Back at the Liu villa, the atmosphere had gone extremely silent after the huge confrontation. Nana anxiously paced back and forth in the room, creases appearing on her forehead and tears meeting her eyes.
"This has never happened before, Jinhai. J-Jun and Jin have never fought like that," her eyes ached. "I don't understand what is going on. First Jun and Shui breakup, then Jun says that he loves Zhou Ai and then Jin declares that he likes her too…"
Her face paled. "Jinhai, when did things take such a turn? I didn't even know when Jun got so much closer to Zhou Ai. And Jin…I don't know about his feelings for Ai, but he went too far."
If two brothers liked the same woman, then it was natural somebody was going to get hurt and as a mother, she didn't want to see either of her sons in pain. But she couldn't stand Jun disrespecting his elder brother either.
"He doesn't," Jinhai's low voice sounded close to her ear.
Nana turned and looked into her husband's eyes. They seemed strangely resolute for some reason.
"How are you so sure? Jin wouldn't bring this up in front of everyone if he didn't like Zhou Ai."
Jinhai's black eyes narrowed. He patted her head and smiled. "I mean it's not really love at this point. He is just interested in her because Dad introduced them. I didn't see him meeting her after the banquet or talking about her in any way, so I am sure it's nothing serious."
He tilted his head. "Don't worry, Nana. He is not serious about Zhou Ai…"
Nana pursed her lips. "I really hope so, Jinhai. I don't want their relationship to grow painful or complicated. But after today, I don't know how things will get better. I…I never saw Jun so agitated."
"I mean I don't know how to put it. I understand he would be naturally uncomfortable with Jin coming forward and saying that he likes the woman that Jun does. But Jun's anger felt really…deep and resentful for some reason. His eyes looked so different. I am worried, Jinhai. I am worried this will put a crack in their relationship."
Jinhai kissed her forehead and assured her. "It won't happen like that. You don't have to stress about this."
Nana said, "...What about Xinyi and Zhiyuan? And Shui?"
"I think they know what to talk to her. They are mature and understanding. They will know how to deal with it. If you are worrying that this will bring a problem in the relationship between our families, then it won't."
Her gaze dimmed. "I hope so too."
Then she looked up and asked, "Jinhai, what do you think about Jun and Zhou Ai?"
He stared at her with a deep gaze. "I don't see any problem with it. Didn't you say that you liked Zhou Ai as well?"
She softly smiled. "Yes. She is a good girl. She is so calm and poised and very mature for her age."
He chuckled. "You were just like her at twenty-two."
Nana coughed hard. "I don't really think so."
"You were," Jinhai said with resolution in his voice, "Isn't that why I fell for you so hard?"
Her cheeks reddened furiously. "You…We are talking about Jun and Zhou Ai! Why are you bringing our time in between?" She cleared her throat and averted her gaze.
"And I like how you still get shy," his eyes twinkled.
Her mouth twitched. "You…"
Jinhai shook his head and stopped teasing his wife. "You don't have to worry about Jun. He has chosen a fine woman. As his parents, we just want to see him happy, right?"
He smiled and patted her cheek. "I will be back."
Jinhai closed the door behind him and walked towards Jin's room, his eyes squinting with an unreadable expression. When he reached near his door, he saw Nian just stepping out of his room.
"Yo, Dad!" He chirped.
Jinhai raised his brow.
Nian watched his gaze and shrugged. "I just thought to talk to Jin about what happened."
"And what did he say?" He calmly asked.
Nian sighed. "He was insisting that he likes Zhou Ai. Though I don't feel that is the case. Jian feels the same. I don't know what is going on, so I wanted some answers. But Jin was stubborn, so I might have gotten a little violent with him~"
Jinhai paused. "You hit him?"
Nian smiled. "Come on, Dad. You know me~ I don't like it when us siblings fight. I thought of making Jun and Jin talk together to sort out their differences. But he didn't wanna go," he shrugged. "And I don't like it when my cute siblings don't listen to me.
When the elder brother is saying something, they should just do as I say, or I get angry."
He said it casually with a grin on his lips, but his eyes were anything but smiling.
Jinhai stared at his son. "You better not have that attitude with Nuo."
Nian broke into a cold sweat. "Of course not. She is my sweetest sister. Also, I don't want to be fed to the sharks by you. I want to be alive, marry my cute Xing Bi and have lots of cute children with her!"
"...She is Zhou Ai's editor. Zhou Ai is a writer. She won last night's Authors' Summit and will work in Sky Publishing from now on."
Jinhai cocked his brow. "Interesting."
Since Ai and Xing Bi were related, he knew why Nian was invested in this matter.
"What do you feel about Jun and Zhou Ai's relationship?" New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel⟡fire.net
Nian glanced at him. "Sure, I was shocked like everybody else. It's still hard to believe that Shui won't be my sister-in-law. But Zhou Ai is a good woman too, though she is a sweets' murderer," his gaze darkened, "Anyway. I feel regretful for Jun and Shui. Jun has found himself a great woman.
I like her. I am sure Shui will find herself a great man too. I know our family will have a difficult time accepting Zhou Ai and since she is so close to Xing Bi, Xing Bi won't like it if we have reservations about Zhou Ai."
He smiled. "But I am not gonna let that affect MY relationship with her. Jun likes Zhou Ai, Jian and I like Zhou Ai and most importantly, Xing Bi treats her as her sister, so their relationship has my full support."