"It was your mother's wishes. Who am I to go against her wish?" Chen Lingfang confessed sadly.

There was silence between the father and son.

Father Chen sighed. "It's all in the past now. I'm sorry for not being there for you, son, while you were growing up. It must have been tough on you."

"Let me make it up to you and your lovely wife now that you're here in Beijing."

"I hope that your marriage will last a lifetime unlike how mine ended up. I wish you happiness, son. I genuinely do."

Before Chen Linyun could respond, Father Chen had already stirred the conversation towards a different direction.

"So are you planning on having kids soon? I want to meet my grandchildren soon. Hurry up!"

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

He was taken aback by his father's words. He was blus.h.i.+ng so hard, and coughing so hard too. It was awkward, coming from his father. It felt as if he was caught doing something inappropriate red-handed.

"It will naturally come, Father." He touched the lower rim of his eyegla.s.ses, covering his mouth with his hand in the process. "We're not in a hurry."

After all, they had been married for only a little bit over two weeks.

After their talk, they joined the ladies downstairs for dinner.

To his amazement, there was an additional lady seated with them in the dining area.

"Yun-ge! You're really back!"

The lady stood up upon seeing Chen Linyun.

"Father? Who..?" He asked his father soflty in a whisper. Chen Linyun was shaking his head. He couldn't quite remember the person. For sure she's someone from his childhood since he only spent his first four to five years in that house.

"Yun-ge, it's me, Hw.a.n.g Meilin." She said, a little hurt. "Can't believe you forgot about me already. And can't believe you're married now! I was just telling Jinxu-jie that we were supposed to marry when we get older." She pouted.

The moment he heard her blabbering, his face paled. He started sweating profusely. He turned his gaze towards Xue Jinxu. As expected, she was losing her temper. She was clenching her fist, also clutching the hem of her dress. She was glaring at him.

'Oh no. Jinxu's angry. Who exactly is this girl?' He panicked.

"Meimei, you were only kids back then. It couldn't be serious." Aunty Mo tried to placate her.

"Hmph. Yun-ge couldn't even remember me." She was poking the vegetables on her plate with her fork. "It's alright, I should have known it was just nonsense."

"Hehehe." He was scratching his head. "Well, yeah, it's just a bit of harmless exchange between kids I guess. I'm married now, and I love my wife too much. She's the only one for me." He gave out a nervous laugh. 'I'm scared of her too.'

He seated himself beside Xue Jinxu. He squeezed her hand that was clenching her dress under the table, to a.s.sure her. She withdrew it from his grip.

'Oh no, this is bad.' He thought.

"Let's eat." Father Chen instructed. The dinner was lively thanks to Hw.a.n.g Meimei's animation. It turned out that she frequently went there to join the Chen elders for dinner since they were lonely. She's the daughter of a family friend, and she used to play with Chen Linyun and Mo Wenbin when they were small.

Both Chen Linyun and Xue Jinxu had lost their appet.i.te from the earlier incident. However, Father Chen and Aunty Mo placed bits and parcels of food on their plate and offered dishes to them non-stop. They ate politely out of respect. Soon enough, their stomachs were bloated with too much food.

After dinner, they bid their farewell. Chen Linyun knew well that they shouldn't linger anymore in the place. The wife was still angry.

As soon as they get in the car, he tried to pacify the wife. The temperature was so cold, that h.e.l.l must have frozen over.

Initially there was only silence between them. He drove in silence for a while, then pulled over at a safe curb.

"Hey." He stared at her side profile. She was staring straight ahead. She was ignoring him.

"Jinxu."

He squeezed her arm, trying to coax her out of it. "I really could not remember her, and I don't have recollection of ever agreeing to anything that she said. Believe me." He was so wretched.

Xue Jinxu sighed deeply. She sighed again. "Chen Linyun..." She was ma.s.saging the s.p.a.ce between her brows. "I believe you. To tell you honestly it doesn't matter anymore because we're already officially married. They cannot do anything about it."

"It's just that… I'm affected emotionally…"

She lowered her gaze on the floor. She glanced up once just to check on him. Her lashes fluttered with so much femininity.

"I couldn't imagine how you have felt with my betrothal and will all the suitors hovering all around me. It's my turn now. I felt so wronged, but I really don't have the right to complain." She shook her head.

"But yeah, I was jealous and mad and hurt." She glanced up to look at his face. Her face crumpled with hurt.

She sighed again.

"Xue Jinxu…Dear, I'm having mixed emotions now." Chen Linyun admitted. "I'm flattered that you even got to think about how I felt with regards to your betrothal, and I got happy with your jealousy...No, let me finish first." He added the last statement to hush her because she was about to argue back, with her brows raised.

"I got happy because you were affected, it means you care. But those are just… empty words." He smiled, no he laughed a little. "No matter what other people say, only listen to me. It is I who made you a promise to love you eternally, and not a single one of them. Don't get affected anymore by them, okay?"

He had loosen the seatbelt a bit from the noose so that he could stretch towards her. He made her look at him. He stared deeply into her gaze. "Understood? Mhmm?"

"Understood."

They sealed their agreement with a pa.s.sionate kiss.