Suyin was inside her room, deep in her thought when she heard a knock on the door. She went to open the door and held her breath when she saw Zhu Liang standing there.

He was looking as handsome as she remembered, with his hands inside the pockets of his coats.

She was very surprised to see him standing there. After a while of just staring at him, she recovered and pointed at the opposite door.

"Her... room is over there. You got the wrong one."

Zhu Liang didn't bother to turn around. "I came to see you." He said matter of factly.

"Me?" She was slightly surprised. She didn't think he would want to see her after all that happened on New Year's day.

"Why?" She asked, doing her best to look tough. "You want to tell me you are going to date her no matter what? I don't mind." She shrugged but looked away at him to face the side before blinking.

Liang sighed deeply. "That's not it. I wanted to talk to you." It was her turn to sigh before she stepped aside to let him walk in.

He entered and she closed the door behind her while pointing at the loveseat for him to take a seat. He just looked at it but didn't go there.

"I wanted to apologize." He started, surprising her.

"No matter what, everything that happened was my fault. If I hadn't just passively agreed to everything, things would have been different now." He said calmly.

"Do you hate me that much?" She asked in a low and pitiful voice.

"I don't." He answered almost immediately. "I do not hate you. I just... was in love with someone else."

"And I couldn't ever make you forget her? Not even once?" She asked, sniffing.

"I'm sorry." He apologized sincerely, wishing he could tell her what she wanted to hear. But he could not lie to her especially since he had come to apologize.

"You should have at least told me it was Li Heya." She was already crying but kept cleaning the tears from her face. The last thing she wanted was to look pathetic in front of him.

"You could have told me the truth even though Heya tried to hide it desperately! I don't think I would have met an ex of mine here and lied to my supposed fiance."

"And I am also sorry about that. But I couldn't when she desperately wanted to keep it hidden. I would have told you all about this after this trip. I planned to."

She sniffed loudly and began to fix her already arranged hair. "It's fine anyway. I already told her I don't care what you two plan on doing with your lives. As soon as we land, my brother and I are leaving this country and I'm not sure we'll ever come back."

They didn't want to have anything to do with their parents anymore. They wished they could just cut all ties with them forever. This was by far the worse holiday of their lives.

Liang didn't know what else to say so he simply nodded. He had come here to apologize and he had done just that.

"Thank you." Suyin suddenly said when he reached the door.

He turned around to look at her and raised a questioning brow. Why was she thanking him?

She seemed to understand his confusion so she said,

"For coming to apologize. I didn't think you would come." She said with a bit of an embarrassed blush even though she was still trying not to cry.

"For also not letting the video of myself and my family circulate around. I know you did that."

"It's nothing. My family was also involved in it and also the Li family. It would have been really messy had the videos been uploaded online." He explained.

"Oh... okay." She nodded and just stood there as she watched him walk away, by the time he left the room, she finally broke down in tears.

It really wasn't easy to let go. But she had to for peace sake and for her sanity. There was no way she was ever going to win against Li Heya on this one.

********

The whole family finally returned to their different rooms around midnight, all looking exhausted. As usual, Jaime and Cixi followed Reen and Joreen to their room. They would have returned earlier had the parents of the two girls not showed up and ranted about how their daughters were being blamed for something silly. The family had taken their time to put both families in their rightful positions while Changyu reminded the Long couple that they could still be thrown out of the ship even though they were major investors.

"Do not think too much about it you two. We are going to make sure they get punished for spreading false rumours. And as for Zichu and his bro—" Jaime shot his wife a look to stop her from saying further. They could both see how down the two girls looked and they didn't want to worsen it.

"Just... good night." Cixi said with a frustrated sigh and began to head towards the door.

"But..." Joreen started making her parents turn to look at her while Reen was already laying on the bed despite still fully clothed. It was a full confirmation that she was in a very bad mood. P

"The thing is... I... was with uncle Hoy earlier and... he said he liked me too."

"REALLY?" The couple asked at the same time. Even Reen sat up on the bed. She had noticed some kind of things had happened between them earlier but she hadn't thought the ever uptight Hoy would have confessed.

"Yes. So I... am just wondering... if Bai Aishu and Long Xi are both punished for the rumours and then people find out about uncle Hoy and me... wouldn't it be even more troublesome for the family? People would think we punished them when they were simply telling the truth right?" Joreen asked thoughtfully.

Her parents exchanged a glance before sighing deeply. Honestly, this whole thing would have been much easier to handle if the two had nothing going on between them but since it was like this, there was nothing they could do about it.

"There were some things also said which were lies and defamatory." Jaime said. "So they have to pay for it. You got all the contracts and drama roles because you are talented and have a large fanbase and not because you had a sexual relationship with Hoy like they claimed. Also, you were drunk that night and he took you to his room because yours was locked. So you see? The two were wrong and they are going to be punished. So just sleep like a princess and let us all handle this hmm?"

Joreen nodded gently. She didn't have any choice but to trust her family after all.

"And whoever that bastard is that sent you those stuffs, we are going to find him no matter where he is hiding." Cixi assured her. Joreen Joreen again.

The couple looked at Reen who was just sitting on the bed, lost in her thoughts. They wanted to say something to her but also felt it would be better not to.

"Good night Reen." Cixi said.

Reen looked at her and nodded. "Night mum."

"Night baby." Jaime said.

"Night." She said dourly.

They waved at Joreen before the two left the room.

Joreen turned to look at Reen after their parents left. "I am so sorry about Zichu. It's my fault."

"Do not be silly. You had nothing to do with it."

"I do. If not because of me, they wouldn't have asked his brother to do all he did and he wouldn't have assisted—"

Reen shook her head and interrupted her, "He is dishonorable and lacks integrity. Before he could accept to do that, it means he has done even worse to other peoole and hurt them. I don't care about that kind of person. I am just so embarrassed I brought him into our home."

"But... he—"

"No buts Jo. I cannot be as nice as you are. Whatever punishment the family has for him, they can go on with it. I really do not care."

She lay back down on the bed and turned off the lights.

Joreen knew they were done with that topic so she stripped down to her underwear before joining Reen on the bed.

She tried to sleep but there was something on her mind keeping her awake. She felt there was something she was supposed to think about but couldn't exactly remember what.

Was it Aishu or Long Xi?

Or Zichu?

"So... you made out with uncle Hoy huh?" Reen asked, breaking into her thoughts.

That was it! Joreen remembered but then she suddenly sat up.

"H... how... did you... know?" She gulped.

Reen laughed despite herself. "You gave him an hickey. How is he going to explain that if someone else saw it?"