He smiled and his dark eyes sparkled thinking about this.
" Okay. "
His voice had a tinge of tenderness as if he was coaxing a child.
His blinding smile made Aria blush hard, she couldn't count the amount of times she had blushed in that morning. She wanted to get away from the seductive man as soon as possible.
Xander helped her to her feet and arranging her clothes before they went back to their campsite.
***
" Where were you guys? "
Qin Cheng seized up the two people his gaze full of suspicion.
He was at the beach collecting and rearranging the woods and rocks that they had used to make the SOS sign.
" What happened here? "
Aria asked changing the topic. The materials had scattered all over the beach.
" A storm swept them all over the place. "
Qin Cheng sat down dropping everything he had on his hands.
" Damn it, all this is useless. No one will see it anyway. Maybe no one thinks that we're still alive, maybe they stopped with the search it's been days for goodness sake! "
He dejectedly shook his head running his fingers through his short dark hair.
Aria and Xander looked at each other and sighed.
The three hadn't spoken about the cruise since the accident probably because they were trying to force themselves to temporarily forget about the traumatic experience.
" What on earth happened? Did it hit an iceberg or something? "
Qin Cheng frowned in confusion as the three sat on the sand overlooking the vast blue sea.
" Maybe it was the pirates or some terrorist. "
Aria answered lost in thoughts. Her body shivered as goosebumps formed on her skin when she remembered the explosions and gunshots that followed them as they tried to escape.
Her gaze subconsciously fell on Xander's gunshot wound.
They were very lucky to escape death.
Seeing her sad gaze, Xander caressed her hair as if to tell her not to worry that he was okay.
" It was an assassination attempt. Fortunately it failed but it was so unfortunate that it cost innocent lives. "
" Huh? "
" What? "
Aria and Qin Cheng blurted out in unison their eyes widened in shock and confusion.
Assassination?
Who was being targeted?
" Failed? "
Qin Cheng raised his eyebrows at the man who had a cold face.
" I'm alive, ain't I ? "
Huh?
" You... ? "
Aria's eyes bulged out in realization. All the way from her cabin to the lifeboat they were running while dodging bullets. The attack followed them even on the boat which was why they swam in the icy waters to the desert island.
No wonder!
His injury.
So the killers were all along after him...
She drew in a shocked breath as chills ran down her spine.
Why?
He said that he was a normal businessman...
" You know being a monarch everyone would certainly be after your head. "
Xander chuckled faintly gazing at her little confused face.
What?
" What on earth do you mean? "
Qin Cheng snapped slightly annoyed.