Chapter Seven: The Effect Is the Result

“Hey, why did you try to kill yourself?” Rachel Liu leaned against the door, chatting idly with Yin Ruiying. But the content of her words was enough to make anyone wince.

“I told you, it wasn’t a suicide!” Ruiying flared up in indignation.

“…Oh.” Rachel glanced in the mirror and took out her sunscreen, calmly reapplying it.

Ruiying gave a huff, clearly annoyed. She wondered how this girl could be so infuriating; just moments ago she’d thought Rachel was quite all right, but now she seemed to do nothing but poke at sore spots.

Ruiying had come to Beijing because Li Zhuwang had returned her engagement gifts. Their engagement was off. He’d fallen in love with another woman. She had tried to save their relationship, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t win back his heart. She wanted to change all her flaws—her willfulness, her spoiled ways, her inability to shoulder any burdens—but it was all in vain. All she could see in Li Zhuwang’s eyes was apology, never affection.

Rachel noticed Ruiying’s sadness and, as if offhandedly, said, “Actually, I also came to Beijing because my fiancé fell for someone else.”

She spoke so nonchalantly now, as if the heartbroken woman who first arrived in Beijing had never been her.

“Huh?”

Ruiying’s eyes widened in surprise. She looked at Rachel—there was no trace of heartbreak in her demeanor.

Rachel said, “Well, a broken heart is a broken heart. Even if you tried to win him back, his heart would never return.” She sounded carefree, though who knew how many times she’d wept in secret.

Ruiying understood this truth, but knowing wasn’t the same as letting go. These past days, she’d thought of nothing but Li Zhuwang, remembering his gifts, missing the way he picked her up from work. Their five-year relationship had been free of major upheavals, and this sudden rupture was too much to bear. She’d always been pampered since childhood, never faced such hardship, and after it happened, she found herself with no one to confide in. That’s why she’d come traveling, and that’s how she’d ended up nearly drowning.

Ruiying’s memories cut off abruptly ten minutes later. She turned to the equally lost-in-thought Rachel, who was leaning by her side. “How are we supposed to get out of here?”

“…”

Jin Yuan and Ryu Myunghyuk had been waiting in the hot pot restaurant for nearly half an hour. When Lee Youngjae called earlier, he’d said the four girls were on their way. It should have only taken about ten minutes, yet half an hour had passed and there was still no sign of them. To make matters worse, Youngjae’s phone couldn’t be reached.

(At that moment, Youngjae was still dragging Han Jieun along in a mad dash, and they’d gloriously gotten lost.)

Myunghyuk joked, “Don’t tell me Youngjae ran off with them.”

The next second, Jin Yuan’s phone rang.

Myunghyuk saw his friend and junior’s expression turn odd.

Rachel had no choice but to call the only familiar person she knew—how embarrassing to have to ask for help even in another country.

“Tell me your exact location,” Jin Yuan said, getting up and standing by the second-floor window. According to Rachel, they weren’t far apart.

“I have no idea,” Rachel admitted, her voice tinged with helplessness. She couldn’t read Chinese, and all the signs outside the window were in Chinese—she had no idea where she was.

Jin Yuan was silent for a moment, then asked, “Can you try using your phone to get your location online?”

Of course, Rachel didn’t know how to do that, and Jin Yuan wasn’t much for fiddling with his phone either. So the two of them sat in silence on the call for a while, until Rachel suddenly thought of something.

“Oppa, you can see locations on SNS, right?”

“…Right.”

Jin Yuan hung up, opened SNS, added Rachel as a friend, and soon saw her updated status.

Jin Yuan wasn’t familiar with SNS and didn’t know how to reply, so while fumbling around, he accidentally hit the repost button.

Jin Yuan: I’ll be right there, don’t worry [pat on the head] // Rachel: I’m here [crying]

That day, Kim Tan, browsing SNS, was so startled he dropped his phone.

After pondering for a while, he secretly called his brother’s assistant, Mr. Yoon, to ask if his brother was really in Beijing. It turned out he was.

That day, Jin Yuan’s ex-girlfriend, Jeon Hyunjoo, also saw the post. It was a rare event for Jin Yuan to post anything on SNS, and it was such explosive news. She felt a little lost, and a little sad.

That day, on the Empire High School forum, a post floated to the top, speculating whether the ice-cold beauty was engaged to Kim Tan or Jin Yuan.

←←

In short, while everyone else was in turmoil, the people involved were completely unaware.

Jin Yuan didn’t use SNS; as a high-flying professional, his time was far too precious. Rachel rarely used it either—she had no friends.

When Rachel received Jin Yuan’s reply, she was instantly reassured. Soon, Jin Yuan arrived, bringing two patrol officers and rescuing the two trapped girls.

And so, the hot pot dinner finally went ahead. The adventure of Rachel and Ruiying getting locked in the bathroom became fodder for Youngjae’s teasing, until Han Jieun silenced him with a well-placed stiletto heel to the foot.

“This was all your fault!” Han Jieun exclaimed, exasperated with him.

Jin Yuan offered a faint smile, looking at Youngjae. “Eat more, Youngjae.”

