Melinda knew that something had changed. She started to feel afraid the moment she felt it.
She wanted more of what she had just received.
Melinda blushed as she buried her face on his chest. It had never occurred to her that she would kiss
Jonas so passionately in a foreign country and in broad daylight for everyone to see.
Jonas felt like his heart had suddenly skipped a beat. Melinda's scent engulfed him. He held her tightly
in his arms, fingers tense as he struggled to maintain his self-control. He knew that he couldn't just
whisk her away back to the hotel, but her scent was addictive.
"Mellie," he purred.
"Yes?" she stammered.
His voice made Melinda's heart pound faster. Still in his arms, she slowly lifted up her head and stared
into the depth of his gaze.
The glow in his eyes was as bright as the stars. Nothing around them mattered to him at the moment.
He only had eyes for her.
It was as if she meant the whole world to him.
"Mellie, let me take some photos for you." Jonas held up the camera he brought with them for her to
see.
"You can take photos?" Melinda inquired.
She thought she already knew Jonas very well, which was why she was a bit surprised as she stared
back at him curiously with the new piece of information. Melinda hadn't known that Jonas possessed
some knowledge in photography.
"I searched about it online," he told her sheepishly.
He wanted to prepare for this day, so he did his best to master using it quickly. A lot of people said that
if you loved someone, you would want to take a lot of good photos of them.
Jonas agreed with the saying.
Melinda obliged and happily posed for Jonas. She went along with him as Jonas took photos of her
from a short distance. Once in a while, he would ask random people who passed by to take photos of
both of them.
The two of them spent three days in Mauritius. Melinda secretly uploaded all of their photos in her
private social account. She still couldn't believe that it was her with Jonas, who were playing on the
beach.
For the second phase of their honeymoon, Melinda learned that Jonas had arranged for them a trip to
Fiji. It was an island located in the South Pacific which was surrounded by numerous corals.
The three days that they had spent in Mauritius made Melinda feel a little exhausted, so they decided
to take a break during their first day of arrival.
Jonas took Melinda to their hotel room to get some rest. The next morning, they went to soak in the hot
spring which made Melinda feel invigorated.
Jonas thought that Melinda might still be exhausted from the previous days, so he decided to not rush
her into following their itinerary. Instead, he took her to the biggest shopping mall in the area where
they suddenly bumped into a person Jonas did not expect to meet.
It was a person from his rival company. What was more unexpected was that the person who
accompanied him was not his wife, but instead a young woman with a slender figure. The moment their
eyes met, it was evident from the man's expression that he hadn't expected to see him there as well.
Melinda noticed Jonas looking at the man in front of them and wanted to ask if he knew him.
"Mellie, let's try some clothes on," Jonas breathed into her ear before she had the chance. When
Melinda had realized that Jonas was talking about couple outfits, she followed him to the boutique
excitedly.
It bothered the man when Jonas decided to ignore him.
"Do you fancy that woman?" the woman beside him suddenly asked.
There was no hint of annoyance in her tone. She didn't seem bothered at all with the possibility that her
companion might be checking out other women. The man finally broke out from his sudden shock and
quickly shook his head in response.
"I thought I just saw an acquaintance," he told her.
"An acquaintance?" the woman repeated and raised her eyebrows in curiosity.
Her gaze shifted towards Jonas and Melinda, who were both currently enjoying themselves, while they
browsed through the display of clothes. She didn't believe his words.
The man awkwardly stood there. He was definitely sure that he had just seen Jonas. Did he not
recognize him?
He suddenly felt uneasy.
"You're almost done shopping, right? Why don't we head back to the hotel first?" he told her.
The man felt nervous, knowing that he was seen with another woman. He told his wife that he was on a
business trip and did not expect to bump into someone he knew while they were in a foreign country.
"Are you ashamed of me because I'm not pretty enough?" The woman frowned and crossed her arms
at him.
He quickly reassured her that it was not the case and slowly steered them away from the direction of
Jonas and Melinda.
What he failed to see was Jonas putting away his phone as a cunning smile formed around his mouth.
He was a businessman after all. How could he ignore an opportunity to acquire something that he
could use against his competitor later on?
"Jonas, try this as well." Melinda handed over some clothes to him.
The boutique actually catered to couples. There were various matching outfits to choose from as
Melinda wandered around to find several designs that she liked. She pulled Jonas along with him as
she browsed through the displays, trying to find the best outfit that matched her.
Jonas ended up buying all of them.
Both of them finally returned to the hotel with a generous amount of shopping bags. As Melinda lay on
their bed, her thoughts drifted back to the two people they bumped into today and how Jonas had a
weird expression on his face when he saw them.
"Do you know the two people from earlier?" She wasn't able to resist asking.
"Yes," Jonas admitted.
Melinda looked over to him curiously. "Why didn't you greet them?"
Seeing her perplexed face, Jonas explained that the man was from his company's competitor and how
he was having an affair.
"I thought they were a couple," she told him not long after, a bit surprised by the revelation.
They looked genuinely intimate. She was definitely sure that they were not just putting up an act.
