Chapter Nine: Humility Is

In the end, the late-night meal with Jinyuan never happened. Sitting in her mother's friend's car, Rachel Liu couldn't help but wonder why every attempt to dine with Jinyuan always seemed to be beset with difficulties. Were they simply fated to never share a meal together?

Even though she checked out of her hotel room early and went to her mother's friend's house, the next day she still returned to Korea with Jinyuan. They met at the airport—Jinyuan with a cup of coffee, reading the news in the departure lounge. When Rachel Liu entered, dragging her pale pink suitcase, he turned toward her.

She wore a light blue suit, heels, her long hair draped down her back, bangs neatly covering her willow-shaped brows. Her face was expressionless, but the moment she saw him, even her gaze softened. Jinyuan could see her visibly relax, as if a weight had lifted from her shoulders.

Perhaps, in that instant, some emotion was quietly taking root and struggling within her.

Rachel Liu had rushed to the airport, worried she might miss her flight. That must have been why she felt so at ease when she saw Jinyuan. They hadn't yet said a word before their names were announced over the loudspeakers. Hurriedly, they passed through security and searched for their gate. It was Rachel's first time at Beijing airport, and she was completely lost, following Jinyuan blindly through the crowds.

By the time everything was sorted, she was drenched in sweat.

Jinyuan asked, "Was everything alright yesterday?"

He had texted her to check in, but Rachel had only replied with a terse "No problem" before dropping the subject. He couldn't quite fathom the mindset of a teenage girl—she seemed so indifferent.

"How could there possibly be any problem?" Rachel replied, her tone still tinged with emotion. The day before, Esther's friend—a Korean designer working in China—had picked her up and, following Esther's instructions, subjected her to two hours of ideological education. It was overwhelming.

Seeing that she didn't want to talk, Jinyuan fell silent and took out a book.

Rachel wondered if she was being unreasonable. But deep down, after last night, she knew she couldn't let herself get too close to Jinyuan.

By the time they landed, it was nearly midnight. Esther still hadn't come to pick her up. Rachel didn't mind, but seeing Kim Tan at the airport unsettled her deeply.

Jinyuan was clearly surprised too—he hadn't known Kim Tan had returned to Korea, let alone that he'd come to pick him up.

But no one felt more conflicted than Kim Tan himself.

He watched as Jinyuan carried his briefcase in one hand and Rachel's pink suitcase in the other, leaning down to speak to her, both of them smiling. The sight shook him to his core.

He could barely recall seeing his brother smile; he had always been cold and distant, radiating an aura that warded everyone off.

"Hyung..." Kim Tan called softly.

Both Jinyuan and Rachel stopped. In that instant, Jinyuan’s expression changed, his warmth vanishing without a trace. The truth was, Jinyuan’s aversion wasn’t toward Kim Tan as a person, but because he was Han Ki Ae’s son.

Jinyuan paused only briefly before striding forward, ignoring Kim Tan entirely. Kim Tan reached out, his fingers just brushing his brother’s arm, but Jinyuan pulled away.

Kim Tan’s heart clenched painfully.

After all these years, his brother still didn’t want to see him.

Rachel let out a brittle laugh. From the beginning, Kim Tan’s attention had never left his brother; not a glance had been spared for her.

Perhaps that’s how love is—humble enough to crave even a glance, yet the other cannot bear to give one.

Jinyuan grew impatient; he didn’t want to be the center of attention in the busy airport. He stretched out his arm, pulled Rachel along, and hurried away.

The moment their hands touched, Rachel felt her mind go completely blank.

In her seventeen years, she could count on one hand the number of times she’d held hands with a boy—and if her father didn’t count, then the answer was zero.

Such a painful realization.

But Kim Tan’s heart ached even more as he watched Jinyuan pull Rachel out of the airport. He sighed deeply.

How had things come to this?

And worse was yet to come. When Kim Tan returned home, he found that Jinyuan hadn’t come back. Han Ki Ae was muttering angrily on the sofa about how Jinyuan hadn’t even acknowledged her and had gone to stay at a hotel instead of coming home.

Kim Tan’s mood soured as well, but seeing her son come in, Han Ki Ae brightened. "Did you talk to your brother at the airport?"

He gave a noncommittal answer and retreated to his room. He turned on his computer, logged into MSN, and opened a chat window with Rachel Liu.

Their last exchange still lingered there—not a conversation, just a single message from Rachel about those couple shirts. It was almost laughable: the matching outfits he bought for Cha Eun Sang were never worn and then disappeared; at the time, he’d thought Rachel had taken them on purpose.

