"Too heartless, really too heartless. A daughter doesn’t stick around once she’s grown, it’s true she doesn’t stick around..."
Chuxia, amused, interrupted the incessantly rambling Lin Wenbin, "Brother, I’m already married."
"Uh..." Stunned for a moment, Lin Wenbin slumped over the table, "Never mind, I shouldn’t have got my hopes up. What’s the point of wishful thinking?"
"You realize this is wishful thinking?" Zhou Mikang said with a smile, looking at him, "You could have had a good relationship with me, but you always had to act all high and mighty. Aren’t you just asking for trouble?"
"I wasn’t talking to you." Lin Wenbin gave him a glare, "Go stand over there."
"Brother, what kind of drama are you creating?" Chuxia looked him up and down, "Heartbroken? Or maybe your love was rejected? Or is it, the person you like is getting married, and you’re not the groom?"
"Get lost..." Lin Wenbin, frustrated, pushed her, "A handsome guy like me, do you think I’d encounter the scenarios you’re talking about? Let me tell you, if I wanted, finding a sister-in-law for you would be a matter of minutes.
I see it clearly now, when Zhou Mikang is not around, you have your brother in your eyes. The moment he returns, you can’t see anyone else. A married daughter is not pampered, indeed! Not pampered at all!"
Wang Jing, the onlooker, couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Seeing Lin Wenbin’s gaze turn towards her, her face turned "red" with embarrassment, "I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I... I wasn’t laughing at you, I... I just... just find what you say quite amusing."
"You don’t have a boyfriend, do you?"
"No." Wang Jing’s face flushed as she hung her head, embodying the bashfulness of a young girl.
"I thought so. If you had a boyfriend, probably you wouldn’t find what I say amusing. A girl with heart spoken for can’t see the merits of other men." Lin Wenbin said this while glancing sideways at Chuxia, "Right here, isn’t there a clear example?"
Chuxia looked at him amusedly, "Brother, can I take that as you being jealous?"
"Yes." Lin Wenbin nodded earnestly, "You are my only sister, the most important person in my heart. But I don’t matter at all to you. How can I not be jealous?"
Zhou Mikang sat next to him, putting his hand on his shoulder, "Big cousin, I want to ask you, how did you get by before you found Chuxia?"
"The way you got by is the way I got by."
Zhou Mikang was taken aback, then understood Lin Wenbin’s meaning. His closest relationship was with his little sister, and once she left, his life was filled only with work. Both kinship and love had completely vanished from his life. As for friendships, though not gone, he had drifted apart from most of his friends, leaving only a few who could truly be called brothers.
Or maybe, over those years, the only thing he gained was understanding who could be trusted and who could not.
Fate is indeed a peculiar thing. After meeting Chuxia, he was first attracted by her personality, then by her looks, and finally, by her talent... He didn’t even realise when this girl became the most important person in his heart.
But how could Lin Wenbin possibly be the same? "Do you also have a sister who passed away young?" Zhou Mikang asked Lin Wenbin, puzzled.
"Then why do you feel the same as I do? I first noticed Chuxia because I thought she resembled my deceased little sister. Of course, I soon realized that she and Xiao Rao are completely different. So, our being together has nothing to do with my little sister." As if afraid of causing a misunderstanding with Chuxia, Zhou Mikang added a few more words of explanation.
"I don’t have a sister, but I once had an older sister. She was two years older than me and passed away from illness when I was eight. Even though she was my older sister, I was the one taking care of her because of her poor health.
Her departure grieved me for a long time. Afterwards, I always hoped my parents would give me another little sister, but unfortunately, that wish was never granted. Chuxia’s arrival completely fulfilled my desire to have a sister.
Zhou Mikang, even if I get married, my wife will never surpass my sister in my heart. There’s a wide range of choices for a wife, but there’s only one sister. She’s irreplaceable."
"Brother, don’t scare me..." Chuxia involuntarily shrank her neck, "I feel a lot of pressure hearing you talk . If your future wife knows what you think, she might take it out on me."
"She wouldn’t dare!" Lin Wenbin glared, "If she dares to be unkind to my sister, I’d divorce her."