Qi Cheng somehow finished his tea and watched as Onita continued to play with the baby.He wanted to pat the little baby but was at a loss how.He did not think he had ever interacted with such a small human before.Maybe he should ruffle her hair or rub her behind the ears?The time continued to pa.s.s making Onita antsy.She could see that Qi Cheng would not go before having his answers so once Alicia was distracted,she went and sat opposite him on the sofa,ready to answer any questions he asked.She owed him that much.But his question was totally unexpected.

"What is your relations.h.i.+p with Neil Long?"

Onita frowned at that.Out of all the things she expected he would ask this was the least expected one.But she answered truthfully,"He is my lawyer but I have actually come to consider him a good friend?"

"Just good friends?Then why are you baking him brownies because they are his favorite?"Why go to that length for a simple friend?"

Onita was now irritated with him.They were meeting after two years!And all he could do was interrogate her?

In a curt tone she answered,"Because that is the fees he demanded from me for fighting the case!And Since he has been so supportive,I decided to make his favorite flavour."

Qi Cheng heard her tone of voice and knew that he had crossed an invisible line.He had to quickly move back or he will be worse off.He realized that she had not changed in this aspect.But she had drastically chanded in some ways.For example,she chattered and moved about a lot less from the past.Her gaze was more serious and her face more leaner.

sigh!It was best to be direct and get his answers!Quickly he apologized,"I am sorry if I have offended you!I did not mean anything by it."Onita looked him in the eye and seeing the truth of the statement,nodded.Looking at his face which was unchanged,Onita could not stop herself.Going down on her knees,she started to apologize for abandoning him but he was quick and stopped her.Kneeling next to her,he held her shoulders and said,"tell me everything."

And just like she had told Neil everything she poured her heart out to Qi Cheng.But it was more heart wrenching as she told him why she made the decisions she did.Why she chose to leave him than become a burden to him like she was to her parents.Things she had hidden for so long,her feelings that she had suppressed,even her childhood where her parents had always treated her loke a nuisance and how she had wanted something different for little Al.

Qi Cheng held her as she cried out her story and her feelings.She wanted to tell him how she had thought of him every moment and every day.Even now inthe darkest hours of the night her brain would ask her 'what if?' what if she had chosen him?what if she had trusted him and told him everything?But now it was too late.Too much time had pa.s.sed!And she was a mother now so could not think anymore for the lost what if's.She cried for all the things she had wanted but lost!She cried for the Onita who had been free once to love Qi cheng.

After a while,Qi Cheng felt her tears slow down and her sniffles come to a stop.Loosening his hold on her,he looked at the time and was shocked to see so much time had pa.s.sed.His own emotions were in a turmoil.He had not expected the truth to be so heart wrenching.

Over the last two years he had questioned their relations.h.i.+p again and again.Wondered where he had gone wrong.At times he tried to convince himself that she had just been a pa.s.sing fancy but he knew he was just lying to himself.Why she had left him.When he had seen her with a man and kid,he had almost lost all his rationality.He had forced himself to go back and not confront her.But unable to stay away,he had immediately decided to come back to Country C with Ryu and Al.Realizing that she had been with Neil that night and even the fact that she went away with him had made him misunderstand her.But there was one question still unanswered.Did she love him?He knew he loved her still.But he could not be sure of her feelings.After all if she had loved him,would it have been so easy to leave him behind?He almost did not want to know the answer.He was scared that she would say that she did not love him.Sofinally,he asked the question,the answer to which he most dreaded,"Onita,Did you ever love me?Why did you not come to me?"

Onita closed her eyes and bowed down.She wanted to say no.But she could not hurt him again.But she dare not reveal her present feelings,so taking a deep breath,she answered,"It s because i loved you that I did not come.I did not want to become an obligation.We were just starting a relations.h.i.+p.I had to give up my studies to become a mother.If we continued,you would have have been forced to become a father figure for little Al and I did not want you to suffer with us.That would have made our love disappear and leave only resentment in it's place."

Neil nodded his head in understanding.What she had said was true to some extent then and now.He had never been prepared to be a father and she had made the decision for him.But this time he was aware of everything and he needed to make a choice..could he love little Al the same way Onita did?Only then he would have the right to ask for Onita's love.