"Father, she has a name, and she's right behind me." Jingwei said warningly. Xue Ning squeezed his hand for support.
If she wanted to be an asshole, she would have said something like 'don't be too mad at your father, old people often have memory problems.'
But she refused to sink to his level! Her parents taught her better than that.
Hence, she only bowed slightly to him. If she had nothing nice to say, she would say nothing at all.
Meanwhile, Jingwei could have tolerated rudeness directed at him, but to have Xue Ning blatantly ignored by his father while she was still there, after helping him escape the crowd of reporters.
She was enchantingly lovely, and he had to keep his back to her for his own sanity.
If he turned around, he would never be able to tear his eyes away from her. Back then, if not for the fact that they were surrounded by pesky rabid reporters, he would have kissed those strawberry red lips of hers, to see if they tasted like the strawberries.
"Father, you shouldn't be rude to my fiancee." Jingwei added, still looking at his father. He expected some form of acknowledgement or apology, but of course he didn't get any.
"She's not your real fiancee," his father retorted. "Your entire relationship is a sham! Don't get too into playing pretend that you forget who your real family is."
Xue Ning rolled her eyes, making sure her expression was hidden from view by Jingwei's back, ignoring the tendril of anger that curled up her spine. His real family? Real family members didn't leave each other in the lurch, especially when they were trying to do the right thing.
Jingwei's eyes darkened further at his father's words.
"She is as much my family as you are! Don't insult her!" Jingwei retorted, upset.
"Oh? What kind of family can be bought over with money?" His father asked craftily. "She only agreed to stay with you because you had something to offer her, and it isn't something as worthless as your heart."
Jingwei flinched, as if hurt. His father was professional at poking at his weak spots. He can't deny the truth, Xue Ning's relationship with him was bound by a contract - Xue Ning herself had mentioned that she wasn't going to work for free!
"I -"
Before he could think of a reply that didn't make him sound completely pathetic, Xue Ning gripped his hand hard enough to hurt and tugged him back so he was behind her for a change.
Unfortunately, she was born a human, and hence it was socially unacceptable to claw out his tongue for his words.
"Xue Ning…" Jingwei caved, his resolution to not stare at her crumpling like wet tissue. He looked at her with a reverent gaze that indicated he was ready to go on his knees to worship her, possibly without clothes.
In his defence, the conference was over. There was nothing else to distract him from how hot Xue Ning looked when she was shaking with righteous indignation on his behalf. It warmed his heart and sent blood beneath his belt.
The bodyguards had to avert their eyes at the shameless display of want.
They had never seen their boss' youngest son behave this way! He was supposed to be an irreverent playboy that never committed to one woman.
Just watching him behave like a lovesick fool made them feel embarrassed!
"Your son was trying to be a better person, to do the right thing. He was trying to help," Xue Ning continued, trembling with barely suppressed rage. All the stress from the past few days was catching up with her.
Sun Haowei and his oldest son didn't understand how hard Jingwei and the rest of them worked for this conference to be a success.
On both mornings, she had woken up to find Jingwei slumped over his laptop in the living room table, a puddle of drool collected at the side of his lips. He had fallen asleep in his chair after working through the night.
When Xue Ning woke him up, he hurriedly showered and ate breakfast and continued to pore over the documents and rehearse his responses. He held up his end of the agreement - he didn't let himself be distracted by her.
It was Xue Ning that slowly felt her heart wavering in his direction when she saw his effort in making things right. It was her, who felt butterflies flutter in her belly when he yawned after she shook him away.
It was her, who became increasingly distracted by him.
How could his father claim that his heart was worthless! Jingwei's heart was priceless! It was worth more than his entire empire!
"Instead of encouraging him or guiding him, the both of you left him to drown by himself!" Xue Ning said, casting Tianwei a furious look. "What kind of older brother are you?"
She was angry at Jingwei's father, but she had expected this sort of terrible behaviour from him.
Xue Ning did not expect such from Tianwei. He disappointed her. In her mind, he was a good older brother to Jingwei. He willingly rammed a car into the car that wanted to kill them.
So why didn't he help Jingwei when he needed it?
He was willing to kill for Jingwei, but not willing to lend him any aid? What logic was this?
If it was her that got into trouble, her own older brother would have been there offering moral support at the very least!
"How can you claim that you supported him when you did the bare minimum? What right do you have to be angry that he was speaking the truth?" Xue Ning asked angrily.
"And what right do you, a complete stranger, have to speak about our family's matters?!" Sun Haowei roared in reply. He gave a condescending look at her entire makeover and scoffed.
"Just because you're dressed up now, that doesn't make you worthy of being Jingwei's wife. You are not, and will never be part of my family!"
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