XueQing dropped her forehead into her palm. Exhausted, she sat down on the couch. If that truly was true, then there's no way JingYuan would let go once more. Naturally, their engagement was busted. If those two truly liked each other, she wouldn't fight with her beloved younger brother over a man. Anyway, she can't win. Only…
"Were you going to talk to my parents and brother about this downstairs just now?" XueQing asked in a deep voice.
"Of course. HanHan and I are together now. We can't sneak around. If I don't have their forgiveness and permission, HanHan will be upset," JingYuan replied.
"Has that icy-cool rational brain of your melted into goo?" XueQing said in an exasperated tone. She knocked her knuckles against her aching forehead. "We'd just said we were engaged. We were going to announce it to the world. Now, you say you're dating HanHan. What do you want them to think of you? And you still want their forgiveness and permission? It'd be a light punishment if they just beat you out the front door. Don't think about ever seeing HanHan then!"
JingYuan frowned. XueQing knew he was internally complaining about that rotten idea of hers. She raised a hand and said, "Okay. It's my fault. But I didn't know he likes you. I thought he was straight! And you said you wanted to protect him as a relative."
True. No one could've imagined the little guy actually liked him. This wasn't XueQing's fault.
"No matter what, we can't let HanHan suffer again," JingYuan said. The pain the little guy had gone through all enough was more than enough to make his heart bleed.
"How about this?" XueQing suggested. "Don't confess to my parents and Big Brother yet. Give it a few days. Then, I'll say I've moved my attentions to someone else and we'll cancel the engagement. You can tell them then. But you two are men. You can't come straight out about it. You've got to take it slow. Be subtle. Don't scare off my parents in the process."
"No way. Once that's done, your reputation would be ruined," JingYuan said.
"I don't even have a man. What's the darned point of being reputable?" XueQing huffed.
JingYuan was shocked by her sudden crude tone. It took a long while for him to recover. Only then did he answer, "XueQing, don't you realise? You don't actually like me that much."
"You not liking me is because of that darned bad eyesight. Based on what are you saying I don't like you?" XueQing shot back.
"What's your first reaction when you just found out I'm with HanHan now? Think back on it," JingYuan said.
What?
XueQing casted her mind back to a few moments ago. Of course, she was angry. She was afraid this bastard took advantage of her younger brother while he was incapacitated! How could she not?
"See? Your first reaction was to get angry on HanHan's behalf. If you really liked me, that wouldn't be the case. Your first reaction would be to get jealous," JingYuan said.
XueQing was stunned. That's true. Even afterwards, she just thought about how to clean up this mess so the two can successfully get together! She never thought about getting jealous! Could she really be a selfless saint? What a joke!
"I've said before. The liking you have for me is just the vague friendly attraction towards a strong person of your match. It isn't love. XueQing, you've never really had your heart stopped for anyone before. You don't know how it feels to truly love somebody. Just like TianYang. He can force himself to not wash his hand for over ten days just because you held that hand. He'd give a goofy grin just because you smiled at him. Have you ever felt like that before?" JingYuan pressed on.
XueQing shivered. "Why are you pulling him into this conversation? And to not wash his hand for over ten days? Don't you think that's disgusting?"