Mai thought about the situation that she had been placed in by her father. Not only was he embracing her when they had walked in but also in her personal room. Not even Zheng Li had even tread so far into it. "This might not even be the worst part of it all" Mai thought. "He was also a f.u.c.king adviser to the Emperor, Han Bing probably saw him at some point in time when he was summoned to the palace.

Mai desperately wanted him to know that she didn't care about what power plays others were playing, that she loved him and that was all that mattered. She didn't mind a scar or two on his body, in fact she wanted to run her tongue down them.

She sighed deeply, pus.h.i.+ng away another barely touched meal that had been left for her. How could she eat with the twisting knot that had become her stomach. Even if she had tried, she would only throw it up later.

Looking out the sliver of a window above her bed, Mai wished that she could talk to someone about what was happening. She would give anything for one of her friends to appear and offer her comforting words. Her mom would be even better, cheering her up as she usually did.

Mai couldn't hold back the tears any longer. Her body shook as she sobbed in the only comfort that she could find, her bed.

—-

"Zheng Li, you have to do something! She is eating herself alive inside her room." An angry voice shouted that was to far away for Mai to hear.

"I cant do anything until he wakes up, you know that and so do I" Zheng Li responded angrily.

"Look at her though! She isn't even going to be okay by the time he wakes up. She just lays there staring at the wall. She won't even touch her food." The voice sounded again.

"What can I do?!?" Zheng LI almost screamed out in frustrated. "You didn't see his face when he stared at her. It was like his soul got plucked out and he was a walking puppet."

"Comfort her, tell her everything will be okay. I don't know Zheng Li, but something." The voice said in disappointment.

"Why can't you? Anything I say will only hurt her more; I am still mad at her" Zheng Li lets out. No one had seen Had Bing but him after he returned to his room. He never wanted to see his friend in such despair again.

They continued to bicker back and forth without coming to a conclusion.

—

Days pa.s.s before Han Bing woke up. He had a high fever from an infected cut on his arm. Zheng Li had been there everyday practically living in his room taking care of him.

Han Bing heard Zheng Li call out to him while he was at the worse of the fever. Telling him that Mai loved him and that it wasn't a game. Han Bing wanted to believe it but knew better. It was probably something that his brain had come up with in a desperate act to stay alive.

"Young master, your awake" Zheng Li says as he breathes out a sigh "don't scare me like that."

Han Bing lets out a light laugh knowing that it will help ease his friend and said "takes more than just a fever to kill me." His eyes s.h.i.+ft as he looks away thinking about the betrayal that Mai did. She crushed his heart as it was nothing, as if he was nothing.

Han Bing started to cough as his body condition got worse. He took a look at his body and let out a mournful sigh. With a shaking finger he feels the scar that runs across his face and closes his eyes. "Even if Mai hadn't betrayed me would she even still want me after all of this?" Han Bing thinks to himself. "Would she still want to be with someone that puts her in so much danger."

Han Bing desperately wanted to hate Mai but knows that he cant. A smile from her would still make his heart flutter even if she had made him into a broken mess. Han Bing was disgusted with himself after everything that he had been through didn't he deserve better.

Zheng Li was silent as he tried to find the words to say to help Han Bing recover. He settled on the ones that she had told him.

"She loves you" Zheng Li whispers.

Han Bing face shoots towards him in a scowl "than what was that man doing in her room! On her bed! In that position." He is practically yelling at the end, his body shaking.

"It was her father" Zheng Li quietly lets out "he wanted to take her somewhere safe."

Han Bing sat there frozen. "Father" he mumbles out.

"Didn't Mai say that she could not remember her past?" Han Bing recalled his first few encounters with her.

Zheng Li is at a loss of what to do next, he had never dealt with heartbreak before.

"Maybe, he is right. Send Mai to him. He can keep her safe. Even if this is all one big game to someone she owns to much of me for me to do nothing" Han Bing whispers out.

Zheng Li stares at him in amazement and asks "are you sure?"

"Would she even want me any more Zheng Li? I can't handle how bad this looks let alone another person and not even that what about the danger I place her in." Han Bing says close to a whisper. His face is tense from the torment of sending Mai away.

"I think that" Zheng Li started but was cut off by the stare from Han Bing.

"I will send her away then" Zheng Li says trying to help his friend.