Before Jin could hear Shui's answer, Jun had already entered the room. Noticing the off atmosphere around him, he asked, "What's the matter?"
Which only made Jin panic inwardly. He begged Shui with his eyes not to tell him the truth.
Jun's eyes widened seeing the tears in Shui's eyes. "Why are you crying? What happened?" He quickly asked, concerned.
"Jun…" Her voice choked.
He saw the ruined drawing. "Oh. Is it because of this?"
Jin gulped even more now. His little body was trembling with fear and sweat. If he came to know the truth, then Jun would be definitely disappointed in him. He might not talk to him anymore.
"I splashed the paint by accident…" she sniffled.
Jin stiffened and widened his eyes. His head jerked towards her in disbelief.
"Oh…" Jun shook his head. "That's unfortunate. But that's nothing to cry over silly," he wiped her eyes. "Let's draw a new picture together!"
Shui pursed her lips. "But it was my most best drawing!"
He chuckled and patted her head. "Then we will draw your most best drawing once again. Nothing is impossible."
"Really?"
"Yes."
She beamed. "Okay!"
"Wait, let me bring some tissues for you."
Jun observed Jin's ghastly white face. "What happened to you, Jin? Why do you look so afraid?"
He straightened up and furiously shook his head. "Nothing!"
"Okay…if you say so," he ruffled his hair too.
Jin couldn't speak much after he left. More like, he wanted to thank Shui but he felt ashamed.
Shui pouted. "You have to give me chocolate for this!" She declared as she faced Jin, placing her hands on her hips. "Lots of chocolate!"
Jin bit his lip after he went through an almost heart attack. "...Why did you help me? I ruined your drawing…"
Shui blinked. "Because Jun will be angry at you. I don't want to see that. I want us to play together and be happy! I don't want to see Jun and Jin fighting!"
At that point, Jin felt extremely embarrassed at himself, who was supposed to be a year older than her and technically act more mature than her.
"I am the worst…" he mumbled.
*Flashback ends*
Jin smiled with menace in his eyes. "I remember that day perfectly well. You said that you wanted to see us happy together. You said…" he clutched her hand until it pained her, "that you didn't want to see Bro Jun and me fight. But then those words quickly lost their meaning, didn't they? You went back on your own words."
He gnashed his jaw, recalling how much Jun began to hate Jin after that birthday banquet in his banquet life.
"You became the reason why everything went wrong between us. You…everything is your damn fault," he wanted to scream and shout but with the banquet going on, he couldn't. "If not for you, then…Bro Jun would have never hated me so much. He wouldn't have had to suffer so much. You are the one who destroyed every single thing in our lives."
Shui couldn't grasp the meaning behind some of his words. "Hate? When did Jun hate you?"
Jin felt even more irked. He had a strong urge to reveal the past, but it would be useless.
"Doesn't matter if you understand it or not, Han Shui. It wouldn't change the fact that you broke his heart. My brother dedicated his life for you but instead…you only returned everything of that with pain. Lots and lots of pain. Heh. Did you think he broke up with you just like that? No. You completely disappointed him as a girlfriend."
She froze.
"You began to lie to avoid spending time with him. Fooling my brother with your pathetic excuses…did you ever stop to think how much it would hurt him?"
That struck her hard, and she couldn't retort because until now, she felt guilty for lying to Jun like that.
"And then…you have the fucking nerve to say that you love me?" His gaze looked blank but lethal. "Me? When you broke the heart of the person who is the most precious to me, for whose sake I bitterly accepted the fact that you will be the most important person to him, the man who only knew how to love you like crazy…did you really think that I will accept your disgusting feelings as if nothing ever happened? Bro Jun is my pride and after striking down my pride like that, you thought you will ever have any future with me? I am not sure if you are too gutsy or just a big fool."
Shui felt the distance even more widening between them. Jin was the closest to her right now but only physically. His heart was the farthest, at a point she believed she wouldn't be able to touch it at all. Their steps were in sync as they danced, but the emotions swirling in their eyes lay on two sides of a spectrum.
"Jin," her voice quivered. "I have always…always tried my best to be a good girlfriend to Jun. I admit I might have been a little stupid that day of lying to Jun. I still feel guilty of that. But did you think that I was enjoying doing that? Things were difficult for me as they were difficult for Jun."
Jin's countenance darkened even further. "Say that again…"
—
On the other side, Jun, who saw Jin dance with Shui, couldn't believe his eyes. Not only Jin came to the banquet, but he agreed to dance with Shui too despite how much he claimed he hated her. He had been worried that he would abandon her midway just to humiliate her, but he was relieved he didn't do that.
"What's wrong? Am I not dancing properly?" His dance partner, Xing Bi, asked.
"Ah? No, you are dancing just fine. I am sorry. I was thinking about something else."
"Ai's partner?" She chuckled.
His brow twitched. "Not really…"
But in fact, Jun's eyes were searching for Ai and that man who she would dance with.
Xing Bi caught something on her left and exclaimed. "Found Ai!"
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