After a whole lot of explaining, the answer was as Jun had expected.
"No...I never saw any sort of a golden clock or heard any voices."
Ai said, "Maybe it's about visiting the place again where died. Since Jin never visited the church where he was shot, maybe he didn't witness that phenomenon. For us it was Dream High, for Jin it maybe the-"
"I am not gonna go to see the church," the gnashing of his teeth was audible. "I will never go to that place again, which reminds me of...Han Shui. I don't want to have anything to do with that reminds me of her!"
Jun and Ai exchanged silent glances. He was about to speak when Ai intervened. "There is a possibility of learning something about our past lives. If you also hear those voices, you might get to know a missing piece of the puzzle."
"...This is a waste of time," his voice grew further icy.
"Not when it's connected to our past lives. Not when we can learn if somebody was pulling our strings to work for him as if we were puppets."
A tense silence stretched for some time after which Jin acceded but grudgingly so. "I will let you know if I find something," he hung up soon after that.
Jun sighed. "We shouldn't have forced him."
"I know what you would have said to drop the idea. That's why I intervened. Sometimes, you spoil him a lot," she pointed out.
"I...don't."
"You do," she shook her head. "If he wants to know the truth, he will need to step out of his comfort zone, or he will never be able to accept it once it comes out. And if Shui was really not at fault for what she did, then it becomes all the more necessary that he realizes. Punishing someone when they are innocent is unfair."
"You are right," he nodded.
"En. There is something else too that I saw today."
He blinked. "What?"
"Guiying. I saw her at Dream High today which is of course not surprising. What was shocking was her behavior."
He furrowed his brows. "Behavior? In what way?"
"She was smoking," Ai looked somber. "Never in my life did I see her doing that. She cannot even stand the smell of cigarettes. But she was smoking so easily like...she is so used to it. Just the smell would make her cough so much, but today she looked like an expert."
He felt it odd as well. "That's strange...Maybe she started smoking and for long enough that she got used to it? Though it doesn't feel right to me."
She nodded. "Not just that. She also addressed me as Zhou Ai. She never calls me by my full name, neither do I call her Cai Guiying. It felt so weird. The tone with which she said it was also very...different."
Ai frowned. "For some reason it felt as if I was talking to a different person today though she was definitely Guiying. I am not sure how to express my feelings any clearer than this."
Jun remembered the mystical elderly woman at the carnival talking about a different shadow in Guiying. At that time, he didn't understand that.
Is what Ai saying related to that? A different shadow? Somebody different within her...?
"Let's find that out. I think what you felt by talking to Cai Guiying today is, we might be onto something."
Ai sighed. "I don't understand it so well myself either."
He smirked. "That's why we are working together, isn't it? To figure things out together."
Ai beamed and kissed him on his cheek. "Yes."
Jun pulled her waist and kissed her lips, deepening it as he dug his fingers further into her soft hair. "Let's do something more than just kissing on cheeks," he meaningfully smiled.
"But who will feed the cat?" Ai gasped, remembering the cat was still at his same place on the crescent swing.
"..."
Ai flew past Jun like a breeze and hopped over to the cat's side who sat more alert with an incoming figure. "Are you hungry?" She softly asked.
The cat answered her question with a hiss.
"Zhou Ai!" Jun glared at her. "It's not been even an entire day since the cat came, and you are already dismissing me!"
She complained. "I didn't. I was just concerned if he was hungry."
A vein popped. "That. Is. Called. As. Dismissing! If things remain like this, then forget about adopting the cat! Let's start and end the discussion here. I will not allow pets in this house!"
She breathed in shockingly. "You are so cruel towards such a cute cat. Do you have any heart?"
He sneered. "Not when my girlfriend prefers to cuddle an animal instead of her boyfriend."
The cat yawned with their banter.
Humans always talk so much.
He hopped out of the swing to search for another peaceful place to settle.
--
Jin hopped in his car the next morning after a lengthy and tiring meeting with none other than Zhou Yichen. His energy and enthusiasm drained all of his energy and enthusiasm. It didn't help that Shui was present too.
Just thinking about going to the church irked him to no point. He clutched the steering wheel and breathed out.
Let's get this over with...
He was about to when Zhou Yichen's chirpy voice came from the other side. "Jini-boy!"
Jin threw him a deadly glare and it grew even more murderous seeing Shui beside him.
"You are going for lunch, right? Take Shui with you too~"
Shui smiled and said, "No, Uncle. I will be fine. I am heading another way."
She could already feel Jin's disdain oozing out of his aura.
"Oh is it? Then let Jini-boy drop you wherever you are going," he chirped.
Jin forcibly said, "Someone else can do it."
"Why should somebody else do it when her childhood friend is here?"
No answer.
"Come on. Don't think so much," he chuckled and pushed Shui into his car.
"U-Uncle, I will be-"
But Zhou Yichen didn't listen and already waved his hand goodbye. "See you later, Jini-boy!"
Jin had no choice but to unwillingly leave while carrying a gaze full of murderous expression.
Zhou Yichen rubbed his chin, feeling proud of himself.
"What do you want to achieve by doing this?" Jinhai's quiet voice echoed as he silently stepped beside him.
Zhou Yichen cocked his brow. "You must have noticed it too. Jini-boy's hostility towards Shui."
"Yes."
"I don't know what is wrong between them when they are supposed to be good friends. But what I do know is that nothing will be sorted out if Jini-boy just keeps on avoiding Shui. He needs to talk things out. The problem won't necessarily solve within a day, but misconceptions and misunderstandings shouldn't be allowed to fester for long. Otherwise, it becomes too late. I don't want Jini-boy to make that mistake and regret later on."
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