Liu villa.
Jinhai was in the kitchen, making a delicious breakfast for Nana. But he was in a daze as he was stirring the soup.
The maids were a nervous wreck seeing their first young master cooking in the kitchen.
“That’s some nice smell!”
Liu Hai chirped and entered the kitchen. “Ho, Ho! I see a husband is sincerely cooking breakfast for his lovely wife. Let me have a taste!”
Jinhai slapped his hand away. He said with an icy voice. “It is for Nana only.”
Liu Hai whined. “A spoonful won’t harm you, stupid son.”
He noticed that Jinhai was out of sorts. He signaled the maids to leave. The maids bowed and promptly left.
“Is there a problem?”
When Jinhai said everything that happened with Huian in the banquet, Liu Hai turned grave.
“That is, indeed, a serious mistake Jinhai on our part.”
Liu Hai also felt guilty for not realizing it sooner. “But Nana didn’t believe her. That is good for us.” He slightly tilted his head. “But…are you feeling guilty that she believed you?”
Jinhai’s silence gave away the answer.
“Nana…asked me if I was hiding something from her. It was because of something else, but I couldn’t look her in the eye when I lied.”
Liu Hai sighed.
“Jinhai, perhaps…I know this is difficult, but I think you should tell her the truth.”
Jinhai looked at him in shock. But more than shock, there was fear and dread in his gaze.
“No! I can’t tell her.”
“Dad!” It was Jing who came in, with the same expression that was present on his brother’s face. “Are you crazy!? We cannot say anything!”
Liu Hai had expected that reaction. But for both of his son’s happy future, he had to say this.
“Jing, I am not crazy. And Jinhai, I think it is better that you say it. It is still not too late.”
“Dad. It is not only about that night. I would have confessed if it was only about the kidnapping incident. But what about that happened in Chen banquet? If I tell the truth, then I also have to confess about the Chen banquet planning. I cannot confess one mistake and hide another. It is all or nothing.”
Jing nodded furiously. “Can you even imagine what Yukito will do if he comes to know that I had a hand in what happened in that banquet’s night? He will give a solid punch on my face, not that I mind, but the most important thing is that he will break up with me!”
Jing started sweating even with the thought of it.
Liu Hai sighed. “I am saying this for your own good, the two of you.”
Jinhai said, fear laced on his voice. “No, dad…I don’t think Nana will forgive me for that. Dad…I-I don’t want to lose her. She will leave me.”
His hand holding the mixing spoon was slightly trembling.
Liu Hai stared at him and said, “Jinhai. Serena also didn’t tell her anything. And you know what happened.”
Jinhai stiffened. He anxiously clenched his jaw. Jing pursed his lips.
“She broke her trust. Perhaps the situation would have been better if she had come clean. Don’t make that same mistake-“
“No!” He cut him off.
Jinhai took a deep breath. “I don’t want to talk about it, Dad. I can lose anything but Nana. Even a moment feels like an eternity if I don’t see her by my side.”
Jinhai laid out the breakfast on the tray and was about to leave.
“After waiting for so long, she is finally here with me. From the moment I saw her the first time…when she handed me those cookies on that day…I wanted her to be with me.”
He quietly looked at his father.
“My wife doesn’t need to know anything.”
As he left, Jing was equally adamant. “Bro is right. They don’t need to know anything. It’s…it’s fine the way things are now.”
Jing also left with a sour mood.
Liu Hai sighed again.
I just hope that everything turns out to be alright.
—
In the bedroom, Nana was absent-mindedly fiddling with the baby clothes. Since she came back from the hospital, she has subtly avoided talking to Jinhai.
“I’m not hiding anything from you, Nana.”
At the table side, there was a photo frame. She picked it in her hands and stared at it. It was a picture clicked outside the marriage bureau when they got their red booklets.
She brushed her fingers on the photo, recalling all the happy memories that they shared.
