[ Jiang Cheng lets his nephew's rage wash over him, lets the boy vent his disbelief. Sometimes, just sometimes—Jiang Cheng has already found this to be true in their brief acquaintance—facing down Jin Ling is so much like looking into a mirror that it's painful. Anger and denial, derision and blame. What is a son but the father's shortcomings laid bare?
He waits for a lull, for a break in the tide of Jin Ling's fury. ]
...I was wrong. I didn't— I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry.
[ Swallowing against the tightness in his throat, he reaches out his hand in offering, knowing he'll be rebuffed but unable to stop from trying all the same. He draws in a breath, turning his mind away from thinking of all the hands held out to him in the past he was too proud to take. ]
It's still the war for us, A-Ling. People are dead, they're missing, we— We've been through a great deal together. It's still fresh on our minds. And I just— It just—...
[ He wants to explain, but there really is no explanation for this. Not to Jin Ling. And Jiang Cheng can't spoil Jin Ling's relationship with a father he never got to know. He can't. He won't. He might be a coward, but he won't let himself take the coward's way out here.
Hands clenching into fists at his sides, he grits his teeth and hangs his head. ]
...It's my fault. He didn't know, but I did. I knew. About you, about... About A-Jie. About everything. I asked him home anyway. That's on me. Don't blame your father for that.
no subject
He waits for a lull, for a break in the tide of Jin Ling's fury. ]
...I was wrong. I didn't— I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry.
[ Swallowing against the tightness in his throat, he reaches out his hand in offering, knowing he'll be rebuffed but unable to stop from trying all the same. He draws in a breath, turning his mind away from thinking of all the hands held out to him in the past he was too proud to take. ]
It's still the war for us, A-Ling. People are dead, they're missing, we— We've been through a great deal together. It's still fresh on our minds. And I just— It just—...
[ He wants to explain, but there really is no explanation for this. Not to Jin Ling. And Jiang Cheng can't spoil Jin Ling's relationship with a father he never got to know. He can't. He won't. He might be a coward, but he won't let himself take the coward's way out here.
Hands clenching into fists at his sides, he grits his teeth and hangs his head. ]
...It's my fault. He didn't know, but I did. I knew. About you, about... About A-Jie. About everything. I asked him home anyway. That's on me. Don't blame your father for that.