Chapter 713 Last main extra: A hope for a new beginning
Three months later.
"Waaaaaahhh!"
A wail sounded in the middle of the night that was a call for another round of milk time.
"This is a dream…" Ai mumbled in her sleep. "This cry cannot be real. I am asleep."
Jun, too, woke up with his son's cry, big drops of tears filling his small hazel brown eyes. He smiled and kissed the top of his head. "So why is Ailun crying this time?"
He heard Ai mumbling to herself and sighed. He could understand her denial mode because the dark circles under her eyes told the painful sobbing story of her sleepless nights. It had hardly been three hours since she peacefully stepped into her lala land when Ailun dropped his signal again.
"He must not be hungry. You had a filling milk meal, didn't you?" He tickled his stomach.
He took a look at his diaper and nodded his head in understanding. Ai struggled to open her eyes and with them lift her sleepy body too. Jun gently pushed her back to bed and said, "You sleep. Diaper change time. I will do it."
"Ah…okay. Jun, did I ever tell you how much I love you?" She mumbled amidst her closing eyelids. "You are a hero…All…hail to Jun…cute…" she lethargically raised her cheery arm halfway which collapsed soon enough.
Jun chuckled. "You are the true hero, silly."
He quickly changed the diaper for which he had achieved Godspeed in a short period of just three months. Ailun's wails stopped as soon as comfort graced him again. His lips burst into a giggle, and he flailed his arms towards his father.
Jun took him in his arms and went outside for a short walk to lull him back to sleep. He slowly trotted along the corridor humming and rocking him against his chest. He came across Jin's room, whose door was slightly ajar with a flicker of light seeping out.
Jun knocked and a moment later, Jin opened the door. "Bro. You are up so late- oh must be Ailun," he chuckled.
Jun-cute and Ai-chan craned their necks from their royal pillows. Ai-chan hopped to his side, meowing merrily at Ailun's sight.
"Hey Ai-chan," Jun bent and ruffled her fur.
She nuzzled her face against his leg in return. Jun-cute snorted at the other side.
Jun noticed the mess on the bed. Clothes were sprawled on one side, pants and belts and ties on the other.
Jin coughed. "There is a lot of packing to do. I am almost done though."
Tomorrow was going to be the day when Jin would leave for Paris to learn business management under the guidance of his maternal grandfather. Needless to say, when Jin had announced his decision months ago, it did leave everybody in shock. Everything was going fine with Jinhai, but he suddenly decided to go abroad.
Jinhai, Nana and the siblings immediately understood that his decision had nothing to do with his education or training but only an escape way to steer clear of Shui. There was no way Jin could fool them. The twins were so furious that they almost beat him into a pulp had Jun and Nuo not stepped in between.
Jinhai and Nana had nothing much to say when Jin looked so determined and unyielding.
Nana had said, "I respect all your decisions as long as they are right and make you happy. I know for sure that this isn't a happy decision no matter how much you say otherwise. But I won't resist nor will Jinhai because sometimes even we as parents become helpless. Sometimes, only time helps to heal the wounds."
At present, Jin took Ailun from Jun's arms and tickled his neck. Ailun burst into a melodious laughter, brushing his chubby palm against his chin.
"Will you help me pack my stuff, Ailun?"
With a beaming light in his eyes, Ailun looked all ready. "Baa..aaaa…"
Jun could only stare at his younger brother with mixed emotions in his deep brown orbs. "Are you really sure about this?"
Jin didn't flinch. "Yup."
"You do understand what you are getting into, right? By the time you get back, you might not find yourself in Shui's heart anymore. It will be too late to regret that time."
Jun still didn't have a complete picture of what exactly Jin had done so wrong in the past to hurt that it made him go so far to take such an extreme decision to run away from his love. Jin never deeply talked about that part nor did Jun force him. But Jun could make a fair guess.
If his past life's regret of hurting Shui was so deep and shameful that he felt he didn't deserve to be with her even in this second chance, then Jun could think of only one mistake that possibly fit in this scenario.
Sleeping with another woman.
Having a physical relationship with someone else was the most hurtful thing anybody could put a person through who loved them so dearly. By this point, Jun was fairly certain that what he had guessed was most definitely true.
