Cecilia Gu gritted her teeth and pushed Charles Yin away. Unsurprisingly, the fleeting hurt in his eyes pricked at her heart.
Did she ever want things to be this way?
Isn’t everything still so unclear right now?
Who could be in the mood for anything...
After being pushed away by Cecilia, Charles quickly composed himself, turned around, poured himself a glass of water, and drank it in one gulp.
Cecilia gathered her emotions and spoke slowly, "Let’s talk this out."
A faint smile appeared on Charles’s lips. Talk? Yes, they really needed to talk.
"You..."
"You..." Both of them spoke at the same time, then stopped together.
"You go first."
"You go first." Once again, they were perfectly in sync.
Cecilia said helplessly, "Fine, I’ll go first. Did you acquire the Yun Family? Why did you do that?"
"Why? You’re really asking me why?" A hint of pain flashed in Charles’s eyes. "Cecilia, do you think if you hide things from me, I won’t know anything? Do you take me for a fool?"
Cecilia looked away. "I didn’t..."
"Fine, then answer me this. Have you already decided to go back to the Yun Family? Have you decided to break up with me and follow that so-called Grant Family Heritage Code, marrying Max Mo?" Charles sneered, his eyes fixed on Cecilia, face full of hurt.
Cecilia was shaken to the core. "How do you know..."
"How do I know about the Grant Family Heritage Code? How do I know about the relationship between the Mo Family and the Yun Family? Cecilia, what is your heart made of? How can you hurt me like this?" Charles slammed his cup on the table. In the next second, the glass shattered into countless pieces, scattering messily across the table.
Cecilia froze. "I..."
Charles pressed closer to Cecilia, and she couldn’t help but stumble, ending up sitting on the edge of the bed.
Cecilia looked up at Charles. "What... what could I do? Jane Gu is my adoptive mother. Could I just stand by and watch her die? Charles, tell me, what could I do? Yes, I lied to you. I didn’t tell you the truth, I didn’t tell you where I was, I made a deal with the Yun Family behind your back. But have you ever considered how hard this is for me? You want me to ignore my mother’s life or death—how is that possible? You know better than anyone what I went through for her! You know how much I sacrificed to escape the Gu family! Now you’re blaming me? Fine, I’ll accept it all! So, can you explain why you targeted the Yun Family?"
"Explain? Do I really need to explain something like this? Why would I keep a family around that’s always trying to take the woman I love away from me!" Charles frowned at Cecilia. "That Yun Family that threatens you—do you really want to defend them? The Yun Family that abandoned you—are you really going to fight me for them? Cecilia, how can you be so heartless? Who do you think I’m doing all this for? For you! And this is how you treat me! If the so-called Yun Family didn’t exist, you wouldn’t be their heir, and you wouldn’t have to care about those ridiculous ancestral rules! And you want me to explain why! Cecilia, I thought if I gave you my heart, you’d give me yours in return! You..."
Charles’s voice grew louder. Seeing Cecilia’s ashamed face, he suddenly couldn’t continue.
Charles couldn’t hold back anymore and kicked over the chair by his feet.
The chair flipped twice, crashed into the wall, and shattered into pieces.
Cecilia was startled by Charles, her eyes uneasy as she looked at him.
"Cecilia, you have your worries, you have your difficulties. But what about me? Don’t I have mine too? I’d do anything for you—even if it meant destroying the whole world, so what?" Charles pointed at Cecilia, his eyes red with anger, shouting, "But you—have you ever thought that what you’re doing might make all my efforts go to waste? Cecilia, when will you stop being so stubborn? You’re just a woman, you only need to tell me what you want! Even if it’s the stars in the sky, if you want them, I’d grab them for you! Cecilia, have you... have you fallen for another man? Have you fallen for Max Mo?"
"What nonsense are you talking about!" Cecilia replied coldly.
"If you don’t like Max Mo, then why did you go back to the Yun Family without even discussing it with me?" Charles stared intensely at Cecilia. "Going back means you’re Miss Cecilia Yun, which means you have to accept the marriage contract between the Yun and Mo families. It means you’ll leave me, it means you’ll marry Max Mo! Cici, tell me, why?"
