Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu

"I cannot believe that you are speaking for him, Chyou," Yin looked incredulous. "He is just somebody you met a few months ago. Whereas our friendship goes back years. Do you trust him more than me?"

Her eyes stretched wide. "How did trust come here? I trust you but I also trust Yating. He is a man who gracefully stepped back to see the happiness of the woman he loved. That itself told me volumes of the kind of a man he is. You…really don't know how much he is hurting inside. That's why I cannot hear if you say that he would stop so low to use a woman."

She then shook her head. "And let's forget even about me. My family has known his family for years as business partners. That's why I have heard of him from my Mom and Dad enough to know who and how he is."

Yin trembled. "So it all still comes down to your marriage meeting. Mr. Zhu chose him because he trusts him. Whereas I…"

"That's how marriage meetings are anyway, right? The families generally know each other so they want to see their children get settled too. It's simply that they are more familiar with Yating than you and that was only through business. If you meet my family tomorrow, I am sure they will like you too! They have seen you on the screen and they admire your talent a lot."

Yin wasn't really convinced. He could still feel Yating's iciness from when he confronted him a few minutes back. That wasn't a joke. His gaze was so dead serious as if he would let anybody hurt Chyou at any cost.

"...Please give me some time, Chyou," he bitterly said with a clenched fist. "Gu Yating really makes me uncomfortable. But you would be friends with him. If you compare me and Gu Yating, then I lack miserably in front of him, right? Before the rich heir Gu Yating, I am not sure if your family…would even accept an actor like me."

"What are you talking about, Yin?" Chyou said, incredulous, "Of course they will like you. Do you think my family is shallow?"

"No…No! I am not saying that. But the difference between me and him is so clear, right?"

She stared at him and a wry chuckle escaped. "I don't see any difference, Yin and so wouldn't my family. It's you who are imagining these differences between you and Yating that don't even exist. If my family were to be really like that, would they have allowed for the dissolution of this marriage meeting?"

Yin gritted his teeth. "Y-you just don't understand, Chyou. I just know that he isn't as simple and innocent as he is showing himself to others. This helping in our movie production or doing these commercials with you…isn't this all a facade to be near you!? How can you not see that?"

"Because helping with movie production is Director Murong's idea. You know how he is. Do you think anybody could make him do what he doesn't want to do? I have already said about the commercial. It's a collaboration between my Dad and his Dad's business deal. It's just for a short while anyway."

He chuckled. "And that would be enough to create distance between us, right? So much that he would slowly push me out of the picture and you wouldn't realize it! And why are you so sure that he isn't somehow involved in all this? He is the Gu family's heir after all. Money isn't a problem to make Director Murong do what he wants. You overestimate the director too much. Money talks everywhere. And the collaboration? It's his own father for God's sake who wanted you as his daughter-in-law. How difficult could it be for Gu Yating to manipulate him so that his father convinces Mr. Zhu in turn?"

Chyou closed her eyes. "It was my Dad who put the collaboration on the table first. Not Uncle Gu."

He froze.

"He or Yating didn't have anything to do with starting this project. By talking all this or by blaming Yating, what do you want me to do?"

He balled his fingers into his palm. "Can you…can you please not stay away from him? He doesn't-"

"No. I disagree."

He was taken aback by her rejection. This wasn't what he had expected.

"Why should I stay away from Yating? Why should I ignore him? Why should I end my friendship with him? My friendship with him and my love for you are two separate things. I am not mixing them up at all. Yet why is it asked of me that I keep my distance from him? Did I ever ask you to stay away from all the women you know? Will you do it if I ask you now?"

"They are just my friends, Chyou."

"And how are you so sure about that?" Her eyes narrowed. "If you believe that Yating can be a cunning man to hide his true feelings for me then so could all your female friends do the same, too, right?"

"You…I just know it for sure!"

"I am saying the same thing. I also know for sure that Yating doesn't love me. Yet you don't show the same trust in me that I show in you. How is it that a woman shouldn't have an issue with her boyfriend's female friends but a man gets the right to have problems with her male friends? You cannot agree to keep your distance from your female friends, so then why am I expected to do it?"

Her eyes blazed with a firm determination. "Yin, I value my friends and family as much as I value and cherish you as my life partner. I would never agree to ending my ties with somebody just to keep my relationship intact. That's not how I envision our relationship to be. I want it to be based on trust and mutual understanding, not comparison and insecurity. I don't want you lying to me and succumbing yourself to drugs every time you feel uncomfortable about something."

He shook hard, his eyes reddening with fury and hurt.

Chyou somberly said, "We should head back for now. We both need some time to think. Right now, you are very high. Let's talk when that intoxication wears off."