She could see her mother's expression start to change to one of anger, and she honestly felt she was going to faint. Beside her, Jungkook was extremely calm and gently nudged her in the back, signaling that she should bring him to formally pay respect to auntie.

I... am not completely mentally prepared for this yet, ah...

She was weeping inside of herself as she walked up and, in a quiet voice, said, "Mom... um... this is my boyfriend..."

She did not dare look at mother's face, absolutely did not dare, AAAAH, k? ...

"Auntie, how do you do?" His voice had instantly changed, almost like he was an entirely different person. The doting and teasing from a moment ago were completely gone, and replacing it was a simple sophistication and composure that straightaway calmed people's hearts. "My name is Jungkook."

"Mm... hello." It was absolutely a – 30oC type of icy voice.

"Please do not get the wrong idea. I'm a doctor here in this hospital," Jungkook said with a smile, directly cutting through that layer of awkwardness and clarifying. "I just brought Lily here to meet my cousin-sister. She is going abroad tomorrow for further studies."

"Ah... a doctor." Uh, the temperature had risen to +30oC... "Little Jeon, you work in OB/GYN as well?"

How come he had become Little Jeon? T.T ...

Lisa finally dared to look straight at her mother and her little aunt[1], who had come for her prenatal check-up. Little Aunt's eyes were very nosily fixed upon Jungkook...

"No, in cardiology." Jungkook's deep black eyes were shining. So indescribably gorgeous. "On the seventh floor."

"Cardiology... Cardiology is good." The temperature of her exalted mother's voice skyrocketed, and her whole face beamed delightedly as she pointed at the pregnant woman beside her. "This is your little aunt. I came here with her for her prenatal check-up. You don't need to be polite and formal, just address her directly as Little Aunt."

"Yes, yes, don't need to be polite," Little Aunt smiled, an expression of complete approval on her face. "Just call me Little Aunt."

How come he could address her straight as Little Aunt? T.T ...

Unrivalled allure, indeed... No problem just nonchantly and completely winning over two old aunties, ah...

Right at that moment, Somi had also finished off her work at hand, and seeing this scene, she immediately understood what was going on. She quickly strode over. "You must be Lily's mother? How do you do, Auntie? I'm his cousin-sister and also one of the OB/GYN doctors here." As she was introducing herself, she noticed Little Aunt with her pregnant belly. "I should call you big sister, right? Or..."

Right away, Little Aunt's age was dropped down by an entire generation...

Little Aunt was beaming like a blossoming flower. This was an obvious compliment that she looked young. The family of this neice's future husband really knew how to flatter... "Call me Auntie, just like Lily, even though I am younger than my big sister by more than a dozen years."

"Then I'll call you Auntie." Somi immediately took Little Aunt's hand in her own. "I am so sorry, Auntie. I will be leaving the country for studies tomorrow, so I cannot personally take care of you. I will recommend you to a doctor who is especially experienced."

"Oh, that would be too much trouble for you."

"How could this be considered trouble? We're family."

......

......

How come they were family now? T.T ...

Jungkook and Somi, this big sister-little brother pair, were like a duo singing in perfect harmony as they worked together seamlessly until, in the end, Mom was stretching out her hand and clasping Jungkook's, not wanting to let go. Lisa very embarrassedly got to experience her first ever "meet the parents" event. She felt that all those scenes she had read before in those novels were simply pathetic, you know? Were there any where the meet the parents happened in the OB/GYN ward, and after only a few, brief words, it was like they had recovered a long lost son, huh? ...

In the end, Jungkook escorted Lisa, her mother, and Little Aunt to the main doors of the hospital and waved down a taxi while, at the same time, pulling out one hundred yuan from his wallet and slipping it into Lisa's hand. "I need to head off right away to the secondary hospital campus. Take good care of your mom and your little aunt for me, and make sure they get home safely."

She answered with an "mm" and clutched the bill in her hand...