That was clearly a subtle way of telling him to shut up.

The man, still smarting from Jieun’s heel, suddenly felt a chill. Looking again, he realized Jin Yuan’s smile was a little… sinister.

Rachel, for her part, paid Youngjae no mind. She’d come to fully recognize his mischievous nature; though she was almost thirty, she could be as childish as anyone.

And what could she say? The mortifying ordeal of getting locked in a bathroom, and then having Jin Yuan call the police to get the door open…

Forget it—best to treat it as a nightmare and move on.

Rachel was too busy grappling with the spicy food to speak. Though there was a non-spicy side to the hot pot, seeing everyone else eating the fiery broth, and since it was such a rare visit to China, she had to give it a try.

The result: her lips turned bright red, and she had no time to pay attention to Youngjae.

Jin Yuan handed her a glass of now-cold boiled water.

Ruiying watched from the side, full of envy. Even though Rachel always called Jin Yuan “oppa,” the two of them looked surprisingly well-matched. She couldn’t help but suspect that Rachel’s story of her fiancé running off with someone else was just a way to comfort her.

But… comfort was comfort, at least someone was willing to try.

She smiled too; the pallor of her face warmed with a flush from the hot pot steam. Myunghyuk, observing her discreetly, finally felt relieved.

Indeed, it was better for girls to comfort each other.

Han Jieun and Youngjae squabbled playfully, while Rachel and Jin Yuan chatted and laughed, and Myunghyuk and Ruiying became ever more engaged in their conversation. The six of them even played some games, the atmosphere so lively that no one wanted the evening to end. It was nearly ten by the time they all headed back.

Ruiying wasn’t staying at the same hotel as the others, but Han Jieun, worried about her, decided to stay over with her for the night. Rachel was about to head back to her own hotel, but Han Jieun insisted that the three of them spend the night together.

That night, the three of them lay in a big bed. Of course, before turning in, Han Jieun snapped a selfie, capturing three beautiful faces in the frame. Han Jieun’s eyes crinkled with her grin, Ruiying wrapped her arms around Rachel and Jieun’s necks, and though Rachel still looked a bit aloof, there was a smile on her lips.

Han Jieun was thoroughly satisfied—she finally had friends to share with! In her excitement, she immediately posted the photo to her SNS with a caption: “Best friends, for life!”

Ruiying, overjoyed, shared it as well. Then the two of them looked at Rachel, giving her the clear impression that unless she reposted, she wouldn’t be allowed into bed.

…Good grief, just how childish could these two almost-thirty women be?

Rachel headed for the bathroom, only to be pulled back by Han Jieun, who glared at her fiercely. “Repost!”

“…”

Han Jieun had long since seen through Rachel’s cold exterior to the seventeen-year-old girl’s heart beneath.

“Come on, come on~”

Unable to withstand her assault, Rachel stiffly logged into SNS, only to discover something truly terrifying.

Suddenly, there were dozens of comments under her post.

Most were from people who’d found her through Jin Yuan’s SNS, expressing their disappointment that their idol apparently had a girlfriend, and begging Rachel for photos.

The rest were from students at their school, all curious about who Rachel was really engaged to—full of barely disguised malice.

Rachel was livid, but Han Jieun declared with conviction, “They’re just jealous! Every last one of them!”

She quickly found a photo on her phone of the five of them eating hot pot (she’d taken it herself), combined it with the selfie, and handed it to Rachel. Patting her on the shoulder, she said, “Post it to make them all jealous!”

Rachel didn’t know why, but her heart gave a little flutter. Spurred on by Han Jieun, she felt an urge to get back at the world.

So, on her long-neglected SNS, she posted not one but two explosive updates.

The photos included not only shots of her and Jin Yuan eating but also the popular actor Lee Youngjae.

That day, when Kim Tan saw the photos, he immediately decided to return home. If he didn’t, his fiancée would definitely end up with his brother. No! That wasn’t the point—the real danger was his brother running off with his fiancée. Unthinkable!

That day, after returning home with Ariyung, Li Zhuwang saw Ruiying’s post. He stared at it for a long time. So Ruiying had gone to China. In less than a week, she’d lost so much weight.

Yesterday, Shen Xiuzhen had come to his house and made a scene again; he’d been suffering a lot lately. To be with Ariyung, he’d endured enormous pressure, but she was like a beautiful poppy—impossible to quit.

Ruiying’s smile looked so sweet. The two girls beside her were strangers, but Li Zhuwang recognized Ryu Myunghyuk. After a moment, he closed his laptop and sent Ariyung a text:

[Good night.]

Ariyung was also on her computer. She hadn’t expected Ruiying to recover from the blow so quickly. Impossible, she thought. Ruiying’s love for Li Zhuwang ran so deep—it was impossible.

Yet her smile seemed so bright, as if untouched by sorrow.

Ariyung felt exhausted, too weary to reply to Zhuwang’s message. The path of revenge had worn her out, to the point where she wanted to give up.

She was no happier for it—Ruiying’s smile was a sharp, stinging reminder.