Never

After that night, Xiu Mei was completely vulnerable.

She didn't know how many times she tried to kill herself. Every night, she would see herself sitting on that chair again, or see herself underneath of the kidnappers being violated by them.

She would wake up screaming every night, completely frozen in fear. And then her hallucinations would start once again. She thought that Ying Yue was watching her by the foot of her bed, mocking her weak self.

She would imagine Ying Yue loathing her, blaming her for what happened to her.

Why she was safe, and she was dead.

She questioned herself too, why was she not dead too?

Why was she left to live?

She was too drowned with her thoughts to hear her phone suddenly ringing to life. Inside her windbreaker, her phone continuously flashed and rang. Her phone continued to ring for a few minutes before it was gone. A second later, it rang again. This happened for more than a few times but Xiu Mei still failed to hear the call even though it wasn't in silent.

On the other side of the phone, Lu Chen's face was grim. He had just finished resolving the issue in one of his international company branches and now his assistant, his wife-to-be couldn't be reached for the first time.

As he persistently called her phone, his fingers tapped on the table in annoyance.

Why was she not picking up the call? Was she avoiding him?

It was only after he tried calling her for more than a few times that he had decided to cut short his sudden trip.

"Book the earliest flight to China for tonight." It was still midday in London and fortunately, the issue was resolved quickly under his supervision. Lu Shao, who was doing his work just across his table nodded and called someone on the phone to move their flight at an earlier time.

As for Lu Chen, he suddenly felt worried.

This was the very first time Xiu Mei did not answer his calls. No matter how late it was in China, even if she was in the middle of her sleep, she would still wake up and answer his calls.

But now, Xiu Mei wasn't even answering despite calling her a few more times.

He was doubting it was because of what he had said to her previously since Xiu Mei's professionalism wouldn't just randomly ignore his call that might possibly be about work-related matters.

So all what's left was something might have happened to her. And that is why she wasn't picking up the calls. He grew increasingly worried when he thought about this possibility.

Making up his mind, he instructed Lu Shao once again to call back to China.

"Call Alex and have him track down Xiu Mei's current whereabouts. Inform me immediately when they find her."

After finishing up his work in the office, Lu Chen and Lu Shao immediately left to return to the hotel. He was still in his car when Alex called back to report Xiu Mei's whereabouts.

"Where is she?"

"Boss, she's..."

Hearing the hesitance in Alex's voice, Lu Chen became more worried that something really had happened to Xiu Mei while he was away.

"Tell me quickly, is she alright?!"

"Boss, we found her but she's passed out."

Lu Chen's grip on his phone tightened, almost cracking the screen. His mood took turn for the worse as he relayed his instructions.

"Call Tang Li. I want her fine and healthy once I get there." Hanging up the call, he instructed to driver to speed up quickly back to the hotel.

Forget about leaving tonight, he's leaving as early as possible.

Within an hour, Lu Chen was already on the first class seat on the plane.

Lu Chen had always been strong and fearless despite meeting people who have higher status than him especially in position and power. Especially in the underground world where people are always stained in blood and sudden death is quite normal, Lu Chen was already quite used to such things.

That's why he didn't understand why he was scared and crazily worried for Xiu Mei hearing that his men found her passed out on the ground.

Was he scared that something would happen with Xiu Mei?

A thought suddenly hit him. What if one day, Xiu Mei disappears in his life?

His heart throbbed heavily as he felt anger filled him. Once he thought about that kind of future, he suddenly felt angry and something darker filled his mind.

No, he wouldn't let that happen. He wouldn't let Xiu Mei go. Over his dead body.

"Boss?"

Lu Chen was snapped back to reality while he was deep in his dark thoughts. He raised his head to turn to his male secretary that wasn't staring at him, but rather on his hands. Following his line of sight, he shifted his sight on his hands that was now covered in blood.

The wine glass that he was holding was now only left with stem intact, while the rest was shattered to pieces. He was quite surprised not realizing that he was gripping his glass to tightly that it shattered into pieces.

Some of the pieces was embedded on his hands, causing it to bleed yet he didn't feel any pain.

Lu Shao immediately asked for a first aid kit to the stewardess. Seeing that one of the passengers was hurt, the stewardess rushed to the back to grab the first aid and she called another steward to help in cleaning the shattered pieces.

"Xiu Mei will be fine, boss." Lu Shao muttered, as he slowly picked out the glass shards on Lu Chen's hands.

His eyes shifted to the serious expression of his personal secretary that looked completely engrossed in healing his wounds.

"She'll be fine. After all, she's the one you chose among all the people in the world."

After that, Lu Shao didn't say anything anymore.