11:30 a.m., Military Chief Office ;

"So you want to keep just four Hybrids by your side. Are you crazy ?", David Florence looked at the girl in front of him with disbelief, "Rong Xinghe, you need the damned security. And after what happened at your engagement party, Hybrids are not going to leaving you with general soldiers. They won't be able to protect you.

"Why would you even want to shoo us away from you now that you need us the most?!"

"I am not shooing you guys away. I am assigning missions to you all.", Rong Xinghe rolled her eyes, typing something vigorously onto her desktop, "We need to find the location of Ahmed Ali Fadhil, as soon as possible. That bastard is designing something huge. And right now, we don't even know who he is targetting. This won't do. Millions of lives are hanging by the thread right now.

"If those guys were able to reach our Special Force officers, then we cannot even begin to imagine the brutality they might unveil upon the public. We need to catch the mastermind before it's too late."

"Then what about you?", Huang Ling asked, concerned, "Xinghe, your safety-"

"I am the Alpha to the Hybrids, damn it!", the girl clenched her teeth, agitated by the men trying to underestimate her strength and valor. She wasn't a teddy bear, made of fur and cotton, relying on others to protect her. She, in fact, bested them all.

"I am more than capable of shielding and defending and fighting for myself. Don't you get it?! I need to abide by the oath I took two years ago when I was crowned as the highest Military Authority of Country X.

"The Hybrids swore their allegiance to me, but my loyalty lies at the feet of Country X's national flag. All you have to do, as my pack, and my friends, is to trust my judgment.

"Alongside me, here in City A, will stay Shawn, David, Elijah, and Ashfakh. The rest of the six will hunt Ahmed Fadhil down. How clear am I making myself?"

"Very.", David Florence grinned, "Glad that I get to stay by your side. Don't worry, Sexy, I will protect you."

"I only chose you because I know that you wouldn't be able to track down Ahmed. Let me put it this way; you're plain useless!", Rong Xinghe countered back with a haughty smirk, earning chuckles from the nine hybrids.

"Bitch!"

"You arse!"

"What about Rong Yufan, then?", Jackson Marshal raised his brows, "What have you planned for him?"

"Death."

"What do you mean?", Zheng Gen frowned, "Don't you think he might know a thing or two about Ahmed Fadhil's plans?"

"Nah.", the girl smiled, focussing her attention back to the monitor screen, "Knowing Ahmed Fadhil, he would never trust Rong Yufan with something as delicate and confidential as a terrorist attack. For him, Rong Yufan is just a ladder, a pawn, which he can walk all over.

"Rong Yufan is a mere businessman. He seeks power and money both. Naturally, he is involved with Ahmed because of some mutually beneficial deals. All we have to do is capture him, interrogate him until he tells what the deals revolved around, drugs, gunpowder, explosives. And then, we kill him. So yeah. Death. That's the big plan for him."

______________

9:00 p.m., Elite Diamond Penthouse ;

"Jackson and Abram will head towards Afghanistan. Arrange tickets to Syria for Zhao Xiaoli and Yang Wenyan. Are we clear, Mr. Shou?", the girl unlocked the door, smiling at Xi Ying and Xi Wei binge-watching some action-thriller web series. It was absolutely astonishing how the Xi siblings had managed to get access over the duplicate keys to her place. Last time she checked, she'd only given a copy of those to her Darling. These damned intruders!

"Ooh! Sister-in-law, we've been waiting for you for a while now.", Xi Wei jumped up from the girl's couch, looking at her as if he'd seen God, his eyes shining with excitement, "You will not believe what brother and Fang did today."

"Don't tell me you two have been waiting for me just for the sake of gossiping!", the girl groaned, stumbling towards the kitchen tiredly, "This really isn't the time for that, kids."

"Brother doesn't want you to live in Xi Family Mansion, post-marriage. So he decided to move out himself.", Xi Ying followed behind her Sister-in-law, gleefully.

"He what?!", the girl stopped in her tracks, stunned.

"Fang, too, had quite the argument with Mom and Dad this morning.", Xi Wei added, "Brother had asked me to keep it to myself. But you know me. I just had to get it out.

"Weren't they cool?!"

"Oh, they were.", Rong Xinghe blinked, still trying to absorb the news, "Where the hell are they right now, by the way?"

"Xi Corps. Headquarters. Conferencing with the Mexican clients."

"Tell Yuan I want him here as soon as they are done with their work.", the girl commanded, her tone solemn, "I would like to listen to his explanation of the decision, he made on 'our' behalf."

"Are you angry with him? I thought you would be impressed.", Xi Ying furrowed her brows, muddled.

"No, Ying. I am not angry.", the girl smiled assuringly, "It's just that I had started to like his Mom recently. His Dad seemed nice too. I was really looking forward to knowing them.

"Even so, I trust Yuan. He would never do anything to hurt me. Maybe his decision is best for us both too. He isn't irrational and daft.

"Anyhow, it would've been better if I'd known about this before. Instead, I am being told what he has decided for us.

"And that's something I hate the most. I hate being told what to and what not to do."

::::::::::::::::::::

10:30 p.m., Elite Diamond Penthouse ;

"I am sorry. I should've talked to you about this before.", Xi Yuan sat down on his knees, looking up at Rong Xinghe, apologetically.

As the Xi trio looked at their eldest brother kneeling down in front of his wife-to-be, they could only gulp down the PDA poison served to them. What the hell?!. He didn't even try to explain himself to her. It was as if he'd returned just to get her forgiveness, even though he had done the right thing. Placing aside his ego, he'd just started apologizing to her the moment he walked in.

"Will we ever have a proper fight?!", Rong Xinghe threw her hands up defeatedly, "You can't just pout and say 'sorry' so casually. You need to act a little brat first! Try to explain your point or something."

"I can't bear to hurt you or fight with you.", the man confessed, akin to a four-year-old, innocently, "Moreover, it was my fault indeed. I shouldn't have kept you uninvolved. This was your decision as well. You deserved an equal say in it. I am so sorry, Love."