A/N: Thank you all so, so much for all your amazing reviews! They make me really happy and keep me motivated! I'm very sorry for the delay, I thought I could have this chapter up earlier, but I'm a little picky when it comes to editing so it took a lot longer than expected. Hopefully you haven't given up on this story yet.

Chapter 6 – Jeopardy

Colorful balloons adorned every corner of the apartment, adding a touch of cheerfulness. The subtle yet delicate smell of blossoming lilies filled the air, with soft melodious music playing in the background. The stylishly decorated penthouse radiated life and energy as excited invitees enjoyed themselves.

Holding a glass of champagne in one hand, Sora took a moment to marvel at her own work. She was not one to boast, but she had to admit the setting looked fabulous. She checked her watch. 11:00 a.m. Guests gradually started arriving at the event, each one bringing brightly wrapped presents decorated with fancy bows and ribbons.

"This bridal shower is great. You've really outdone yourself Sora," Cody complimented as he toured around the apartment. "But why am I invited again? Isn't this supposed to be a women thing?"

"Normally, yes," she smiled at the ever-so-serious law student. "But I decided to go against traditions and make this a couple shower instead, I figured it'll be more fun this way. Besides, Sumiko said all her relatives are out of town, they won't be able to make it."

He added his neat gift bag to the growing pile. "Well that's unusual… not even her parents?"

"Nope," she shook her head. "Out of town too."

Cody's eyes flicked from her face to her left. "Looks like Izzy wants to talk to you," he pointed a finger past her shoulder.

She turned her head and saw Izzy quickly approaching, dressing in a smart casual attire – a combination of a blue dress shirt with a pair of grey slacks.

"Hey Sora can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure Izzy, what's up?"

He glanced sideways, scanning the environment. "Let's go somewhere private, I have something to show you."

Intrigued by his cautiousness and urgency, Sora put her drink down and followed him, cutting through the chit-chatting crowd and finally stopping at a deserted corner in her kitchen.

"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" She asked the maroon-haired man.

"After our conversation a few days ago, I couldn't stop thinking about what you said. There more I contemplated, the more illogical this whole thing seemed. Why would Tai suddenly get married? Who is Sumiko? And why would he commit himself to someone else when he's so obviously in love with –" he stopped abruptly, realizing what he was about to say. "Anyway, I can't wrap my head around what his motive could possibly be, so I decided to do some research."

Sora inwardly smirked triumphantly, she knew he couldn't resist.

Izzy was glad that his slip of the tongue went by unnoticed. Skimming his eyes from side to side, he made sure no intruders were eavesdropping. "I went through most of Sumiko's personal folders, and I found something." He searched his pockets.

"It still boggles my mind sometimes how you can hack into someone's personal files just like that," Sora commented.

He grinned at her remark without stopping his frantic search. "I admit, hacking could get complicated at times, but it's not rocket science when it comes to basic systems. You see, controlled access is the key to mitigate security risks. A good security infrastructure should include sufficient physical measures and logical or other technical safeguards such as user identities, passwords, firewalls, and encryption and so on. But in Sumiko's case, her security is assessed to be rather weak seeing that external parties easily have the ability to access her information –"

"Woh woh, slow down there Einstein,"Sora chuckled and held up a hand to interrupt. Izzy often got carried away and a little overexcited when it came to computer-related topics.

"Right, sorry. Ah, found it." The prodigy withdrew a folded piece of paper from his pocket, which he unfolded and held it in front of her face. "Do you know this person?"

She took the sheet from him and inspected it with squinting eyes. "What person? All I see are words. What's this? How to Attract Women: Triggers of Attraction –"

Izzy turned a brilliant shade of crimson at her words and snatched the article back rapidly. "That's just scrap paper I forgot to toss out..." He crumpled the paper and threw it straight into the garbage can. Stuffing a hand in his back pocket and he drew out another sheet, this time showing what appeared to be a photograph. "Here it is."

The redhead examined the color-printed image. "… she looks familiar, it's possible that I may have seen her before but I can't tell for sure. Why, who is this?"

"Her name is Catherine Vaillantcourt, she's a French DigiDestined," he identified.

"What does she have to do anything?"

