, help me finish up this design and think of ways to counter that witch when we are out… That might just kill the hunger." Xue Ting urged as she got back to work on the sewing.

"Which witch?" He asked confused.

"The one you had a call with before we were locked. I'm sure you get what I mean." She said as he smiled and nodded as he prepared several text messages to be sent to his assistant to investigate this incident and also messages to the Auspicary couple to explain their situation before helping Xue Ting with the different color threads and needles insertion to hasten her sewing.