The Jilted Second Young Master (48)

"CEO Lin, you said your family came to support you earlier. Did this mean that your younger brother, the elusive second young master Lin, also came to support you today?"

After hearing the reporter's question, Lin Shenglan froze for a fraction of a second. Before anyone could notice his anomaly, his lips had curved into a warm smile.

He turned around and made space for Lin Yitian, patting his shoulder. "That's right, this is my younger brother, Lin Yitian. Xiao Tian, why don't you say a few words to them?"

Gently, he pushed Lin Yitian into the limelight.

Sharp, bright white flashes nearly blinded Lin Yitian. The clicking of a dozen cameras was magnified tenfold in his ears, accompanied by a burst of shouted questions. Lin Yitian's pupils shrank, his whole body turning frozen.

He was indeed recovering, but the sudden stimulus took him by surprise. His body shook and his fingers trembled as he tightly held his phone in his hand.

"Mr. Lin, there are rumors that you were severely ill, that's why you couldn't get out in public. Is this true?"

"Mr. Lin, what do you think of your brother's scandal?"

"Mr. Lin, is it true that you're seeing a psychiatrist because you have a tendency towards violence? What can you say about this?"

Lin Yitian blinked furiously, trying to clear his vision, while taking a step back to hide once more in the shadows. But Lin Shenglan insistently pulled him forward.

"Xiao Tian, they're waiting for you to answer them. It's fine, just take a deep breath. I believe that you can do it."

Lin Shenglan smiled reassuringly at him.

Lin Yitian dug his nails into his palm. Droplets of sweat beaded on his forehead. His heart pounded inside his chest, as frantic as a trapped bird against a window. He could feel the onset of a panic attack overwhelming him, unable to be stopped. There were so many cameras watching him. Was this being broadcasted live on TV?

His breaths came in short gasps. Jia liked watching TV. He couldn't lose it here.

Suddenly, the ringing of a cellphone cut through the clamor.

Lin Yitian blinked and looked down at the phone in his hand. He hurriedly answered the call and pressed the phone against his ear.

"Jia?!"

"Yitian, where are you? The rain stopped and I saw a double rainbow. Let's go outside and play~"

Lin Yitian had always turned his whole focus on Song Jia. When he heard her voice in his ear, he didn't even realize that both the lights and the sounds were no longer as bright and loud, and the panic that engulfed him just then was completely gone.

Aside from Song Jia, everything else had already faded away into the background.

Lin Yitian's 'recovery' was in fact just this simple. The brain often functions like a complex computer system, and the senses relay information from the environment, which is interpreted by the brain and tells a person how to react.

But when there's competing sensory information, the brain can't interpret it all at the same time. Sensory overload happens when the brain can't prioritize what sensory information it needs to focus on. Lin Yitian's case was an exception in the way that he could actually give all of his attention to another person. Even a particularly single-minded individual would still be distracted by other things.

"Jia, I miss you, did you miss me?" Lin Yitian's voice was filled with grievances, along with a touch of longing.

He had left her side for nearly two hours.

"No, you can't say you didn't miss me! Jia, say that you miss me."

While Lin Yitian was talking to Song Jia, Lin Shaofeng and Lin Shenglan's face had long since turned black like the bottom of a pot. Did Lin Yitian think that the reporters were his personal BGM? [1] He actually ignored them and talked on his phone?

Even the reporters could not prevent their expression from turning ugly. Because they had aimed their microphones on Lin Yitian, every bit of his conversation with the other person on the phone, they clearly heard. Of course, they could only hear Lin Yitian's side of the conversation, but it was enough for them to have the urge to beat people up.

"Why didn't I bring you with me? I miss you, I want to hug you. I want to go home."

"...is it noisy? I'm in a press conference at the company. No, you're not disturbing me. Jia, don't hang up. I want to hear your voice."

"Oh...it's about older brother's affair. Jia, don't worry, I won't cheat on you. Both of the women were ugly, maybe that's why older brother wasn't satisfied."

Lin Shenglan, "..."

Just as everyone around him was ready to explode from suppressed anger, Lin Yitian seemed to have heard something that caused him to frown in dissatisfaction.

"Jia, don't you know how powerful I am? Humph, such an easy thing, I can definitely do it!"

Lin Yitian suddenly walked over to an unused laptop that was left on the table. It had been used for a presentation earlier and was left forgotten. He booted it up and typed in a series of security codes. Within a minute, he gained access to a computer file that contained all the surveillance records of the company.

The reporters became curious and crowded around Lin Yitian. They were wondering what he was doing, and when he saw that he easily hacked the security mainframe of the Lin company, most of them were taken by surprise. For years, the Lin company had stayed on top of the competitive market for technology, always ahead of their competitors in terms of groundbreaking updates and advanced software.

Could it be...one of the reasons that the Lin company kept being successful was because of this elusive second young master Lin? He was actually a hidden computer genius?

Lin Yitian suddenly stopped typing. The phone had been pressed on his ear using his shoulder, which made it awkward for him to type.

But his voice was tender when he murmured in a low voice, "Jia, did you fall asleep? You can sleep, but you can't hang up. It's fine if you don't talk, I'll listen to your breathing."

"..."

The reporters took a step away from him.

Listen to her breathing? How come it sounded exactly like the words a stalker would say to his victim?

It seemed that their assumption was incorrect, ah. This second young master Lin...

He was merely just a love sick fool.

Lin Yitian typed in another command and hovered his finger above a single key. Almost as if it was done inadvertently, he swept his gaze to where his family was standing. His mother looked confused, his father appeared expectant, and his older brother looked pale.

They all wore varying expressions, but by the end of this, Lin Yitian knew their expressions would become horrifyingly similar.

Lin Yitian's eyelashes swept across his cheeks, hiding his eyes. He pursed his lips.

It...didn't matter.

Since he still had Jia.

Lin Yitian finally pressed the button, and dozens of videos started loading on the screen.

[1] Background music