Imperfect Desires

After taking a moment, Nora finally attended the call and asked, "Why are you looking for me?"

"Where is my wife?" came Darren's question making Nora's face twitch. 

No wonder he called her! If it had nothing to do with his wife, why else would he call her? 

"She is not with me," replied Nora.

"What?" Darren's voice changed. "She went out of the room with you. Why isn't she with you?"

Nora snorted, "She isn't a toy that I can fit in my pocket. She can go wherever she wants to."

"Nora," Darren's voice darkened even more. "Stop troubling me like this. Just tell me where is my Sweets?"

"She really isn't with me," said Nora. "I just told you. Why don't you believe me?"

"I get it," he said. "Even if she isn't with you, you must know where she is."

"I do," replied Nora with a cheeky smile. "But why should I tell you?"

"Are you kidding me?!" exclaimed Darren. "Is this really time for joking around?"

"There is no time for joking around in this busy life," sighed Nora ruefully. "We just have to make some time for fun on our own."

Darren groaned in annoyance. "Open the door!"

"Oh, I'd love to help you but it's Xiu who locked the door. She is the one who has the key."

"Then call her!" 

Nora wanted to tease him a little but in the end, decided not to do so. It was quite late and she really didn't feel like annoying Darren. She would rather waste that energy on her best friend.

She went up to the closed door and knocked on it, "Xiu! Come out already!"

"Your best friend is growing impatient," said Han Bohai.

Xiu looked at the wall clock and said, "It's already been an hour! She had already crossed the border of patience long ago. This has to be her personal best."

Han Bohai chuckled softly as he walked over and opened the door. Outside, Nora was about to knock on the door again but ended up hitting Han Bohai on his nose. Seeing that, she grinned at him, "Sorry! I was just gonna knock on the door again."

Han Bohai rubbed his nose and shook his head saying, "It's alright."

Just as Xiu also stepped out, Nora passed her the phone, "Your husband is looking for you."

Xiu raised a brow but took the phone from Nora. "What's up?"

"Aren't you planning on opening the door?" came Darren's question.

"Are you already done talking?" inquired Xiu.

"Yeah," replied Darren. 

Xiu sighed, "And here I thought you guys would like to talk till the break of dawn. After all, it's been over 10 days since you both saw each other. Must have a lot to talk about as well."

"We are not like you and Nora," she heard Dylan's voice who could practically hear Xiu's voice from the phone even though it was not on speaker.

"Oh, this young master still knows how to talk," said Xiu. "And here I thought he only knew how to hide."

Dylan's face twitched at her obvious sarcasm but he decided not to say anything for Darren's sake.

"I'll open the door," said Xiu and disconnected the call.

Xiu sniffled and looked at Nora but before she could open her mouth, Nora gasped, "Did you cry?"

Xiu's expressions changed as she grinned at her, "Nope! Why would I cry?"

Nora didn't believe her words as she said, "Look, you're eyes are all red and swollen. With such obvious evidence, you're still gonna lie?" Then she glared at Han Bohai and poked his chest as she questioned, "You! What did you do to my best friend? Why did you make her cry? Don't you know I hate seeing her tears? Do you want me to tear you apart to compensate for her tears now?"

Xiu pushed Nora back saying, "Stop it! He didn't do anything. You can back off now."

Nora squinted her eyes at Xiu suspiciously, "Since you're trying to protect him, I'm all the more certain that he made you cry! Why are you protecting him?!"

"He didn't do anything," said Xiu. "I just got emotional listening to his love for Ying Jie. It deeply touched my heart. I couldn't help the tears from falling. How is it his fault?"

"I don't care!" was Nora's response. But just as she stared at Han Bohai, her brows jumped again, "Why do I feel like you cried as well?"

Xiu patted Nora's head, "See? I told you! His story was touching. If you have heard it, you would have also cried buckets."

