Sophie thanked Junwei to drop her home and again asked her if it was necessary to keep the shoot tomorrow. "Eun Jae is in Beijing for one day only," she attempted to convince Junwei to shift the shoot.
"Don't you want your public reputation to turn better?" Junwei tilted his head and asked her. "Also, the earlier I free you from the work, the better it is for me. The launch event is near and I want everything to go perfectly. You had no contact with Eun Jae for two years and suddenly, you want to spend time with him," he remarked, hiding his annoyance behind it.
"I don't want to spend time with him. Be careful of your words," Sophie proclaimed and decided to see Eun Jae in the evening. She opened the car's door and stepped out. Without bidding him goodbye, she walked ahead.
Junwei snickered and started the engine to drive back home. While driving, he got a call from Alex, who was in the office.
"I have finished the model with the help of the Chief programmer. I will send you the draft of its working," Alex said from the other side.
"Sure. I will check once I reach home," Junwei answered.
"Are you driving?" Alex queried.
"Yes," Junwei replied. "Mom is alone at home. See you tomorrow," he said and disconnected the call. Shortly, he arrived at his home and found his mother didn't go to bed.
"You should have slept by now," Junwei said as he halted near the couch.
"I thought to wait for you," Katie said and asked him if he could spare a few minutes.
Junwei sat on the couch across from her and asked her if she again wanted to talk about his marriage. "If yes, then Mom already knows my answer," he proclaimed.
"Jun, I wanted to talk about Sophie," Katie said.
"What about her?" Junwei nonchalantly asked.
"She doesn't have parents. They both passed away a long time ago," Katie said.
Junwei's brows creased, indicating that he felt he had treated Sophie wrongly when he rudely told her not to shower fake love on his mother during dinner.
Katie read her son's facial expressions and sensed he realized his mistake. "Sophie feels at home when she's with us. I know you think she is sticking to us because she has feelings for you, but that is not true. She comes here because she misses being at home," Katie proclaimed, keeping her tone gentle.
"Did Sophie tell Mom all this?" Junwei queried.
"She only told me about her parents, nothing more. But as a mother I could see in her eyes," Katie replied. "Don't stop her from coming here. She misses her parents," she added.
Junwei hummed in response. "I understand," he said and rose to his feet.
"Sophie likes you. Don't you think you should take a step toward her?" Katie suggested to him. "We are not happy, Jun, to see you suffer every day," she added.
"Mom, we have talked about this already," Junwei answered and told her he would go to sleep since tomorrow he had a lot of work to finish. "Goodnight, Mom," he said and walked away.
Katie sighed because once again her son didn't listen to her.
Junwei shut the room door and placed the keys on the table. He went to the bed and lay on it. Resting his forearm above her forehead, he closed his eyes. "How to make them understand that it's not easy to fall in love again. What if the person whom I started loving dies too?" He whispered.
~~~~~
The next morning, Junwei got ready for the office. As he came to have breakfast, he found his grandfather seated on the chief chair. "Good morning, Grandpa. When did you return?" Junwei asked and then greeted his mother.
"I returned an hour ago," Grandpa Yu said and picked up the newspaper. Adjusting the glasses on his eyes, he started reading the day's news. Junwei got busy on the phone, checking important messages.
"This news is quite interesting. A man in Shanghai found love for the 10th time. After getting betrayed in love, he didn't stop believing in love and finally found the love of his life," Grandpa Yu pronounced and glanced in Junwei's direction.
Katie smiled to hear the way Grandpa Yu was pronouncing the news.
"I wonder when my grandson will find love," Grandpa Yu mocked Junwei, who lifted his head from looking at the screen and gazed at his grandfather.
"The man seems a fraud to me to stay in the news," Junwei remarked.
"How do you know? He has finally found his lady love," Grandpa Yu stated. "Yesterday, my both friends asked about you," he added.
"Why is everyone want to see me married man? Your one of friends couldn't stay in his marriage for long and married for the fourth time. Grandpa should stop seeing such friends, who are not loyal in love," Junwei remarked.
Katie told Junwei not to ruin his mood in the morning. She served breakfast to them and took her seat.
"I have decided to send you on the dates. If you refuse this time, I will think you do not respect me," Grandpa Yu pronounced and placed the newspaper aside.
"Grandpa, please," Junwei got annoyed with his grandfather's behavior.
"I have waited enough. Today evening you will go on a date with Miss Han Feifei. If you refuse to go there, I will consider you see us as nothing. I don't want to listen to anyone on this," Grandpa Yu said, gazing at Katie.
Junwei chuckled and finished his meal. His mother made breakfast with so much love, so he didn't want to waste it.
"Jun, don't you want to eat more?" Katie asked.
"No. I am done," Junwei said and turned to leave when his grandfather reminded Junwei of his date.
"Grandpa, nothing is going to change. I will refuse until the very end. I won't marry in this life," he pronounced in anger.
"I want your good, Jun," Grandpa Yu said in a stern tone.
"Fixing my date with any random woman will never make me feel good. I hate the word 'love'. I hate myself, Grandpa. Let me live like this, or else you'll lose your grandson," Junwei affirmed and walked away.
Katie placed her hand on her forehead as tears filled her eyes. "Jun said he hated himself," she murmured.
"We need to do something about this, Katie. I don't want to lose my grandson just because Fang Jiao is dead," Grandpa Yu said with determination etching his voice.