"Auntie," Jungkook's voice rang out over her head to address her mom directly, "This meeting was truly too rushed, but I am very serious about my relationship with Lily. I am absolutely regarding this relationship as one with marriage as the ultimate purpose. So, next time, I will certainly come to formally pay a visit at your home."

......

......

With marriage as the ultimate purpose, wha-...? ... Their relationship had just started, ah.

Hadn't it?...

This feeling of being slowly, one move at a time, swallowed up really wasn't an illusion?...

Those eyes were turned up slightly at the outer corners, a smile in them.

"Good, good." Her exalted mother's voice had reached the high temperature of 100oC and showed no signs of coming down at all.

This future son-in-law's words were so pleasant on the ears!

Lisa simply could not keep up with the rhythm of any of this. However, when she wanted to find him to talk, he was still so busy in the secondary hospital campus he did not even have a spare moment to attend to anything else. She was like a dumpling swimming in boiling water, bobbing and rolling from top to bottom and bottom to top until finally, she just was floating on the surface of the bubbling water.

Floating and rocking, floating and rocking...

She carried on like this until the next night. It was only five minutes before Wanmei's anniversary celebration was to begin, but he was still busy.

Your Jungkook isn't coming? Rose private messaged her in YY.

Hmm... he should be coming, I think. Just don't know when...

When he got busy, he was the type that forgot about anyone else...

For the anniversary celebration of such a large association, counting the number of well-known CVs alone, there were already twenty to thirty of them. Plus this particular event was a joint collaboration with Rose's website, so many special guests from outside the association had also been invited. Even if Jungkook could not make it, all these people could certainly adequately handle the event. She quietly observed, and observed some more. It was past eleven o'clock, and he still had not arrived yet.

"It seems our Toupai DaRen really won't be able to make it," Mingyu said, lightly clearing his throat.

"Tonight is his farewell performance, ah" Taehyung sighed regretfully. "Farewell performance."

Taehyung deliberately paused for several seconds.

Tonight was Wanmei's anniversary celebration event. Tonight was also Jungkook's official farewell performance.

It seemed, if the screen was not flooded by comments like rushing tidewaters, it would not be a worthy enough tribute to their Unrivalled Allure Toupai DaRen...

In just those dozen or so seconds, the public comment screen was inundated with several hundred comments: "Noooo, Toupai DaRen..." "You're really going to have your farewell performance?! You're really going to retire from the entertainment circle?!" "DaRen, don't retire, ah! Even if you don't release any more dramas, just knowing that you're around is good enough for us, AAAAH!!!" "This person's heart has shattered into smithereens. This person is completely dead..."

......

......

Mingyu and Taehyung definitely did that on purpose, deliberately bringing about these floodwaters of comments to create a perfect farewell for Jungkook. She stared at the screen, from laughing at first as she read to not being able to even read the words that were flying past her eyes like garbled encoding as the screen scrolled and scrolled upwards.

She felt her nose tingle, and her eyes were also stinging.

So touching.

While she was immersed in her own emotions, she all of a sudden heard someone put on a song.

It was all too familiar ...

That day, after she and Toupai finished their cover of it, she had developed a habit of always listening to this song.

Oh god, they were actually using this song as the farewell performance? ...

Her entire body felt as if it was burning up. The love she had for the 2-D world and this entertainment circle that had accumulated in her heart year after year as well as the emotions of all these years of listening through her headset to those songs and dramas all seemed to rush forth.

"Your wedding gown like fire has scorched the horizon
Henceforth, the setting sun will sear my heart like vermilion..."

Just like that, his high notes charged into her ear and reminded her of their first meeting at the recording studio, how he had stood on the other side of the soundproof glass of the recording room, looked out at her, and told her that he was Jungkook

Right at that moment, someone private messaged her.

She clicked it open. It was Jungkook, who had just come online.

This next bit that I want to say is somewhat annoyingly sentimental and stirring. It'll be better if I use text to say it.

