260 Desires, greed and more...

One fine day, she had boldly professed her love for Zhu Cheng suddenly. She had even claimed that he reciprocated her feelings. Yimei had been heartbroken and confused. On the other hand, Zhu Cheng had flatly denied all claims which Sam made. He haltingly confessed that Sam had been coming onto him slowly during all those weeks on various pretexts. Considering her young age and her relation to Yimei, he had been tolerating her advances. But never had he thought that matters would escalate to such an extent.

Sam had turned around and accused him of playing a double game. She had even claimed that he was the one who asked her to break the news to everyone instead of him. As per her, he had said that if she were to implore the family on their behalf,their chances of getting forgiveness and approval from the family would have been higher.

It had been a nightmare. Yimei didn't know what or whom to believe initially but then Zhu Cheng had managed to prove his side by showing enough texts from Sam which she had sent him in the recent past while Sam claimed that someone seemed to have wiped her phone clean of all incriminating messages and call logs.

In the end, Sam had finally broken down and apologised for her actions. She had admitted that it had been wrong on her part to fall for her sister's fiancé but she kept insisting that it was Chu Cheng who had lured her.

Yimei had never seen her father so angry. He had summoned Sam's mother to China. He had been harsh towards both of them, raising questions on Irene's upbringing and the values which she had given to their daughter. Though Yimei had been upset with Sam for her actions, she still felt bad for how she was being treated by everyone around.

The girl had been only seventeen years old!

Coming back to the present, she thought that maybe she should wait for things to unfold before she made up her mind about her stepsister. As for the shares, she agreed with her grandparents that Sam deserved to own a part of them. In fact, Yimei would have been ok if nothing was given to her from the Li family. She had no ambitions apart from being a good wife and a happy mother. Zhu family treated her nicely enough and she didn't lack anything.

Little did she know that the man standing only a couple of feet away from her had desires worthy of a king. He wanted it all!

Far far away, Khartoum, Capital of Sudan

"Phew, it was a long tedious day, today," Jia Li wiped the sweat from her brow with her bright yellow bandana.

Hui grinned at her. In the past ten days, Jia Li had acquired a nice golden tinge to her skin due to increased exposure to the Sun and the arid temperature in the country. The colouring suited her though, making her features stand out even more. Working with her in close quarters, he had fallen in love with her, even more. She was funny, spunky and spirited. The first day that they had entered a cave, it was 4am and the bats were still very much active.

Her scared screech, that day, had probably been heard till few miles away! But after a few brushes with the near harmless creatures, she had sportingly gulped down her fear and accompanied him inside.

"Well, it is the last day so let's make the most of it," Hui replied.

They were headed back to London the next day.

"I don't believe that these words are coming out of my mouth but I am probably going to miss these damp, creature infested, scary caves. I am sorry that we couldn't come anywhere near your research. Maybe next time," she shrugged apologetically.

"Uh, for dinner tonight, let's try another place than the usual?" he proposed.

Jia Li didn't have a problem with that. In fact they had been so tired every evening that they had only managed to eat at a shack near their small hotel and go back to their respective rooms and crash.

"Cool, I will see you at 7pm in the hotel lobby," Hui said, his heart pounding.

Eric had called him the previous evening and given him an earful about how much time had been wasted by him in cave exploration versus wooing the lady next to him. So he had planned the dinner tonight.

When they had first arrived in Khartoum, Jia Li had been listless, inwardly focussed and depressed. Maybe it was thanks to the extreme external factors which helped her overcome, or atleast cope with her sadness. Hui didn't want to impose his own feelings upon her, not when she was so overwhelmed already.