Chapter 77 - 77: Why Don't You Marry Each Other Instead?
As soon as the door opened, all eyes were focused on the new arrival making Kim Eunji's response to be overshadowed by his presence.
A tall and very handsome man walked in and everyone was blown away by his aura. The sons who came along to attend the event suddenly became insecure and unsure of themselves.
The businessmen present immediately wanted to approach the man and made a connection with him. They were hoping to have a business collaboration in the future.
Like the male members of the family, the daughters and even the wives immediately wanted to be noticed by him. The mothers who had their daughters with them immediately wanted to ask the man if he would then be interested in marrying their daughters.
He was oozing with mysteriousness and sex appeal. Every step he took made them to hold their breath.
Everybody badly wanted to get his attention. However, his eyes and attention were only fixed to this one person making everyone to be jealous of her as soon as they realized where he was looking at.
Of course, his attention would only be on his wife and no one else.
Kim Eunji who was still a few meters away from where he was, looked at him as if saying "Let me handle this."
Nathan then heaved a sigh and let his wife solved it. Was he jealous? Who wouldn't? No husband would be happy to hear that someone wanted to take his wife away from him.
"Master Bai! I thought you wouldn't come here! Come!" Senior Master Jin Cheng greeted Nathan as soon as he was a few steps away from them.
"Oh! I thought so too, Senior Master Jin. Good thing I did or else I would miss to meet this very beautiful lady here. Hello again, Miss Kim!" Nathan said and subtly winked at Kim Eunji.
"Oh! So you have met each other before?" Senior Master Jin Cheng asked in surprise
"We did! It's all thanks to brother Mo Jing-sheng and Kelly's wedding!" Nathan answered for them.
He then frowned when he saw that Kim Eunji was crossing her right arm over the other as if she was trying to shake off the coldness that she was feeling.
Without any second thoughts, Nathan removed his suit and wrapped it around Kim Eunji's upper body to keep her warm.
He badly wanted to hug her to transfer his body heat to her. But of course he knew it would only bring her more trouble instead of helping her.
Therefore, he chose the less obvious option. If he could find a perfect alibi, he was sure that everyone would buy it. Hopefully.
"Thank you, Mr. Bai." Kim Eunji may had decided to talk to him like an acquaintance but deep down her heart was melting because of this simple act of caring.
"Nah! Sister-in-law would surely nag at me if you suddenly got a cold because I didn't look after you well. She adores you and first brother cherished her. Just think of it as I'm helping my brother to not make his wife upset." Nathan had found the perfect alibi for his actions. And he hoped everyone would buy it.
"I never thought you were close with the new Young Mistress of the Mo, Eunji." Senior Master Jin Cheng remarked.
"They are. In fact Sister Eunji is also a part of the family." Mo Ping suddenly voiced out.
"En! Uncle and Aunt Mo had recognized sister Eunji as the Mo Family's goddaughter." Mo Ting supported his brother.
This revelation shocked everyone. 'Is this some kind of joke?' Everyone had the same thoughts in mind.
Those who knew the history of the Jin Family thought what they were witnessing now only happened in telenovelas. They never thought it would happen in reality as well.
They then looked at Kim Eunji to observe her reaction but they were shocked when they saw her so calm despite being stuck in a difficult position.
"I see. I really didn't expect for the Mo to welcome a Jin family member." Jin Syaoran commented from his seat.
"Of course! Unlike other families, us, the Mo Family don't judge the fruit just because the tree was bad. Oh I think I have to rephrase that, the Mo Family recognized a person's good heart rather than what's in his pocket. And besides, if I'm not mistaken, the Jins and the Mos were pretty close back then. Well not so close compared to the bond you shared with the Lings but the two families never had any misunderstanding until you took over." Mo Ping pointed out that matter.
The feud between the families started because Jin Cheng became greedy.
"Master Mo Ping, I think you've gone too far." Jin Syaoran voiced his dissatisfaction with the young Mo.
"We invited your family out of respect." He added.
What Jin Syaoran meant was they did not expect them to actually show up at this party.
"Dad! They're still our guest! Therefore it's inappropriate to tell that to them." J reprimanded his own father. He was very disappointed with his own father's actions.
He had been doing his best to make peace with the Mo Family as he felt guilty and at the same time ashamed of what his grandfather had done to the Mos.
It was him who asked his grandfather to invite the Mos at last minute. He was glad that his grandfather agreed with his request. But he never expected this outcome to happen.
"Thank you for that Jin Jie." Mo Ting sincerely said. The two were of the same age and been friends despite their family's dispute.
"Grandpa! What's the meaning of this? Are you deliberately bullying Eunji here? Is this how you're going to treat the true heir of this family?!" J could not hold back anymore.
He was utterly disappointed with his grandfather.
Kim Eunji then held his shoulder to calm him down as she softly said, "It's okay J. I'm fine. I told you the last time that I won't fall on this trap right?"
However, someone was not happy with what she was doing. Kim Eunji sighed as soon as she saw in her peripheral vision that the person beside her was drinking a lot of vinegar.
She didn't know how much Nathan had heard but she was sure that the man would explode if he'll find out that his wife was being arranged to marry another man.
Well my dear Eunji, he heard everything. Thanks to Man 1 who was recording what was happening around her as soon as she entered the Jin residence.
J looked at Kim Eunji and he refuted, "No Eunji. My family's abusing you. I'm sorry Eunji, this family's not worthy of your kindness."
J then turned his attention to his grandfather as he continued, "Grandfather, I never expected you to do this dirty move."
