Chapter 980: NOT AN ILLNESS OR MADNESS

"HAH! You want respect from me? After being so utterly disrespectful to your own father? You have the nerve to demand respect from me? You're a disgrace! You have no right to ask for my respect!"

Even without hearing his father's angry rhetoric, Shen Yi Mu could tell just by the other's expression how angry he was right now. His father's face twisted into a scowl, his brow furrowing with frustration. The muscles in his face were taut and rigid. His breathing became shallow and rapid, and his nostrils flared with each exhalation. A deep flush of color suffused his cheeks and neck, the veins in his temples bulging with pent-up anger. It was clear that he was on the verge of exploding, his fury barely contained beneath the surface.

Shen Yi Mu had already taken that into account when he decided to tell him that he's gay. Because there's no way the other wouldn't be. His father, an ultra-conservative, who couldn't even tolerate his son's partner being a foreigner, what more if the other was of the same gender?

But he didn't care. This was the last straw. If he didn't speak now, he would be forced to meet up with the woman his father obviously wanted him to marry. He should make a stand now, regardless of the outcome.

Shen Yi Mu had already learned his lesson when he lost Ah Yue before. Didn't he promise himself that if he was given another chance to be reunited with the other, he would do everything in his power so the two of them would never be separated again? So how could he tolerate his father's plan of marrying him off?

Besides, he was already thinking of telling his mother about his sexual orientation. This situation only pushed the schedule forward.

His father held the back of his neck as if trying to suppress his rising blood pressure. His brother immediately gave the other his medicine, which their father readily accepted.

Shen Yi Wu glared at him, his expression full of blame. As if saying, 'if something happened to Dad, it's all your fault'.

Shen Yi Mu almost laughed wryly at that. Whose fault was it that things escalated to this point? He knew that he wouldn't be able to go through this marriage and yet he didn't say anything to stop their father to arrange this. Or was it because the other thought that what he felt for Ah Yue was just something temporary and he had already gotten over it. That his feelings for him totally had nothing to do with his sexual orientation?

Yeah, he could totally see that, knowing his brother.

Shen Yi Mu only spoke again once he saw that his father had drank his medicine and that he had calmed down a bit.

"I apologized if you feel disrespected, but I won't take back what I said. I can't meet that woman with the intention of marriage, or any woman for that matter."

"You--!"

He spoke again before his father could continue what he was saying. "I know you must be thinking that I was doing this to rebel or that I only said what I said to avoid meeting this woman. But that's not it, Dad. It's simply because I'm gay. Brother knows about it, you can ask him. He can tell you that I'm not lying. He even knew I had a boyfriend before."

Whatever his father was about to say stopped after he said that. The other glanced at Shen Yi Wu. The latter glared at him even more fiercely, probably because he didn't expect that he would involve him in this. Seeing his brother's reaction, their father must have realized that he wasn't lying.

"You knew about this?" their father asked incredulously.

Shen Yi Wu clenched his teeth. "I did."

Shen Yi Mu had to give his brother props for just admitting it and not giving any excuses. But, of course, this simple admission only made their father angry.

"And you didn't bother to tell me?" their father yelled. "If you had, maybe we could have saved your brother from this... madness!"

Now, Shen Yi Mu really had to laugh.

"Dad, being gay is not an illness and most definitely is not some kind of madness, as you put it," he said dryly. "There's nothing wrong with my brain. This is simply just... well, me. Nothing can be done about it. Unless, of course, you plan to drug me, then throw me in a room with some random woman, and order her to have her way with me just so you could prove that I'm not gay."

Their father finally turned his attention back to him. The other was glaring almost as much as his brother. One could see that the anger inside him had now come close to a boiling point.

"How do you think your mother would react, hearing you say such... things?"

Shen Yi Mu didn't expect that his father would really go there. It's like mentioning his mother was his ultimate trump card to straighten him up and pull him back from the 'right path'.

If this was before he met Ah Yue again, he might have second thoughts. But it's different now. Ah Yue was back with him. And he could no longer afford to compromise. Even if it was for his mother.

"She would be surprised and in shock. Maybe she would even have a hard time understanding and accepting it. But with time, I know that Mom would still accept me. Accept this me. Because I'm her son and she loves me," Shen Yi Mu said with confidence. "I can't exactly say the same for you, Dad."

Then, before the other's temper blew up once again and threw something at him out of anger, he turned around and walked towards the door of the study. But before completely leaving, he glanced at his father and brother and said;

"And oh, if you try to do some underhanded things just so you could 'cure' my 'problem', please don't. Because I'll go straight to the media and announce to everyone that I'm gay."

He opened the door and left.