Shen's grip loosened slightly on his wife's hands. He knew that she was hiding a huge part of her life...but she had targeted him?
He wanted to let her continue talking but his mind was muddled now.
"Wait, Lina, please stop right there."
Lina's heart stopped. He had called her by her name. Not 'angel' or 'baby', but the name that put distance between both of them.
How could she possibly have the courage to tell him the rest? How could she tell him about Tachi. Even though everything she had done back then was to survive, Shen deserved better.
"Did you plan to meet me, that day at the café?" he asked, his voice slightly shaky.
'Has our relationship been a lie, plotted and planned out on someone else's instructions? Have I really been that naïve after everything I did to save my parents and Moshi Corp?' he questioned himself.
Lina bit her lip, trying to stop herself from breaking down. Her memories had come back bringing her waves of happiness and pain. The love she felt for Shen was pure, but she had deceived him. She had played with his heart.
"Yes. I am sorry, I knew you'd be there at that time. I had studied you from afar" she admitted. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #'t-really-her-husband-after-all_51853452187327017 for visiting.
The pain in her eyes softened Shen's heart. No matter what she had done, he couldn't help but want to protect and hold her.
He pulled her closer, as she fell into his chest. Lina couldn't hold back any longer, bursting into a pool of tears.
Shen quietly held her and stroked the back of her head to comfort her, holding back his own pain. He needed her to tell him the whole truth.
"Why? Why did you do it? What does The Agency want from me?" he asked.
"The Agency intervenes when people mess with political balance. We received reliable information that illegal arms were being smuggled into County A from Country J through Moshi Corporation. There's unrest brewing, and a war is coming" she said.
"And that's what you found out from the doc.u.ments and diary in your office the other day?" Shen asked.
"Yes! I was getting so close to making the connections. Initially, we believed Moshi Corporation was working with the Lim clan to profit from the unrest, which is why I was assigned to investigate you. But then...I realised you were being cheated too." she answered him, sadly.
"The mole..." Shen whispered to himself, everything falling into place. So, it was indeed the Lim clan who had been using their shipping service to provide weapons to Country A.
But Lina had finally connected all the dots.
"There is more", she sighed, as she spoke. "My consultancy was the perfect cover so I could legitimately build my political networks for information. Through the informants who approached the consultancy, I was able to know what was going on in Country A."
It began to make sense to Shen too, after all, his wife had shared that information with him some time ago when they had come to a truce after much struggle.
"The informant from County A's ruling party who disappeared" he said.
The informant had requested help from Lina's consultancy as a mutinous faction of the ruling party were involved in the arms smuggling.
"We're pretty sure he was found and killed" Lina said. "They got to him for tipping us off"
"They must have a plan. War is expensive, and there are parties who profit. Arms manufacturers, military personnel, anyone could be supporting the mutinous faction of Country A and the Lim clan" Shen concluded.
But Shen pondered for a few seconds, and then something struck him.
"Who do you think tried to kill you? There were two separate attacks." Shen asked.
As if woken from a dream, Lina realised that she hadn't even thought about that yet.
"A truck rammed into me, and a long-distance sniping attempt..." as she finished the sentence, her voice became smaller. She knew instinctively who one of the attackers was.
"The bullet missed your heart just by a little, and that shot stunned the truck driver, who braked and didn't hit you as hard as he would have...which is why you were badly hurt but still alive" Shen reminded her.
"I know who shot me. That aim, precision and timing...that was The Agency. They would never be as crass as mowing me down with a truck" Lina's lip trembled, as it dawned upon her what a close call she had had.
Then Shen remembered her reaction to that man, Victor Tachibana, the first time she had seen him. And it dawned upon him. The Agency had still been keeping tabs on their asset. They probably knew about her amnesia through Victor Tachibana and hadn't aggressively tried to finish her off yet.
They probably couldn't attract that much attention to themselves.
"Was it...that man, Victor?" Shen asked, slowly, nervous for her answer. Had he really failed her that terribly?
Lina looked up at him, with tears in her eyes.
"Yes it was him. But he missed..." she choked up.
"Luckily" Shen sighed, wondering what would have happened if she had actually been shot in the heart. He would have lost her forever.
"No...not luckily. Tachi never misses. He let me go, he defied his orders to spare me" she said tearily.
Shen looked at her, a fire in his eyes.
'Why is she crying for this man who almost killed her? He had claimed to be her husband!' Shen was seething.
"He shot you! He didn't spare you! HE PUT YOU IN A COMA! He took you away from me!" Shen gripped Lina's arms tightly, as tears spilled from her eyes.
"No...you don't understand. Tachi saved me, when I was sixteen years old. He made me strong, and...please understand, it's not how you think, but he was telling the truth that I am his wife"
The last sentence she spoke, broke Shen.
He wasn't really her husband after all.