"She might be the key to why Tai's marrying Sumiko."

This sudden statement took her by surprise. She took a closer look at the girl in the photograph – long blond hair, big blue eyes, cute red Christmas outfit with a matching headband… unmistakably an innocent face of a preteenager no older than fourteen.

"I don't understand, what does a child have to do with Tai's engagement?" This Catherine was unquestionably too young to cause Tai any harm and too old to be his child. Sora failed to come up with other possible associations between the two.

"She's not as young as you think."

Seeing more confusion clouding Sora's face, Izzy decided to explain from the beginning. "Initially, nothing of interest came to my attention when I went through Sumiko's files, until I reached her personal pictures. Most photos were all modelling shoots, but a few folders in particular contained only pictures of this girl, Catherine Vaillantcourt. At first I thought she's just some acquaintance or relative, but as I read the descriptions of the photos and other related documents, they all seemed to be self-describing."

He nodded his head in the direction of the picture in Sora's hands. "This picture, for instance, was found in a folder called 'Christmas at Versailles'. When I read the description something clicked in my head, and I suddenly recalled what Tai and TK told us ages ago. Remember the World Tour we went on? After Tai and TK came back from France, they couldn't stop talking about this cute French DigiDestined they rescued at Versailles."

"But Versailles is one of the most visited attractions in Paris, so there's nothing unusual about Catherine being there around Christmas time," Sora reasoned. "How did you figure out this girl's identity anyway?"

"I was hoping you would ask that." Izzy crossed his arms and leaned against the kitchen counter. "To confirm my suspicion, I looked her up in the DigiDestined database and this girl matched one of Catherine's old profile pictures."

He reached into his pocket and retrieved yet another picture.

Sora wondered how he could fit all these papers in his pockets. But she settled on postponing that question as other priorities were at hand.

"Here's Catherine's newest profile picture," he handed her the photograph.

The designer studied the second snapshot. Catherine's girlish looks had matured into an undeniably beautiful face with well-defined bone structure. Her most striking feature was her large bright eyes, complimented with a straight thin nose and glistening white teeth. Her long blond hair turned into a darker shade. It was odd, the more Sora scrutinized the picture, the more Catherine resembled Sumiko, only less tanned and with lighter features and no makeup….

"Reminds you of anyone in particular?" Izzy asked.

"It can't be…" she said disbelievingly, not tearing her eyes away.

"I know it sounds crazy, but there's a probability."

"So you're suggesting that Sumiko isn't really who she claims to be? She's actually… some French DigiDestined called Catherine?"

"Precisely," Izzy nodded at her assumption. "But I don't know with certainty yet, this is just a hypothetical theory. I'll have to do more research to back up this idea. Sumiko and Catherine could very well be the same person or complete lookalikes, or even twins based on their identical year of birth. If they're not connected, then why would Sumiko have Catherine's pictures on her computer in the first place? There are simply too many coincidences."

Sora was dumbfounded by this astonishing revelation. This was not what she had in mind when she asked Izzy to dig up dirt. "Wow… I don't even know what to say. Why would she lie about her identity? Or is she just trying to create a new persona slash alter ego thing, like Beyoncé and Sasha Fierce?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I would like to know that myself, but I'm afraid I don't know the answers to your questions yet. Until we find out, let's keep this between ourselves, we don't want to start accusing her without any hard evidence. We have to be 100% positive."

Sora bit her bottom lip and nodded in agreement. The last thing she wanted was for her plans to backfire on herself.

"I'll keep you posted on any updates. I guess you better get back to the party, don't want people to think that I kidnapped their host," Izzy suggested.

"You're right, I should get back. By the way, interesting choice of reading," she teased and stuck her tongue out at him. Before he had the chance to redeem himself, she turned around and walked away, leaving him no room for any comeback.

His cheeks flushed once again furiously. "Not everyone was born to be natural pickup artists you know!" He called after her a little louder than intended, earning him a few quizzical looks and fits of giggles from a few girls standing nearby.

'And that's what you get for helping out a friend,' he thought sourly.

"Mimi!"

At the sound of her name, the brunette twirled around to search for the source of the familiar voice. She found herself staring at none other than an old acquaintance. Ex-boyfriend to be exact.