Melinda hadn't pushed the topic any further and remained silent. After all, it was not in his nature to not
greet someone he bumped into. In the evening, Jonas had e-mailed the photos to the man.
If the photos of the man being intimate with another woman leaked in their country, it would definitely
affect a lot of people. He was well aware of Jonas's motive for taking them, but he could not blame
anyone but himself for being unfortunate enough to bump into him.
Once he was done sending the photos, Jonas called William and instructed him to follow up on the
projects that he competed with that man.
A City happened to own a piece of land that was about to be developed and no one was able to
successfully bid on it yet. This time around, Soaring Group would easily win the competition in a week.
Melinda smiled to herself as she started to pack in her suitcase all the clothes they shopped for the
day. During the evening, however, she suddenly felt sick and started to vomit along with diarrhea. This
made Jonas extremely worried.
"Put on your coat. I'll take you to the hospital," he insisted.
He hurriedly draped the coat over Melinda's shoulders without any further explanation and rushed
towards the hospital with her wrapped in his protective arms.
Even though Melinda wanted to assure Jonas that she was fine, her stomachache had betrayed her.
She did not even have the strength to speak and her face already went pale as she suddenly leaned
against him for support.
Because Jonas wasn't familiar with the area, he asked the hotel's staff to take them to the nearest
hospital. Apparently, Melinda had eaten something bad and was instructed by the doctor that she had
to be confined in the hospital to be treated.
Melinda did not like the idea at all and turned to Jonas. "We ate the same food. How come I'm the only
one who got sick?"
As she leaned against the bed, she tried to recall all the food she had eaten the whole day only to
realize that she had eaten too much.
"Once we get out of here, I am not allowing to you eat so much again," he murmured.
Jonas blamed himself for allowing her to eat a lot of messy food. If he only paid more attention to
Melinda, she would not have suffered so much right now.
Melinda, on the other hand, knew that this was entirely her fault. She did not know what to say and
opted to remain silent.
Her current condition made her more sensitive to the cold temperature of the hospital. Seeing her
shudder, Jonas carefully covered her with a blanket and asked the nurse if they could buy some liquid
food for her.
"Go to sleep, you need some rest. I just need to deal with something but I will still continue to watch
over you." He then took out his phone and started to type in some numbers.
Melinda forced a smile because she felt bad for making Jonas watch over her all by himself. This made
Jonas soften his gaze as he smiled back at her, still feeling helpless with the situation.
However, she wasn't able to get some rest. Melinda was just about to close her eyes when a familiar
face entered the ward. It was the man that they saw earlier back at the mall. The man assisted the
same woman he was seen with, both surprised as they spotted Melinda and Jonas once again.
"Hello! What a coincidence, we get to meet again," Melinda greeted them in Chinese.
"Do you also have a bad stomach?" She glanced over the woman.
She had noticed that both of them were in a similar state which confirmed her suspicions. Melinda felt
bad for the woman, but she was secretly a little bit relieved that she was not the only one who was
affected.
The woman looked at her helplessly. "The food here is poisonous. I ate a lot like this back home yet I
have never gotten sick like this."
Both of them understood each other and smiled as the woman continued to tell her about all the food
she had taken in for the day, wondering what she had eaten that was so bad to make her feel
miserable.
Nevertheless, she reasoned out that it was hard to resist eating because all the food looked very
enticing.
The two ladies seemed to be enjoying their conversation. The men had no choice but to watch over
them and later on started to discuss about the economy.
They may be rivals, but outside of a business setting they had a lot of interesting things to talk about as
they continued to discuss among each other animatedly.
Melinda and the woman whose name was Nina Ye soon fell asleep, leaving the men to watch over
them. Both of them had never left their side for the whole night.
Melinda and Nina Ye woke up the next morning to find that Jonas and the man named Ryan Zhou had
left for a while to get them some breakfast. While waiting for them to return, they found themselves
engaged in another interesting conversation.
"Nina, if you don't mind me asking, why are you with him?" Melinda inquired.
Nina Ye did not seem like someone who wanted to ruin another family. If the woman was experiencing
problems, maybe she could do something to help.
The woman smiled softly. She was not surprised by the sudden question.
"I guess Ryan and I were just unfortunate enough to have not met sooner. People like him, after all, did
not have any freedom when it came to marriage. I'm sure you are very much aware with that. Love is
something you can't control," she answered.
"I don't care about the money. I just want to be happy with him." She looked at Melinda with sincerity.
Melinda was impressed. After hearing those words, her opinion about Nina Ye's affair had changed.
"Isn't it difficult?" She worried.
All she got as a response was a laugh. It may have sounded heartily, but the smile did not really reach
the woman's eyes.
"I don't really like to force myself into someone, nor do I want to force someone to love me. If he really
loves his wife, I'll just have to live happily alone then," she answered.
Nina Ye explained that the marriage between Ryan Zhou and his wife was an arrangement between
both of their families. She had no idea if they really had feelings for each other. All that mattered to her
was that Ryan Zhou truly loved her.
Not everyone understood this kind of feeling. She didn't care because she did not live for others
anyway.
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