238 The source of Ai's anger management tactics
Jun wholeheartedly wanted their approval. He couldn’t measure the happiness when Xie Nuying and Zhou Yichen accepted him for Ai. But he knew that something was missing. He couldn’t feel at peace, and a strange anxiety tugged his heart.
That’s when Jun decided that he had to come out with his relationship with Shui. It wasn’t supposed to be hidden anyway so before they learned it from somebody else and doubted Jun’s sincerity for Ai, he confessed it himself. He wished them to accept him with his past just like Ai did.
The silence was deafening as Jun still kept his head bowed. After listening about Shui, Zhou Yichen and Xie Nuying might not approve of Jun anymore. As parents, he knew it was understandable. Even if they would say now that they don’t want him for Ai anymore, he had steeled his heart to not give up.
His heart hammered in his chest, imagining their disappointed looks.
“Raise your head,” Jun heard Zhou Yichen’s voice.
He did so and found them gazing straight at him with a solemn expression. Ai on his side was trembling with tears in her eyes. Her cheeks were reddish as she sniffled.
Jun quickly wiped her cheeks. “Why are you crying?”
She pressed her lips together. “You don’t know? Then you are an idiot.”
“…”
“Jun-cute.”
Jun stiffened and brought his attention back to her parents. He couldn’t gauge their thoughts at all and could only anxiously wait for the judgement.
“You are really gutsy, I must admit that,” he narrowed his eyes, “especially after we already accepted you. Is that your way of tricking us? Confessing after getting our approval so that we feel in a pinch?”
Jun swallowed a gulp and hastily shook his head. “No. I didn’t plan anything like that or meant to fool you. I will accept your decision even if it might be rejecting me. But I won’t give up on Ai.”
Xie Nuying grimly asked, “So, you will keep meeting Han Shui in the future as well?”
“Our families have known each other for years, so I might see her from time to time in banquets and parties, but-“
“What if I say to cut off everything with her? Even your friendship?”
“I will do it,” Jun answered without hesitation. “The only distance between us is that of friendship. I will cut it off as well. I will do anything to reassure you that my love for Ai won’t waver at any point in time. I will do anything you ask me to. I just want Ai and nothing else. If that means cutting off my relations with Shui and the Han family, then I will do it.”
“Hmmmmm….” Zhou Yichen scrutinized Jun with a thoughtful and pensive gaze.
Jun noticed the doubts and uncertainty surfacing in their eyes, which led him to believe that he was honestly screwed this time.
That was before Zhou Yichen finally burst into a loud laughter. “Hahahahaha. I am so sorry for bullying you, Jun-cute. But you were just too adorable not to tease~”
Jun blankly looked between them. “B-Bully?”
Xie Nuying softly chuckled as well to which Ai was dissatisfied. “Stop it. You two are really mean.”
Zhou Yichen cleared his throat. “Don’t be mad, Ai-chan. He is family now. A little bit of bullying here and there is permissible hehe…”
Ai narrowed her eyes, and he shut his mouth.
Jun asked in a stupor, “I don’t understand. Are you not angry at me?”
Zhou Yichen shook his head. “No, Jun-cute. All the stuff we babbled after you raised your head was just a bluff! Hahaha!”
“…”
Xie Nuying nodded. “I was just joking as well. I don’t demand you to break your friendship with her. You already proved your sincerity by bowing your head. You were not asked to, yet you genuinely did it. Your voice was trembling as you spoke. It showed how much you treasure Ai and how much you want her. That gave me all the assurance I needed.”
Zhou Yichen smiled. “Though I don’t want to agree with her, she is right.”
“I am always right,” she countered.
His brow twitched.
“Moving on…”
Her brow twitched this time.
“I understand you had someone else in your life before. That is your past and everybody has one. Nobody has control over it. What matters is how you live your life in the present and future. I want Ai-chan to be your present and your future unreservedly. For a rich, young master who can get any woman if he just asks for it to show such respect to us by bowing your head cannot make me any happier, Jun-cute.”
Jun shook. He still found it unbelievable that they agreed to let him date Ai.
“Hahaha! You are really cute. I get it why Ai-chan says you are cute!”
“…”
Jun’s heart was filled with anger and grievance.
This whole family…
“I am sorry. It was a serious talk but…but, it’s really fun to tease you so much!”
Xie Nuying couldn’t control the twitch of her lips that was forming a smile.
Fun to tease you…
Jun remembered Jian and Nian’s faces, and his gaze darkened.
Zhou Yichen waved his hand. “Aish, you look angry. Here, take this balloon and blow air into it.”
Jun was utterly baffled but did as he was told anyway. The pink balloon slowly took a round shape, and he felt breathless by the end of it.
Zhou Yichen laughed. “See now you don’t feel angry anymore, right? Why would you? You used all your anger into blowing up the balloon, so you have no energy left to be angry anymore! Brilliant, isn’t it?”
“…”
Jun stared at him dryly. He glanced at Ai and said, “I now understand who is the source of your weird anger management tricks.”
Ai blushed. “Thank you.”
He gritted his teeth.
It wasn’t a compliment!
Suddenly, Jun lamented upon his fate.
Ai with her weirdness was already enough for me that two more weird people are added into the mix now.
Why? Why, God, just why?