A Billion Dollar Exchange

Liu Wei stepped out of the bathroom with an obvious frown; she had said that she would join him in the shower but although he intentionally took his time; till he finished bathing, she was nowhere to be seen.

He dabbed his hair with the towel as he called her name;

''Sunshine? ''

She wasn't in the room, so he figured she must have gone down the stairs; after drying his hair and putting on a change of clothes, he went downstairs to look for her.

''Sunshine?... ''

He called again; he opened the kitchen doors; the rooms, walked outside around the house but she was nowhere in sight. Liu Wei was getting troubled; he walked back into the house and aimed for the stairs to call her to if she had stepped out of the house;

As he passed by the parlor; his eyes caught something that was lying on the couch and his legs paused;

He turned around and walked towards the piece of paper that was lying on the couch;

As he approached, his heart began beating erratically;

It was her handwriting and it was a short letter.

Liu Wei sat down on the couch and he read the words;

''Baby,

  I'll be away for a while; I need to sort out something which I know you'll find out soon. I love you so much but I couldn't risk this. I'm sorry for not telling you, I know you would be mad but please trust me on this. I promise to come back safely to you.                                

                                                                                                                       Your Sunshine.

As soon as Liu Wei finished reading the letter, he stood up and raced upstairs;

He grabbed his phone and called her number,

It was not reachable.

His heart raced rapidly; it took him some minutes to come to terms with the fact that she left him.

What could be so tragic as to get her to leave without telling him? Does she even care how he would survive without her and she left like that, without telling him what was wrong?

Even if it was so bad, she would have at least told him what was wrong so he would know how he would be of help. It was frustrating and sad; didn't she trust him enough to help? Weren't they married, why was she bearing her burden alone?

Liu Wei didn't know whether to be sad or angry;

Sad that she was away or angry that she didn't tell him something as important as to make her leave him…

Now he had a lot of work to do, first to find out where his wife had run off to and secondly to know what made her leave.

…

''I never thought that Liling would be so stupid; she appears smart but she seriously has a missing nut ''

Da Xia and Yan Ran burst out laughing.

After Liling left, they bundled her father back into the van and took him away, the difference between the first and the second kidnapping , was that this time, they let him have a bit of freedom and fed him properly, although the money was from the credit card she had given him. After a few days they made her father call her and tell her that he was alright and safe, so she shouldn't worry.

''Was she that stupid, to think we would let her father go? What else are we going to use as leverage against her, if she decides to come back? ''

Da Xia asked, still laughing.

''Well, if anything happens, because I know Liu Wei might be coming for us now, I'm not going down alone, I'll make sure I take her filthy father with me. ''

Yan Ran said, and they both burst out laughing.

...

It's been three weeks since Liling left the country, no news about her and no news of her wedding.

Rumors started circulating; these rumors became more profound when Liu Wei was spotted without her for countless number of times.

Some news said that they had broken up, while some others said there was nothing between them in the first place, that she was just hallucinating.

Liu Wei was a bit worried, not about the news but about the effect it would have on her.

The few weeks without her had been hell for him. The more he tried to adjust to the fact that she was away, the harder it became. This was the first time they had been apart for so long since they got together.

It was easy to find out where she went, this is because she had boarded a flight; but the problem was to know exactly where she was and why she left.

Knowing where she was quite difficult because Japan was a big country; where would he start searching from? He had checked with the big hotels in Japan but she had not checked in with any of them.

He had called Xin Yong and asked if she knew the whereabouts of her friend but she had told him that Liling had not contacted her.

The only option he had was to know what made her leave then he could solve the problem; that was the only way he could get her to come back.

Although he didn't know her reason, he was sure it wasn't far from Yan Ran, Da Xia or his father.

He met his father and asked him if he told Liling anything; although his father was not happy that he went ahead to marry her against his wish; he told him that he had let them be a long time ago.

That left him with two options_ Yan Ran or Da Xia; and when they both where nowhere to be found, he knew that they had a hand in her disappearance.

He hired men to dig up the whole of Beijing and bring them to him; they were in the process when he heard that Liling was back to the country and she had signed a modeling deal with Ancient Times Magazine.