"J, please calm down! Will you? Shouting and arguing would never help us to solve this." Kim Eunji felt like a head ache was about to come for her.
"I don't want to repeat my stand in this matter. I won't apologize for this Senior Master Jin as I don't think I owe any of you an apology. Yes, I'm a legitimate descendant of a Jin but I would never let myself to be bound by a marriage agreement between these two families when I was not even born yet when that happened."
She chuckled as she looked at how pathetic this dinner had become.
"You never acknowledged me as a member of this family from the very beginning. In fact, it is only J who treated me as a Jin and whom I trusted to be the next family head so why are you so eager to marry me off to another family? Why me? I'm just a nobody."
Kim Eunji expressed that she was unwelcomed by this family from the very beginning. Her second statement meant that Senior Master Jin was threatened by her existence that's why he wanted her to be married to another family as soon as possible.
"Jin Li Rong obviously wanted to be married to Mr. Ling here. Are you implying that he's not worthy enough to marry your granddaughter? Am I right Senior Master Jin?"
The guests gasped when they heard Kim Eunji's last statement. They never thought that she was so bold to frankly said it in front of every one.
"Insolence! I am still the elder of this house therefore you should obey my orders!" Senior Master Jin Cheng snapped.
"Senior Master Jin Cheng. I highly advice for you to take it easy. Your body's not how it was before. Yes, you're the elder of this house. I won't argue with that. However, I'm also a Kim and I never have any plans changing my family name so suddenly because someone ordered me to."
"Why? Why are you so against the idea of marrying me though?" Ling Bao finally interrupted.
"My reason is the same as why you don't like to be with her." Kim Eunji simply explained.
"I'm not gay!" Ling Bao scoffed in disbelief.
"It's you who deliberately said that, not me Mr. Ling." Kim Eunji chuckled.
"Didn't you say earlier that you don't like boys? Then you like girls. Am I wrong?" Ling Bao clearly heard her earlier. Not just him but also the rest of the guests.
Kim Eunji was stunned by the question as she was caught off-guard by it.
"It's true that I don't like boys but I'm not saying I like girls either." Kim Eunji meaningfully said.
Kim Eunji was inwardly heaving a sigh as Nathan's face turned a shade darker when Ling Bao was showing his interest to her.
"Therefore, we should stop this supposed engagement between you and me immediately."
"Then who do you like? Who's your ideal person?" Nathan suddenly interrupted and asked her.
"Someone who's caring, understanding, who makes my heart flutter even with his or her simple actions towards me. Someone who could manage my temper. Someone who could keep me grounded." 'And I'm glad I finally found that person in you my beloved husband, "Kim Eunji continued in her head.
She had avoided to look at his face when she said that as she didn't want to make her feelings for him to be so obvious.
"But of course, I love myself more." Kim Eunji said in a humorous way.
She then low-keyed flexed the rings on her left ring finger.
"You're already engaged?" Ling Bao asked in disbelief.
"Nope. I bought these rings for myself. Of course someone gave it to me with the solemn vow of forever." Kim Eunji sarcastically said in a soft voice since she didn't want her marriage announcement to happen so soon.
"Miss Kim is it, right?" The other senior man asked.
"Yes Senior Master Ling." Kim Eunji politely replied to him.
"And do you think it's right to make my family be the subject of ridicule in this dinner party?" Senior Master Ling told her.
"It's not my intention to make it this way Senior Master Ling. I don't hold any grudge against your family. However if you continued to insist that I should marry your grandson, then we would never come up with an understanding."
"If you really wanted to make the bond between the Jin and the Ling stronger, you could still continue the marriage alliance but not in my expense." Kim Eunji firmly said.
"I don't want to be a substitute either! You're the one who was supposed to marry him and not me!" Jin Li Rong suddenly said.
She thought she loved Ling Bao but as soon as Nathan came in, her attention was now focused on him. Her desire was to marry Nathan now.
She had already planned to make her grandfather agree and helped her to pull some strings to make Nathan agree into marrying her.
"Oh!" Kim Eunji meaningfully looked at her. Unlike Kim Eunji, Jin Li Rong didn't know how to hide her emotions really well.
"Well, there's nothing I can do now. Lady Jin suddenly have a change of heart. And I don't want it, too."
"But you're still a Jin, Miss Kim. You should prioritize family matters first. It's not too late to break off with that man. To break off with your engagement." Senior Master Ling insisted.
Nathan's face darkened even more when he heard that. Kim Eunji's facial expression also darkened a few shades darker.
Of course there's no way she would let someone to talk about her marriage life like it's not a big deal.
And if she would not solve this matter quickly, she was sure that Nathan might explode in anger sooner.
"Yes, Senior Master Ling, I am a Jin. I'm not going to deny that. However, don't you think it's unfair for me and my partner as well? Family matters? Speaking of family, let's say I would agree to this engagement then what if my paternal family also had someone else for me to marry and insisted that I should break off this engagement so that I could marry the man that they wanted me to marry given that I bear the Kim family name. What do you think Senior Master Ling?"
"--__--" Everyone was speechless.
"Respect my relationship with my lover. That's all I'm asking from you. I'm not against the idea of arranged marriage either. However, forcing me to do it because of a hidden agenda is a foul Senior Masters. If you really wanted this marriage alliance to came into fruition so bad, why don't you marry each other instead?"
"..." Everyone was struck dumbfounded by her last words.
Before everyone could recover from the shock, Kim Eunji then turn around and left the hall leaving J and the rest to look at her in disbelief.
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