"What are you thinking about?" Jianjun asked when he noticed a smile playing on his wife's lips.

"Hmm... nothing really." She replied casually.

"I don't believe that. You cannot just be smiling this early in the morning because of 'nothing'. Is this about yesterday?" He asked suspiciously.

When she simply laughed instead of answering, he knew his guess was correct.

"What's so exciting about yesterday? Also, why didn't you do anything other than questioning that young man?"

"Isn't it obvious? I knew Hoy would take care of it."

"Hoy? I thought you weren't very fond of him?"

"Of Hoy?" She asked in surprise. "Of course I am fond of him. I have known him for 10 years. He is handsome, smart– only in business actually, and he cares a lot about Jo."

"I just like to push him sometimes because I know he's the type to not do anything until he sees a challenge."

"Just like last night?" He asked.

"Just like last night." She echoed. "Also, I am doing my best to meddle less in Joreen's affairs. I want Hoy to handle it so he can appear like a prince in a shining armour." She said while grinning.

Her husband shook his head. "I wonder how you think sometimes. It's strange."

"I know right?" She blew him a kiss before standing up.

"At this rate, I think he is finally going to accept his feelings for her earlier than I thought."

"And you think that is going to be good?" He questioned with a serious look.

"I know he is fighting a lot of inner battles within himself. It wouldn't be easy for him to admit that to himself talk more of directly telling her how he feels. He is.... a very rational person."

"So he is fighting a battle between his rationality and his heart?" He asked.

"Exactly! His heart probably wants her but the rational part of him keeps reminding him about all he is going to face and also all Jo is going to face if he pursues his feeling for her."

"By the way, how long have you known he likes her?" Jianjun asked curiously.

She thought about the question seriously before answering.. "Hmm... actually... I think I started to notice it on her 17th birthday. That was early this year."

"What? It has been this long?" He asked in surprise.

She shrugged. "That was when I noticed it, so it has probably been longer than that. But I think he didn't realize it until lately, and is slowly coming to terms with it. Take for example, how he reacted last night. The Hoy we all knew would have been quiet and pretended like he wasn't hearing a thing."

"Hmm... young people have a lot of complicated issues." He said with a sigh.

"So let's stop talking about young people then." His wife suggested with a smile.

"What would you like for Lunch today?" She asked him.

He sat up with a suspicious look on his face and looked at her, "Why are you asking me about Lunch? We haven't even had breakfast yet." He reminded her.

"Anyone can fix breakfast. I specially want to make my husband something nice today." She winked at him. It made him even more skeptical about answering.

*********

"Why do I feel so uncomfortable?" Cixi asked herself as she stood in front of the window inside her room.

It was morning and the house was very quiet and peaceful so she was lost in her thoughts until a hand snaked around her waist and Jaime placed his chin on her shoulder.

"Good morning." He greeted and kissed her cheek. "What's troubling you so early in the morning?"

She placed her hands on top of his hands which were around her waist and sighed deeply.

"I don't know. I just woke up feeling very.... bothered."

"Maybe you are worrying about Joreen?" He asked, turning her around to face him.

"She is going to be fine." He assured her before placing a gentle kiss on her lips.

"I... don't know. She is just... you know.. pretty and naive and pretty naive–" She rolled her eyes making her husband force out a laugh.

"I don't know how she is getting with all the sudden attention she has been receiving lately. This may affect her and her relationship with the opposite gender psychologically even though she may not know it. First, she was simply being nice to Kyle and he now he likes her and probably thinks she liked him too, when he was supposed to be Reen's boyfriend. And then that animal we met last night at dinner."

"Hey, come here." He took her hand and led her towards the bed. He made sure she was sitting before he sat down beside her.

"Jo is a big girl. We are lucky she can stand up for herself. She also have us. She has the entire family. And she has Li Hoy." He said with a sly smile while wiggling his brows.

She scoffed before hitting his arm. "You had a bit of fun last night didn't you?"

He chuckled before nodding. "Hoy looked like he was going to stab him to death at that moment. It was so hilarious!" He began to laugh heartily.

"How childish!" Cixi murmured but joined in on the laughter.

After the laughter died down, he took her hands in his and looked at her with a soft gaze.

"You don't have to worry so much. She can take care of herself. We can take care of her. We can trust Li Hoy to look after her and not let her get into trouble. So relax, and don't ever scare me like you did just now. Imagine waking up to see someone wearing a white gown, standing in front of the window. I thought it was a ghost."

She giggled. "Sorry."

"No worries."

"Maybe worrying too much about Jo won't kill me, but you know what can?" She asked.

"What?" He asked curiously.

She scrunched her nose as she answered, "Your mouth odour. Now go brush your teeth before you kill me with it!"

"What?" He asked while laughing. "But you kissed me twice!"

"Point of correction, you kissed me!"

"I'll kiss you again then." He brought his mouth closer but she pushed his face away from hers while laughing."

Hoy's mother passed by their door and heard the two chuckling and giggling like teenagers in love. She had also just passed by Changyu and Jianjun's room and heard them laughing happily while Changyu promised to make her husband a special lunch and he kept teasing her about not being a great cook anymore.

It made her feel nostalgic, remembering the times when she had newly gotten married Li Han. She couldn't remember the last time they played together like young people. They were always talking about serious things. Thinking about it now, she realised how lonely she had been.

She made up her mind to spice up her relationship. She had wanted to go make morning coffee for the whole family, but she changed her mind and returned to her room. Just like her, her husband was also an early riser. He was already awake and going through the news on his phone.

He spared her a quick glance and noticed her hands were empty.

"I thought you went to make coffee?" He asked before returning his eyes to his phone.

She watched him carefully like a hawk. It was only now that she began to seriously think about their relationship for the past few years. He stopped calling her any endearing names, he was simply stuck in calling her Minde's mother or Hoy's mother. He also stopped taking her out on dates, neither did he buy her gifts and make her feel loved.

It was the opposite case for Jaime, Cixi and also Changyu, Jianjun. The two couple usually addressed each other with: Darling, sweetheart but mostly babe and baby. She had thought it was too cringey and mushy back then, but now, she was becoming quite jealous of them.

She had been standing there for a while without even answering his question yet, her husband was still looking at his phone. She decided to do something about their relationship so she opened her mouth and began to speak,

"Would you like to come join me make coffee in the kitchen...." She paused before adding, "...baby?"

Li Han's head snapped up.

He was already shocked when she asked him to join her make coffee in the kitchen because one, she never invited him inside the kitchen because she liked to do her things herself. Two, he wasn't even sure he remembered the last time he entered inside the kitchen to do a thing. Not because he was a masculinist who thought men wasn't supposed to cook because it was the duty of women, but because he never liked to cook. He was very lazy when it came to kitchen stuffs. His younger brother, Li Fazhan was better than him in that aspect.

So inviting him to join her all of a sudden was one thing, but when she called him 'baby', he received the shock of his life and thought she had really lost it!

"Are you... okay?" He asked gently, putting down his phone beside him.

She gave him what she believed was a sexy smile even though it looked creepy to Li Han.

"So what do you say? Are you going to join me in the kitchen or..."

"Or?" He asked skeptically.

"Or we play here!" She said excitedly.

"Play?" He asked in disbelief. He finally confirmed that she had really lost it. Was there a psychiatrist in the resort? He wondered.

She nodded and excitedly went to pick up a pillow from the bed. Before he could tell what she was up to, he felt the pillow smack his head really hard.

"Arrrgh! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" He yelled in a voice loud enough to pull down the building.