Michael Washington.

She studied his appearance. He definitely grew taller, several inches since she last saw him. His features, on the other hand, remained more or less the same, especially his trademark long frizzy blond hair.

The American greeted her by pulling her swiftly into his arm and planting a kiss of each of her cheeks. "How are you, beautiful? It's been so long!"

"I'm good and you?" She grinned, returning the embrace and placed her hands on his back.

Gripping the sides of her arms, he pulled away from their hug and examined her. "You look great! I see you let your hair grew back to its natural color, I can't call you pink flamingo anymore."

"But I can still call you Velcro-head," she ruffled his locks friskily. "Still kept your old haircut I see."

"I never changed my style because I know you like my beautiful hair babe," he brushed a hand through his strands and winked at her.

Standing several feet away sipping his drink, Matt tried not to gag at the comment. "Beautiful my ass, it looks more like dead grass," he muttered under his breath.

He looked at the other boy's head, analyzing his so-called hair. What exactly was that? A wig? It was a crime, really. It was so hideous that he should be arrested by the hair police. Had he never heard of hair conditioner, for goodness' sake?

"So, are you seeing anyone?" Michael asked the girl in front of him.

"Yeah actually, he's standing right there," she turned around and searched through the crowd. Catching a glimpse of his stylish blond hair, she spotted him by the buffet table and pointed at him.

Matt caught his girlfriend's gaze and saw her motioning for him to walk over. He sighed. Socializing with strangers was not really his thing. Holding his drink in one hand, he shoved the other in his pocket and made his way to the pair.

"This is my boyfriend, Matt. Matt, this is an old friend of mine, Michael," Mimi introduced.

The two men shook hands politely and exchanged brief courtesies.

"Hey man," Matt nodded curtly.

"Nice to meet you Matt," the other boy replied. "So Mimi was telling me that you're training to become an astronaut, how do you like working at JAXA? It must be tough."

"Yeah it is but I can't complain," the blond shrugged. "Being an astronaut is something I've always dreamed of becoming since a kid."

"If I remember correctly from what Mimi told me before, weren't you in a rock band or something?" Michael asked, stealing a quick glance at Mimi.

Matt was impressed by his memory. He himself certainly wouldn't waste brain space on something so trivial about a total stranger. "Yeah I was, but we didn't go far besides school concerts and occasional local gigs. Music will always be a passion of mine, but just not as my professional career."

"I get what you mean," the other boy agreed. "My dad is an actor and for as long as I can remember, he tried relentlessly to get me involved in the show business. Acting is fun and all, but if you don't make it big, then all you'll earn is enough money to breakeven your expenses if you're lucky. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll have to go greet the hostess. I'll catch up with you later," the American beamed at Mimi before walking away.

Matt waited until Michael was a good distance away before addressing Mimi. "I can't believe you used to date him. Weren't you embarrassed to go out with a guy who wears weaves?"

She slapped his arm mischievously. "Don't be mean! Not everyone spends an hour coiffing their hair each day, you know. Even girls don't spend that much time pampering up. You own more hair products than I do, and trust me, it is not something to be proud of."

"You're just jealous that my hair looks better than yours," he sneered cheekily.

Mimi's eyebrows shot up at his proclamation. "I'm seriously starting to question your sexuality… And no it doesn't," she crossed her arms in defiance.

"Why can't a girl just accept the fact that some guys have better hair! The minute they see dudes with nicer hair, girls automatically assume that they're gay, give me a break," he spat dramatically and rolled his eyes.

"Alright, if you really want to prove your point then I'm challenging you to a hair contest with me as your opponent. The loser will have to get a haircut of the winner's choice. I'll come up with the details of the challenge later to set some ground rules."

"Fine by me," he accepted confidently. "You'd better cherish these last days with your hair because very soon you'll have to kiss it goodbye," he smirked maliciously, reaching out a hand to caress a strand of her long hair.

She slapped his arm away and smiled slyly, "Dream on baby, dream on."

Tai took a deep breath and rang on Sora's doorbell, with Sumiko clutching on his arm tightly. He hadn't spoken to her since the Karaoke incident from the previous night. He wasn't sure what he would say to her, but he mentally pressured himself to be emotionally perfect. Meanwhile he wished his fiancée could release her death grip on him.

