A moment of peace

Over the weekend, Lina finally decided to deal with the 'cellphone thing'.

Every time she looked at it, she felt a headache began to come on. The last time she turned it on, the flood of messages screaming 'where are you' and 'get better soon' or 'boss...this happened' and 'boss that happened' was crazy.

In the midst of the B nation issue and her developing relationship with Shen and medical check ups with Dr. Yoshi, she had no time or energy to deal with whatever social life she had.

As she turned on the phone, it was bombarded with new messages. Thankfully it didn't log the missed calls when turned off or she would have received at least a 1000 from Mei and Shen from when she had disappeared after the PM's meeting.

"Finally! Make sure you have that thing on at all times. If anything happens again, I need to be able to contact you."

Actually, Shen had forced her into dealing with her contacts the weekend project. He was terrified after what happened with Tachi, especially since Mei was her mouthpiece and she had managed to ditch her at the office too.

Lina rolled her eyes at her husband. But he was right. It was irresponsible of her not to have her cellphone as a working woman, as well.

She couldn't expect Mei to be stuck to her side at all times. She had a life too. And she had no intention of working her out like Shen did to Ayu.

As Lina scanned the text messages she received, she saw many from someone called Mana.

"Shen, who's Mana?"

The texts were frequent at the beginning three months ago and had grown scarce since late.

She would text Lina anxiously, where she was and why she hadn't heard from her.

After Mana said she had been to the office and spoken to Mei, she found out about Lina's coma and sent her messages everyday wishing her good luck and to get better.

Sometimes, her messages said she missed her and the recent ones wished her a good morning everyday and a wish to get better soon.

"She's your best friend, actually. You went to university together."

Lina's eyes widened. Her best friend? She went to University? Which University? Where?

"Why didn't you tell me about her yet! She seems like someone who cares deeply for me! She even said she went to the consultancy many times to see if I was back!"

Lina looked agitated. Did he forget that she must have had her own life too?

"Baby, our relationship is a secret even from Mana. She doesn't know about us. I can't go around contacting her to come visit you at home can I?"

"Where did she think I lived then? If we were that close, she would have visited me at home somewhere!"

"Your apartment from before we were married is still maintained by Housekeeper Tan. That's where she thinks you live."

As he said that, Shen thought about their relationship.

So few people knew about her being Mrs. Moshi.

Not even her best friend.

His face turned dark. This was not the kind of marriage he planned to give her. He wanted to declare to the world that she was his woman, to love her openly and announce her status.

And then he had almost lost her. Lost the opportunity to be a married man in the open and to cherish her as Mrs. Moshi.

But if those two people found out...they would go after her.

And they weren't his only enemies. They were just the most dangerous ones.

Only his parents, the loyal house staff and their work assistants knew.

Nobody from her life knew.

"Maybe you should tell Mana..."

Lina looked at him, her eyes wide.

"But what about protecting your position as CEO..."

Shen pulled her towards him.

"It was less about my position, and more about protecting you until my position was completely secure. But you got hurt anyway. Don't you think it's time we let the world know? That way I can protect you openly, with my power and my name."

Lina thought for a second about what he said. It definitely made sense. But there was a lump in her throat as she thought about what Tachi had said.

'Playing house, fake husband'

There seemed to be issues with her past, not his. There were things she did not know that may hurt him.

And before she knew, she didn't want the world to know.

She wanted them to stay in their own little world.

"Darling, I want to get my memory back first. There's a lot of unanswered questions that I want to sort out before we take a step that big. I like how it is now...we can live without being bothered."

He smiled at her and kissed her head.

"Well you can tell Mana if you like. That was always your choice."

She nodded. Lina wanted to meet her first, and maybe get some answers about her past.

She sent her a text message apologising for being unreachable and asked her to meet at the café that she had met Shen at.

She got an instantaneous reply from Mana to be there in half an hour.

"Shen, I'll be back soon!"

He nodded at her and hugged her before she sped off in the Lambo.

As soon as she left, Shen picked up his phone and dialled Ayu's number.

"Watch madam at the café. She is meeting Mana. Make sure she's safe."