“If you truly thought that it was just a joke, then why did you avoid meeting Daren? Why would you have such a guilty conscience that you wouldn’t even dare to meet him? It’s because you know that it wasn’t a joke, or at least, that it wasn’t a joke at all to Daren. Right?” Amber was really disappointed in him.
Ruby pursed his lips, not saying anything.
“Brother, how could you be like this? Do you know what the one thing that you absolutely can’t play around with in this world is? It’s other people’s emotions! Some things can’t be resolved just because you brush it off as a joke.
The moment you sent those words over, you sentenced Daren to pain and suffering! Especially so given his personality. He’s sensitive, detail-oriented, introverted, and bad with words.
He put his entire being and all his emotions into the Internet, believing that you’re female, believing that you’re a kindred soul, believing that, even through the Internet, that you really do love him. Thus, he put all his effort into loving you back.
Over these past two years, he’s attended almost all of my classes, through wind and rain. Doesn’t this show how much effort he’s put into this relationship, into believing and loving the fake persona that you’ve crafted over the Internet? And then you’re just going to dismiss this as a joke? Brother … how could you be like this?”
She stared at him, her passion fading as she slowly asked, “Have you forgotten about Grandmother? About why she went crazy? About why she died? Have you forgotten?”
After saying all that, Amber stood up and left Ruby.
****
When Amber finally returned home, she felt completely drained and exhausted.
Ian was sitting on the sofa with his laptop on his lap. When she went over, about to lean on his shoulder, she saw that he was actually watching … A … sexual … movie!
To be specific, it was a third-category movie [TL: for sexual or violent content] from Korea. No matter how good the plot was or how pleasing the aesthetics were, it was still a third-category movie, alright? And what’s more, the scene she had happened to look at really hurt her eyes!
She wasn’t sure whether she should feel happy that Ian was still interested in sex after all that had happened at his family, place, because he didn’t seem like he cared about her ‘cheating’ on his brother at all! But she still felt an additional dose of exhaustion. After having dealt with one worry, she found that she still had another one waiting for her at home.
Amber closed his laptop and then looked at him seriously. “Ian, don’t you care about the truth? Aren’t you angry?”
He didn’t even change his posture as he looked at her and coolly replied, “I already know the truth. There is only one person who could get so many pictures of you, and also make you that mad, your brother. As for why I’m not angry … why should I be angry that someone was stupid and got swindled by someone else?”
“… But he’s your brother, and this could be a very traumatic experience for him.”
“So what?”
“Ian Axton ….”
“Do you think that I’m a cold-blooded person? That I’m scary, because I don’t even care for my family?”
Amber took a deep breath, and then quickly relaxed. “Why do you have to make it sound so serious? What does any of this have to do with being cold-blooded? It’s just that you’re calmer than the average person, and able to see the problem from an overall perspective.”
She tried to lean in closer, and when he didn’t reject her, she relaxed. “You’re actually quite angry as well, aren’t you? Usually, you won’t talk to me as severely as you are now.”
Ian remained silent. He didn’t agree with her, but if she wanted to think that, then he didn’t mind.
Amber continued to talk. “I’m sorry. It really was my brother who did something that stupid and made Daren misunderstand.”
Regardless of whether Ian wanted to hear it, Amber still told him everything. She started with how when she had gotten busy, she had stopped logging into the game for a long time.
When her brother logged on with her account for the first time in awhile, Daren naturally contacted him. Ruby wasn’t all that interested in responding until he found out that Daren was a member of the Axton family.
Only then did Ruby suddenly become very interested. He’d been salivating over Axton Corporation’s installation projects for a while, but Ian was too hard to get close to, and he had no connections to larger businesses to beg from either.
Daren gave him a strand of hope, so he had pretended to be Amber, teasing Daren and leading him on over the Internet unscrupulously-as an experienced businessman, swindling a newbie like Daren wasn’t difficult at all.
But since he was afraid of being exposed, he had even pretended to be two people by using the game account to introduce his real self to Daren. Then, when Axton Corporation’s hotel in Hainan was inviting bids, he had Daren help him get some benefits.
Ruby had intended to make their ‘breakup’ take place more naturally, but he had never expected Amber to actually become familiar with Ian, or that the two of them would actually get into a relationship together.
Ruby had sped up the breakup, and accidentally made “Amber” seem like she had discarded the powerless younger brother for the more powerful older one.
After Amber explained the entire situation, her face was burning red in shame. Ian rubbed his lower jaw thoughtfully as he commented, “The power of love really is great.”
Amber was confused by his reaction. “…?”
She had to try very hard to restrain herself from calling him silly.
As the older brother, did he understand the negative influences that this could have on his younger brother if it wasn’t handled well at all?