Jin looked back and blinked. "Ah it's..."
He cleared his throat and said, "It's nothing important anyway."
"I see."
He quickly looked away and picked Ailun in his arms. He grinned. "Let's grab some more shrimps for you."
He beamed and nodded hard. "Shrimps!"
Everybody gathered at a big table which was large enough for the group to accommodate. Somehow, Jin ended up sitting beside Alix and on the other side, he saw Shui and Yuze taking their seats together.
Chyou was the one to get things started. "Cheers everybody!"
Everybody was at a little edge with Jin and Shui's presence and more importantly of what Jin thought about Shui and Yuze.
Ai and Nuo exchanged worried glances.
Yuze raised his brow and remarked. "It must always be so much fun to enjoy it with you all. I have many friends too but this group is humongous."
Mui added. "True. I thought the Summit will be very boring but it's fun being here with you all."
Nuo chuckled. "Well there are many families here and we all know each other very closely. Plus this isn't even remotely fun as much as when my twin brothers would have been here."
"Nuo..."
"Sis..."
Jun and Jin replied to her with a bitter expression. "Do you hate our peace?"
"Don't be so dramatic you two."
"Indeed it's more fun with the twins around," Ai nodded sincerely.
"Nobody asked you!" Jin glared at her.
"Don't be grumpy. Shouldn't we celebrate the evening for you? After all, the new CEO was introduced," she sheepishly grinned.
Siying coughed. "I think the first rule Bro Jin will set in Liu Corps is sis Ai's ban."
Ai gasped. "Jini boy wouldn't do that"
Shui choked on her drink and tried hard not to laugh.
Jin's gaze darkened. "Now I will definitely ban you!"
The banter continued and so did Shui and Yuze's conversation.
Mui sneakily threw a glance at Alix, worried if she would explode with their closeness but to her shock, she wasn't even looking at them. It was as if nothing bothered her at all.
"I am not sure which is why I am asking you."
"To me, it looks like you are pretty much convinced."
Jinhai stared at her. "Love is a very powerful emotion. It can make you commit a lot of idiotic mistakes. Wearing a mask to hide your feelings is the easier part actually."
"It looks like you speak from experience."
"Because I do."
"And you think I won't lie about my intentions?"
He flatly said, "I will understand if you try to lie. It's pointless to hide before me."
Alix smiled. "...Yeah it's not so hard to believe that," she then said a moment later, "You really love your son."
"Most parents do."
"Not all?"
"We are humans. Foolishness can happen to the best of us."
She said nothing for a few seconds.
"Did you perhaps consider that Shui might also love him back?"
"She doesn't love Kang Yuze. That is a fact and I am not saying this out of my love for Jin. I just know."
"Even then, things are bleak for them. Jin and Shui I mean."
"Very, very bleak."
"Still you ask."
"He is my son. I want to see him happy. I don't know why he is punishing himself and Shui like that, but that is not any solution."
His gaze turned slightly icy. "Tragedy is not a solution I will accept for my children at any cost."
Alix unconsciously shivered. But she calmed herself and said, "I am not interested in Kang Yuze anymore. Period."
Jinhai scrutinized everything about that claim. Her gaze, her expression, her words and her little movements.
He nodded. "I believe you."
"Really?"
He paused. "I said before. Love is a very powerful emotion. How successful are Jin and Shui trying to hide their feelings tonight?"
"Not really."
"Exactly," he meaningfully smiled. "If you really like Kang Yuze, you wouldn't be able to mask it a hundred percent. Not in front of me anyway. Like I also said before, it's pointless to hide before me."