Chapter 197 - Picture

-- Back to present --

Kris looked at the picture of the head of Madam Yang. Her head was clean cut. He had seen such skills before... one a few of his own enemies that died before he could get to them. The same shot in the head with a clean-cut to chop off their head. Just who was it, that had such a signature.

Now that Kris knew who Gary's father was, he knew why Gary was so afraid. Gary was not a genius, as he said himself. He spent his time living a normal list and chasing love, not building up a life full of lies to hideaway. But once someone has something to protect, they change.

Kris looked at his phone again and his background was a picture of Lena cooking, one he had sneakily taken awhile back.

After the night both him and Gary spoke, Gary always referenced his love for Lena as a past thing... Kris asked the man several times if he still loved her, but he laughed and kept saying no.

Even before... when they were drinking he asked Gary again.

-- Another small flashback to when they were punching and drinking --

Gary grabbed a bottle of wine and head up to the rooftop. Ming and Lay were both drunk and singing nursery rhymes together. Kris spotted Gary going up and followed him.

Kris sat down on the lounge chair, next to Gary. He looked at him then stared at the skies. "I really do love her." Kris confirmed.

Gary turned to him. "I know. And you better be, or next time, my punch will not be the same."

Kris grabbed the bottle of wine from Gary and drank from it. "But you still love her, don't you?"

Gary stole the bottle back and chugged down the whole thing. "It's complicated. I do and I don't so just say I don't. We were always friends, and it's better that way." Gary stood up and looked down at Kris. "Don't worry. I know how to take a loss when I lose. I was never meant for her anyways, she deserved a man who would stand next to her, not look at her."

Gary started walking back to the house but stopped to say one last thing. "Oh... but I really do not like Hugh." He turned around and continue walking.

Kris chuckled and laid back on the chair as he stared into the open space.

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

Kris did not know what Gary meant by " I do and I don't" but for sure, he knew that he won't be letting Lena go to anyone. He already admitted to himself that he was a selfish man.

He put his phone down and looked at the other information that Gary gave him a while back on Chen Xu, Gary's father. For sure, Gary did not want anything to do with his biological father, but Gary knew that his father was not a simple man that would easily let Gary go now that he knew Gary.

Gary still don't know why his father is in City A...

The Li family are one of the most wealthy and powerful families in China... however, their underground network does not go as dirty as a few others. like Chen Xu's.

Chen Xu and his family were not much well known among the high status but they were a big family made of dirty and illegal money. For him to surface from the underground, Gary knew that it was not just because the man was looking for his son.

It was never that easy.

Kris opened the files Gary gave him and just stared at the content.

Even using Gary's skill, he was only good as long as the information were accessible through the online network. Kris, however, obtained more information on Chen Xu through his own contacts.

But what really concerned Kris was the picture that Gary was able to obtain. It was a picture of a bunch of high schoolers. In it, they all huddled around as good friends: His father, Li Jun, was next to his mother. And next to her was Chen Xu. Next to his dad was Madam Yang and Drew Yang. Even Mr. Huang and Madam Huang were there.

Obviously, the Zhao family was not there since the Li and Zhao families had private bad blood against each other. In the picture, everyone was young and happy. Kris wondered what happened... between them all.

Would his friends... ever get as horrible as the people from the picture now?

His phone rang and interrupted his thinking. It was Lena. He quickly picked up the call as he put the file away and in a secure location.

"Hello." Kris answered.

"Hi! I am going to bed soon but just wanted you to hear your voice before I go to sleep."

"This early?"

"Yeah." Lena replied. "Are you... okay? I can tell your voice sounds different."

"I am fine, just missing you." Kris walked to his bed and lied down. He was not completely lying to her. Gary and he will tell Lena when they know more.

"It hasn't been even 24 hours yet, you can't miss me already. How are you going to survive when I go on vacation or you go on a business trip?"

"I'll kidnap you."

Lena laughed. "Goodnight Kris. And if you have a nightmare again, call me ok? I'll leave my phone on loud."

"Okay, goodnight."

Lena kissed him over the phone and hung up. She was going to tell him that she needed to visit Andy sometime this week, but she felt that something was wrong with Kris. She will tell him on Wednesday when they meet up.

Why does her heart feel so heavy again? Like their smooth days were already over... and there were more unforeseen tragedies ahead of them.

The next morning, Lena woke up early to go to the Shen company with her father. She messaged James to pick her up later in the afternoon for them to go back to SHYNE.

She walked into the company with her father. When they arrived Henry was already in the meeting room, making sure everything was good.

"Henry!" Lena greeted him.

"Lena, nice to see you here."

They all settled down first as Henry personally went to greet them first and bring them up to the meeting room.

As far as Lena remembered from the files that Henry gave them, their first main investor was Mr. Sanders. He is originally Chinese but changed his name after getting citizenship in America. He's getting old and wanted to re-invest in blooming companies in China for the future of his children.

The next one was the Huang Family. Lena knew that after the Yangs, Zhaos, and Lis invested into the Shen business, their fame and stocks had risen. Maybe this is why other great families are interested in their company.