An Ning was a constant source of delight to him. Now that she knew who he really was, their relations.h.i.+p was returning to the easy and comfortable way they had at the start of their courts.h.i.+p. Although comfortable might not be the right word to describe the jolt of desire he always felt every time he looked at her.

He and An Ning just clicked at different levels he couldn't even begin to explain. It felt like his soul was always missing something and he found that something when An Ning came into his life. She completed him as a man and as a human being. He didn't even know he wanted to be a father until An Ning told him she was pregnant with his child. His first reaction had been surprised joy. It felt right somehow that she was having his baby. It was one of those things he couldn't explain. He was just glad she was with him and not with Richard, the poor brother whose body he took over to be with her.

"You look mad," he said, kissing An Ning on her forehead. "What's wrong?"

"Read this," she replied, giving him the print out of the letter.

Han read it and showed surprise when he finished encrypting the message.

"How in the world did he do it? That virus must have been really good for Yu Yan to not even realize it for what it is."

"It's kid's work," An Ning shrugged. "You work it in the same stream as their system and make it undetectable. Even if they do detect it, they'll think it's a breakdown of the program or something. And the beauty of it is, the virus will continue to spread when they begin tweaking it," she smiled.

"It was you who created the virus," Han realized. "When did you release it?"

"I knew Yu Yan was going to do something after Gara's attack. She'll target any data I have about him and try to destroy it. And that's precisely what she did. I pretended to put up a firewall to stop the attack. What she didn't know was that the firewall was the virus. She b.u.t.ted head against it then I released it."

"So, what's the problem. He seems to have everything under control based on what he said in that letter.

An Ning sighed.

"We need to go back to M City. The sooner the better."

"Huh? Whatever for?" Han was surprised.

"I'll tell you when we're on the plane."

They arrived in M City two hours later. An Ning went straight to Moira's shop to say hi. Moira was very surprised to see her. She had heard rumors about An Ning being kidnapped but n.o.body wanted to say if it was true or not. Even Matt and Sam were not very helpful. They only said that An Ning went somewhere but they don't know where so the rumors just sort of swirled around and died after a while.

"Then I heard from Matt that your mom and dad went south to follow you so I guess that was it," Moira said.

"I had some things to do plus my mom and dad decided to renew their wedding vows so I became kind of busy after that," An Ning said, clutching at her parents' unexpected wedding to explain her disappearance.

Moira hadn't met An Ning's parents but still offered her congratulations. She also told An Ning that Gara stopped by at the shop the other day.

"Oh? What did he want?" An Ning asked, very surprised.

"I don't really know because he barely spoke but I got the impression that he was inquiring if I knew where you were or something. Of course, I said no. He didn't say anything after that. Just bought a cup of coffee and left."

"Hmnn…"

"He looked to me like he was in a lot of pain though."

"A lot of pain?" An Ning frowned.

"His arm was in a sling and it was bleeding a bit. I asked him if he was okay but he left without saying anything."

An Ning was curious but not worried. She entered her building and was greeted by everyone's look of surprise when they saw her. She went straight to Matt's office without knocking. Matt had his head buried in his laptop and took several seconds before he saw An Ning. He was shocked when he saw her, his mouth opening and closing.

"Well, that's a good reaction," An Ning smiled.

"An Ning!" he said excitedly. "What happened to you?"

"I had to take care of some business," she shrugged.

"Without telling anybody where you were going? You just left. Everybody was worried."

An Ning spread her hands helplessly, not saying anything anymore. Matt frowned. He wanted to argue but An Ning's closed expression stopped him.

"Anyway, why the secrecy all of a sudden? Coded emails? What was that all about?"

"Just a precaution."

"For what?" Matt was suspicious.

"I'll tell you about it later. Where's Sam?"

"Somewhere in the building."

"Can you tell him I'm here? I'll be in my office."

"Oh? What do you need him for?"

"I just need to talk to him about something."

Sam knocked on An Ning's door some time later. An Ning told him to come in and motioned him to a chair.

"What happened to you?" he asked. "You just vanished. We tried asking Richard but he won't tell us anything."

An Ning looked at him without saying anything.

"What?" he said, feeling self-conscious at An Ning's continued stare. "Is there something on my face?"

"I think you knew why I disappeared. I didn't want to call you out on it but you leave me no choice," An Ning said, calmly putting the small object in her hand on the table. Sam looked at it and his face paled.

