An Ma inherited the house from his parents when they died. He brought his family there to live soon after he and Yu Yan got married. Yu Yan liked it because it was some distance away from the city. An Ning liked it because of Richard, the son of their nearest neighbor who lived next door.

An Ning entered the house, her thoughts still in a whirl. She was still feeling unsettled after seeing that mysterious man back in Han's office. She knew who he was without being told. Knew what he wanted without being asked.

Richard was a complete mystery to her. She grew up with him most of her life and yet he was the only one whom she didn't really understand. What was he like? Why did he marry her if he didn't love her? Was he intent on revenge? Why her? What for? An Ning didn't know. And so, the unsettled feeling of the unknown. Because she didn't understand Richard's motives and she didn't know if she could fight against it or not.

Sometimes, she wished that she could have her memory back. She didn't even have bits and pieces of it. Only what other people's opinion of it based on what they've seen or been privy to. What will Richard do and how can she protect her family, especially her unborn children, against him?

When she received Han's phone call, she lied to him. Lied to him without blinking or having any second thoughts. She told him she was in a friend's house catching up. She was safe. So he had nothing to worry about. No, she didn't need him to pick her up. She just needed him to leave her alone so she could think of a way to defend herself against an avenging spirit. But of course, she didn't tell him that.

Of course, Han being Han was terrified that An Ning was mad at him because of Valerie, whom he found really pathetic. He told Du Lu to let her go, end the contract so he wouldn't have to deal with his brother's mistress now or in the future. Richard was dead. He will have to find a way to tell her that one of these days. She deserved to be told the truth at least.

An Ning laughed because she of course knew what he was thinking. The memory he shared with Richard had made him putty in front of Valerie. Richard had been unable to resist her, and Han who was as intimate as anyone with Richard's body and soul had been just as perturbed and disturbed. Did she want Han to fall victim to Valerie's charms like Richard did? Of course not but because of this a tiny seed had already been planted in An Ning's mind. Trust really was a giant leap with a man who shared the same memory and feelings of her vanished ex-husband.

An Ning's mind was stuck too much in the past that it took her a moment to realize that a figure had detached itself from the shadows and is now waiting for her. An Ning wasn't even surprised or afraid because it seemed to be part of the pattern of swirling memories and future events she will have to confront sooner or later. She was expecting this, she realized. She knew this will happen the moment Sam left the building in tears.

"So brave of you to come and see me," Maya said mockingly in greeting. "Aren't you afraid?"

"h.e.l.lo, Yu Yan," An Ning said. "I wasn't expecting you but now that you're here why don't we sit down and have a little talk?"

Maya smiled and gestured to An Ning to go ahead. An Ning opened the doors and walked inside unafraid. She took a seat in front of a roaring fire and warmed her cold hands on it. A maid appeared and put hot cocoa on a table beside her. An Ning drank the cocoa then leaned back on the seat with a satisfied sigh.

"How far are you now?" Maya asked, taking the chair opposite An Ning.

"Eight months. Thank G.o.d I don't have the symptoms of being pregnant. No depression, no feeling of heaviness. I eat right and I've never felt better," An Ning smiled.

"Is that an appeal to my better nature?" Maya said, smiling back at her. "You scattered my plans about those crazy Amazons and you know about Gara. Maybe I should kill you now before you could do more damage to my plans."

"What plans? Take over the world and kill all men? You've been planning that for what, twenty years now and you're still at the planning stage?" An Ning scoffed scornfully. "Please, don't make me laugh. What do you really want Yu Yan?"

Yu Yan picked up the bottle of beer the maid put on the table in front of her and took a swig.

"Isn't it too early for a beer?" An Ning asked, frowning.

"Would a martini satisfy you?"

An Ning harumphed distastefully.

"You never liked me, didn't you?" Maya suddenly asked. "You loved An Ma the best. As for me, you didn't like me."

"I didn't like you because I thought you were a foolish woman with no sense. It had nothing to do with the fact that you faked being my mother."

"It was fun though," Maya said, laughing delightedly. "Fooling you, fooling An Ma. Imprisoning Ceres. And those Amazons....they looked down on me so I punished them."

