The dinner ended on an awkward note with Xia Biming promising to think about it and grandmother Xue persisting Xue Changmin to be serious about making things go according to her plans. After dinner, everyone bid each other goodbye before heading to their own respective homes.
Xue Changmin decided to head home with his family to the Xue mansion. When they arrived, his grandmother would not stop nagging him to start planning on how to make Xia Biming fall for him. She was confident that her grandson would be able to do it.
He felt conflicted since Xia Biming seemed so against the idea. He couldn't completely wrap his mind around it either. And with the big project starting with the oil company in northern Europe, he also felt strained.
He went to bed not knowing what to do. He liked Xia Biming, but her hesitation held him back too. He thought that she was an amazing girl, but what did she think of him? And he did not want to cross the line with one his best friends, Xia Huanting. This was his little sister. If he broke her heart or vice versa, they would still have to face each other in the future.
He thought back about his first serious relationship four years ago. Before he met that girl, he was also a playboy himself. He and Wang Xuan would go bar hopping and he would end up with a different girl every time. That only lasted about a year before he met her at a coffee shop.
She worked there as a barista trying to make ends meet. He thought it was love at first sight and asked her on a date after going to that coffee shop everyday for a month. Their romance was a whirlwind. He spoiled her in every way could by buying her expensive gifts and taking her out for dinner. His grandmother was very against this girl. She told him to be careful around her.
But how could he listen when he was so infatuated with her. He fell so hard for her that he didn't see all the red flags. Oh, young love. After being with her for a little over a year, he decided to take her on a special trip to take their relationship to the next level.
That night, he confessed his profound feelings for her. She told him she felt the same. He was so happy he couldn't see the lies in her every breath. That night he made love to her and only wanted her for the rest of his life. When he woke up, she had already packed her things to go back home. She stood there waiting for him to listen to her.
She told him that he was a mistake in her life. That she would go away without telling anyone anything, if he gave her a million dollars. He asked if anyone has forced her to do this.
He was sure of their love. He was like a madman making phone calls to his grandparents and father asking if they were threatening or forcing the girl to break up with him. They all had no idea what he was talking about, they were heartbroken that their beloved child would think that way of them.
After he made those calls, he turned back to her and asked her why. She told him that she never loved him. She only pretended to so she could get money from him. She needed money from him to run away with her true love. The man she had been in love with for over four years.
They were planning to move to the United States and start over, away from their hateful families. But first, they needed money. So she constructed this evil plan of hers. But then she saw how wonderful Xue Changmin treated her and started to feel guilty. Her lover originally wanted her to ask for five million, but out of her guilt and shame she was only able to ask for one million.
Today, Xue Changmin was a changed man. He hated that version of himself. He learned from it and observed people closer before he interacted with them. He realized how wrong he was. He had long forgotten about that awful woman, but the pain from his own stupidity lingered. There was so amount of love left for that person. Just a healed wound from his childish actions.
He fell asleep with a troubled mind that night.
On the other side of the city, Xia Biming didn't know how to feel either. She felt like she was being forced into a cage by the elder's wants. She didn't want to do what they said. She wanted to focus on herself and her company. It was a crucial time for growth.
She readied herself for bed but kept thinking if the future would turn out alright. Would it be so wrong to date Xue Changmin? Was she being selfish? But from what Wang Xuan and Fang An Xi told her on the night of her birthday celebration, she faltered.
While they ate cake that night, they told her stories of how Xue Changmin used to be a playboy. How he would charm girls into getting in bed with him. And then they told her about his past love and his broken heart. Wang Xuan said he disappeared to train for a couple of years. Those years matched with what Changmin had told her too.
She didn't want to be in a relationship and still ponder about the love she was giving. Was she willing to start a relationship so soon? What if she ended up falling for Changmin? She was so afraid of what could happen.
She felt very unsure of what to do. She was still healing herself from her own heartbreak. Although she didn't feel sad about separating with Yu Tianhao anymore, she still was not ready to unlock her heart. She quickly built a wall around her heart and grew an unkempt path to it in such a short amount of time.
She was sure that if she went through another heartbreak, she would not survive.
She would not survive, especially if that breaker was Xue Changmin.