The tension in the air could've been sliced with a blade.
Zhao Luchen stood at the threshold of the private room, his eyes locked on the sight before him—Lin Yuyan frozen in place, Zhao Lemin's arms still halfway around her, his lips too close to her cheek.
The moment fractured like glass.
Yuyan took a step back instantly, breath shallow. "Luchen—"
But Luchen's gaze didn't shift to her. It was fixed on his brother.
"Get your hands off my wife."
Lemin didn't flinch. Instead, he slowly turned, expression unreadable. "Still claiming things that were never yours, ge?"
The word—a cruel twist on brotherhood—cut through the air.
"I didn't come here to fight," Lemin said smoothly, hands raised in mock surrender. "I came to explain."
"To manipulate," Luchen snapped. "Same thing."
"Stop," Yuyan said quietly, her voice trembling. "I just… I wanted answers."
Lemin turned to her again, softer now. "I understand. You deserve them. You were dragged into this mess without even knowing it."
"I want the truth," she said. "About the video. The contract. That day."
Lemin's eyes darkened, but his voice remained low, coaxing. "I was blackmailed, Yuyan. Someone powerful. Someone with ties to your mother's side of the family."
She blinked, stunned. "My family?"
"Your uncle," he added smoothly. "He never wanted the marriage to happen. He was the one who leaked the contract footage. He set everything up to make Luchen look like the villain."
Luchen's jaw clenched. "Don't you dare bring her uncle into this—"
"But it makes sense, doesn't it?" Lemin turned back to Yuyan. "The way he vanished from the country right after the scandal broke? The sudden silence? The assets that shifted overnight?"
Yuyan's lips parted in shock. "I didn't know about any assets…"
Lemin hesitated, then looked pained. "He didn't want you to. You were never supposed to find out."
"Find out what?"
"I don't know all the details," he said. "Only that your name was tied to something big—inheritance, land, maybe even a trust in your mother's name. I overheard things. And someone wanted it buried."
Luchen stepped forward, voice low and dangerous. "You're dancing around half-truths, Lemin. You always were good at that."
"You think I wanted this chaos?" Lemin's mask cracked, just enough. "You think I wanted to disappear on my wedding day? To come back to a world where my own brother is married to the woman I—" He caught himself, jaw twitching.
Yuyan's breath hitched. "You what?"
Lemin swallowed. "It doesn't matter now."
Luchen's eyes narrowed. "Finish it."
Lemin looked at her, all masks stripped away. "I loved you. Still do."
Silence.
Yuyan stepped back, hand trembling.
"I didn't plan to feel this way," Lemin whispered. "But when I saw you again, and how lost you looked, I couldn't stay away."
He reached for her hand again.
But this time, she didn't let him touch her.
"I don't know what to believe," she said softly.
Lemin's expression faltered. "Believe what you feel."
But Luchen stepped between them then, calm and ice-cold. "She'll believe what's true. And I won't let you twist that."
"She deserves to hear my side."
"She just did." Luchen's voice dropped. "Now leave."
Lemin didn't move right away. Then, finally, he nodded. "Fine. But this isn't over."
He glanced at Yuyan one last time, pain flickering behind his mask. Then he walked out, leaving the door swinging behind him.
Yuyan stood still, her thoughts reeling.
She felt Luchen's gaze but didn't meet it. Not yet.
"He's lying," Luchen said.
"Maybe," she whispered. "Maybe not."
Silence.
Then she turned to him, eyes filled with hurt. "If he's lying, prove it."
Luchen nodded once, firm. "I will."
And for the first time, he meant it—not as a way to keep her close, but to protect the truth she had been denied for far too long.
—