11:30 p.m., SNS Lane;

Rong Xinghe and Xi Yuan walked down the narrow street as they talked about the insignificant things. The things that did and didn't matter. The things as trivial as 'What theatre play was better: Julius Caesar or the Hamlet?', and 'What color would they paint their walls with after they'd shift into their home?'. Xi Yuan had established a 'Leave work at the doorsteps' pact a lot earlier after they'd started dating.

'But why?', she'd asked him back then.

And with a smile, he'd answered, 'Because I want to talk to the one person who means the world to me when I come back home. I want it to be just us then. I want it to be our little world, our home, after all those huge exigent battles we fight every day.'

And he was right. He was always right, she thought. And so smart too.

"What are you thinking?", Xi Yuan asked when he realized that the girl was no longer sauntering by his side as he turned around to find her staring at him in a daze.

"Nothing.", the girl shook her head violently and caught on with the man quickly, "Let's go home."

"Say it, Xinghe.", the man commanded this time, softly, of course.

Letting out a sigh, Rong Xinghe gave up and started to elucidate her dilemma, "At our engagement, when that President Yang shot himself..."

"Hmm?", Xi Yuan furrowed his brows, as he held onto the girl's hand comfortingly.

"You remember his last words?"

"Yeah."

"When he said 'Only when you will be standing over the dead bodies of innocent public, your family, and you love, will he come for you', I was terrified. Not at the former part. I know I can protect Country X's citizens and that I can protect my brothers and sisters-in-law.

"It was the part where he threatened your life, that I felt a chill rush down my spine. I had to put on a calm pretense then, but... I was petrified.

"Yuan... I am not sure if I'll be able to..."

"Protect me?", the man raised his brows, as a smile appeared across his lips, "You don't need to, Baby. I will be fine. Moreover, I don't intend to leave you so soon. I am going to grow old with you. At least, 120 years. Then, we will die together, like Romeo and Juliet, when our great great grandchildren will get sick of us. And after that, we will roam on the surface of this earth as ghosts. For eternity. Forever. How's the plan?"

"You...", the girl smacked the man, irritated, "Stop kidding. I am serious right now."

Letting out a breezy laugh, Xi Yuan snaked his hands around the girl's waist and pulled her against his firm chest. Rong Xinghe was, naturally, stunned, by the man's sudden actions.

"I am sorry.", he said, as he placed his thumb against the girl's bottom lip, rubbing it lightly, and looked straight into her lively eyes, "But I really will be okay, honey. You should have enough faith in my bodyguards, and me. You've seen me fight before, haven't you?"

"But back then, you knew the exact time, and source of those attacks.", the girl sighed, "This time, I am not sure I know my opponent well enough, myself. Yuan. I am scared. If I am able to save the entire country, and my family, and your family, and yet, something happens to you, it will be a battle lost. For me, it will be. So please, for the next few days, stay alert, okay?

"I was able to get through the Rong family's tortures. The train incident, even. I could handle Zhou Che's blame-game too. But if I lose you, Yuan, I know for a fact that I won't be able to survive that setback. Because when you were attacked, when you were shot after that International Business Summit, and you'd been in a coma for four months, I felt as if I was dying. Those months, those days, those hours, those minutes, were the hardest I'd ever lived.

"So I am begging you, Yuan. If not for yourself, for me, don't take your life for granted this time."

Xi Yuan kept looking at the girl in his arms for who knows how long as the silence surrounding them enveloped their hearts. What could he possibly say to her? His Xinghe wasn't an emotional person, after all. It was rare for her to express her intense emotions to him like that. Especially, her fears.

She never had to, anyway. He understood her more than she did. One glance at her, and he could tell what was going on inside her mind. So she never felt a need to confess to him before. She hated that feeling of vulnerability the most. The thought of someone looking right through you. But this time, she felt it was necessary, that he knew what was bothering her so much.

"Xinghe...", Xi Yuan finally spoke up, "I would never do that to you. I would never hurt you like that, Babe. I would never give you false hopes and just leave you. I am going to be the one person you will always find standing by your side. Applauding you. Commending you. Admiring you. Just have belief. Okay?"

"I want to. But..."

"I will be careful. I promise.", assured Xi Yuan, as he planted a soft kiss against the girl's forehead, "Just remember to come back home, after all of this is over. We have got a big fat wedding to plan."

"Hmm. I love you.", the girl mumbled, burying her head in the man's chest.

"Not more than I love you.", he said.

_______________

7:00 a.m., Elite Saphire Penthouse ;

The next morning, Xinguan's sleep was disturbed by the sound of the penthouse's glass windows breaking.

"What the hell?!", Xi Yuan rushed down, the girl following behind him leisurely.

"That would be the work of one of the hybrids, I am guessing.", Rong Xinghe yawned, "Civil behavior isn't a concept the Florence brothers are familiar with, yet.

"And apparently, alarm clocks don't wake me up anymore. It has to be 'the dramatic mornings'."

The girl was right. David Florence and Shawn Florence stood outside the penthouse, one brother sitting on the hood of Zhi Al's Porsche Cayman, another juggling with 3 medium-sized garden rocks. Of course, the one on the hood was the ever tranquil and composed Shawn, while the troublesome one was David. Xi Yuan's security staff was lying around unconscious, obviously. None of those regular henchmen was any competition to the treacherous, demonic assassins like the ten Silent Soldiers.

"Wooohooo! Big Bad Hybrid out here. We're to collect our Alpha.", David Florence announced, shamelessly so.

"How the hell did you tolerate him for five freakin' years?!", Xi Yuan squinted his eyes at the man, earning a laugh from the girl. "He is a brat.", she admitted, "You go back to sleep. I'll handle the boys."

"Nah. Let them in.", the man waved his hands in dismissal, "I've woken up anyway. Might as well prepare some breakfast for you." Turning around, he took a step closer to the girl, placing a sweet kiss against her lips, "Good morning."

"Why, Buenos días, Señor!", the girl replied gleefully, in her perfect Spanish accent.