Words I Was Afraid To Hear 110 Insecurities

Both eyebrows rose when Aoi Xiu read the message update regarding the household. She knew Vanessa Zhou, but she did not expect her son-in-law to reveal everything to his sister this early.

Suddenly, her phone rang. It appears that the caller is 'Dirty Old Man.'

She chuckled at how silly the nickname is. "Speak." she picked up.

"Hey, am I your subordinate in the clan?!" Xiu Jin's voice was complaining like a brat.

Aoi Xiu laughed. "What's the matter?"

"Have you seen our son-in-law yet?"

"Nope." She shook her head subconsciously. "I only heard that he's already at home."

"Oh...tell them to be careful when going out. The press release here said that ZFC's CEO took his fiancée abroad in his private plane."

Aoi Xiu's eyes widened. Verdan Zhou brought his fiancée? She furrowed her brows. "Got it."

Before her husband could talk back, she had hung up.

She tapped her fingers on her desk. Even though her daughter mentioned that she knows Madeline Song, the latter is still the fake fiancée of her son-in-law. How dare that stupid lad bring his fake fiancée home to his pregnant wife!

She squinted her eyes as her thoughts deepen. At least, this time, the fiancée knew. She could still vividly recall the teary face of Su Linyu as she begged Xiu Jin to give her face on their engagement ceremony.

The young Xiu Jin back then was bold enough to hold her, the young Igaras.h.i.+ Aoi, in his arms, and declared to everyone present that he already had a wife he loves. It was an impulsive and foolish move to marry that early. They had a traditional wedding in Country N, then he took her back to City S to brutally break off his engagement. His parents wanted to break their necks at that moment!

The current Aoi Xiu pursed her lips as the memories jumped around.

Then again, she had always known that she was just a subst.i.tute. On their first year of marriage, she curiously browsed his wallet, wanting to put their wedding photo in it. However, she found the photo of the young lady whom he was head over heels with before everything went south. Xiu Jin saw his new wife staring at the photo teary-eyed. He grabbed it and glared at her, questioning why she breached his privacy. The young Aoi Xiu, stuttered her words. Feeling helpless, she dashed away from him, out of their bedroom. As she did, he noticed that she dropped another wallet-sized photo on the floor. The photo contained their smiles on their wedding day. He bolted to chase her, feeling guilty. From then on, he only kept the photo of Xiaoyu in his drawer. However, Aoi seemed to always find the photo being kept in his private s.p.a.ces. She knew he would always have a thing for the girl. She just let it be and lived on.

Now nearing 60, Aoi Xiu still thinks that she could never compare to Wong Xiaoyu. Sometimes, when her husband is too sweet, she still gets the feeling that it was because of guilt.

A knock on the door shattered her thoughts. Her a.s.sistant came in.

"Madam, it's the partial investigation regarding Young Master and Ms. Agatha's incident." He handed her a folder.

Aoi Xiu's eyes widened as her angled brows got together.

She had know for quite a while that Madam Ming was the brains behind it, but she never imagined that her deceased daughter-in-law had something to do with it.

______________

"No. You don't have to marry me just because my parents said so. I'll tell them the truth tomorrow...that we just started dating. I will ask my landlady if my old apartment is still vacant. I will move out as soon as possible."

Riley was shocked to hear her words. She is leaving him just because he proposed? Is she not as serious about having this relations.h.i.+p as he is?

His mouth was gaping but he did not utter a single word.

Sniffing, Mich.e.l.le looked at him. "Riley, you will always have a choice. You can always say no. Don't go with the flow..."

"I'm not." He interrupted her. His face had anxiety and disappointment in them. "Do you think I'm just playing games with you? Just because our relations.h.i.+p had yet to last a year, you think that my proposal is a joke?!"

She could tell that he is mad. She gently shook her head. "I'm sorry. When we were at the cruise s.h.i.+p, I told you not to get your hopes up because..."

"Whatever your past is, I cannot change it. I can only accept it...and I already did."

She kept shaking her head, then she smiled at him with bitterness. "That guy and I had been together for two years. I had given him all my firsts. He was also pressured by my mom on marriage. He easily agreed, justifying that we had been together long enough...but in the end, he was scared of the commitment and left." She had tears welling her eyes up.

He patiently waited for more explanation. He really appreciates how she was trying to open up to him.

Sobbing, she continued. "That guy had been with me for more than a year, still he backed out of the wedding. How can you, who had known me for less than a year, truly desire to marry someone like me?"

The last three words in her sentence stabbed him deep. This girl's insecurities were huge! He had never seen her as someone inferior from other women or inadequate in any aspect.

He did not say a word but pulled her into a long, warm embrace.

Mich.e.l.le cried as she was buried in his embrace, soaking his s.h.i.+rt with her tears.

Finally, he spoke when she started to calm down. He pushed her back gently to look at her face.

"Mich.e.l.le Park, what I will say next might sound cliché, but I mean it." he said, while wiping tears off her face.

She sniffed, looking at him.

"Mich.e.l.le Park, I don't wanna marry you..."