MY UNKNOWN HUSBAND - Season 2 Episode 58

Looking at his rather stricken expression, Nina thought to herself, ‘This brat! Weren’t you gleefully calling me Aunt before?

Now I’ve really become your aunt, and here you are acting all surprised and awkward.’

“My dear nephew!” She raised an eyebrow at James, and smiled at him a little smugly.

The young man was even more stunned then. As far as he could remember, this was the first time that Nina had bothered to actually acknowledge him, much less respond to him. And she was even calling her nephew!

A flush crept up his neck. He had always known this day was bound to come, but he still could not help feeling embarrassed. A couple more beats passed before he fully came to his senses, and he rushed over to Nina with a big grin on his face.

“No wonder Uncle John treats you differently from all the other women around him. You’re his one and only wife, all right!” James sidled up next to her and spoke in a conspiratorial voice. “Aunt Nina, please take care of me in the future. I took good care of the task you’ve entrusted me last time, you know. Perhaps you could put in a good word for me to Uncle John? I have this goal of making a name in the entertainment industry, you see.”

James had always harbored a desire to be in the spotlight, and he had mulled over his options over the years. Now he was more determined than ever to break through the scene.

“You want to get into show business? Don’t tell me you just want to establish a new hunting ground for pretty girls so you can start a new string of broken hearts in your wake.” She didn’t mean to, but she sounded very much like an elder just now. She knew James’ type all too well after all. Nevertheless, she still considered him a good friend.

“How can you say that, Aunt Nina? For your information, there have been new scumbags getting into the entertainment industry recently. I will be joining the fray in order to purify the industry and maybe save the audiences from putting up with such distasteful performances.” James wailed, putting both hands to his chest for a bit of dramatic effect.

“Oh? You seem to be talking about someone in particular. Who is it?” Nina asked casually. She had never been one to pay attention to the affairs in show business.

James crossed his arms over his chest as his handsome face darkened into a scowl. “Who else do you think? Of course I’m talking about that jerk Harrison. That face of his could fool anyone, I’m sure. But the fact is that he’s a good-for-nothing gigolo who uses women to acquire connections and resources.”

“Harrison?” Nina’s head perked up at the mention of the name. “Wait, so he broke up with Emma for Adela so he could get a break in the entertainment industry?”

“Yes! Now you’re getting it, Auntie! I saw them that day. That bastard was with his new bimbo Adela and they were bullying Emma together. What a horrid couple!” James complained.

Nina’s frown deepened. “And you just watched? You didn’t help Emma?”

She knew that James also possessed a streak of unreliability.

“Why would you think that?” James yelled in indignation. “Besides, it’s a good thing that incident happened. At least Emma found out what kind of person Harrison really is. I’ve always disliked that jerk since we were kids. He’s so pretentious, like a snake!”

Nina closed her eyes and sighed in frustration. “Well? Did you help Emma or not? She’s Mimi’s cousin, and I’ve been asked to look after her if I could.”

As expected, James latched on to that new knowledge and digressed even further. “What, she’s Mimi’s cousin? But how? They don’t look like each other at all! Emma is definitely much prettier, and more elegant. Even when she’s doing nothing more than just standing there, she’s so gorgeous, like some Hollywood star from the ’80s. This is too surprising—”

“All right, shut up!” Nina interrupted. James was getting too excited, and far too distracted.

“Focus on the matter at hand! What happened that day, what did you do?”

“Well, I went up and defended Emma, of course! I beat Harrison up to the point that he needed to be taken to the hospital. You should have seen Adela’s face, too. She went pale as a ghost, and was too scared to do anything. You would think she’d have some spunk, seeing as how they bullied Emma.”

James sniffed proudly as he finished telling his story. “So what do you think, Aunt Nina? I did well, didn’t I?” He looked like a puppy wagging its tail and asking its master for some praise.

“You did great!” Nina nodded and even gave him a thumbs-up.

In her opinion, this was indeed the way to handle these things.

If the issue could instantly be resolved by some fists flying, then there was no point in wasting time to rationalize. One could never know, sometimes to waste time was to waste life.

James relished in the approval he was given; he put his hands together and gave Nina a gracious bow. “It’s all thanks to your guidance, Aunt.”

