Just as Xiamu had predicted, how could Jie stay calm knowing his wife wasn't planning on coming back home? Jie showed up at Xu Residence in the middle of the night.
"What do you have to say now?" Xiamu gave a sly smile to Xu Mey who was yawning with sleep-filled eyes. "Didn't I say he'll come?"
Xu Mey didn't plan on arguing with him at this time and that's why she went straight to Jie. "Ah-Jie, why are you here?"
"I missed you..." He answered plainly while raking his fingers through his thick hair.
"But it's midnight. You could have waited till morning. It's not safe to drive at this time." She nagged like a typical housewife.
"Again, I missed you." Jie made his point clear with the same sentence again.
"Yes, I know but..." She was getting exasperated when he cut her off.
"At this point, you should be saying, you missed me as well." With these words, Xu Mey was left speechless.
"Whatever... I'm going to sleep." She turned to Xiamu saying, "Help your brother-in-law find a change of clothes."
"Yes, boss!" Xiamu replied solemnly. She rolled her eyes at him before ascending the stairs leaving those two in the hallway.
Just as Xu Mey had said, Xiamu brought his own casual wear for Jie to change into and said, "I think these will fit you." Jie took the clothes and nodded. "Let me know if you need anything else."
"Will do," Jie said and made his way to Xu Mey's bedroom but stopped in the middle of the stairs to say, "Brew some tea. Let's have a chat."
Xiamu was a bit taken aback by that request but he still did so. After all, he didn't want his sister to beat the hell out of him in the morning for disregarding her husband's wish.
When Jie came back clad in those casual clothes, Xiamu was already sitting in the lounge with the tea and some midnight snacks. Jie silently sat down and poured some tea for himself. Xiamu was observing his movements.
"Do you want to talk about Azalea?" Xiamu was the one who broke the awkward silence between them since it felt suffocating to him. The chills emanating from Jie's body were really getting to him.
"Why? Do we have something to talk about Azalea?" Jie retorted while sipping on his tea with a calm expression.
"Don't we?" Xiamu's voice sounded uncertain.
"Do we?" Jie didn't even spare him a glance which made Xiamu frustrated.
But he soon understood Jie's tactics. His brother-in-law was really good at guilt-tripping. How did he not notice that before? Perhaps because he had only seen Jie's warm and sweet side which he showed to the people he loved the most.
Sighing heavily, Xiamu started, "Look, brother-in-law, I already made it clear to sis that love can't be forced."
"You're going in the wrong direction, Xiamu. I certainly don't want to force love on you because I can see clearly that you don't love Azalea that way." Jie's words put Xiamu in a trance for a moment. Was he hearing things? How was his brother-in-law sounding so understanding?
"But it doesn't make your actions any right either." There it is! He knew Jie wasn't so understanding.
"Did I say something wrong? I just wanted her to face reality." Xiamu voiced out.
"Oftentimes, our words are not wrong but the way we say those words... That's a whole different story." Jie placed his teacup down saying, "I believe there was nothing wrong with your words. But your way of saying those words might have gone a bit overboard."
Xiamu cleared up his thoughts and nodded his head. "I guess I was a bit overboard."
"You're a sensible man, Xiamu. But just like my wife, you are also impulsive." He patted Xiamu's shoulder and went on, "I'm not saying this because Azalea is my sister. I just don't want you to wrong your relationship with Azalea on impulse."
"What should I do then?"
"Well, you most certainly can't change what happened but there is nothing wrong in trying to change what is yet to come."
Xiamu thought long and hard over that before saying, "I understand. I'll apologize to her."
"Good to hear that..." Jie said with a soft smile on his face. He had seen Azalea crying hysterically earlier but while consoling her, he had also made it clear to her that she was holding a torch for incessant torture.
"But I do love him," Azalea had insisted on this fact while they were talking earlier.
"Buddha once said, 'You can only lose what you cling to.' You had been clinging to his love for so long now that it's slipping away. Just let it go for once, who knows, it might give you a chance to grow?" Jie had countered with sensibility.
She was bringing pain to herself and no-one could possibly deny that fact. But she was still his sister and he had to be there for her as much as possible. He didn't give her unnecessary hope. He gave her a chance to grow up again.