Chapter 233: Lies

Nana was about to close Natsukashi when she received a message.

‘Stay where you are.’

Nana gritted her teeth.

Now what does he want?, She thought. Wait, didn’t Jinhai message that he has a surprise for me? Is it related to that?

She was boiling in anger. The more she hurt Jinhai, the more her heart would tear apart in pain. She just wanted to run in his embrace and tell him everything. God knows how much she wanted that.

But not for much longer. Tomorrow I will go to the orphanage and at any cost will find a clue.

—

Jianyu saw Serena making preparations for dinner. He took a deep breath and went up to her.

Today, he had decided to confess everything. He was ready now. Meeting Nana gave him the confidence and courage he was searching for all this time. The friendship he regained poured strength into him to face Serena.

Serena saw a serious expression on his face and asked worriedly, “Is everything alright? You seem tense.”

Jianyu took her hands in his and looked straight at her. There was no hesitation. His determined gaze gave an ominous feeling to Serena.

‘What is he planning?’ Serena got alert.

“Serena, do you remember I told you that I wanted to confess my past to you?”

Serena stiffened. Her heart was racing as she figured out what he wanted to tell.

‘No wonder he looked so solemn.’

Jianyu faintly smiled. “I have decided to tell you everything now. And once you know, I am ready for the consequences.”

The smile on her face was wavering.

“N-now?”

“En.”

A thin layer of sweat formed on her forehead.

“I think we are still fine without it.” She held his face in her palms. “I don’t care about your past. I want to only look at my present and future with you.”

“But I do. I want to let you know everything about me. I can only be in peace when you are not in dark, and when you accept me fully aware of everything. And…it’s about someone very closely related to you. You deserve to know.”

He saw her face growing a little pale.

“I won’t force you to do anything. The decision lies with you. Just for once and for all, I want to clear this burden off my chest.”

Serena saw her phone lighted and interrupted. She didn’t give a chance for him to speak further. It was time. “It’s Nana’s message.” She read it and looked horrified.

Jianyu saw the sudden change in her expression and quickly asked, “What happened?”

“N-Nana…she has hurt herself. W-what should I do now?”

“What!?” Jianyu widened his eyes. “What happened to her? Where is she?”

“She said she is in Natsukashi and got locked in the room somehow and has hurt herself.”

Jianyu panicked.

‘Why didn’t she call bro? He can easily rescue her.’

“And what about her husband?”

Serena said with her voice quivering. “I-I don’t know. And now I’m calling her but she isn’t picking up my phone. Jianyu, I’m worried!”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry. We’ll go there right now.”

Jianyu took out his phone, but Serena tok his phone and urged him. “Please can we go now? We shouldn’t waste more time.”

He nodded. “Let’s go.”

—

Jinhai was excitedly waiting for Nana at the hotel. He had booked a private room and personally decorated it with flowers and candles to welcome her. Then they would have a beautiful dinner date and dance on her favorite music.

It was a simply evening that he wanted to spend with her alone and sort out their differences. He was sure that after this night, Nana would totally forget all her anger and sort everything out.

Slowly, thirty minutes went by and then one hour but there was no sign of her. Jinhai remembered how Grandma Liu said that she might have mood swings so he didn’t want to annoy her by asking where she was.

He thought maybe she would be stuck in her work, but after another hour passed, he thought that something was definitely wrong.

There was not even a message from her.

He couldn’t wait anymore and called her. But she didn’t pick up. He tried the second time and it was finally received.

“Nana-“

Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice on the other end.

“Nana, sit here and relax. I will bring you some water.”

Jinhai froze. He clearly recognized the voice.

Jianyu…

‘What is he doing with Nana?’

He recalled the day when he saw the both of them together at the mall, laughing and talking happily.

He heard his voice again.

“Good. You really scared me out there when I heard that you got locked in the room.”

Jinhai’s heartbeat quickened.

‘Nana got trapped? When? How?

He immediately set out to leave for Natsukashi. He was only thinking about her safety.