Not long after I first met you, I asked you a question. I asked you, "Do you love me?" Your answer was," I love your voice." This is a very remarkable answer. I think I can I understand how you feel. There are countless numbers of nice voices in this world, but only one voice will cause you to feel that "This is the one I love" the instant you hear it.

A few years ago, I heard a demo from Somi. There was a voice softly humming a melody. No lyrics. Somi played it over three times, then told me, this girl was so talented; she could arrange and compose music and her voice was beautiful. I felt the same. Of course, there was also something that she had not experienced: the heart stirring and fluttering with aroused emotions.

At that time, that voice was not yet called "Lily." In fact, there was not even a name associated with it. It was simply, "sheng" [sound].

Later, I found her.

She stared at this passage of text.

She could not even feel if her heartbeat still existed...

She had always thought that no one would understand that her feelings for him truly had been love at first listen.

She had never thought that the one who most understood her would be Jungkook himself.

Very quickly, he sent her another row of text: I learned how to make a new dish. Splendid pickled vegetables and pork rice. Next time you come, I'll make it for you.

She could not help laughing. A food dish again...

From the very beginning, he had used recipes to lure her. But actually, no matter how enticing those delicious foods were, they could not compare to the draw of his voice.

Do you believe there is a voice in the world that, after you've listened to it, will cause your heart to be stirred up with emotions?

In that moment, you will be frozen in your spot, in a daze, unable to hear your own heartbeat.

here will only be your breathing, very light breathing, for fear that you will disturb that voice, and you will want to continue to listen to it — continue listening forever...

The song in her headphones was gradually nearing its end.

She distinctly heard his voice speaking the final monologue:

"'Til the different directions of the world no longer exist, 'til the seas dry, only then will I cease to love you."

He had added this line in himself. Apart from the people who had been present at the studio that day, no one else had heard it before. Not only were the fans on the screen going crazy with excitement, even the special guests who had been invited to the event had joined in with the army that was deluging the screen with comments: "It is better not to encounter one whose beauty can topple a city[2], AAAAH!!!! DaRen, if you go, my entire world is going to become just like a silent film, AAAAH!!!!" "Begging DaRen to not retire!"

"Yellow IDs" were incessantly popping up on the public comment screen.

Even Taehyung could not refrain from adding in his comment: Toupai DaRen, it was because of you that I entered the entertainment circle in the beginning. Please look into these sincere eyes of mine... You, are my dream...

Lisa burst out in a giggle.

Jungkook's microphone indicator finally lit up, as if he had just come in. "My apologies, everyone. From last night up until now, I have been extremely busy." It was still the same light, refined voice.

If you did not listen carefully, you would not be able to sense that, though slight, his voice had a seldom-heard tremble in it.

In order to gain control of his emotions, he cleared his throat and paused for a brief moment. "In reality ... there is no such thing as so-called 'retirement.' In this entertainment circle, there will continuously be people leaving, some people because they are tired, some people because of rumors and gossip, some people because of their work in real life ..."

When he spoke, he was always steady and deliberate...

Gentle, yet at the same time, distant. He made people love him, yet also made them feel like they could not get close to him. Perhaps this was the reason why he had been able to reach his position today.

He always was aware of one principle: "Friendship between gentlemen should be bland as water[3]," and he was always able to carry through with this principle, regardless of how much praise he received or how much slander...

Jungkook.

A very light and reserved color, but with a hint of warmth in it. Just like him.

[1]小阿姨. Maternal aunt. Younger sister of her mother. The 小 "little" implies that she is quite a bit younger and/or possibly the youngest of the siblings.

[2] Refer to footnote 1 in Chapter 36.

[3]君子之交淡如水. An idiom from Zhuangzi. Friendship between gentlemen — people of high moral conduct — should be bland as water, i.e. pure and not muddied by things like fame, wealth, personal gain, etc.