Alix stiffened and imdiately backed away two steps. Realization then hit her that she might have acted very rudely by stepping away like that as if Jin was so deadly virus.
"I am sorry."
"For?"
"You are not so virus."
His brow twitched heavily.
"...Glad that misunderstanding got cleared."
Silence reigned.
For a mont, Jin felt lighter with their small banter, as if things between them were just like before.
On Alix's side, she had no clue what to do with her half-turned body which partially faced Jin and partially faced away from him.
*ow*
Suddenly, two cats gathered near her feet, staring at her with their beautiful irises.
"...Hey."
Ai-chan rubbed her cheek against her leg, her warmth reminding her of the original Ai back in the room.
"They are really similar…" she muttered.
"They are indeed."
For so unknown reason, she couldn't look him straight in the eye so she focused on his jawline and asked, "...You are not at the office?"
He smiled. "You didn't want here?"
Yes, because facing you is harder, she pressed her lips tightly.
Jin wasn't expecting an answer to his question so instead, he asked, "Were you lucky to feel my niece's kick?"
Her gaze turned complicated at that, recalling the indecipherable feeling of that mont when she had touched Ai's belly.
"Yes," she whispered.
She then paused. "You know it's going to be a niece?"
He humd. "Just my hunch. If it turns out to be right, then it will be a big celebration here."
He saw the question mark on top of her head.
"Daughters have always been a rarity in our family."
She frowned.
Really?
She then backtracked the family tree, with Jinhai and Jing, then Jinhai and Nana's children with four sons and one daughter and then the next generation where the only daughter until now was Nian and Xing Bi's daughter, Yina.
Ah, I see the pattern.
"Were you…"
Her daze fell apart and she blinked.
"Were you crying when you bumped into ?"
Alix stared at him and responded with a firm disagreent. "No."
"Your eyes look redder."
"So dust-"
"As an editor once upon a ti, shouldn't you co up with novel excuses and not cliche ones?"
Her expression twisted with a glint of danger. "Don't bring up the past."
"But you brought it up by telling about your identity."
"That was to open your eyes to reality."
Jin pursed his lips and stared at her unblinkingly.
"But it doesn't seem that you are looking at the sa reality that I am seeing."
She clenched her fists. "My eyes were wide open from the beginning. You don't have to remind of my blunders."
"I am not talking about your mistakes. I am talking about Cai Guiying who still misses you. On the contrary, she doesn't want to forget about you."
He heard that? She inwardly felt her blood freeze.
She smiled. "Guiying was always an emotional idiot."
"...But Zhou Ai is not an emotional idiot. Will you say the sa thing about her who knows who you really are?"
Alix stared at him, stunned as if just zapped by a million volts of electricity.
"...She knows I am Z-Zhan Yah…? No, that's not possible. She acted just like how she always acts around Ren Alix."
"She knows."
Her heart dropped as if violently thrashing against her ribcage. She suddenly grabbed his collar, fury shining in her eyes.
"Why did you tell her!?" She strained to keep her voice low. "I told you because I had no choice. But why did you babble everything out to Zhou Ai? You told her the woman who killed her is alive in sobody else's body? Have you lost it? She is all living a happy married life so she has no business knowing about my existence!"
"But she is not seeing it that way," Jin calmly said despite the dread in Alix's eyes.
"If she had seen it that way, then she wouldn't have wanted you to feel her baby's kick. She wouldn't have wanted you to be close to her or Ailun."
Her gaze darkened. "What nonsense are you-"
"You can ask her yourself. You might find an answer.. similar to what Cai Guiying gave you just now."
She froze.
Jin slowly pressed his hand on the back of hers that had been grabbing to his collar.
"You assu that my family won't accept you but Zhou Ai did. Did you really feel that she was forcing herself to like you just now? Or that she half-heartedly asked you to teach Ailun?"
"If she really did what she did knowing who I am, then I am more tempted to take it as pity rather than acceptance," she gritted her teeth. "So stop manipulating !"
He stared at her. "She is watching the woman who saved her child's life, not pitying a past ghost. We are reborn, Alix, which is exactly why everybody wants to cherish the present. In redemption - whether it was us who had made mistakes or you."
She angrily sneered. "So this is just all a way to fool and make accept your love?"
"This is a way to show you what my family will see in you and not what you think they will see in you. I want to clear your fog of misguided assumptions about yourself."
He lifted her hand that released her grip over his collar and gently pressed it against her cheek. His gaze bore into hers, steady and unflinching.
"I want you to see it crystal clear of how my family feels about you and how I feel about you. You think you can hide behind your sins and run away from , but the Lius' are very good at chasing."
She watched his unwavering irises, dumbfounded.
"You cannot be serious about…the possibility of our…relationship?"
"I am. I love you, and I will do everything in my power to have you reciprocate my love. You can try running away from but," he smiled faintly, "I am afraid that will be a fruitless attempt."
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