To a great extent, Jun did understand Jin's struggle and self-loathing. Even imagining himself with any woman other than Ai was a sin to him. If even by mistake, Jun happened to touch another woman that way, he too knew that he would never be able to forgive himself even if Ai would.
But he never spoke to Jin about it because Jun knew that he didn't want that conversation. And this wasn't something where Jun would be able to help him with even if he wanted to. Only Shui could free Jin of his guilt, but now he was running away from that too.
Jin smiled. "I hope an even more deserving man than me captures her heart."
Jun smiled back. "And how many thorns stabbed your heart as you said this?"
He had nothing to say to that.
"Baaaa…"
Ailun brought his attention back to him. Jin tapped on his head and grinned. "Let's get back to packing, shall we little champ?"
The entire time Jin packed his bags, Jun kept his fists clenched with a tremor shaking his heart.
If the Gods who made a second chance possible for us do exist then I want you to help Jin. You have to make Jin and Shui happy at any cost.
I won't accept this future for them.
—
Beijing Airport.
Everybody had come to send off Jin at the airport. Nana sniffled. "Take care of your health. You cannot skip meals. Don't even try because I have already warned Mom."
Nuo had tears in her eyes as she hugged him. "Take care, Jin. Give me a call if anybody bullies you there!"
The twins weren't exactly thrilled with this send off. Jin could feel their cold, murderous glares and he wiped the invisible sweat off his forehead. Despite their heavy dissatisfaction, they did give him a fleeting silent hug. The ones who caused the most ruckus were the quietest today.
The elders said some goodbye words too. It was then Ai who stood before him wheeling the stroller with Ailun inside.
"Good luck, Jin," she softly said. "No matter what you think you might have decided, I won't stop hoping for the best."
Jin stared at her for a while and said, "Take care of Bro and my nephew…sister-in-law."
She blinked hard until it registered that he finally addressed her as sister-in-law. Tears rimmed her eyes and she jumped to hug him.
"Hey! I didn't permit you to hug me!"
"I finally melted your cold, stubborn heart. As expected of my naturally lovable and warm personality."
"Shut up!"
Her eyes reddened bidding goodbye to the cats too. At first, Jin was supposed to go alone but Ai-chan and Jun-cute remained so stubbornly by his side that it became evident that they would continue to stay by his side. Last minute arrangements had to be made for accommodating the cats in the flight too.
"Look after Jin, okay?" She whispered in their ears with her misty eyes. The cats, surprisingly Jun-cute too, softly meowed in response.
Leina, Xing Bi and Chyou gave their teary hugs with Leina shaking her head. "I don't understand why Shui couldn't make time."
The ones who knew better maintained a melancholic silence.
Lastly, Jun and Jinhai said some parting words too. Despite the pain of seeing his brother leave, Jun did his hardest to smile. "I will kill you if you don't keep in touch."
Jinhai sternly nodded. His heart ached to see his son take this step, but there was nothing he could do except wish for the years to fly fast and wish for what Jin was wishing for to never take fruition.
"Thanks all. Of course, I won't stop bothering you all," Jin winked.
The announcement of his boarding echoed, and he said, "Time to go. See ya!"
Waving his hand at them, Jin and the cats made their way to the boarding gate. Nana couldn't hold back her tears anymore and silently burst into silent sobs.
From the corner of his eye, Jin who kept walking away could see his mother breaking down, which settled a mistiness in his own eyes.
Sorry Mom…Sorry everyone…
He kept walking ahead, not trying to show his trembling back. He didn't hope to find Shui anywhere as he looked back, yet his eyes searched for her figure.
A wry smile laced his lips as he stared at the plane outside. He exhaled a shaky breath standing in the queue. He closed his eyes for a moment and opened them with a cheery smile looking at the cats.
"Let's have a new beginning, shall we?"
—
The plane's engines roared to life and the white, giant metal bird took its flight in the light blue sky. Shui watched the plane fly farther and farther away till it became a small dot in the sky and eventually disappeared from her sight once and for all.
Her heart crushed at every moment the plane became smaller and smaller yet no tears spilled from her eyes. She stood in silence for a long, long time, her mind devoid of any thoughts and emotions. She kept her head lifted all that time in a bleak hope that she might see the plane return. But it didn't.
Shui quietly walked back to the car and whispered tremblingly to the driver. "Go back."
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