Staring at her incredulously,Ryu said,"You do not know how to play and still claim you are going to win.How do you figure that?"
With a big smile,Alicia said,"that is because there is one simple rule which is mandatory and applicable in all future games as well.This is,I win-I win.You win-I win."
Ryu smacked himself and told himself not be shocked in the future whenever she utters such amazing things ."So the rule is, if you win,you win and if I win then also you win?"Ryu confirmed.
A vigorous nod of the head was the answer he received."Missus isn't that unfair to me?"
"How?"A genuinely perplexed Alicia asked.Shaking his head,Ryu explained the rules of blackjack to Alicia and soon they were playing.
After a couple of rounds,where Alicia lost pretty badly,Alicia w.h.i.n.ed,"Hubby let me win please.This time we will add some stakes."
Ryu laughed and said,"Missus,you are winning. Isn't the rule I win,you win."
Pouting,Alicia collected the cards and shuffled them forcefully.This time she was going to win!
Picking up a card,she dealt one card to Ryu face up and one to herself.Then shuffled and dealt again.After a few minutes,Ryu stopped her and asked,"What do you want to bet?"
"Anything.Not like I am winning.",came the sulky reply.
"Are you sure?Anything?"
"Yes!",Alicia snapped back at him.
They continued playing in to the wee hours of dawn where Alicia lost innumerable games and kept on cursing Ryu.
"You are cheating,right?How can you be so good?You must definitely be doing something!Hmm...were you counting cards?Why are you smiling?Is it because you got caught.?"
Ryu laughed at that,placed the deck of cards back in the box,folded the table and then coming to Alicia said,"I am smiling because you,missus,are a sore loser."With that he kissed the tip of her nose and lightly tousled her hair.
Aggrieved at the insult ALicia replied,"Loser?You are the loser and you are sore!You won by cheating."
Alicia had just finished speaking when Ryu's face appeared before her face.So close that she could see the light stubble,he was now sporting.She immediately moved back and he came closer.Finally when there was no space behind Alicia and she was lying straight on the bed,Ryu went close to her ear and whispered,"Missus,I am not averse to cheating.But not in a deck of cards.I wasn't counting cards because I was counting the number of kisses you are going to give me when I win.Now you need to worry about me cheating...How many games...i mean kissed did you lose tonight?" With this,Ryu turned his head,lightly held her earlobe between his teeth and tugged.Then blowing slowly on it,he moved back.
Moving back,he saw Alicia had closed her eyes tightly.She was pretending to be asleep but the fast rise and fall of her c.h.e.s.t were proof of her agitation.Lightly smoothing her hair from her forehead,Ryu turned to sleep on his bed when his wrist was caught.With her eyes still closed,Alicia said,"Sleep here.I seem to sleep better when you are around."
Hearing the soft pleading in her tone,Ryu moved to the other side of the huge hospital bed.Being careful of her injured leg and shoulder,Ryu moved in behind her and lightly kept a hand at her waist.They both fell asleep with only his hand touching her waist.
Early-the next morning:
The finance world woke up with a boom.The boom which rocked the financial world also ,made waves feel in other sectors as well.Newspapers and online portals included discussions about the past relationsh.i.p.s and Ryu Long's many achievements as well as cold bloodedness.The headlines were like this:
BUSINESS MAGNATE MARRIED?WHO IS THE HEIRESS?
BEAUTY AND THE TYPHOON
WHO IS THE (UN)LUCKY GIRL?
The different headlines all had only one discussion going on.Who was the girl who had been married to this powerful man?
During the night,somebody had leaked the news that Ryu Long was married and his current wife was in the hospital.As was the habit of rumor mongers news had been spread with many twists and turns.Some reports even stated that he had stabbed his wife in anger while others claimed that his new wife was already dead.Only later in the morning did some news spread that his wife had actually been stabbed by his ex-wife.
However in spite of all sorts of news circulating ,as ever,the stock prices of Lance Inc. were stable and in fact rising.The CEO being married was big news.Many girls were heart broken and many boys wanted to see the woman who had stolen the typhoon's heart so that they could base their idols on that.