Chapter 313: The whole truth and nothing else (3)

“Was fate really on my side? It made us meet, then as I got the tiny flicker of hope in love, it instantly snatched it away, and when I was going to start with my plan, my own cousin stood in my way as the biggest threat.”

Jinhai pulled Nana in his embrace. He rested his head in the nape of her neck. The tip of his nose softly brushed on her skin.

“I was so torn apart. Jianyu is my cousin. He is my brother. I knew how broken-hearted he was when Suyin left him. We had all seen the pathetic state he was in. And I realized that perhaps you could be the woman who would bring him out of it. After all…” he anxiously tightened his embrace, “you are so nice. You are so kind. It wouldn’t take much time for him to forget her and fell for you. And I got so angry to know that…I may have to give up on you.”

Nana felt her heart clench. She wanted to push him away, but she couldn’t.

She asked, “Why did you blame me that day?”

Jinhai pursed lips. “Because of Jianyu. How could I get in the way of his happiness? I thought that I would really have to give up on you. And I was frustrated. Everything was set, but then suddenly, it dawned on me that I cannot make you mine. If it was some other man, then I might have fought, but Jianyu is my brother. We grew up together. I knew that he could keep you happy. I felt jealous and furious!”

Jinhai stared at her desperately. “That’s why I thought that I needed to distance myself from you. You were going to be my cousin-in-law. Everything just came together all of a sudden on me. I felt helpless once again as that day two years back, and I lashed out at you.”

Jinhai lowered his head guiltily. “I didn’t know about your past then. When I saw that you were about to cry, I realized my mistake. I felt so stupid that I couldn’t control my temper! Nothing was your fault. I was angry at the situation, but I ended up hurting you. I couldn’t let that accusation hurt you anymore, so I immediately apologized the next day.”

Nana finally understood it. But she failed to understand one thing.

“So, you decided to step back for Jianyu?”

Jinhai nodded.

“So why did you threaten Huian with the letters?”

“Because during the wedding anniversary celebration, when I saw Jianyu dance with Suyin, I felt his love for her rushing back to him. He might have been able to mask it with hatred at that time, but I saw through his unsaid feelings. I saw the hesitation. And I understood at that time that Jianyu hadn’t truly forgotten about her. And as Suyin was back in his life, it was only going to cause more troubles. If a time came to choose between you and Suyin, his hesitation would have only hurt you. So, I couldn’t stay on the sidelines anymore.”

Nana stared at him.

“With his feelings unresolved, you could have never been happy with him. It would have been a thorn in your relationship. And I could never see you suffer. But I…I only love you, Nana. I have only you in my heart. When we danced together, I felt your feelings for me too. When we both love each other, so why did we have to stay away from each other? Why bear the hurt of seeing the one we love with someone else?”

Nana faintly smiled. “So, you didn’t feel guilty anymore.”

Jinhai was awkward.

“How did you do everything?”

“Nana…I-“

“Just tell me already,” Nana cut him off. She only wanted to hear the rest of the truth now.

Jinhai clenched his fingers into a fist. He took a deep breath.

After this, everything would be over…

Jinhai’s voice was meek and low. “You-you are right. I told the doctor to do that test. I wanted to know when you will be fertile for pregnancy because with a child, the situation would drastically come in my favor in not only separating from Huian but also marrying you.”

He stopped.

Nana said, “I am listening, Jinhai. Go on.”

Jinhai gulped a mouthful of saliva.

“The Chen banquet’s initial date was twenty-third. But your…o-ovulation was on seventh. So I had to do something to prepone the banquet. I couldn’t say it outwardly without any reason. The only one who could have helped me was Grandma because she is a strong believer in stars and divination.”

The clouds covered the bright moon, shedding a little darkness on the beach.

“I made someone print an article that the seventh was the most auspicious day to hold any kind of event. I also paid one monk to say the same. When Grandma learned about it, she instantly ordered Aunt to prepone the banquet no matter what.”

Nana remembered how a few days before the banquet, she had come to Liu villa for the first time bringing Jinhai with her who had a headache from drinking too much.

At that time, she saw how Grandma Liu insisted on preponing the banquet.

“…I see,” she chuckled sadly, “And? I’m sure the main event is just going to start.”

Jinhai panicked when he saw her blank expression.

“…After the kidnapping incident, when Jianyu confronted Suyin in the hospital, I somewhat felt that he would let her go. He still wasn’t firm. And Suyin…she planned to lay low for some time, but people like her never give up for revenge. I knew she would definitely strike in Chen banquet next, which is what I wanted.”

Nana was stunned. She looked at him as if he was not the Jinhai she knew.

“You knew what Jianyu did, yet you kept quiet. That was what broke our engagement and why Aunt didn’t allow him to be a Chen anymore. But you said nothing.”

He couldn’t look straight at Nana anymore, so he hastily tore his gaze away.

“Y-yes. And Huian. I was doing everything to put a strain on our marriage so much so that I made her compel to plan something in the banquet too. Our relationship was falling apart, and that too fast, so the only way she had to save it at that stage was to get pregnant. I had already given an ultimatum that we would never sleep together. So the last option was to use aphrodisiac to drug me.”

Nana inhaled a sharp breath.

“I was sure that Suyin would still do the same thing as that night. She was raped, so it was obvious that she wanted the same thing to happen to you. I tracked her movements and found that she bought aphrodisiac too to drug you. Then after the announcement, Huian offered me a drink. I knew it was spiked. Suyin, as a waitress, gave you a spiked fruit punch. And s-soon after, the effect kicked in.”

Nana was finally beginning to understand everything. She couldn’t believe that Jinhai would plot this far.

“I don’t think you could have done everything alone. Because the lights also went off soon after. You couldn’t have done that in the drugged state.”

“I…”

“So somebody else from our family was also with you in your plan. Who was he?”

Then Nana suddenly thought about someone.

“Jing?”

His silence gave her the answer. She had already seen how much Jing loved Jinhai just how the twins loved her. It was natural that he would do anything for his big brother.

Nana didn’t know who to believe anymore. The brother-in-law on whom she doted, just like the twins, was also a part of it.

“You are right. Jing short-circuited the fuse, and the power went off. It was because we didn’t want any CCTV footage of that time.”

“Why?”

Jinhai hesitated. “When Huian took me to the twelfth floor, Jing was ready. It was dark, and making use of that, he attacked her from behind and made her unconscious using chloroform and put her in her room on the thirteenth floor. We didn’t want that to capture in the CCTV.”

“Suyin getting drugged was a coincidence. Jing was going to make her unconscious, too, but the situation played out differently yet on our side. Before she reached the twelfth floor, Jing switched the room number plates, 1205 and 1206.”

And then they both knew what happened.

“Xin also discovered the truth about Huian, and I planned it so that she would be exposed in the banquet too.”

Nana laughed. “So, in this way, you managed to kick both Huian and Jianyu out of your way. That’s why you didn’t tell anybody what Jianyu did because you were waiting for the right moment. You wanted it as the biggest reason for our engagement to break apart.”

Jinhai grabbed her hands and pleaded. “Nana, I-I only did it for us. I only did everything for us to stay together. I never loved Huian, and you didn’t like Jianyu either. We couldn’t have gained anything staying in our relationships. “

Nana harshly slapped her hand away.

“NO! No, Liu Jinhai. You didn’t do it for ‘us’; you only did it for yourself!”