He heard footsteps quickly approaching from the other side of the wall, and within seconds the door swung open. Expecting to see his best friend, his body relaxed as he found himself face-to-face with his sister instead.

"Hey Tai," Kari greeted him cheerfully and gave him an affectionate hug, which he returned. She then shifted her gaze to the bride. "Hello Sumiko," she said a little less enthusiastically, offering her a reluctant embrace out of politeness.

"Hi Kari, it's so good to see you," the model chimed sweetly in an exaggerated manner.

"Come on in, everyone's already here. Make yourself home," Kari extended her arm, inviting them to walk in. "I'll go tell Sora that you two are here."

Tai stepped inside Sora's familiar penthouse. The last time that he paid her a visit was months ago. Even though it had been ages, the apartment still looked and smelled the same – fresh and leafy green, like a soccer field with a mild trace of flowery scent, exactly as he remembered. Looking around, he saw multiple small round tables covered in platters and a vast array of food. Some guests spotted him and waved their hands in salutation.

The corner of his eye suddenly caught a glint of red coming his way. He slightly turned his head and spotted his best friend. She was walking on dangerously high stilettos matched with an elegant one-shoulder navy dress, with shiny beads covering the strap and along the neckline. Her slightly curled flaming red hair cascaded down her back, contrasting with the color of her outfit in an intoxicating manner. It was hard not to gawk at her. She was a vision.

"Hey Tai, hi Sumiko," Sora smiled at them warmly and hugged them respectively. "Welcome to my humble abode," she laughed.

They chatted briefly before the rest of the invitees interrupted to offer their congratulations to the engaged couple. For half an hour or so, Tai toured around the living room and caught up with everyone, making small conversation here and there. He was talking to Ken and Yolei when they suddenly heard someone clinking their glass with a knife.

Sora cleared her throat. "Everyone may I have your attention please," she raised her voice.

All the guests momentarily stopped talking and turned their attention to the hostess.

"Now that the main stars of the show have arrived," she looked in Tai's direction, "It's time for some fun and games! The first game we'll be playing is called Get to Know Your Bride and Groom. Since you're not familiar with the rules of this event, let me explain them briefly."

"I think the name itself is pretty self-explanatory," interjected Davis. "You ask us questions about Tai and Sumiko and we answer!"

"No shit Sherlock," Yolei rolled her eyes. "Shut up and let Sora finish."

"Thank you Yolei. So as Davis pointed out, since the shower today is held specially to congratulate the soon-to-be wedded couple, all questions will be related to the bride and groom. The bridesmaids and I will be splitting you randomly into three teams, as you can see the three mini podiums near the wall. For obvious reasons, Sumiko and Tai will are not eligible contenders. Each team will take turn in answering a question in a category of their choice. If you answer the question correctly, you will get one point. If you answer the question wrong, you won't lose any point. Each member of the winning team will be rewarded an iTunes gift card of 3,000¥."

"Ooh sounds like Jeopardy!" Mimi exclaimed excitedly.

"What's that?" Joe asked.

"It's a popular American TV show I used to watch when I lived in New York, it's really fun!"

"Now, let's take a look of the categories we have for you today," Sora lifted the drape which covered a large whiteboard, revealing colorful cardboard papers neatly arranged in four distinctive columns. "The four categories are 'Guilty Pleasures', 'Blast from the Past', 'Sports Junkies' and 'Random Questions' Anybody has any question?"

All the guests looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Alright, so let the game begin! Starting with Team #1, please pick your category."

Matt, Joe, Jun and the other three members discussed among themselves briefly. "We'll take 'Guilty Pleasures'."

Sora peeled a paper off the whiteboard and flipped it over. "Tai claims that he cannot stand chick flicks. But in reality, which romantic comedy does he watch secretly when he's depressed?"

"Miss Congeniality," Matt answered with ease.

"That is correct."

As the scorekeeper of the game, Kari drew a line on the whiteboard with her black marker.

Tai blushed at the revelation. "Thanks a lot man."

"Now the second question will be related to Sumiko. Group #2, what's your pick?"

