"I will understand why you've shut us all out."
"And I will make it right, whether you want me to or not."
"Because that's what fathers do."
"Then you'll be wasting your time," Shuyin said flatly.
Long Tian turned toward the door, his brothers falling in behind him, all of them looking shaken and hurt.
At the threshold, he paused and looked back one more time.
"I love you," he said simply.
"I've always loved you."
"And nothing you do or say will ever change that."
Shuyin said nothing, her face an expressionless mask.
And Long Tian, the Sea King of the Eastern Seas, walked out of his daughter's home with the bitter knowledge that love, apparently, wasn't always enough.
But before he could take more than a few steps toward the door, Lu Yuze's hand suddenly caught Shuyin's wrist in a firm grip.
Without warning or explanation, he pulled her forward, dragging her toward her departing father despite her immediate resistance.
