As Leena entered the prepared guest room and shut the door behind her, she jumped into the soft king-sized bed, and collapsed. She felt like a machine that had been working too hard and was now falling apart, and her phone kept ringing and buzzing, piling more stress onto her frazzled nerves. She didn't feel like answering Kevin's calls, but she didn't want to just decline the call either. The notifications and ringing were a reminder to her, telling her she was special to Kevin after all, that he was worried about her. As she thought about this, her heartbeat slowed and normalized, and a feeling of warmth enveloped her like a blanket.
Calmer now, she started thinking about everything. She ran out of her home without even thinking of what would happen next. Call it childish, if you must. But this was really the moment of truth, the point of no return. For a moment, Leena was worried. She feared her father-in-law might scold her for behaving inappropriately. But then a sense of relief settled over her. Nothing mattered anymore. She had never been loved nor welcomed by Kevin's family. Why should she care about how they treated her? Or what they thought of her?
On the other end of the line, Kevin's patience was wearing thin. When he listened to the robotic voicemail message, he was so infuriated that the blue veins on his forehead were visible. He had searched everywhere nearby, but couldn't find any trace of her. And when he dialed Leena's number, she simply ignored his calls. He knew she was intentionally ignoring him, because just a few minutes ago, one call brought him something new: "The subscriber you dialed is busy now, please try again later..." That meant she only ignored him! Was she talking to someone else while ignoring his calls?
With each moment ticking by, he grew more worried for her than angry. His concern was not that she would call her family and complain tearfully how bad he had been treating her. He was purely concerned about her safety.
"I'm sorry, Major General. Should we call the police?" Seeing his anxiety, Lee couldn't help but try and talk him down. They had been nearly everywhere in the capital city, and still not one trace of Leena.
"Police? What are you talking about? What can they do? Come on, let's not make this worse. It's just an angry wife, not a criminal case. And even if we called them, it wouldn't help. If we can't find her, how could the cops?" If they were back at the base, he could have the Falcon out on a manhunt. But now he was in the capital city, and his people weren't here. The Gu family would not deploy the troops for personal gain, so he had to do the searching himself. And he felt bad about the whole thing. Leena ran out because of him...
"But what do we do now? We're not making any progress! Leena's a smart woman. If she really wants to stay hidden, she's more than capable of it. We could cover every square inch of this city, and she'd still find somewhere to hole up where we wouldn't think to look." Lee scowled, and gave his opinion. Like the old saying went, "Those closely involved cannot see clearly." Kevin wasn't dumb, but since he cared so much for Leena, he couldn't think clearly. The Major General was particularly astute normally. The incident must have disturbed him a lot, as he hadn't come up with a solution.
"Well, let's head back home then! I need to talk to Dad. I have to know what he said to Leena." Kevin set his jaw in determination, and closed his eyes for a while as he felt drained by the whole event. Like the proverb went, "each family has its own problems," and Kevin's was the relationship between his wife and his original family members.
"Roger that. Headed back now," Lee answered swiftly. He had always been in awe of Kevin's father, who was just like a king all the time. You felt his power when you walked into the room with him. And when Lee had to be around him, he always did his best to keep a low profile, for he didn't want to make the guy angry. Old Mr. Gu was a strict man, who had even commanded his own son to run around the playground as a punishment. It would be easy for him to find something wrong with Lee, and punish him for it, as well.
Several minutes later, Kevin arrived home. With a stony face, he went directly to Nathan's study, totally ignoring Shannon when he met her in the corridor. However, when he walked through the living room, he didn't see Claire or Louisa anywhere. Maybe they were asleep already.
Kevin? Kevin, wait! Where's Leena? What's going on?" Shannon just came back from outside, too. When she saw that Leena wasn't with him, she craned her neck to look outside, but couldn't see her. Didn't Kevin tell her that he was going to show Leena around the city? She had never been here before, after all. She thought they were just running around this whole time, sightseeing and enjoying themselves. But why did Kevin come back alone? What happened to them?
Kevin didn't know how to answer her question, and apparently, talking about Leena's disappearance now wasn't a good idea. Thus, he remained quiet, and quickened his steps towards the study. And once he reached his father's den, he didn't even bother to knock. He simply pushed the door open, and entered.
"What's up?" Nathan asked in a calm tone, despite seeing the fury in Kevin's eyes. He heard Kevin's footsteps as his son made his way here. He could tell he was mad, but why?
"What did you say to her?" Kevin leaned on the table, trying to restrain his anger.
Nathan slammed the documents onto the table. Rage flashed in his gaze. "What are you talking about? I am Leena's father-in-law. I can say anything I want to her. And what's this all about? Why are you like this?" Nathan knew exactly who Kevin was talking about. He pulled open a drawer and placed the documents inside. Work could wait. He leaned back casually, and looked into Kevin's eyes.
"Why am I like this? How can you ask that? Leena is gone! I've searched every corner in the city and didn't find a thing. And everything leads right back to you. What did you say to her, Father?" If Nathan were not his father, Kevin would have already punched him in the face.
"What? Are you saying that she's run away? What a cow! She has no manners at all! She's not good for you, Kevin!" But Nathan was agitated by the news, as he took it as a signal from Leena, who was openly challenging his authority.