The Xi family was a close acquaintance of the Wu clan, therefore, their sons who were almost of the same age were growing up together as best friends. However, the only son of the Xi family—Luhan—was considered as a mishap by his parents and the rest of elites in Beijing. He was his parents’ definition of rebellion: he had never bothered to socialize with the socialites and mingled with the lower-class community instead; he had broken off his engagement with the fiancé whose his clan had handpicked; and most importantly, he had gone against their will to take his designated path and pursued his own carrier instead. The laid back and free spirited 40 years old bachelor was currently one of China’s best experts on Mandarin linguistic and literature but the current head of the Xi family—who was also known as his father—had simply brushed off his son’s success like it was nothing. Luhan might not half as rich as his best friend, Kris, but he was definitely more popular as his name was written in almost every academic paper talking about the most spoken language in the world.

Kris, however—unlike the rest of his family—was very fond of Luhan. They might have the opposite personalities—Kris with his cold and calculating demeanor while Luhan was more on the bubbly and happy-go-lucky side—but they went along well. Kris, albeit never admitting it out loud, was always admiring Luhan courage to go against the rest of the world. Therefore, Kris had grown to trust the older man in dealing with some of his most important issues, which included giving his wife a private lesson about advanced-level-Mandarin.

Kris was tapping on his desk impatiently when Yixing sent Luhan into his office. Annoyance was written all over his handsome feature when he went face-to-face with the supposedly-heir of the Xi family. In contrast, a gleeful smile was plastered on the older man face.  Just like his best friend, Luhan was a very handsome man: he was blessed with the fluffy honey-like blonde hair, sparkling doe-like eyes, beautiful high cheekbones, smooth jaw, thin perfect pair of rosy lips, and of course a healthy slightly tanned complexion. However, unlike Kris, Luhan possessed the gift of being younger-looking from he actually was. Although he had started his fourth decades of life a couple months ago, he still looked as young as men in their mid-twenties. Therefore, many had thought that he was the younger one among the two of them.

“Hello, Darling. What honor do I have that I was summoned by my mighty dear brother in the middle of my class?” Luhan asked sweetly in a mock-respect tone while leniently laid his back on one of Kris’ most expensive sofa; his hand was crossed in front of his chest. He was clearly unhappy with the sudden call from Kris but didn’t have any other choice besides complying with it. Kris shivered at Luhan’s free usage of the term of endearment. He always hated it when Luhan did it; it reminded him of some old-erted men who used to pursue him when he was younger. However, he regained his composure and bit back.

“Well, Luhan, I believe you are the one who owe me an explanation.”

Luhan eyes were widening in fake surprise; he clearly knew why he was called for but apparently he decided to act as if that he didn’t know. Kris gritted his teeth with irritation; his dear friend could be so dear sometimes. Kris wondered how he could stand the annoying man in front of him all this time but decided to ignore his thought. So he slammed the pictures to the table in front of him instead.

“Explain to me what these are.” Kris’ icily said in a voice that was colder than the North Pole in winter. Luhan lazily stood up and went closer to the table. He took some of the pictures and inspected them.

“You took good pictures.” He muttered amusedly.

Kris sent the older guy a deadly glare.

“You’re supposed to teach her, not flirt with her! What’s wrong with you?! I thought I can trust you!” He bellowed angrily.

Luhan, however, was still as calm as ever.

“Well, it’s not that you love her, anyway.” He nonchalantly replied. A calm eye-smile appeared on his pretty face.

Hell had officially broken loose as Kris hastily grabbed the collar of Luhan’s designer shirt.

“You…” Kris wanted to return Luhan’s remark but he couldn’t since he couldn’t deny what Luhan had stated.

“Is this how you treat the older ones now, Wufan?” Luhan sneered. His right hand firmly gripped Kris’—preventing the younger guy from choking him—while a saccharine-sweet eye smile was still plastered on his never aging face.  An angry glint was obvious on his eyes, though. After all, he would only addressed Kris by his birth name—Wufan—only when he was annoyed with the taller man.

“Luhan…” Kris called his best friend’s name in a warning tone—everyone else would have cowered when they heard Kris with that tone but this was Luhan and he was fearless.

So Luhan casually continued his biting remarks at the younger one.

“She was lonely and there was I, a perfect gentleman to the rescue. She said you don’t even love her yet you don’t want to let her go. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for torturing the poor woman?”