Cecilia froze, then looked away. "I’m not as pathetic as you think. I’ve never loved Max Mo."
Because of Cecilia’s last sentence, a trace of joy flashed in Charles’s eyes, but it disappeared in an instant.
"I didn’t discuss it with you because there’s no solution. Even if I did, you couldn’t untangle this knot. I’ve already been to the Yun Family Sanctuary—it’s not a place outsiders can enter. Only DNA registered by the Yun Family can open the door to it. Do you think acquiring the Yun Family means you can open that door? No, you can’t. My adoptive mother has only three months left to live, maybe less. The longer we delay, the weaker she’ll get. She might not even live to see my child born." Cecilia closed her eyes as she spoke.
"So what if you acquired the Yun Family? Maybe you don’t know—the Yun Family’s foundation hasn’t been in the country for a long time. You may have crushed my parents, but you didn’t destroy the Yun Family. The Yun Family abandoned me, exiled me. But my parents are innocent—they’re victims too. They mourned me for twenty-three years! What did they do wrong? This time, you wiped out everything they had, leaving them with nowhere to go. They never threatened me, never hurt me, never targeted you. They’re completely innocent! But you don’t see that. You’re just venting your anger, not thinking about my perspective at all."
"You know how much I value filial piety—I’d do anything for my mother. My Yun Family parents are my parents too! Seeing their hurt eyes and gray hair, how do you think I feel? Charles, I never wanted to hurt you—hurting you is like hurting myself! What else could I do but keep things from you?" Cecilia grew more agitated. "I have to save my mom, I have to protect our marriage. Tell me, what else can I do? Other than keeping things from you, saving my mom first, and then figuring out how to protect our marriage, what options do I have?"
"My mom’s lying in a hospital bed, fading day by day. All I can do is watch her grow old and die! Charles, I’m human, not a monster! How can my heart bear this torment? My mom secretly had an abortion so I wouldn’t be controlled by others, but she didn’t know the surgery would be a death sentence! She was just trying to help me, but her good intentions turned into a mistake. How can I abandon a mother who loves me this much?" Tears streamed down Cecilia’s face. "Do you understand this pain?"
Charles slowly calmed down, watching Cecilia grow more emotional, and gently closed his eyes.
"Fine, then tell me. What do we do now? Hm? You’ve already gone back to the Yun Family, you’ve saved the person you wanted to save! Are you back to divorce me?" Charles stared hard at Cecilia, thinking he’d go crazy if she nodded.
Cecilia took a deep breath, pulling back all her anger and grievances.
"I never thought about that." Cecilia’s tone was still a bit stiff.
Hearing Cecilia say that, Charles secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"So you’re going to defy the Grant Family Heritage Code?" Charles squinted and asked.
Cecilia sighed softly. "Nora Yun is gone. I’m the only one left in the Yun Family now. Besides, I’ve already acknowledged my ancestors—my name is on the Yun Family registry. How could I defy them so easily? Unless I deny my parents and never see them again for the rest of my life..."
"This won’t work, that won’t work! Cecilia, what do you really want?" Charles stepped forward, grabbing Cecilia’s wrist, his eyes burning with anger. "Are you playing me?"
Cecilia struggled hard, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t break free from his grip.
"Cecilia, are you taking advantage of my love for you, is that why you’re so fearless?" Charles sneered. "Let me make this clear—this isn’t going to be easy to solve! I won’t let you go so easily. Want a divorce? Not that simple!"
With those words, Charles shoved Cecilia onto the bed and turned to leave.
"As long as I don’t sign, you’ll always be Mrs. Yin. Whether you’re really the Yin family’s young madam... hahaha..." Charles kicked open the door. "Let’s see how it goes! Cecilia, don’t let me see your face again! I hate being lied to! People who lie to me never end well!"
"Charles!" Cecilia shouted, but no matter how she called, Charles left without looking back.
A loud slam came from outside, leaving Cecilia stunned on the spot.
How did things end up like this?
Did I really do something wrong?
But what choice do I have?
Even if Charles tried, he still couldn’t get into that research facility, could he?
I’m just trying to protect my mom—is that really wrong?