Mimi, Ken, Cody and TK all shrugged, they had just met Sumiko. One of Sumiko's friends however squealed, "We'll pick 'Blast from the Past'."

A bridesmaid tore a post-it from the board. "What is the name of Sumiko's imaginary childhood friend?"

"La… Lara," a girl with round glasses stuttered shyly.

"I'm afraid that is incorrect, the answer is Flora."

"…Oh, I'm sorry," the girl lowered her head and apologized.

"It's ok it's just a game, you don't have to apologize," TK smiled warmly at her and patted her on the back.

"Moving on to the third question. Team #3, your pick please," Sora addressed the people standing at the third podium.

Yolei, Michael, Izzy and Davis were among the members. "'Random Questions'," Izzy said.

Sora peered at the question in her hand and smirked. "Tai claims that this is the most exotic yet disgusting food he's ever eaten. Name that food."

"If I'm not mistaken, I believe Tai once talked about eating pig brain," Izzy answered.

"Correct."

Davis's face scrunched up in disgust. "Gross! Why would you eat that? It's like eating… stupidity!"

A few people laughed at his comparison.

The game carried on for thirty more minutes as the teams became more competitive. Tired of his sitting position, Tai decided to step outside the balcony for some fresh air.

Noticing this, Sora asked Kari to temporarily take over the questions and followed Tai outside.

Carefully sliding the balcony door closed behind her, she spotted him hunching over the railings. "Tai are you okay?"

He looked up. "Yeah I just needed some fresh air," he smiled at her reassuringly. "The shower is amazing, and even though I'm not a woman, I have to say I'm very impressed. Thank you for doing this Sor."

"It doesn't take much to impress you," she laughed. "But you're welcome."

"You look beautiful, by the way."

His complement took her by surprise. A faint blush swept across her face. "Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself," she responded, studying his well fitted suit and white dress shirt, with the first few buttons undone.

"So how have you been lately? Busy with your upcoming collection?" He asked. It had been a while since they had a real conversation.

She walked up next to him and leaned her back against the railings. "Yeah, as usual. But ever since I became your maid of honor I took your advice and delegated responsibilities to my subordinates."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Don't overwork your poor minions."

"I do not treat them like minions!" She spat indignantly. "And even if I do it's all because of you! If they ever go on strike or quit, I'll personally hold you liable for all damages and financial losses incurred," she poked his shoulder playfully.

He touched the spot where she poked him. "You know, for such a petite frame you're freakishly strong."

She poked him a few more times for the heck of it.

"Oww!"

She chuckled at his feigned yelp of pain. What a weakling. "So enough about me, today should be all about you and Sumiko. Are you excited that your big day is quickly approaching?"

"I guess so." He looked away, staring into the overview of the city. Feeling her searching gaze boring into the side of his head, he inwardly reproached himself for replying so indifferently. He really should improve on his dubious acting as of lately. "All this planning is draining me of all strength," he quickly added, trying to cover up.

Alert by his sudden seriousness, Sora could tell he was lying and trying to fool everyone. If only he knew what a horrible liar he was, she knew him better than anyone else. Izzy's new trail did not help appease her suspicions.

"Listen Tai, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

"Hmm? What is it?"

She took a deep breath for what she was about to say next. "You should call this wedding off."

His head snapped back to look at her. "What?"

"You should call this wedding off," she repeated, more resolutely. "As your best friend and maid of honor, it's my duty to tell you that you're marrying an insufferable cow who will only make your life miserable."

He furrowed his brow. "Why? What makes you say that? I thought you two were getting along?"

"The first impression I had of her was already bad – self-centered, possessive, condescending… but I thought I was being too harsh and judged her too quickly. But the more I talked to her and got to know her, honestly the less I like her. What do you see in her Tai, besides that she's beautiful?"

"She may seem unbearable to people who don't know her but really, she's actually really nice."

"Not from what I can see it anyway. Every time you two are together, she either snaps at you or bosses you around. You were our leader in the Digital World Tai, if there's one thing I know about you is that you hate being bossed around. So what are you hiding from us?"

Tai remained silent.

She didn't buy a word he said earlier so she pushed on, "I can see that you're unhappy, it's in your eyes."

