Chapter 101 - Clash of the titans (4)

Lina's angry thoughts swam in her head as she walked away from her best friend. 

There were far too many variables in this equation she couldn't make sense of. 

She had just regained her memories of Mana, and felt nothing but affection towards her. But suddenly, after the appearance of Loren, Mana began to behave with hostility. 

'She even sounded jealous...that's so unlike her...' Lina thought to herself. 

From the memories she recovered, she never found one in which Mana was mixed up in any funny business. Mana knew only about her identity as Lina Mito, college friend and boss of the Consultancy. 

Mana had shown surprise at her adept martial arts skills as well, and did not know that she could also perform emergency surgery. 

There was no way she knew about any other identity. There was no way Mana could have known anything about her attackers. 

She didn't even know about Shen! If her attackers came after her to hurt Shen, Mana couldn't have known that too. 

Suddenly, a thought hit her. 

Chess! 

The emergency surgery...the message in the bullet! 

"What was the message in the bullet again?!" Lina asked herself. 

She sat down on a bench quickly, with her head between her hands. 

Her breathing was getting short again. Another panic attack? Her head was swirling and she couldn't think straight! 

"King...Queen...protection..." she kept mumbling these words to herself, trying to control her breathing. 

Shen wasn't picking up her calls, either. Her heartbeat was out of control. 

And then, it came to her. Her head snapped up, as she remembered what the message was. 

"~The King falls when the Queen is weak. Check~" she said to herself, remembered the words on the tiny slip of paper wrapped neatly in the bullet she had extracted from Ro-Kun. 

Loren had just asked her if she liked chess...and then made that cryptic statement about a king needing protection. 

Was Shen in danger?! 

Lina began looking around wildly for that man, Loren. She didn't know anything about him, even his last name.

For all she knew, 'Loren' was probably an alias too! 

Little did she know, the eccentric heir had revealed his real name to an outsider for the first time because he met her. 

He enjoyed his games, and he wanted to play with her for the highest of stakes.

But no matter how hard, she looked, she couldn't see him anywhere. He had vanished into thin air!

Suddenly, Lina felt something cold splashed all over her face and clothes. 

In her panic, she hadn't realised a flashy girl in a bright red dress was standing to her side with a vicious look on her face and an empty c.o.c.ktail glass in her hand.

Before Lina could retaliate or say anything, the girl's voice became instantly recognizable. 

"You bitch! How dare you show up here?!" 

As Lina turned to look at the woman who ambushed her, she already knew who it was. 

"Miss Yi." she said, slowly, glaring at her "I don't have the time for your games today." 

Sara Yi was small fish compared to Lina's actual targets right now. She was preparing to ignore her and walk away.

But Sara stopped her, right in her tracks. 

Was this girl mentally challenged?! She, Lina, had beaten up and incapacitated all her bodyguards right in front of her, dragged her by the hair and given her a nasty makeover, and she still thought it was wise to challenge her head on?! 

Sara didn't seem to have any bodyguards around this time. Only her two annoying friends. 

"Miss Yi, shouldn't you be a little more cautious before picking fights with me? Haven't you learned anything?" Lina asked, agitated. 

She wanted to end this quickly. She wanted to find her husband.

Sara snorted, and laughed. 

"I don't need to be scared of you. We are on my turf. I'm a top socialite and a notable alumnus of this college. Everyone here knows me and worsh.i.p.s me here. Plus, if you mess with me today, you will know the true power of my family." 

Today Sara was confident because her brother was here. He wouldn't let this little tramp besmirch the Yi's in front of all the wealthy families of Capital City. 

She still didn't know who Lina was without the mask from the ball. Even at the mall, during their last encounter, she had failed to recognise Lina as Shen's beloved wife. 

Lina sighed. This girl was very, very stupid. 

And that wig...that ugly wig was doing her no favours. 

All Lina wanted to do was rip it off her head and walk away. 

But she decided against it, because she didn't want to draw any attention to herself, by causing a scene. 

So Lina decided to simply walk away. 

But as she turned to leave, Sara's arm quickly reached out and grabbed the front of Lina's shirt, ripping the first three buttons. 

Lina gasped. 

"What the hell!" she looked down, shocked at seeing her soft chest exposed to the public. 

She quickly tried to use her hands to cover up, as people started to stare. 

But a warm jacket, made of the finest material, with a very familiar musky smell was suddenly thrown on her. 

She looked up to see her husband standing in front of her, towering above her, his kind eyes looking at her with all the love in the world. 

Her eyes suddenly teared up, like she hadn't seen him in years. 

The previous night, a lot of her intimate memories of him returned. 

It was like she missed him for many lifetimes, and it was unreal that he stood there in front of her, tangible and real. 

"Shen..." she whispered, her panic from before subsiding, seeing him alive and well in front of her. 

He looked slightly haggard and tired. His hair was a slight mess, as if he had run his hands through them far too many times. 

He did that when he was extremely troubled. 

Lina reached a hand up to touch his face, but stopped herself, realising they were in public. 

"I've been looking for you, angel." he said to her softly, so that only she could hear. 

"I've been looking for you, too." she said quietly. 

Then he stepped away from her, to look behind and see who it was that dared to attack his little wife. 

Sara Yi stood there, her feet frozen in the ground. 

This woman knew her Brother Shen?! 

"Brother Shen..." she started. 

But Shen glared at her, shutting her up immediately. 

An angry voice was sounded from behind Sara as she tried to open her mouth to speak again. 

"Sara! Sara! Where have you been?!" 

Shu Yi had appeared. 

"I told you to stay by my side and out of trouble! Why did you sneak away?!" her brother angrily questioned, before he realised Shen was there. 

And beside Shen, with a jacket dr.a.p.ed around her, was the woman who had bribed him at the hospital using Mei. 

Lina's eyes widened in recognition.

The Lab Technician from Sakura Hospital?! 

"Y-you..?" he sputtered, in confusion.