I will ask Jinhai once more…Maybe this time he will say it.
After resting for a bit, Nana got up and opened the cupboard. She was going through some of her old clothes that she thought she could donate in the orphanage.
Among the stack, she picked a yellow dress. She smiled. It was a gift by the twins she had got five years back on her birthday. It was their gift they had bought from their hard-earned money from working in part-time jobs.
But lately, for a year or more, she didn’t get the chance to wear it again. She softly sighed and put it aside. It was their precious gift, so she wanted to keep it with her.
But then she recalled that she saw a picture of herself, wearing the same dress in Jinhai’s phone one day.
Something didn’t feel right to her. Something didn’t make sense to her.
Wait…how does Jinhai have that photo? I have never worn it since last year or more since it’s stitching came out. That was before the time I met Jinhai.
She thought about it carefully. She knew about all the pictures that the twins clicked on occasions. But she didn’t remember about that particular picture.
“Yukito!” She called out.
Yukito was nearby, so he quickly came. “Nee-chan?”
He opened the door and peeked inside.
“Ah, come inside. I want to ask you something.”
Yukito sat by her side.
“Did you ever click a photo of mine where I wore this yellow dress? I was working in Natsukashi?”
Yukito thought about it and frowned. “I don’t think so. I have all the photos here.”
He took out his phone. Nana browsed through the album on his phone but didn’t find that particular photo. She saw all her pictures with that yellow dress which she had already seen them before. But the one where she was serving a customer, she didn’t find it.
Yukito asked, “Any problem, Nee-chan?”
Nana snapped out. “Eh? Nothing…Did you give Jinhai any other pictures of mine?”
He shook his head. “No. I never gave him any photos.”
“Yukira?
“Not him either. He would have told me. And then he would have forced me to go through all the photos with him and reminisce our memories.” He laughed.
“I see…”
She smiled. “How is it going with Jing?”
Yukito rolled his eyes. “He is so childish. Sometimes I don’t understand who is older between the two of us. He is harping about going on a trip lately, but he has an important project to make a designer dress, and he legit wants to ditch it to have fun.”
Nana laughed.
“That means everything is going well.”
Yukito shrugged.
“I am happy for you. And I hope that you always stay happy like that with Jing.”
They heard footsteps and saw Jinhai coming in breakfast.
The smile on Nana’s lips disappeared.
Yukito grinned. “Well, I will leave you two lovebirds alone.”
As he left, Jinhai sat on the bed beside Nana. He kept the tray aside. “What are you doing with the clothes?”
Nana replied, her tone a little emotionless. “Just sorting them out.”
Jinhai felt a little weird. He smiled and brought breakfast. “Here. I have brought soup and tried egg rolls today. Tell me how they are.”
He picked one in between the chopsticks and brought it near her lips.
Nana was not in the mood; nevertheless, she still ate it.
Jinhai was patiently waiting for her judgment. He just hoped that he didn’t ruin it.
Nana understood his expectant gaze. “…It’s really nice.”
Jinhai felt relieved and proud of himself.
Nana said, “I was looking through the clothes today and found this yellow dress. It was a gift twins gave me.”
Jinhai warmly said, “En. It is pretty. Your brothers have a good choice.”
“Indeed. I love it. And then I remembered that I saw my picture on your phone where I was wearing that dress in Natsukashi, but I don’t have it in my album collection. I searched for it everywhere. Where did you get it?”
Jinhai stiffened.
Nana genuinely asked about it because she was puzzled about it. If she never wore it since the time she met him and the twins didn’t give him any other photos either, then she was just really curious from where he got that photo.
Jinhai’s smile slightly faltered. “…Oh, that photo! Yukira gave it to me.”
Nana froze. She blinked her eyes twice.
“Yukira?”
“Yes. I asked him once to give me some nice photos if he had of you. It was in one of them.”
Nana looked at him, expressionless.
Once again, you are lying, Jinhai.
Why…?