"I found two here in my office and another one outside. I didn't bother looking anywhere else. Suffice it to say, it was enough to make me cautious."

Sam's eyes remained focus on the small object on the table. It was a lady bug. Small and lifelike. The red wings and black dots looking vivid and eye catching.

"Yu Yan contacted you three months ago supposedly for a job interview. Then she gave you an option to stay in your current job but with an added bonus of spying on our operation. I understand you received a six figure for it? I should congratulate you. That's really a big amount of money."

Sam was looking at her with a helpless look on his face, tears starting to pool in his eyes.

"Don't bother explaining. I think I understand why you did it but I don't really care about any of that. I just want you to leave. Now. Immediately."

An Ning's voice was without inflection but it was the look in her eyes that eventually broke Sam's self-control. He slumped on the chair, both his hands covering his eyes as his thin shoulders shook with his sobs. An Ning waited without a word. When the sobs finally quieted, only then did she spoke.

"Well, I have to talk Matt..."

"Don't," Sam said, his eyes pleading. "Please don't tell Matt."

"Dude, I don't owe you anything," An Ning said, her mouth twisted in a sneering smile. "And please don't act like I should pity you or something. I've never been known for my big heart. The door is open. Don't let me stop you."

Sam walked out the door crying brokenheartedly. An Ning followed behind him and saw the surprise on everyone's face, especially Matt who was talking to an intern outside his open door. He looked at Sam who sped out of the office like a bat from h.e.l.l and at An Ning, who gave him a grave smile.

"What happened?" he asked, following An Ning in her office.

"I told him to leave."

"What do you mean leave? Leave as in never come back?"

"Yup."

Matt was stunned.

"What the h.e.l.l happened? Sam is the best designer we've got. Have you forgotten about that compet.i.tion?"

"Yu Yan paid him to spy on us."

Matt gaped at her.

"What?"

"He was spying on us. He bugged us, Matt. See this little beauty here? That's his little toy. Pretty ingenuous, no?"

Matt picked up the lady bug on the table. It looked tinier in his large hand.

"Where did you find this?" he asked, pinching the bug between his thumb and forefinger.

"In here. On the shelf over there and another one behind the landline. He put another one in the fake plant outside."

"This doesn't have video, does it?"

"No, just audio. But it's enough to hear what's going on inside."

"Are you sure it was Sam?" Matt asked, placing the lady bug on his large palm.

"Without a doubt."

"How?" Matt said, surprised. "And why him?"

"Because Sam has a sick mother who needed care 24/7. And because Yu Yan promised to build his mom a new and better body so she could live forever. Well, at least a 100 years if the program doesn't malfunction."

"You mean..." Matt was fascinated and disgusted at the same time.

"It's one of those Frankenstein monster-ish thing again, Matt. You rescue a rotting body from death by attaching it to a machine. Then Sam will receive a remote to control the mother's body. I don't know."

"And Sam was okay with that?"

"He's close to the mom. The dad left when he was twelve so it was just the two of them from then on."

"Is that why he hid his real ident.i.ty?"

"As a woman?" An Ning said. "Probably. Don't really care. When I realized he was sent here to spy on us, I countered by having myself kidnapped. It confused Yu Yan for a while anyway."

"So what happens now?"

"We go ahead and destroy Yu Yan."

Matt s.h.i.+vered at the icy determination on An Ning's face. Then he thought of something and looked at An Ning.

"Those coded emails....they were designed to fool Sam, weren't they? It took us almost a week to break them and Sam was really excited when we did...."

"Fooled him, didn't it?" An Ning smiled sourly. "I know you like him, Matt, but if you're planning to get in touch with him again tell me so I can let you off this project now."

Matt's head snapped and his eyes were panicked when he met An Ning's.

"I'm not..." he stammered.

"I'm always on the side of true love but in this case, I can't afford to be nice to anybody. Each one of us carries his or her own crosses to bear, Matt. I don't want a traitor to be on mine. That would be taking too much advantage of my kindness, wouldn't you think so?"

Matt was still too stunned to speak so he didn't say anything when An Ning got up and left. He looked at the lady bug lying innocently on the table. It really looked lifelike and eye catching. He picked it up then crushed it between his two fingers. There was a crunch and the lady bug emitted a faint light that gradually died. Matt walked towards the window, opened it then threw the tiny bits outside. The window again closed with a snap.