Nora crossed her arms over her chest as she said, "Now, I really want to hear this 'touching' love story!"

"Sure," said Han Bohai but Xiu slapped his lips.

"Stay quiet! Who asked you to interrupt?" 

Han Bohai made a face at Xiu and turned his face away. 

"Guys," Ah-Si called out. "The door is still locked." He gave them a kind reminder.

Xiu looked at Nora and said, "Open the door."

Nora frowned at her, "How am I supposed to do that?"

"You have the key," said Xiu.

Nora knocked on her head, "You locked the door. You had the key. I never even touched it."

Xiu looked at her hand and said, "But I don't have it now. Where is it?"

"How would I know?" retorted Nora.

"If you don't know then look for it!" 

"Maybe you left it inside the room," Ah-Si again had to interrupt.

Xiu nodded her head and ran back inside the room with the rest following her. They turned the room upside down but couldn't find the key.

"It's not here!" groaned Xiu.

"Maybe you lost it when you and Nora were joking around."

Xiu gave Ah-Si a look, "You could have mentioned that earlier."

Ah-Si shrugged his shoulders, "I am just making random guesses here."

Then the four of them walked out and started looking on the floor where the two best friends had been rolling around earlier.

"I'm tired," announced Nora as she fell back on the sofa. "I'm not looking anymore."

"Nora!" 

Nora gave Xiu a look, "Don't give me that look. You should have taken proper care of it from the beginning."

"Actually, it's not a big deal," said Ah-Si.

Both Nora and Xiu gave him a hard glare, "It is a big deal! My husband is locked inside a room with my mistress! Do you think I should be relaxed?"

Han Bohai and Ah-Si almost choked on air while Nora was unperturbed as she agreed, "Exactly! It is a very serious matter!"

Xiu called Darren from Nora's phone and told him, "Regan, don't worry at all. I'll open the door no matter how. Just don't let this misteress seduce you again."

Dylan actually laughed as he heard her voice while Darren stayed quiet. Although Dylan used to always feel irksome whenever she called him the 'mistress', currently he was feeling happy hearing that familiar way Xiu called him.

"If you're late, I might be able to snatch your husband," he couldn't help annoying Dylan.

"Try it!" shouted Xiu. "My husband won't fall for it. I believe in him. It's still you whom I don't trust at all!"

Dylan smiled at that but didn't say anything to her while Darren asked, "If you can't find the key, how are you gonna open the door? Don't tell me you can sleep without me."

"No way!" was Xiu's response. She looked around frantically, "If I can't find the key, I'll just knock the door down!"

"Sweets, don't do anything reckless," warned Darren with worry vivid in his voice.

Xiu's eyes locked on something as she pulled a pin off of Nora's hair making her scream in pain. "What are you doing?"

"Opening the door!" responded Xiu. Saying that she walked over to the closed door and tried to pick the lock with one hand. She was frustrated, "This is difficult with one hand!"

"Sister Xiu, when did you learn to pick a lock?" asked Han Bohai. 

"Right! And who did you learn it from?" asked Nora.

"Or are you just blindly trying your luck?" came Ah-Si's voice.

Xiu didn't even give each of them a single glance as she concentrated on the task at hand as she said, "I learned it from my husband."

Darren was still on the phone and could hear her proud voice. Dylan gave him a look, "You taught her how to pick a lock?"

Darren shrugged his shoulders, "She was eager to learn." He obviously wasn't gonna tell him that when he had used his tricks to unlock the handcuffs that she had put on him, she had become fascinated with the skill of lockpicking. He had no other choice than to teach her about it.

*Click*

Xiu proudly faced them all, "Who said I was trying blindly?" As if looking for praises she grinned widely, "Aren't I still the master of everything?"

Ah-Si laughed at her as he said, "Actually, Sister Xiu, I could have just gotten the spare key for you from downstairs."

Xiu's smile instantly vanished as she glared at him, "Couldn't you have said that earlier?!"