Chapter 22

Her companion smiled widely. "And if I decide to pay?"

Lily put her left elbow on the table and propped her chin up with her hand. "You sure about that?"

Shu Kori nodded. He never let his female companions pay — it wasn't his way. But if Lily's answer to his relationship inquiry was unsatisfactory, he wouldn't mind letting her pay this once. Not letting women pay was something he did out of respect and grace. However, Lily would not consider such an act respectful of her, and neither would she think he was being graceful.

Lily let out a noncommittal hum and put down her chopsticks. "Waiter! Get us another plate of this," she shouted with her head turned. Honestly, it's not as if they were in the hunger games or anything — there was no need for her to sell herself out for a piece of fish. It was absolute nonsense.

Her blunt straightforwardness caused Shu Kori to laugh loudly. What couldn't be bought with money these days? It looked like his first attempt at a confession had failed. But although he found that both hilarious and frustrating, it further solidified his determination to not give up.

"Here is your…" The words had barely left their waiter's mouth before he was interrupted by the piercing squeal of tires skidding across cement. A bright beam of light appeared from around the street corner, and a second later, a customized motorcycle came speeding towards them.

Its bright headlights flashed before Lily and temporarily blinded her; she tensed. In front of the light, the waiter was shouting, their plate of food long gone from his hands. In an instant, the motorcycle's rider skillfully made a sharp turn and avoided crashing into the man. The force of the turn landed the motorcycle right in front of Lily.

The rider braked with one foot and used his other foot to stop the motorcycle from running her over. The movement caused Lily to momentarily catch a glimpse of his face. She felt her entire body freeze.

And then, there came the sound of engines revving up, and more headlights appeared from the corner the motorcycle had come from. In a flash, the man got back onto his vehicle. He stepped on the gas and flew off just as the other cars rounded around the corner, chasing futilely after him.

It had all happened in a few seconds' worth of time; the restaurant server was still shouting.

Shu Kori looked Lily up and down. "What's wrong?" He asked with concern. She looked pale. "Did he scare you? Are you okay?"

Lily didn't respond. After a long moment of troubled silence, she finally stood up, saying, "I'm fine. Let's go, I'm full. I'm kind of tired and feel like going back."

Her answer satisfied Shu Kori, who grinned. He had witnessed Lily falling into a coma after a meal a plethora of times. He took the check and the two of them left the restaurant.

Lily followed closely behind him with a tight expression on her face. Her left hand was closed around an object. Unbeknownst to anyone else, the man on the motorcycle had handed it to her in the split second where he had stopped in front of her and they had come face to face.

Lily clasped her hand around the enormous diamond she was holding; it belonged to some European royal family. She stood next to the window of her luxurious presidential suite, mindlessly running her fingers over the jewel.

"Long time no see, Lily," came a steady male voice after a while.

She turned around to face the owner of the voice, an Afro-Asian man whose originally handsome face was dull with exhaustion. "Long time no see, Ya."

His motorcycle had given him away. Lily had known the moment she saw the familiar vehicle that it was Mu Ya, one of the best male thieves in their organization. He was known for his calm, steady demeanor and impeccable skills. Jewels and diamonds were his specialty and he never failed. The two of them had also grown up together.

Ya glanced briefly at the diamond in Lily's hands and then made his way over to the couch in the room, plopping himself down heavily. He poured himself a glass of wine. "Didn't think I'd see you here," he said. "I need your help."

Lily joined him, sitting on the opposite side. She shifted the diamond between her fingers. "I'm not part of the organization anymore. Their business isn't my business."

"Lily, why lie to yourself? You know how important you are to them. Boss isn't going to let you go. If you help me, " Ya said, peering at her detachedly from the couch, "I'll pretend I never saw you. Run, hide, do whatever you want. Whether you get caught or not won't be my business."

Lily was naturally aware of the fact that there was no way their boss would let such an easy money-making machine like her go just like that — not after the twenty years he had painstakingly spent making her into what she was.

That was the reason she rarely stayed long in any place after leaving them. Their network was huge, but she wouldn't give them the opportunity to locate her. The world was immense, and by the time she'd drifted through it all, she'd have aged past her prime.

She just hadn't expected to run into one of her old comrades so coincidentally.

"You're such a hotshot, what kind of trouble would you run into?"

So she was going to help him then. Ya's lips creased into a humorless smile. "I underestimated the European royals. They caught up to me nearly as soon as I took the jewel; I never got the chance to deliver it. I've circled pretty much half the globe, from Europe to here, and I still haven't gotten rid of them. I need you to help me get them off my trail."

Lily couldn't help raising her eyebrows at him. It was rare for Ya to make such a serious blunder; just the fact that they were capable of following him all the way around the world was a surprise. She wasn't sure who she ought to admire — Ya's ability to evade capture, or his chasers' ability to stay on his trail for so long.

Her stare made Ya feel humiliated. It shamed him that he was being chased all over the world and had been unable to return to headquarters. Instead, he was wandering around all over the place.

Lily watched as he collapsed sideways on the couch in embarrassment. In the ten plus years they'd worked together, she had never seen him blush. This was a novelty. She laughed and tossed the precious jewel over to him. "Have you looked at it?"

"It's the real thing, 100 percent," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "I know it's genuine! If you stole counterfeit gems, you wouldn't be in this business," she said. "I meant, have you taken a good look at it?"

Her words prompted Ya to sit back up and inspect the diamond from multiple angles. "This side here seems to be less polished."

Lily nodded. "When you look at it from a 120-degree angle, there's a layer of jade powder on the surface. This kind of powder comes from a soft jade that has been preserved for a long time, so it possesses a unique scent that is imperceptible to humans. But it's machine-detectable, and that would be the reason why you haven't been able to get them off your trail."

Her friend threw the diamond back at her. He was visibly seething and beyond humiliated at losing to something he'd never even heard of. "Help me out. Antiques are your specialty."

She caught the stone neatly and laughing, began grinding the jewel against the tempered glass surface of the coffee table between them. Ya jumped up in shock. "You'll ruin its surface!"

Lily smirked. "That's your problem, not mine," she replied. "All I'm doing is helping you get rid of your dedicated little entourage." After she finished, she threw the diamond back at him.

The jade powder was made using ancient methods and could therefore not be gotten rid of with modern ways. It couldn't be pried off or melted, but it could certainly be eliminated using the most primitive method: grinding. Even the strongest powder cold be blotted out.

Ya stared at her in exasperation. "Well, a gem is still a gem, even if it's been ground," he finally said, furrowing his brows in defeat and holding the jewel to his chest.

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