Reborn as a Good Child

125. Don't Give Him Hope

"If your brother finds out you compared him to a woman, he'd faint from anger," Jiang Hua laughed.

"Let him faint!" YiHan said, brows still locked in a frown. "Jiang-ge, don't think about all those what-ifs just yet. Let me go scout out what he thinks first. Perhaps you're not the target. Just wait for my call."

However, Jiang Hua didn't relax from YiHan's assurance. "You don't need to comfort me. It's clear he has something against me. I can't be wrong. Let me give you an example. He could be chatting with someone else, smiling all the while, but the moment he'd see me, his face would instantly darken." He mockingly chuckled. "It's fine though. I've thought things through. I'd never planned on having anything with him. Even if he fires me, I'd be close to him as long as I stay in this city. Perhaps we would still be able to see each other then. Even if we couldn't, it has its own benefits. Not seeing each other means my heart can have more peace. At least I don't need to watch him get married and have kids. It's not bad to keep the fantasy I'd always kept deep in my heart alive."

"How could you be so unambitious?" YiHan fumed. "Don't be so pessimistic. Let me talk to him first."

"Don't ask him," Hua said. "If he thinks I persuaded you to do that, if he thinks I've been trying to goad you two into fighting, he'd hate me even more."

"Oh, Jiang-ge," YiHan sighed, "the more you care, the more chaotic your mind. I'm not a fool. I won't expose you. Just wait for my news. Even if you have to die, you must at least know why. Right now, you don't even know why he suddenly hates you!"

Hua tilted his head and thought about it. "Okay then," he lowly chuckled. "I'll leave it to you, YiHan!"

"Alright," YiHan said. "Don't be upset. Eat some more. You've gotten skinnier since we last met."

"Okay." A warm smile graced Hua's face.

Jiang Hua was skinnier today. It wasn't obvious when YiHan sat across from him but when YiHan helped steady the man after Hua bumped shoulders with a man entering the restaurant as they left, YiHan realised the body hiding under the suit was so slender that a single hit could snap the man in half. As YiHan looked at the forever-gentle man walking beside him, he felt a great weight pressing down on his heart.

Later that evening after dinner, YiHan sneakily followed Yan from the dining table back to the older man's room.

"HanHan," Yan said, looking back in exasperation, "why are you sneaking around? Do you need my help with something?"

YiHan let out a little giggle as he stepped forward. "No. What could I need help with? I'm just a little worried since you seemed to be in a bad mood lately. Did something happen?"

Yan was touched. He wrapped an arm around his younger brother's shoulders and led YiHan into his room.

"I'm not in a bad mood," Yan said, sitting down on the couch in his room. "There's just been a lot going on at the office. I'm a little tired."

"No wonder," YiHan said. "Jiang-ge looked rather rundown today too. His undereye area is all dark. He's also extremely thin. In the space of one meal, he nearly fell asleep. So it's fatigue due to overworking. Even so, as his boss, you should be a bit more considerate of your subordinates. Only Jiang-ge is patient enough. No one else would've let you push them so hard."

Yan's heart throbbed. His mood worsened. He'd been finding himself acting weirdly lately. Every time he thought of Jiang Hua, strange emotions would rise in him, let alone when Hua appeared before his eyes. To reduce the time Yan had to spend with Hua, he deliberately arranged a lot of unnecessary work for the man. He had other employees take over the man's work. Perhaps Jiang Hua had been working by his side for too long, there was a kind of silent understanding between them that no other person could achieve. A single glance, a simple twitch; those were enough for Jiang Hua to instantly comprehend what Yan was thinking. No one else could do the same. Without Jiang Hua, everything felt hard. The new secretary he promoted was as stupid as a pig. The person had increased who knows how much more work on top of his existing workload. And then Yan would constantly be spacing out at work. The mere thought of Jiang Hua being just a wall away from him was enough to send his thoughts whirling into chaos. Now, when passing by the man's desk, Yan would intentionally look away. It had been a while since he'd last taken a good look at Hua. Ah, the two truly had a great rapport with each other. Hua would always easily understand what Yan meant to say. Ever since Yan made all those changes, the other man had never once shown up before his eyes. If there was something they needed to tell each other, it would've been done through a middle-man.