Luhan bravely stared to Kris’ eyes, intimidating the younger one albeit being more than ten-centimeters shorter than him. Kris bit his lower lip; what Luhan said was true—he was really truly sorry for Joohyun—but he wouldn’t admit it. He genuinely hated Luhan for being able to read him easily.

When he didn’t say anything Luhan continued, “If you really, really, don’t love her, you better release her soon while she is still young enough to pursue another love. She is a human being, Wufan, you shouldn’t make her suffer for your advantage.”

Kris released his grip on Luhan’s collar while muttering under his breath, “Sure, then you can steal her from me.”

Luhan chuckled as he tidied the collar of his shirt. “Maybe me. Or someone else. If you don’t love her, just let the lady be free, Wufan.”

Kris grumbled but left Luhan alone as he went back to his chair.

“You can go now. You’re fired, by the way.”

 Luhan snorted at Kris way of dismissing him.

“Really, Wufan? Is this how you treat me now?” Luhan asked bemusedly while watching the younger one avoiding his gaze. When Kris kept his silence, Luhan continued, “Fine. I don’t have anything else to say, anyway. Do whatever you want to do but don’t keep her in misery, okay? The poor lady deserves a better life.”

Luhan stood up from his seat and inched toward the exit door. He paused before he opened the door and spoke again, “But Wufan, you should only let her go if you really don’t love her. Only if you don’t love her.” He emphasized on his last phrase before exiting the room.

It was already a habit of his to leave his office late at night; his workaholic streak had always kept him to stay longer in his workplace. It was a little bit after midnight when he arrived at his residence that he was no longer expecting his wife to be awake as such hour. However, she surprised him by greeting him in the dining room, fully alerted.

The new lady of the Wu family was such a goddess. She was really beautiful with her long straight silky black hair, dazzling onyx-like orbs, luscious red lips, and luminous pale milky skin. Her satin white night gown had hugged all her curves perfectly, tempting anyone who laid his eyes on her.

“Have you eaten dinner?” She asked him while heading toward him. He silently nodded and quickly caught her when she tripped on her way to him. Apparently, she was a little bit tipsy.

“I’m okay.” She softly assured him but her hand still lingered a little bit longer on his suited arm and chest. Kris raised his brow, clearly disbelieving her words.

“Are you drunk?”

“No!” She hurriedly answered and pushed herself away from him. However, her cheeks were flushed and she lost her balance immediately that he had to hold her by her waist to prevent her from kissing the cold onyx floor of their dining room.

She clearly had been rummaging through his personal collection of liquors.

“How much have you drunk?” Kris asked her monotonously while helping her to stand straight again by letting her leaned to his chest. She was not a good drinker—to be honest, she couldn’t hold his liquor at all.

She blushed; she really couldn’t lie to him.

“Just a little bit.” She embarrassedly admitted; her fingers were unconsciously meddling with the button of his shirt.

“Why did you drink?” He interrogated her. Since her alcohol tolerance level was extremely low, she had almost never tried to get drunk. Unless there was a really troubling matter, she wouldn’t dare to lay a finger on liquors.

Her cheeks went a couple shades brighter as she answered him.

“Oh, you know, stuffs… Nothing really important.”

She tried to get away from him but he wrapped his hands around her thin waist. The hold was loose but it was enough to hinder a drunken-Joohyun from running away.

“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what’s wrong.” He threatened her.

“Aah~~ Oppaa~~” She whined while hitting his chest. Joohyun was always too calm and mature too whine but a drunken Joohyun was as childish as a 5 years old brat. She looked up at him and pouted; her eyes were big and teary, like a puppy asking for an adoption. He quickly diverted his gaze—a pouting Joohyun  was not good for his health.

He released his wrap around her waist but she didn’t move anywhere. Probably she didn’t realize it yet or maybe she was too engrossed with the smell on his shirt. It turned out that it was the second option as she suddenly commented while slapping his chest, ”Oppa, you smell like rose. You cheater.”

Kris raised his brow in puzzlement. He didn’t make any contact with any women that day. Well, he did bump into the Human Resources Manager earlier but the contact was too brief for transferring her scent to him. What other source could leave such smell on his shirt?

His eyes widened as realization hit him.

“Yixing.” He muttered angrily under his breath.

“Who is Yixing?” She asked curiously while tilting her head.

