The next morning, they were having breakfast together when Jack nudged Lyle and whispered behind Quinn who was seated between them,
"Is there something wrong with Dad?"
Lyle glanced at their father who had this weird half smile permanently etched on his face.
Every now and then, he would clear his throat, glanced at Kai Xin and then smiled again.
Lyle frowned. He had never seen his father acted in such odd manner before, "I don't know."
Without breaking her focus on breaking her hardboiled eggs, she replied, "They probably had sex."
Horrified, Jack stood up, "My dad did not have sex with a man!"
Even Lyle paled out from imagining the scenario.
Quinn tutted, "What are you? Three? Adults have sex, OK?"
Jack glared at Kai Xin who was laughing at their conversation and snarled, "Not two men!"
Quinn frowned, "What's wrong with two men having sex?"
Ignoring his brother's intervention, Jack continued, "It's an abomination!"
Quinn picked up the shells and threw it at him before shouting, "You are an abomination, you insensitive backward pig!"
DX who were oblivious to the children's antic continued to look at Kai Xin.
When she saw him glancing at her, she laughed and said, "If you don't stop them, there might a murder investigation before lunch today."
Finally woken up from his daydream, he turned to glare at Jack and Quinn who were pulling each other's hair on the floor.
"What in the world!"
He picked them up effortlessly and separated them before asking sternly, "What are you guys doing?"
Picking up his bag, Lyle muttered, "I'm out of here."
To Old Mo, the boy added, "I have basketball and soccer practice today. I would be back after lunch."
"Yes, Young Master Lyle," bowed Old Mo before instructing the maid to follow Lyle out to the chauffeur waiting at the door.
Jack glanced at the clock and panicked, "Damn it! I would be late for band rehearsal today!"
Grabbing his bag, he glared at Quinn, "We will settle this tonight!"
DX watched as his son hurried out of the house.
When he turned to Quinn, the naughty child was stucking her tongue out at the direction that Jack ran off to.
He sighed and told her to finish her breakfast before patting her on the head.
Kai Xin smiled at the guy , "You are being lax with her. You are going to spoil her."
"It's OK. She's Layla's problem."
...
At exactly 11.20 a.m., the three arrived at the vintage ice cream shop. DX and Kai Xin were dressed in matching Polo shirt, jeans and shoes.
They were basically shouting to the world that they were together.
Even Quinn was wearing the same set of outfit except that hers came with a short knee-length jeans.
The moment the little girl saw the large neon sign, she yelped in excitement and ran towards the sign.
In her excitement, she carelessly bumped into a gentleman with salt and pepper hair who was walking out of the store.
Quinn fell backwards from the impact and landed on the floor, "Ouch!"
Kai Xin and DX immediately went over to check on her and to make sure that she did not hurt herself.
As he watched the little girl's guardians picked her up, the man gently admonished her, "You should not run, little one. Are you hurt?"
Sitting on DX's arms, she pouted, shook her head and apologized, "Sorry."
When they looked at each other, the man asked , "What's your name?"
She smiled at him, "Quinn."
"That's a beautiful name", said the man. He looked up at DX and nodded, "President Du."
DX nodded back in acknowledgement, "Lieutenant General Duanmu."
Lt General Duanmu noted the 'man' standing next to DX and nodded once at Kai Xin to acknowledge her.
Even though he rarely followed the entertainment news, his youngest daughter was a big fan of DX and she had told him about the birthday incident.
Turning back to DX, he asked, "Is she your child?"
"She's Layla's daughter."
Lt General Duanmu smiled as he glanced at the little eyes that were looking at him intensely,
"I knew it. She looks just like her mother."
DX glanced down at Quinn and said, "I think she looks more like her father."
"Is it? I don't see the resemblance."
"Do you want to carry her?"
Lt General Duanmu extended his hands to Quinn and asked softly, "May I?"
Quinn blushed and nodded shyly. When Lt General Duanmu carried her, she rested her head on his shoulder.
Hugging her tightly, Lt General Duanmu whispered, "You are a beautiful little thing, Quinn."
She touched her hair, "Even with my mismatched hair?"
"I think you looked even more spectacular with your hair. One of a kind."
She blushed and smiled coyly.
The two of them went into the ice cream store and Lt General Duanmu pampered her by buying her all the flavors that she wanted.
Then they picked a hidden corner and started chatting with each other like they were old friends.
As she watched those two from a nearby table, Kai Xin whispered, "Is that Lieutenant General Duanmu of the West Army?"
She recalled the name from the list of names she once saw on Ghost's table.
In order to avoid a bloody military coup such as the one that happened almost 150 years ago, the military powers were divided to four major families.[1]
Along with the Nakamura of the East, their country had 3 more families who held military powers. Yoon of the North, Hoshur of the South, and Duanmu of the West.
DX nodded, "The old General Duanmu is retiring this year, and Wei Wu will take over his father's position soon. The next time you see him, you'd have to call him General Duanmu."
Kai Xin nodded as she digested the information. Cocking her head, she asked curiously, "Are you guys close with each other?"
DX thought about it before saying, "Not particularly. We met every now and then during charity functions. He was a pretty aloof man."
Kai Xin chuckled, "Aloof? This coming from the guy who was voted 'Coldest President' to work for?"
Reaching over, DX took her hands and said, "I am only cold towards others. To you, I would always be a warm person. Especially, a special part of me."
Kai Xin coughed slightly when she heard that, "You!"
Laughing gently, he glanced at the two at the corner and said, "I was cold due to the nature of my work. He was cold due to his upbringing."
Kai Xin raised an eyebrow as she thought curiously, "He doesn't seem cold."