Meanwhile, back at the cruise s.h.i.+p...
From the moment Jie hung up the call, he had been lost in his thoughts. Seeing his worried expression, Xu Mey went up to his side and placed her hand on his shoulder, "Is everything okay, Ah-Jie?"
Jie turned his head to look at her concerned face and gave her a small smile in response before patting her hand on his own shoulder. "Everything is okay. For now, at least."
Xu Mey furrowed her brows at his reply and questioned, "What do you mean? Did something happen? You can share it with me."
Jie sighed before he turned around and wrapped his arms around his wife"s shoulders from behind while he placed his forehead on her shoulder, "Ru is gone."
"And?" retorted Xu Mey in a calm voice and careless manner as if it wasn"t something shocking even to her. "Doesn"t Sensei always vanish like this? Why do you look so worried this time?"
"I"m not worried that she left," replied Jie with a heavy tone. "I"m worried because of what she told me last night."
Xu Mey"s curiosity piqued as she inquired, "What did she say?"
"She came to see me last night," said Jie and lifted up his forehead off her shoulder. "She said goodbye to me last night even when she didn"t have any plan on leaving today."
Xu Mey frowned at his words and asked, "What do you mean? If she wasn"t supposed to leave today then why did she come to say goodbye beforehand?" She took a pause before adding, "She must have a reason for doing that. After all, Sensei doesn"t do anything without a well-planned reason behind it."
Jie chuckled at his wife"s words knowing what she meant. Even he knew that Xu Mey understood Ru enough to say that Ru would never do anything without planning it. Even if her actions seemed random, those actions were well-thought of. She never moved on instincts, she only made it seem like she did.
"She said goodbye to me because she was feeling apprehensive," answered Jie as his expressions turned grim thinking about Ru"s exact words...
*The previous night*
When Ru had learned Ji Family"s biggest secret from Ji Syaoran, her mind was buzzing with all kinds of thoughts that were hard for her to process alone. She didn"t go straight to see Xiao Zhiren at that time, instead that was the time when she chose to ruin Jie"s sleep and bug him with her worries.
"What"s up with you at this time?" asked a half-asleep Jie rubbing his eyes.
"I"m feeling something strange," replied Ru with a straight face.
"What? Tell me about me," Jie"s sleep was all gone as he thought she was gonna share her true feelings about love with him. However, her response left him dumbfounded.
"I"m here to say bye to you," she answered.
"You"re leaving?" he questioned.
"Don"t know," said Ru uncertainly.
"Then why are you ruining my sleep?"
"I"m feeling apprehensive," she replied.
"Apprehensive? And you?" asked Jie in a strange voice. "When did Young Master Ru start to feel such humanly feelings?"
Ru glared at him dangerously but Jie rolled his eyes back at her in response while she sighed, "I honestly don"t know why my heart is so restless but it is. I have an inkling like something is about to go wrong. Badly wrong. And I don"t want to leave without seeing you."
Jie listened to her words attentively and even could feel the seriousness of her words. But he still tried to lighten up the mood by saying, "Or maybe, you"re overthinking as always. How can things go wrong when Young Master Ru is around?"
Ru tried to give him a small smile in reply as she said, "I know what you"re trying to do here. But don"t bother. I"m telling you the truth, my heart is feeling weird. My mind can"t process the secrets I just learned but it had only alarmed my doubts."
Jie contemplated her words before rubbing her head, "Ru, you"re worrying for no reason. Nothing is gonna go wrong."
Ru looked at him oddly as her face twitched, "Who said Young Master Ru is worried? My foreboding can only make me restless, worried is a strong word." She took a pause to take a long breath before continuing, "Have you seen the stars this night?" Jie"s brows knitted together at her while she said, "The stars alignment is also a sign. A storm is rising. Now, the question is if that storm can tear me down or not."
"No matter how strong is the storm, I know my Ru can survive it as always," said Jie with certainty as he looked at her with a proud look in his eyes. He might not be certain about anything else, but he was certain that his Ru wasn"t someone who could break so easily.
"I won"t lose, but I think I"ll lose something. The problem is I"m scared of losing myself this time," those were Ru"s parting words to him that made him feel uneasy.
*Coming back to the present*
Xu Mey placed a hand against Jie"s cheek and said, "If Sensei is not worried, why are you?" she took a small pause before adding, "Besides, it was just Sensei"s hunch. It"s nothing certain."
Jie shook his head, "No, it"s not just a hunch of hers. Her premonitions had always been true. Every time she said something was about to go wrong, it did. That is why I"m worried."
Hearing his explanation, even Xu Mey felt worried about this situation.
Back on Metrix Consortium"s top floor, Ru was still staring at her reflection with a furrowed brows. She looked at Rong in the mirror and questioned, "I"m that... murderer?"
Rong patted her shoulders as he answered, "The murdered Xiao Zhiren is looking for is definitely you." He turned her around to look into her eyes as he added, "But that"s different that you didn"t kill his "fake" mother named Ling Qiaolian."
"What?" asked Ru in confusion. She was the murderer Xiao Zhiren was looking for killing Ling Qiaolian but then how come she didn"t kill Ling Qiaolian. What did it even mean?
Rong placed his hand on her head and looked into her green eyes saying, "Just because you drove a dagger through her guts that doesn"t mean she died because of that."
"Then how did she die?" asked Ru seemingly alert than before.
"She never did," answered Rong with a straight face.
"Huh?" Ru was dumbfounded.
"My dearest little brother, Ling Qiaolian is still alive..."
Ru"s eyes widened in shock as she heard this statement. It was like all her beliefs were taking a 180-degree turn and nothing seemed to be the truth anymore.