Learning to Love Again

And now, he's just casually tossing the word around. This drastic change in him made it very hard for her to believe that he was sincere.

What if it's all just a front. A way to suck her back in after she's finally managed to take charge of her own life.

The moment they get together again, he'll break her and make her feel like she can't exist without him.

She didn't want to live in his shadow again or be at his beck and call.

She didn't want to be so vulnerable.

She has come to realize that the only reason why she had dated Han Yuan was to escape reality.

Being with him was like being a character in a novel.

'A girl who lost her mother falls in love with a handsome and mysterious painter.'

A great plot for a story.

But she hadn't expected to fall head over heels and become so weak.

Toxic.

That's the perfect word to use to describe how their situation had been. It was a toxic relationship.

An average day had him giving a command and her obeying it.

She couldn't help but wonder if he had taken advantage of her because she was young and grieving; an easy target for manipulation.

All in all, his current declaration of "love" is simply overwhelming. This is all too much for her to accept.

She still loves him, she won't deny that fact, but that doesn't mean that she's willing to neglect her own happiness and wellbeing just to be with him.

"Mr. Han, it's a hot day and everyone's tired, you shouldn't fool around too much."

"Su Lian, please. I'll be a father to your son. I'll treat him the same way I would treat my very own."

"No, stop. Just stop it. The two of us can't be together anymore. What we had was unhealthy for me. I don't want to go back to that."

"Neither do I. I'm just-"

"Han Yuan, your five minutes are up."

Su Lian turns away and opens her car door. "Have a nice day, Mr. Han. And don't try something like this ever again." She enters without looking back, leaving him standing alone outside.

He just stares at her white Rolls Royce unsure of the next step he should take.

Rejection.

This is the first time he's ever experienced such a thing.

It was an awful feeling, extremely horrible.

He felt as if he had lost a great battle or went fishing without managing to catch even a tiny fish.

After taking one final look at her car, he walks into his own where two men are waiting.

One of the men is his assistant, Deng Xiao while the other sat with his hands tied as if he had been abducted.

"Let him go and we'll leave."

Deng Xiao nods his head and cuts the rope tied around the man's wrist before setting him free.

Shortly after, Su Lian's driver stumbles into her car looking visibly exhausted.

"Ms. I-I-"

"It's alright. I've had a long day so just take me home please."

Resting her head on the back of her seat, she feels devastated, but she was doing this for her son. She couldn't let him have a weak mother.

A pushover.

After managing to convince her self that she made the right choice, Su Lian slowly falls asleep in her drifting car.