‘Why didn’t she call me?’

“You should have called bro. He would have been much quicker.”

Then Jinhai heard Nana speaking. “I called him, but couldn’t get through.”

He was about to open the car door but then halted in his steps.

“Why?”

“I-I don’t know. I tried many times, but he didn’t pick my call. So, I had to call you. Sorry if I…”

“Stupid. What is there for you to be sorry for? We are friends after all. I will always be there if you need me.”

“En. Thank God you came on time.”

“I think you should call bro to take you back home. And also give him a nice earful for missing your calls. He is never that careless though.”

“Actually, I wanted to ask can you drop me home? He must be busy and I’m fine anyway so there is no need to trouble him.”

Jinhai blankly held the phone in his hands. He vacantly stared ahead.

“Sure.”

“Ah, my phone-“

He heard a soft a thud sound and the line got disconnected.

—

In Natsukashi, Jianyu asked, “Is it broken?”

Nana picked up the phone and said, “No, it’s fine.” She saw Jinhai’s number flashed on the screen, showing the call duration. Her eyes looked lifeless as she imagined Jinhai’s expression, his hurt and the betrayal he must have felt.

“Let’s go.” He said. Jianyu continued, “Oh yeah! Serena has also asked about you. She wanted to come too but then she started to feel dizzy. She said it must be pregnancy.”

“Is she alright now?”

“En.” He chuckled. “She really cares about you. I was a little hesitant to leave her alone, but she said that she will take of herself and practically pushed me out of the house to go look for you.”

Nana’s heart softened. “En. She worries about me a lot. I’m lucky to have her as my friend.”

Jianyu smiled.

Nana dialed her number.

Serena’s distressed voice came from the other end. “Nana! How are you now? Are you hurt? Sorry I couldn’t come! I suddenly felt sick.”

Nana assured, “I’m fine I’m fine. And he told me about it. Your boyfriend came on time.”

Jianyu smiled sheepishly.

“Hehe~ he is the best. But, how did you get trapped?”

Nana forced herself to smile. “I don’t know. Maybe the lock has gotten too old, so the door shut and it got locked from outside.”

“Phew! Nothing got too serious.”

“En, thankfully.”

“Change that damn lock!”

Nana laughed, but her eyes were faintly shining in tears. She was trying hard to hide her face from Jianyu.

“Yeah…”

—

When Nana returned in the room, she felt no courage to face Jinhai. She opened the door and found the room dark. She could feel the gloomy atmosphere as she faintly  saw a figure sitting on the couch, leaning backwards.

She felt a strong sense of tension and pressure course through her veins as found it suffocating to breathe.

Nana decided to let things as be and walked towards the bed.

Suddenly she felt her wrist tightly gripped in a hand and that figure harshly pulled her towards him. Her nose hit a broad, hard chest and it turned slightly red from the impact.

“I was waiting for you.”, came Jinhai’s voice. His voice was laced with control as  she felt he was trying hard to restrain his anger. He was holding back his strong resentment.

This was the first time that Nana felt his oppression overwhelm her. It was dark, but she knew what kind of a gaze and expression his face must be having now. Now she understood how others feel when they meet Jinhai for the first time. His cold and intense aura alone can really force someone to bow down.

“I said I was waiting for you.” He repeated but this time in a deathly calm voice.

Nana was stuttering as she said, “I-I am sorry.”

Silence.

“That’s it?”

“What else should I say?”

“How about saying why you couldn’t make it? How about telling me the reason why you couldn’t even send me a message?”

She silently inhaled a sharp breath.

“I…I forgot.”

She heard a faint disdainful laugh. Jinhai released her and walked away from her. 

‘I-Is he done?’ She was confused.

Then from a corner, she saw a small candle lighting up. Finally, she clearly saw Jinhai. But, he was absolutely expressionless. He walked around the entire room and lighted all the candles one by one.

The room became brighter and brighter and Nana saw the room beautifully decorated with flowers and candles.

“Let’s celebrate our date right now.”

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