"I thought it was because some man rejected you to marry another woman," An Ning said dryly. "You really are a fool. If you wanted revenge, go after the men not the women. Why? Because that woman was prettier than you? Wetter than you so better get your revenge from them?"

"How dare you!" Maya was so angry her face was was twisted with hate and dislike. "That woman seduced him! It was me he loved but he seduced him!"

"Sure, sure," An Ning soothed. "That's why he forced you to have that abortion, right? Because he loved you so much? Are you sure we're reading from the same page, Yu Yan?"

Maya's face again twisted with hate but then she laughed.

"Tell me, how did it feel when you caught Richard with that s.l.u.t? Hurt good, didn't it? On your wedding day with a cheap actress. Tell me, dear daughter, were you shocked?"

An Ning took a sip of the hot cocoa.

"Of course it f.u.c.king hurt," she said matter of factly. "I saw them together, you know. So lovey dovey on the garden where he and I just exchanged our vows. I wanted to kill them both but there was something I could do that would hurt him better than a knife on his gut." An Ning flashed a smile that made Maya s.h.i.+ver.

"And that is....?" Maya prodded when An Ning looked as if she wasn't going to say anything anymore.

An Ning continued to smile.

"Repudiate my feelings for him," she said. "Completely forget him. And I did. Everybody thinks that the attack caused me to lose my memory. That's not exactly true. I made me lose my memory. I found my own strength, the power within me. I don't even remember the first time I met Richard. I don't remember anything about him except what people tell me. I don't care. Do I regret it? Who cares? I'm free of him and everything else doesn't matter."

There was silence as the two women measured each other.

"You hate him that much?" Maya asked, somewhat aghast at An Ning's cunning.

"Weren't you? About your lover?" An Ning countered. "The difference between us, Yu Yan, is the depths I will go to exact revenge on the person who hurt me. I don't go about hating the world for what one person did to me. You stab me with a knife? I'll f.u.c.king make you eat lead until your stomach burst from poison. You crossed the line when you involved other people with your stupid revenge. The man wasn't even worth it."

"What? Are we friends now because men tried to hurt us and almost succeeded?" Maya laughed scornfully. "Who are you to tell me what I should and shouldn't do?"

"You might find this rather laughable but you are, after all, my stepmother," An Ning pointed out. "And as such, you used all trickery you have to me make Richard's willing slave. And because you failed, you blame me for it? I am the daughter of a true Amazon, Yu Yan. Man is not our natural enemy but neither is he our master. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I'm just having fun. Don't take it too seriously," Maya waved a hand gracefully.

"An Ma married Ceres, by the way. I think you should know."

"What?" Maya's face was pale and the eyes that looked at An Ning suddenly looked haunted.

An Ning smiled.

"I didn't know you cared that much. My father has loved my mother his entire life. He loved you but since you weren't Ceres his love cooled. The nature of things, dear stepmother. He found his true love so he married her."

"It's not true," Maya muttered angrily, her hands shaking. "You're just playing with me."

"It happened three days ago in Saravia. He took her to a honeymoon in Venice."

Maya stood up, her movements jerky and angry.

"Why would he do that?" she whipped around and screamed the words at An Ning. "Why would he humiliate me like that?"

"Why fake affection for him and imprison my mother? t.i.t for tat, wouldn't you say, stepmom?" An Ning ridiculed.

"I hate you! I hate you!" Maya screamed, her face twisted with hate. "I'm going to kill your father then kill your mother. I'm his wife! How dare he humiliate me like this?"

"You have to go through me first before you reach them," An Ning said calmly. "You're a vicious c.u.n.t, Yu Yan. You think I will let you go now that I have you?"

Maya stopped her ranting and stared at An Ning who stared back at her with a calm face. Maya's eyes then traveled down to An Ning's stomach, the bulging roundness of it somewhat thick and heavy.

"You intend to stop me?" Maya's lips curled in a smile. "How? One little spell I learned from your esteemed grandfather and your child will die."

"Seriously?" An Ning shook her head in disbelief. "I anger you and you take your revenge on my unborn child? This is why you will never succeed with any of your plans, Yu Yan. You're too mentally bankrupt to think things through logically. You're stupid beyond words, if you hadn't caught the drift yet."

With a roar of anger, Maya lunged at An Ning with both her fists.