He checked SNS. After scrolling through Cha Eun Sang’s page, he specifically looked at Jinyuan and Rachel's. The feeling it gave him—well, it was far from pleasant.

Jinyuan and Rachel.

Just the thought of it felt like the drama of the year.

Meanwhile—

"Speak," Esther Lee sat upright on the sofa, watching her daughter drop her luggage at the door. "What’s going on between you and Jinyuan?"

No greetings or concern, just immediate interrogation.

Rachel felt a pang and, stubbornly, said nothing as she started upstairs. But the sharp clatter of a cup on the table startled her, and she stopped in her tracks.

Still, she didn’t turn around.

"Why did you go to Beijing? Why did you stay in the same hotel as Jinyuan?" Esther’s composure broke; her raised voice made Rachel’s heart shrink.

Esther was truly anxious, terrified something bigger might happen. Rachel was only seventeen, still immature, and Jinyuan—he was the brother of her fiancé! If anything happened, it would be a scandal beyond repair.

Rachel trembled with anger, feeling even more wronged. If she hadn’t ended up in China by accident, she might not even be alive now.

When she first opened her eyes, all she wanted was to get along with her mother, to take care of her, to inherit her work so she wouldn’t have to work so hard.

But—

Tears began to fall uncontrollably.

"Enough! There’s nothing going on between Jinyuan and me!" Rachel shouted. "Instead of obsessing over imaginary problems, why don’t you think about breaking off my engagement to Kim Tan!"

"What?!"

Esther was so stunned by this that her chest heaved, unable to catch her breath. Rachel was no better.

She couldn’t remember when their conversations had started ending like this.

Esther was so furious she was at a loss for words. She thought Rachel had been bewitched by Jinyuan.

But Rachel went on.

"Kim Tan is with another woman. That’s why I went to China. If you really want your daughter to end up abandoned, I’ll marry Kim Tan right away!"

Having said her piece, Rachel ran upstairs, crying so hard her vision blurred, while Esther wept alone downstairs.

They were drifting further apart with each attempt at communication. What started as good intentions always ended in cold war.

And—Rachel said Kim Tan was with someone else.

Esther frowned. If that was true, she would have to think of a solution.

After a moment’s hesitation, she called Jung Chi Sook.

Upstairs, Rachel sat brooding on her bed. After about half an hour, she finally calmed down.

At first, she blamed her mother for everything, but gradually she started reflecting on her own faults, trying to see things from her mother’s perspective. Yet even so, she couldn’t bring herself to go downstairs and apologize.

She opened her computer, organized her photos, and deleted the two emotional posts she’d made on SNS. They’d seemed cathartic at the time but now just felt childish. She couldn’t deny she’d wanted Kim Tan to see them, but after today, it was clear—someone who doesn’t care for you will never care, and her antics only made her look like a clown.

She deleted the posts, then remembered the photos on her blog and quickly downloaded all of them.

The man in the photos was handsome and refined, his mature looks and steady presence immediately catching any woman’s eye. As the rightful leader of Empire Group, Jinyuan was far superior to Kim Tan, who, after years away from the family business, posed no threat whatsoever.

Yet it was this idle young master who had occupied Rachel’s youth. But now… she knew it was over.

Carefully, she saved all the photos to her USB drive, deleted everything from her blog, and sent Jinyuan a message.

[Should I send you your photos, or…?]

Jinyuan had just stepped out of the shower when his phone vibrated. It was a message from Rachel. His phone was set to display the caller’s profile picture for calls and texts.

Rachel’s profile picture had been chosen by Lee Young Jae; Jinyuan had never changed it.

He knew there were too many photos to send directly. If he refused them, the girl would probably be upset.

[I’ll come pick them up. You pick the time and place.]

Fresh from her argument with her mother, Rachel felt agitated and replied, [Then I’ll call you another day.]

As soon as the message was sent, she hesitated, then picked up the phone to call Jinyuan.

She had things bottled up inside; if she didn’t say them, she felt she might explode.

Just as Jinyuan was about to answer, the doorbell rang.

Phone in hand, he opened the door to find Jeon Hyun Joo standing outside.

He frowned slightly. "What is it?"

"I just wanted to see you. You went to China, didn’t you?" she asked.

Jinyuan’s phone was still vibrating. He declined the call, put on a jacket, and went downstairs with Jeon Hyun Joo. As he was ordering food, his phone rang again. Jeon Hyun Joo glanced at the screen; the caller’s profile picture was an adorable girl.

She recognized her from SNS: the heiress of RS International, Kim Tan’s fiancée, and the girl who had spent those eventful days with Jinyuan—Rachel Liu.