THE DINNER

"Sakura, I'm also a man," Alex told her.

"How can you be both?" Sakura couldn't understand.

"Just like you can be Sakura and a girl at the same time." Alex affectionately stroked her head.

Julie laughed silently. After she was done laughing, she wiped her tears.

"Oh my, I've never had this fun at dinner before. I know she isn't joking but this is just too much."

She playfully looked at Alex and said, "But it's not fun to bring a companion when we are on a date."

Alex replied, "I'm sorry about that. I thought it would be better if I brought Sakura out for socializing."

"You could take her any other time." Julie leaned forward. She looked even more seductive.

"Is this how you say that you aren't available yet?" She used her alluring voice to trap him.

Alex chuckled. "You know I have no such thoughts."

Julie straightened her back.

"Come on, I love every part of you except that carefree look on your face. You let women close to you.

"Then, you don't accept their invitations when they make pass at you. You act so gentlemanly that they can't hate you. Don't you think it's too much?"

Alex listened to her complaints without any protest as if he accepted her claims.

When she was done, he only said, "I never gave any woman any hint for them to think I'm interested in them."

"Oh, come on! Who needs you to make a pass at them? You just have to look at them and women will have a crush on you."

Julie paused and then added, "Are you gay? Maybe your boyfriend is Mateo…"

"Julie," Alex calmly interrupted her, "you will find out about once I start dating."

"So, you are single. Do I have a chance then?" Julie smiled seductively.

Before Alex could reply, Sakura asked, "Chance for what?"

"Marrying him." Julie winked at her.

Sakura didn't bother with the wink anymore. She was more curious about marriage.

"What's marriage?" she probed.

Julie heard her question and rubbed her forehead.

"You know, it will be better if you give her some education," she remarked.

"I'll leave this to her psychiatrist," Alex said.

------------

Alex's apartment

"So, she is twenty three years old," Mateo muttered. His eyes were on the papers that Julie gave him.

"Now I cannot unhear this. It's time to see her as a woman," Lucas commented as he put on a serious expression.

"Easy there. Her physical age might be twenty-three but her mental age isn't close to ten years old. At least a ten year old kid understands what marriage is," Xue Lin remarked.

"Whatever man, she is a woman in my eyes." Lucas startled whistling.

Mateo shook his head. 'A jerk will always be a jerk,' he thought.

He said, "So, you think she is the dead girl from this paper. And it only matches 20% of the DNA and the rest came from other people? Is that even possible?"

"Biology speaking, no. Scientifically, yes," Julie replied. "I have studied her test results. The doctor said that there was nothing wrong with her. Not a single scratch.

"If she was operated and implanted the hair of different species… I mean dead humans, there should be marks. I'm not sure what kind of tests they ran on her."

"It could be because of her extreme behavior toward the doctor and nurses," Xue Lin said. "We can run another test. She is in a friendly environment. I don't think she will oppose it. But I prefer we do it without her notice."

Julie smiled. "Finally, someone understands me. Thank you, Miss Lin. This is exactly what I was telling them for hours but they won't just listen."

"Or another thing, you just don't need to investigate who she is," Xue Lin suggested. "Just give her a healthy environment to grow up in. One day, I'm sure she can take care of herself."

However, some people didn't think like her. Mateo was one of them.

He said, "That's rich coming from you. I don't want any unknown species living around me. From the record, I don't think I can close my eyes tonight in peace."

"You cannot say that. She is a cute girl. I'm sure she must be a victim," Lucas defended Sakura.

"Oh yeah? Well, I don't think so. What if she is one of the spies sent by our enemy companies to steal our confidential information? Alex even took her to his office."

Just thinking about that made Mateo frown.

He looked at Alex and said, "I'm not having her in our apartment. You are also forbidden to take her to your office."

Alex wasn't excited like the rest. He was sitting on the couch.

His posture was relaxed. While he listened to what they were talking about, he was reminiscing about the time when he first met Sakura.

He calmly shared his opinion, "I'm sure she has nothing to do with any of your spies. If she was, her meeting with us wouldn't be so conspicuous. Her approach would be normal."

Lucas couldn't agree more.

He said, "True. Anyone would leave her to the police since she had memory loss and her family wasn't there. No one would willingly take her in."

"But she doesn't have a memory loss, does she?" Xue Lin mentioned.

"Doctor did mention that there was no reason for her to have a memory loss," Mateo stated.

"There is something wrong with the doctor. Let Julie handle it," Lucas said.

"I thought businessmen were busy," Xue Lin commented. "I never imagined that they would investigate a person's background when they have to take care of their company."

"I guess Alex is bored," Julie smirked. "In any case, I'm the one who will investigate while they work for the company. There is nothing wrong with it, is there?"

Mateo glanced at Alex. "Shouldn't you say something? You are the one who brought the trouble at home.

Alex looked over.

"Julie, you don't have to be in a hurry to find out who she is. After Sakura is at ease, I'll bring her over for an examination. You can test if she is suffering from brain damage or anything."

Then, he glanced over at Xue Lin and said, "I'll prepare some private tutors for her. I'll send you their contact numbers. Once you think she is ready to learn about the world, you can contact them."

"Sure," Xue Lin agreed. "Moreover, I'm hoping to take her to church on Sunday. I will teach her about marriage."

Lucas instantly raised an arm. "Can I tag along?"