Midori pinched his nose . "Quit messin' around!" Then she freed herself from him, but remained seated on the bed, now facing him . "Have you always been such a spoiled brat?! Even Manta is easier to coax than you . "

As she mentioned the boy's name, she could tell how quickly he became sad .

"Would you lift the TRO against me now?" He looked into her eyes .

She looked away . "Be thankful that we did not sue you for kidnapping . "

Dan suddenly remembered the guy who embraced them at the port .

"That guy at the port, who was he?"

"Takagi Ryuuji . " she replied nonchalantly .

Before he could ask further, she interrupted .

"You didn't tell me you're still together with Rus.h.i.+ . " She frowned .

"She is just the general manager in the branch company in City B . There was nothing between us . Believe me . I . . . "

"But you still keep her around . " She turned and stood up, faced him, then crossed her arms on her chest . "Is she that irreplaceable for you?" Her voice was now shaking .

"Dori . . . I just found out what really happened that day . . . "

"Oh really? Who told you? How certain are you that it was accurate, huh?!"

"I don't even remember it myself . I'm still in the middle of investigation . Ming Rus.h.i.+ denied things and evaded questions . Believe me . For years, I had no idea why you suddenly left . Why did you not confront us? I don't care if you slapped me awake back then . Why did you just go away when you saw us?"

Midori was shaken by this confrontation . Indeed, if she had done it, would she have been able to stay by his side all these years? "I . . . "

"I tried looking for you . I almost called the police when you went missing . Then the Xiu household informed the school that you had dropped out . I was so devastated . Back then, I only thought you were upset because I slept through your birthday . I did not know that you thought I cheated on you . Did you know? There was a strawberry shortcake chilling on the fridge and chicken galantina sitting on the oven on that day . It took me the whole afternoon to prepare everything . I'm not sure what happened nor what you saw, but I definitely did not cheat on you!" His face contorted to grief .

Midori could not hold back the tears anymore, so she just wiped the tears on her cheeks with her hands . "I . . . walked into your unit . . . " It was too painful for her to recall the memory . "It was . . . past 7pm . The door was ajar . You were not in the living room, nor in the kitchen . " She wailed . "You . . . I saw you . . . in the bedroom . . . " Her body trembled . "You were . . . naked under the sheets, she . . . was on top of you . . . and she . . . " Her crying state made her look like she would fall down anytime .

Though bewildered by the information, Dan moved to sit on the side of the bed . He was waiting for her to tell him everything, to say it all out .

At the same time, he prepared himself in case she collapses or what not .

In sobs, she continued, "She asked you . . . " Her pitch got higher . "She asked you if . . . if she . . . if she was better than me!"

At this point, Dan stood up and embraced her . She cried and cried while hitting his chest .

"And you know what? You responded with your 'Hmmm' you jerk!" She buried her face in his chest while he held her tighter .

He managed to get them back to sitting on the bed as he felt a little dizzy . With the emotions and his sudden movements, it was expected . He was still sick after all .

Right now, he had placed a lot of pieces into the puzzle that haunt him for years .

He held her until she calmed down .

When her crying reduced to sniffles, he asked, "But why didn't you tell me that we had a son? It's my responsibility too . I should have known sooner . " He was still a bit mad about not knowing Manta sooner .

"Are you talking about Manta?" She looked up at him, then she leaned on his chest again . "He's not yours . "

"What?" He held her shoulder at arm's length . "Then, that guy . . . "

"Ryuuji is just a friend . "

"Friends with benefits?" He was skeptical .

She smacked his right arm . "I'm not like that!"

"If you didn't sleep with anyone else, then he's definitely mine! Stop trying to keep me away from him!"

"No . You're not his father . " She was firm about it .

"How could you tell me with a straight face that he's not mine when you had only been with me and I witb you?!" He was getting impatient . 'I thought we're okay now, why can't my son still not recognize me as his father? Does she still hate me?'

Midori got tired of the argument and blurted, "How could you claim that he's yours when he's not even mine!"