Sheena refused to follow Zi Mei back to her place. She called for an e-hailing ride home instead, muttering something about her parents killing her if she didn\'t go back yet again. When her ride came, Jazzmine hopped into it with her even though they don\'t like in the same district.

"I\'ll see her home and maybe stay over at her place, good night," Jazzmine said, waving to Zi Mei and Darren, smiling sadly at them.

Zi Mei realised Jazzmine is giving her and Darren some private time alone. Dear Jazzmine who obviously has a crush on Darren. She is giving way to Zi Mei. Zi Mei suddenly felt awkward with Darren. They\'ve been friends since forever but suddenly she didn\'t know how to act with him.

"Look, I\'ll accompany you home and then I\'ll get back home too, it\'s late, I can\'t let you go home alone," he said.

She merely nodded. She couldn\'t tell him that she has her own personal bodyguard, Lim, who is invisible or hidden somewhere most of the time. She knows she is safe with him around. Besides, she has been kidnapped by strangers, seduced by a stranger and forced into a strange contract with a stranger. Been there, done that. No big deal.

They shared a ride back to her home. When they reached her home, she told Darren not to get down but to take it back to his home.

"I can get back inside safely on my own," she assured him.

He made the driver wait for her to get inside and lock her doors before they drove off. She locked both the outer and inner doors. Then she checked her back door and all of her windows. Everything is secured and locked. She flooded the whole house with lights. Somehow, she felt spooked by the dark corners and dark shadows. She doesn\'t believe in ghosts but the urban legend that scared her the most was the one about an intruder hiding in an obscure corner after murdering a woman\'s roommate. The urban legend has it that the intruder was waiting for the woman to get back and she went back only to grab something and left immediately before he could stab her. That story had kept her awake on many nights and made her neurotic about locking the door and her room door. For many years, she would check every possible hiding space in her house every night, while holding a knife. Her father saw her doing that once and was so scornful that she stopped doing it. He had snatched the knife from her and in the process, slashed her arm. She deduced that if every time she comes home and her father was not lying in a pool of his own blood, it must mean that there was no intruder. He had become her intruder indicator.

Now, there is no father around to be her indicator. She had asked Thorin to look for him for her and he had merely told her that her father is now working in a proper job and living in another city. She didn\'t ask if her father had looked for her. He had abandoned her with his huge debt, surely he doesn\'t care about her. Thorin did ask her if she wanted to visit her father and she had declined. She didn\'t know how she would feel if she sees him again. The years spent with him were mostly torturous nights of going to sleep hungry and waking up worrying about scraping enough money to buy food and pay rent. He never took care of her. She had taken care of herself. Darren and his family had taken care of her.

Zi Mei went through the whole ritual of checking everything one final time before going up to take a shower and change into comfortable satin pyjamas. She is so glad she no longer needs to wear skimpy lacy see-through nightgowns like some prostitute. She climbed into bed and despite feeling exhausted, she couldn\'t sleep. She tossed and turned. She stared at the empty space next to her. Not for the first time, she wished Thorin was here.

She does miss him. She miss having him next to her. The warm comfort of his presence. Even the weeks she spent in mourning over their lost child, he had been a source of comfort, always there for her, always ready to give her a shoulder to cry on, his chiseled face patient and caring.

Without realising it, tears are slipping from her eyes, wetting her cheeks. She is slipping back into her depression and her dark thoughts about what could have been. She wiped the tears away and squared her shoulders. It is time she stopped waddling in this depression party. She is beginning to feel like a normal person again, with hopes and dreams and a college to attend soon. She will not let her dark thoughts ruin everything. This will be be promise to the child who was never born.

"I promise to be strong for you," she whispered, touching her flat stomach for a brief moment. She must get through this and take this one day at a time. She gave up on going to sleep. She sat up and got our of bed. She padded downstairs to the chaise lounge and lay there.

She turned on the TV and begin scrolling again. Time to Netflix without the chill. She chose a comedy and settled in to watch it. For the next two hours, she laughed and forgot all about her neurotic thoughts. So, when a hand clasped her shoulder, she jumped almost a mile high screaming at the top of her voice. She flailed and tried to hit whoever had grabbed her.

"Hey, hey, cool it, it\'s me," Thorin shifted to avoid her flailing hands. He was laughing down at her in amusement.

Her heart was beating so fast from the shock and she was breathing hard too. She glared at the handsome dragon. How dare he gave her such a shock in her own home too!

"Ever heard of knocking? It\'s where you knock on the door before entering someone\'s private space," she said, after getting her senses back and calming her heart. Her pulse continued racing. Although it was racing for an entirely different reason now. He was looking so debonair in his perfectly tailored suit, his hair slightly tousled and he has a nice glowing tan too.

Wait, dragons can get a tan?

She glowered at him. Here she was missing him and he has a nice tan. Probably went to get some sun at the beach. She wondered, a bit jealously, who he went to the beach with.

"I didn\'t mean to scare you… but you did call for me so here I am," he said and spread his hands with a flourish before striking a pose. His famous model pose.

She rolled her eyes. Maybe he should name his pose something like \'the silver dragon\' or \'the dragon stance\' or something.

"I didn\'t call for you…I was sitting here, watching a movie," she said, perplexed. She didn\'t even say the word \'Thorin\' at any time throughout the night. Or did she?

"Yes you did, I clearly heard you saying \'I miss you, Thorin\'," he drawled.

She blushed. She did think it when she was trying to sleep but she didn\'t say it out loud! Can he read her mind?

Oh.. My. Gawd! CAN HE READ HER MIND???