02:30, Elite Saphhire Penthouse;

Xi Yuan climbed down the stairs in a hurry. Striding towards the living room where he'd tossed his phone over the couch, he couldn't help but worry. Where could she have gone at such an hour, he wondered. It couldn't have been the Military, of that he was sure. She was yet to rejoin officially.

From the way, in which, Chan Hyun had delivered his psychopathic employer's message tonight, he needed to forewarn her of the battles to come himself.

Who could have been the mastermind behind the whole Soulagement case? Who could loathe Rong Xinghe to such an extent? Playing from the dark, forcing a young lad to bite off his own tongue, using Xi Corporations to target and damage Rong Xinghe's repute. Whoever it was, the person was much too calculative. And cautious. None of their investigations up till now had been able to come up with a name, or even a potential suspect. None. How were they even supposed to get to him then?

What more, this enemy was far from those who desired to simply kill off the nation's Military Chief. This one, on the contrary, seemed to relish every second of Rong Xinghe's misery, her pain. He was taking things slow, enjoying every bit of victory, and each tad of failure in the path. As if he wanted to watch her kneel, and break, and weep, in front of the world. At least, that's what Chan Hyun was able to write down to them about the perp.

"Yuan.", just as the man was about to dial Shou Wu's number, the girl's voice reached his ears. Stunned, the man turned around to look at the girl approaching him slowly, tears in her eyes, Shawn Florence following behind her in worry. Before Xi Yuan could understand anything, the girl wrapped her arms around him, as tightly as she could.

Responding to her touch then, the man rubbed her back, so to comfort her, "What happened? Where were you?", he asked her softly.

"With Diablos.", she answered, her voice weak. The Hybrid, standing at a distance from the couple, smiled to himself before he left the two alone. Xi Yuan was his Alpha's safe space, after all, leaving him with no reason to stress anymore.

Rong Xinghe took her time as she told the man everything about her dinner with Diablos. And as she did so, she couldn't help but sob alongside. It was almost as if she was mourning them for the first time. As if she had just realized the void that they'd left behind.

Xi Yuan listened patiently. He always listened. That's just how they had been from the start.

He was infuriated, initially, of how Diablos had attempted to reach her. It was one thing to try and intoxicate his mind against his Xinghe, but to break in into her house, and compromise her security, was just taking it too far. Even for someone like Diablos.

However, as the girl clutched onto his right hand, and cried in silence, he couldn't care less of his love rival. She looked helpless and exhausted. Alone, even. He hated to see her so shaken up.

"A stranger knows more about my Mom and Dad than I ever did, Yuan.", the girl whispered, yet another teardrop rolling down her cheek, "When he was telling me about them, I felt as if I was listening to someone else's story. They felt so... unknown. My own parents. It scared me, their absence.

"They won't be there, Yuan. When we get married. When we have our first child. They won't be there."

Xi Yuan wiped the girl's tears away, pecking her on her forehead, "I know, I know.", he said, pulling her in his embrace. She deserved to let it all out, he thought. He couldn't possibly burden her with that mysterious nemesis of hers while she came to him, searching for a home. He would tell her, certainly. But not tonight, for it'd be too cruel to her.

It took several minutes for the girl to calm down. His natural scent helped speed up the process, still. But none of the two were in rush. It was necessary. To grieve. Just as it was to cherish joy.

People often described anger to be human's strongest emotion. But it was a lie. Rage was a secondary emotion, to be truthful, often channeled from something more intense, or overwhelming, to say. Anger was a response to bottled-up feelings like vengeance, loneliness, competitiveness, or in the worst-case scenario, loss. No emotion could unleash wrath, if not dealt with carefully, the way pain did.

Xi Yuan was not going to let that happen to Rong Xinghe anymore. He had seen her in that state. Consumed into her own darkness. As if she would just shut her feelings off. Like a switch. She feared letting people in, she feared to show her scars. It was the reason she became the Ripper, Elijah Williams had recently told him. 'The human experimentation was conducted with the very purpose of testing human emotions' limits. The more pain one had buried deep inside, the gravely the drugs affected the subject.', he'd said, 'Ripper-ness was but a measure of words left unsaid. Xinghe's pain was nothing like any of the other Hybrids'. It was powerful enough to make even Satan's blood run cold.'

If pain had done that to her, then he wasn't going to let that repeat; he'd sworn to himself. Little did he know, their destiny had plans, which purred otherwise.

"We will be alright, Love.", the man said as quietness spread through the room, "Believe me."

"I do.", the girl smiled tiredly, closing her eyes shut.

"Your parents were martyrs, Xinghe. They breathed their last while serving their country. No one could understand the weight of that word better than a soldier like yourself. I know they weren't there for you, and that they won't be there in the future as well. Not physically, at least. But some people are just too worthy to live in normalcy.", Xi Yuan smiled, caressing the girl's hair, "They had to be there for the nation. The way you are, every day. We should honor them for their choice and their courage, don't you think?"

"You are right.", Rong Xinghe mumbled sleepily.

Xi Yuan looked down at the girl, a soft smile making its way to his mouth. One heck of a day for Xinguan, huh?