"Jo.. wait up. Please." Reen begged as she chased after her but Joreen refused to stop walking. She increased her pace instead which made Reen frustrated.

"Please..." She begged desperately, not minding the curious glances she was receiving.

Joreen continued to walk ahead without stopping.

"Jo.." Reen finally caught her hand and tried to catch her breath, "Hey, It's going to be fine."

"FINE?! Nothing is fine!" Joreen said, raising her voice.

"This is so embarrassing and I hate it that because of me you all have to start fighting and getting into trouble."

"You would have done the same had you been in our shoes."

"Maybe. But can you all listen to me once? Please?" Joreen said desperately. "When I say ignore them, then please do. Whenever I try to challenge people like that, they end up saying worse things to me and it always breaks me. I have learnt to ignore them because it's best."

"I can't just sit back and watch them talk to you like that. I am your older sister for goodness sake!"

"Then consider how I feel! Everything became worse the moment you slapped her. If you had left that stupid girl like I told you to, we wouldn't have ended up there. Her mother wouldn't say those words to me and mum wouldn't be fighting with her like a tout right now." She raised her head to look heavenward, hoping the tears would return back. She didn't want to cry. At least not out here.

"Look.. I'm sorry." Reen said. "But if it happened again, I will do the same thing. I will never let anyone bully you."

"You are not listening to me!" Joreen slapped her hand away before walking away. She kept her face down because she didn't want anyone else to see her teary face.

When she raised her head again, her heart skipped when she saw Hoy walking towards her.

"Joreen? Are you okay?" Hoy asked.

She ignored him and tried to walk pass him without sparing him another glance. Of course he didn't let her. He held her hand to stop her from walking away.

"What is wrong?" He asked, trying to look at her face clearly.

She finally raised her head to look at him. He would have actually been stunned by how pretty she looked if her eyes wasn't glistening with tears. She was doing her best not to cry out.

"What happened to you?" He asked with a deep frown. His grip around her hand tightened and his voice grew deeper.

"Let go." She demanded harshly.

"What?" Hoy was obviously surprised. Whenever she was sad or angry, she never asked him to indirectly 'get lost' like she was doing now. She always came to whine to him whenever he was around and trust Joreen who always demanded his attention, even though he was very busy with work, she would come sit in front of his desk and keep whining until he gave her his full attention. But now she wanted him to let go of her?

"I said let go of me. I want to be alone."

"Why? Since when did you start keeping things from me?" His voice sounded hurt and his grip around her hand loosened.

"Why can't I keep things away from you? Who are you to me?" She asked in a cold voice as the first tear escaped her eyes.

"Jo..." He looked around. There were different eyes watching them curiously as they passed by. He didn't want them to create a scene so he tried to pull her with him towards a more quiet area but that also got her angry and she pushed his hand away.

"Can you stop it already?!"

He was stunned and finally let go of her.

"I hate it! I hate all of it!"

"Stop acting like you are my father or my uncle. Why should I tell you whatever is going on in my life? I am an adult. You all should stop treating me like a child for goodness sake!"

"Let's just get you to a quiet place so we can talk about this. Please?"

"Why? Because I am black skinned I shouldn't cry out here? Because we always act victimized to gain people's pity? Of course I have heard a few people say that before."

"What? Where is that coming from?" He asked in surprise. Now, he really wanted to know who had annoyed her to this point.

"If you are not going to stop acting like you own me, you better stop appearing in front of me." She said with one final glare before walking away from him.

Hoy remained there as he stared blankly in disbelief. What just happened?

"Mr Li?" Mr Ping approached almost immediately.

Hoy guessed he must have been watching them. That made him embarrassed.

"What happened to her?"

Mr Ping looked uncomfortable explaining all that happened but he did his best to summarize. By the time he was done, Hoy's face was already dark.

"Where are they?"

"Mr Li. You shouldn't do anything. You know—"

"WHERE. ARE. THEY?" His voice was dark when he asked. He looked like he was ready to kill at that point.

"But Mr Li. It doesn't directly affect you. Her family is taking care of it so there is no need getting involved." He knew Hoy was an extremist and was going to take this very far.

"Doesn't directly affect me?" Hoy turned to ask in disbelief. "Did you see how she talked to me just now? She didn't even want to speak with me!

Mr Ping inwardly rolled his eyes. Joreen was always sweet to Hoy so it was obvious that her attitude towards him lately was making him uncomfortable. It was also obvious he wanted to transfer the aggression to those people who annoyed her.

He wanted to tell Hoy that he was overreacting but when he noticed how serious and angry his boss looked, he led him towards the office.

Before they got to the door, they heard people crying. The door was slightly opened so they looked inside to see Jaime, Cixi, Jianjun, Changyu, and Reen. They were also a few others inside.

The woman and her daughter were both kneeling down. They were crying while begging Changyu to spare them.

Changyu was sitting on the chief chair inside the office with an indifferent expression on her face. Mr Ping couldn't help but admire the woman. If Hoy was an extremist, she was an extreme extremist.

"I told you it's unnecessary for you to get yourself involved. She is already in deep shit as it seems." Mr Ping whispered to Hoy.

"You should follow this up. Whenever they are done with her, let me know. We shouldn't interrupt now."

"Tch! All because she got angry at you. Guardian my ass." He muttered.

"Did you just say something?"

"Oh yes! I said I will look into that family and report to you as soon as they resolve this issue.."

Hoy eyed him before nodding. "Better do."

********

Zhu Liang wasn't interested in whatever party or gathering happening on the ship, but he didn't have any choice. His family as one of the major investors and partner so he has to always be present.

He felt a lot better now after a long nap in the afternoon. Although he had trouble sleeping because he didn't know how Heya was doing but common sense told him not to approach her just yet. He knew he was going to meet her tonight and only prayed he would get a chance to speak with her again just to be sure everything turned out well.

It wasn't a formal meeting so he skipped his suit and wore a sweatshirt with Jean instead. He was just about to pick up his phone when a knock came on door door. After his mother left earlier, he had made sure to lock the door so he went to open it.

"Hi! How are you?" Suyin asked with a smile. "Can I come in?"

Liang couldn't turn her away so he opened the door to let her in. "I feel better." He answered.

"Look.." She turned around to look at him. "I wanted to apologize for what I did earlier. You mentioned you didn't need meds and all but I came with a doctor. So I am sorry."

As a gentleman, Liang would have been the one to apologize for getting angry at her and asking her to leave harshly, but he didn't. It was her fault, plus he didn't want to do anything that would lead her on. Maybe showing her much indifference, she was going to realise they weren't fit as a couple.

Liang nodded to let her know he accepted her apology before going to pick up his phone.

"We should leave now."

"Now?" Suyin asked, looking a bit surprised. "Why the rush?"

He gave her a questioning look which made her blush while smiling slyly.

"Well... I was thinking..." She smiled shyly and took a few steps closer until she was standing in front of him.

"You should prove to me you are no longer angry."

When he continued to give her a questioning look, she puckered her lips and closed her eyes, waiting for a kiss.