"Like I said, I'm just tired with all the wedding planning lately," he shrugged.

"Stop lying to yourself."

"I'm not lying to anyone okay! Is it that hard to believe that I met someone and fell in love?" He balked.

"No Tai, under any other circumstances it's not, but she's not your type and we both know it, which makes what you're saying a little hard to believe."

"Well Matt wasn't your type either, but I never questioned you when you went out with him, did I?"

They were staring daggers at each other, anger rapidly rising from their heated argument fuelled by supressed feelings.

"That was ages ago, I was young and inexperienced in life, I was just experimenting. How can you compare some foolish meaningless teenage relationship with a lifetime commitment? I don't think you realize how serious this is, Tai. I have a sixth sense about this girl, she's bad news."

"So it's okay for you to experiment but not for me? I get that you're just trying to look out for me, Sor, but maybe it's time for you to trust my judgement and stop acting like my mother," he rebuked irritably. "I'm not eleven anymore, I'm a grown man and I can do whatever I want with my life, so stop spewing crazy ideas."

Spewing crazy ideas? Sora couldn't help but feel hurt at his choice of words. Was that how he really felt, when she genuinely cared about him? However, not wanting to make a scene in front of everyone, she decided to ignore his words by burying her thoughts.

"Fine, whatever. You know what, pretend I didn't say anything. Congratulations on finding the girl of your dreams," she said calmly and looked away.

Tai was in agony, tormented by the burden of his secret. His heart ached in despair, yet he felt powerless like a coward. He wished he could tell her everything, he hated lying to her, but telling her the truth would destroy her. Instead, he did what he had been doing a lot lately.

He clamped his mouth shut and said nothing.

A/N: Are you guys more confused than ever? So I completely made up Catherine's last name… I tried googling it without success, oh well. And kudos to everyone who correctly identified the mysterious girl from last chapter as Catherine! Many of you have been wondering what secret Tai's hiding, I'm afraid it won't be revealed any time soon, although I will be dropping more clues from now on. If you have any guesses I would love to hear them, who knows I might leave you a spoiler or two ;) And thanks again for your support, it really means a lot!

xcandydots: I know right! I'll never understand what went through the writers' mind… and thank you for reading this!

miglukee: Thank you, I'm glad you like it :)

WileyLove: I'm not sure what Matt's role in the story is yet, but that's a good idea. Thanks for your review!

Melodisz: Thank you :D Sorry I haven't sent anything to you lately, I feel that my updates are way too slow so I don't want to postpone any longer. Just want you to know that I haven't forgotten about my Beta ;)

Skye-Excalibur: Sorry I made you wait… again! I promise I'll work on my speed from now on. And thanks for pointing out the typo, good eye!

Tamer of the Zero Unit: Thank you for reviewing every chapter, it really means a lot!

berrylicious: Thank you so much for the compliment! I always thought my characterization really sucks, but I'm glad you like it!

Taiora-AAML-Serena-Darien: Good job on picking up the clues, and the first one too :D

Antrxx: Unfortunately I'm not really good at writing action scenes, so this story will only have mentions of the Digimon (I don't want to ruin anything!), but things may change if I get ideas to fit them in the story!

taiorafan: Sorry if the Taiora moment wasn't long or romantic, but that will eventually change ;)

Vigatus: Wow living in Japan must have been a really memorable experience, so did you bring a lot of cool electronic gadgets back home? Luckily you weren't close to Tohoku when the earthquake and tsunami hit. It must've still been traumatizing…

AquaGuardian: Catherine will definitely be playing a big role, and not a good one!

TaioraWarrior: Yup Catherine is the girl Tai and TK kissed, it's funny how she had a really small role but she's in so many fics. Honestly I don't really remember her myself and I had to rewatch the WorldTour episode before writing her into this chapter. And sorry for the late update!

Squit Ayumin: I was so stoked when I saw your reviews, I couldn't believe it, it's such an honor! Thank you for your reviews, they made my day and I laughed at your little outburst, haha :p As for JAXA, I randomly typed 'Japanese astronaut' on Google and voilà, I honestly had no idea prior to that!

Digi Yo: Thanks for your review! I love those couples too!