He had, after all, witnessed her give a few rounds of beating to some people numerous times before.

It always looked like she felt good afterwards. He had just wanted to see for himself if it would feel as gratifying as it looked, so he had grabbed the opportunity with Harrison. And James realized that it was very exciting indeed.
“Say, Aunt Nina, I’m thinking of pursuing Taekwondo. I looked really cool when I was roughing up that Harrison bastard! Even Emma was impressed.”

James had bragged about this a handful times recently. What he didn’t know, however, was that all this time, he had mistaken Emma’s shock for admiration.

He leaned close to Nina and whispered, “Aunt Nina, I have this suspicion I want to share with you so you won’t be surprised in the future. I think that senior has fallen in love with me after I saved her.”

Nina had to close her eyes again to keep from rolling them. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “It looks like narcissism really flows in your genes, huh?”

“What? I’m telling the truth! We even kissed, you know! And Emma never pushed me away.” Smiling, James touched the corner of his mouth as he recalled that particular moment.

Unfortunately, he had misunderstood yet again. Emma had only been too stunned by the sudden kiss that she never got the chance to push the boy away.

Not immediately anyway.

“What did you say you did?” Nina asked, her voice rising, her face aghast.

“What, it was just a kiss. It’s not like I hurt her or anything. I’m the one who suffered losses! It was my first kiss, you know.”

She shot him a look that obviously said she didn’t believe him just now, and James’ expression finally became serious. “What’s wrong, Aunt Nina? I know I fool around with a lot of women, and I’ve been rightly dubbed as a playboy many times, but I never touch them. I really don’t!

Emma really was my first kiss!”

Nina’s look of doubt was still in place, and James found himself remembering Emma giving him a similar expression. He wondered fleetingly if what troubled him was Nina’s disbelief or Emma’s.

As a matter of fact, there was more to that kiss than he had revealed. After he drove that scheming couple away, Emma had managed to collect herself. Not only had she pulled away from James, but she also landed a very sound slap in his face. James had then pulled a move that was so typical of him: he kissed her again. “Don’t you know that I had just given you my first kiss? I gave it up so easily in order to help you, and you thank me by hitting my beautiful face?”

Emma’s face had reddened then, which James might have taken as a maidenly blush. In truth, it was a flush of embarrassed anger. She had then promptly kicked his shin in response to his little speech.

It was a relief that she had been wearing flat shoes, or she might have done him some serious injury. It helped, too, that she was not much of a fighter like Nina.

Of course, James would never reveal this latter scene to anyone, especially not to Nina and John. Those two were always making fun of him. He could never give them any more reason to laugh in his expense. It was such a humiliating incident, too. It was best keep to the earlier part where he was the hero.

“James, Mrs. Shi, what are you doing here?” a voice called out. Their heated conversation appeared to have gained some attention, and they turned to see Henry just outside his boss’s office. And beside him was John himself.

He cast a cold glance over to Nina and James, frowning as he noted just how close the two were standing next to each other.

It was less than half a meter—far too close for John’s liking.

“James, move away,” he said to his nephew, his tone cold and blunt.

The young man felt chills scamper down his spine. He didn’t need to be told twice, and quickly stepped back from Nina. He glanced at his uncle warily, only to be met with a pointed glare. Helpless, James took a couple more steps away from Nina, until he felt the wall against his back.

“Uncle John, I’m your nephew, you know.” He felt like crying. Why was he being treated this way?

He knew his uncle was possessive towards Nina, but did he really have to put up guard against him, too?

The answer to that was a resounding yes. To John, no other man was ever allowed to get close to Nina, regardless of who it was.

Nina grinned and sauntered over to her husband, and his arm was already outstretched to tuck her by his side.

“You know this has nothing to do with me, right? James was the one who kept sticking close.” She had learned early on that John was no to be trifled with when it involved other men. When she had stayed over at Noah’s place for a couple of days last time, he had given her hell for almost a week. And there wasn’t even anything going on between her and Noah!

John seemed to consider his wife as he gazed down at her pouting mouth.

James could only stare in loss, quickly followed by a sense of dread.

‘Aunt Nina, how could you?!’

He couldn’t believe she really did that. She was abandoning him in the face of a lion bearing its fangs!