Ruan Chu didn't deny it. He let the silence confirm everything.
"She was proud," he said at last, voice soft with bitter nostalgia. "Too proud. Even when they cornered her, framed her, stripped her of dignity… she never once asked for help. Never once looked at me. I wanted to break that pride. I wanted her to need me."
Lightning flashed outside, illuminating the haunted look on Ruan Chu's face.
Ruan Zhang clenched his fists. "You're sick! You bastard! How dare you look at Ji Ji with those eyes! Are you even my son?!"
"Perhaps," Ruan Chu said indifferently, "Indeed, I'm your son, father. But not a stupid one. Ruan Ji was never meant to stay here, was she? She was always meant to leave. To soar. You kept her in a cage of debt and obligation. But she's left now, hasn't she?"
There was a bitter smile at the edge of his mouth. "You see, Father, even after everything, she never came to me. Not once."