Jin's Mistake • KSJ

Forty Four

With the news of Jin's marriage all the desire to persevere and scheme had left your body. What chance did you have now? There wasn't a single person back in Korea that was on your side, and certainly no one in Hong Kong.

You'd not believed Jin could save you when Seungho had told you he'd shared word of your peril at your family's hands with him, but knowing Jin wasn't even going to try felt like a punch to the gut. You couldn't get your mind around that he was aware of your grave danger and he made fast wedding plans to your sister in law instead. How was it even socially acceptable to hold a wedding the same week as the funeral of her brother?

You'd remained silent the rest of the drive, adamant your uncle not see your tears and get amusement from them. Inside you felt like you were melting away, turning to ash, nothing bright or burning anymore beneath your chest. Everything you thought you knew to be true turned questionable.

Perhaps this was exactly the ending you deserved, disloyal daughter in your family's eyes, adulterous wife to Seungho, and dispassionate lover when it came to Jin. Why would he exert any effort to save the girl who twice turned him down? He'd only betrayed you once on your wedding day, and hadn't he tried so hard to make up for it?

"I'll write a letter to my CIA contact, I'll tell him it was all my own plot, I was setting up to steal part of the Cha company for myself. Then you can kill me, be done with all of this mess I've created." You finally broke the silence as he'd led you up a long palatial staircase outside of a walled mansion, the shiny limo waiting at the driveway below.

"No thank you. I think we both know there's things much worse than death." Kyulee grinned and then an armed security guard opened a door in the weathered concrete wall.

You were in a garden, delicate flowers and plants covering the space, a prison decorated in luxury. Low branches from a tree dipped into the space, frail and gorgeous and you wondered what kind of tree. How could you even worry about something so silly as that in this moment?

You continued into a wide hallway, mosaic tiles on the floor that were loud and accentuated the annoying slap of your cheap slides. You were transported back to your hallway at home it's gray stone loud for it's own purpose. When your heart clenched miserably you hoped to someday be so despondent with despair that you didn't remember a single thing that brought memory of Seungho or Jin.

"You will be completely obedient to Bao or you will wish for death niece." Kyulee jerked you from your thoughts, his large hand yanking your upper arm roughly.

"I know you don't know a damned thing about what that word means, but I think you should learn quickly, he's not nearly as forgiving as family." He patted your cheek with his palm but his sneer was cruel as you'd have expected.

Before you could even respond a short man flanked by brutish security guards on both sides walked into the hallway from a doorway. He was pale and placid looking, barely any expression to his features at all. With a soft nod of his head he turned back the way he came and your group followed him.

You were in a large living room, soft rugs, large couches, and tables with expensive looking lamps and art were spread about the space. It felt like something in one of your uncle's homes, but with a very distinct display of cultural differences. He sat in a tall chair and motioned your uncle to another across from him, you were pushed to the floor by one of your uncle's guards denied all of the comfortable seating.

"She's lovely, but I can already tell she's going to give me nothing but trouble." The man, you assumed Bao, spoke in perfect Korean though you assumed him Chinese based on his name and accent, his eyes taking you in like you were part of the decoration not a woman at all.