“It’s not a perfume, Joohyun. It’s a stupid air freshener that my secretary had just bought.” He explained through gritted teeth.

“Who is Yixing?” She repeated; irritation had started to appear in her voice.

“Yixing is the idiot who bought it.”

“So you’re with her now?”

“He is my secretary and is a guy.”

“So you’re into guys now?”

He had to resist the urge to bang his head to the closest table.

He swore he would make Yixing regret being born.

He really wanted to choke his secretary to death but instead he did the only sane thing left; he cleared his throat and tried to clear the misunderstanding to the barely sober Joohyun.

Damn Yixing and his idiotic perfume-like rose-scented air freshener.

After a couple minutes of explanation she finally accepted the fact that he didn’t cheat with anyone. Or so he thought.

“But you did cheat many times when we’re still engaged.” She insisted while pouting. The annoying thing about a drunken Joohyun is that she was too damn stubborn.

Kris nodded patiently while resting his hand on the hand rest. They were currently in the living room, cozily seated next to each other on the comfortable leather sofa. “Yes, but I’ve stopped since we’re married.” He repeated for the nth time—he had lost of count of it.

“Speaking of which, what is going on between you and Luhan?” He asked curiously. He knew he would have to repeat the conversation with her when she was fully sober but he just couldn’t resist the temptation to ask her. Besides, one of the few things that he liked from a drunken Joohyun was her inability to lie. For that reason, asking about the matter to her while she was drunk would probably be better for him.

She blinked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He glared at her. How could she mimic the same response as his brother?

However, he decided to keep his calm and continued to pry her.

“Do you like him?”

She blinked again; confusion was clear on her pretty face.

“Of course. Mandarin is one hell of a language and he is a really good teacher. He is really kind.”

He scratched the back of his head without thinking; the conversation wasn’t going to the right direction. “No I mean, like love him or something. Do you?”

She stared right into his eyes with her dark orbs. Kris felt like she was boring holes to his cranium with those piercing eyes of hers. However, he didn’t waver and stared back at her.

“Are you jealous, Oppa?” She whispered softly.

Yes.

“No.”

She averted her gaze from him and stared to the enormous crystal vase at the corner of the room instead. “I’m not cheating with him, is that what you’re suspecting me of. How could you expect something so low from your best friend? He is a really kind person.”

Her answer surprised him; it was almost as if she wasn’t drunk.

“Well… Someone had caught you two in action, though.” He persisted.

A fond smile formed on her lips.

“Oh, that. Luhan thought it would be fun to piss you off. Your men weren’t really good in hiding, anyway.”

His mouth gaped open in bafflement. That annoying best friend of him was obviously toying with him. When he regained his composure he clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes in annoyance. That old geezer was definitely out of his mind. What was Luhan expecting him to do? Did Luhan think Kris was some teenage boy who would get enraged after he pulled such trick? Kris was way too mature for such immature act.

But Luhan did get him pissed off, right?

He shook his head.

No, this wasn’t right.

“What kind of other idiocy have he taught you?” he asked her nonchalantly.

She, however, didn’t answer him and continue to stare at his eyes.

Finally, after a long pause she spoke softly.

“Oppa, if you don’t love me why don’t you just let me go?”

To say that he was surprised was an understatement. He was stunned; although his best friend had been repeating the same thing during the day he couldn’t believe that Joohyun herself would ask him that. She was far too kind, too understanding, and too patient for that.

But then again, a drunken Joohyun was known for her blunt honesty. Could it be that she had wished for her freedom but never had the courage to say it?

His chest throbbed painfully at the thought.

He raised his fingers to her face and slowly traced her gorgeous features. “Joohyun… I…”

I’m sorry but I can’t.

She raised her hand to envelop his that was resting on her face. Tears had started to swell in her beautiful eyes. She bit her lower lip to stop herself from crying. Her voice was trembling.

“Kris, please, please, just let me go. It has been too long. I’m tired.”

And with that, tears started to stream down through her radiant cheeks. It pained him to see her crying in misery like that. He felt like a thousand knifes had chest and a heavy chain had constricted his heart. He hugged her closer to him and gently her head comfortingly. He felt her shaking against his chest and his tears wetting his shirt.

How could he let such a patience person be in such pain?

Why was he so heartless that he kept her suffering?

Why was he so selfish and not thinking about the kind lady in his embrace?

He gulped as he made his mind.

To hell with his pride, he had to end her misery.