Because I Cannot Hurt You

They jolted and would have already ran away if not for Xia Liqin's swollen and painful foot. Han Tian cleared his throat and offered his hand.

"I will walk by myself," she said.

His gaze darkened.

Siying furrowed his brows. "But Grandma is in pain. How will you walk?"

Han Tian smiled. "Of course, a four year old child will understand rather than an adult like you."

Xia Liqin wanted to strangle him. Han Tian then picked her in his arms, holding the compress in his hands.

"Tian! What are you doing? Put me down."

Han Huizhong raised his brow. He looked at Siying and held his hand. "Come on, my boy. It's too early for you to see any adult scenes."

Xia Liqin was speechless. "D-Dad! What are you saying to a child?"

"What are you showing to a child? I am afraid if he stays here, he will see much more than he is supposed to for his age."

"Of course, we are not going to do anything like that!" Her cheeks flushed red.

"You can never be sure when middle-aged hormones would suddenly act up."

T-this...Dad is too much!

Han Tian took her inside and gently put her on the bed. He placed her right foot on his thigh, taking care to ensure that it didn't hurt her and pressed the compress on her swollen part.

Xia Liqin felt as if she was in heaven. Her foot cried in happiness. She looked at Han Tian, who was seriously focussing all his attention on massaging her foot.

Both kept their silence. 

As he slightly moved, Han Tian's attention caught on to something at a distance. It was a huge travel bag, resting against the cupboard. He blinked his eyes and curiosity immediately set in.

Is she traveling somewhere?

Han Tian pretended as if he didn't notice and continued with the compress. But in the end, he finally couldn't resist asking.

"Where are you going?"

This woman...here she cannot even walk properly, and she wants to go out to play! Why can she not take care of herself?

Xia Liqin was taken aback because she thought they wouldn't talk about anything at all. She then realized he asked because of her bag.

Xia Liqin looked away. "What do you mean where?" She pursed her lips. "I am leaving this villa."

He froze. He didn't move as he stared at her in shock. "Leaving this house? Why?"

Xia Liqin, in turn, stared at him, confused. "What else am I supposed to do? We…" her gaze dimmed, "have been living separately for years. Now everything is settled. Zhiyuan and Xinyi have embraced their future, and Zizi also knows the truth and is fine now. I was scared about that the most. But everything turned out to be okay. She is going to marry a good man who she deserves. Her future is sorted out too."

She dryly smiled as her heart twisted in pain. "I don't have any more reason to shamelessly live here. But I am not leaving the country this time. I have missed a lot of moments, and now I want to stay closer to Zhiyuan and Zizi so that they always have their mother by their side whenever they need me. I will visit Dad and Siying now and then too."

"And me?" Han Tian blankly asked.

Xia Liqin stared at him. "What?"

"What about me? You gave a really heartwarming lecture about your situation, but as usual, Han Tian wasn't anywhere in it, right?"

Her jaw tightened, feeling furious. "You... what's with that tone?"

He laughed. "You are feeling angry about my tone? What about me, who has been excluded from your 'concern' list?"

Xia Liqin gritted her teeth. "What are you…"

"Oh but I forgot. Wasn't it always like that? It would be a miracle if you thought about me. Years ago, the only person you could think about was An Guoting, and years later, the only ones you are thinking about right now are the entire Han family except me. I...I never had a place in your heart, right!?"

His heart felt inexplicably bitter. He didn't know why, but he had already subconsciously assumed that Xia Liqin would always live in the villa with them now. It was silly because they were divorced. But the thought of her leaving never once crossed his mind.

And now the reason for her staying in the country was everybody but him. Zhiyuan, Xinyi, Zizi, Siying, Han Huizhong; everybody but not Han Tian. That struck his heart even more viciously.

Xia Liqin trembled. "H-Han Tian! Once again... once again, you are bringing up the past. Once again you are raking up the same old accusations at me! Now that the whole truth is out, you still refuse to believe my feelings-"

"You know, Liqin?" Han Tian resumed pressing the compress on her foot. This time, his voice was quiet and soft. "I gave this a long thought. You and An Guoting. I thought for a long time about this. Indeed, I misunderstood your feelings for him. I was wrong in not trusting you."

Xia Liqin stiffened seeing a drop of his year falling on her foot. She found herself unable to breathe.

"But can you once, just once think things through my perspective? I was your husband. Yet you always thought about An Guoting's wellbeing. When Zongying suffered, and I needed you the most to lean on, I didn't find you by my side because you offered your shoulder to An Guoting. When I wanted my wife to hug and comfort me, you were busy crying for An Guoting's innocence. Liqin. Now will you tell me that after repeatedly watching you choose another man over and over again, was I not allowed to feel even insecure and jealous anymore?"

She froze.

"If you had seen me crying for some other woman or caring about her so much that I would even forget about my own wife had the situation been reversed, would you not have felt wronged even for a moment? Wouldn't it really not have hurt you? I felt jealous, Liqin. Isn't it natural when I love you so much? I felt lonely when I found you nowhere near me. I felt threatened that you are going somewhere farther from me the more you cried for An Guoting.. I felt insecure because my wife's tears and her concern didn't belong to her husband any longer."