Chapter 123
Seoul, Korea
Lilac Suite
Lucien flopped down on couch and stretched out with one of Will’s American contraband sweets in hand. “You get those opera tickets squared away?” he asked before taking a bite.
Will nodded. “Sunday night is the premier showing at Teatro Comunale di Bologna-”
“You couldn’t get local tickets?”
“Bologna, Italy, is not far with the jet,” Will said with a smirk. “Besides, your sister owes me a date night and I will collect. They are doing a revival of Orfeo ed Euridice and your sister had commented that she would have liked to see it but no theater-”
“Shut up,” Lucien interrupted. “You did this, didn’t you? You literally are footing the bill for the production, aren’t you? Simply because Lula said she had wanted to see it?”
Will looked at him and smiled. “What is the point of having all the money in the world if you don’t frivolously spend it on those you love?” he rhetorically asked. “Seon Rain and I had spoken about opera music, and she is, surprisingly, a fan of Italian opera so it was a planned thing. She merely didn’t realize it’d be in Italy.”
When Lula finds out, there would be blood, William Lee’s most likely, but he had a point.
What is the purpose of having billions of dollars if you didn’t spend it frivolously on those you loved?
It wasn’t always spent on things like private gardens that weren’t for sale or opera productions. There were schools and orphanages, learning centers, after school programs, housing developments, hospitals, and medical centers in rural areas that spanned multiple regions and countries that William Lee had set up and funded. Each was dedicated to Mon Coeur. Having Lula’s name on them would have gotten him beaten and made her suspicious of his intentions, so he merely dedicated them to his heart.
“If you are bored you can go sign for the Modeste packages that arrived and are being held by hotel security,” Will offered. “He sent new wardrobes for everyone. Modeste had fun creating some new pieces for my security team and that of his Korean muse… Apparently, Seon Rain didn’t want paid in the monetary sense, and instead wanted payment in the form of something for your brother. She is a very strange woman.”
That, didn’t surprise Lucien in the least since Rain had asked him more than once if it would be okay to replace Kita’s tie that was damaged when they first met.
Lucien had assured her it wasn’t necessary and that Kita wouldn’t accept anything if she tried, but she did it anyway because she was stubborn like that.
“You okay?” Lucien asked.
Will nodded. “Why do you ask?”
“Because you’re fronting rather well that nothing is wrong but I can tell something is. What’s going on, William?”
Will made a face. “Your sister does that to me as well and I hate it,” he pointed out. “I was eavesdropping when I should not have been.”
“Lula will kick your ass for that,” Lucien reminded him.
“I know,” he huffed. “But if she didn’t want me listening she wouldn’t have had her ear piece in.”
That was true, in a sense.
“Seon Rain’s parents died in a murder-suicide that she was supposed to be a victim in,” Will said, and Lucien gasped. “Her mother killed her father and self, and tried to kill their daughter as well in that supposed car accident. From what Chairman Hu said, his sister changed drastically after becoming a mother and it was a very difficult childhood for his niece. The anniversary of their death is coming up, and he fears for Seon Rain’s mental and emotional well-being.”
That was concerning, and not something they had been properly briefed on.
“Have you noticed any changes? I haven’t replaced the pills of hers I stole,” Will said in a panic.
Lucien shrugged. “Seon Rain seems fine, happy even. She hasn’t wanted or needed any of those pills, and from what Kita reported, the medications she tried to hide in her vanity haven’t been taken since we arrived to the hotel; pill count hasn’t gone down. Should it be something to concern ourselves with?”
Will shrugged. “I am not the best person to ask about stuff like that. There’s a lengthy list of pills I should be taking myself but aren’t. Maybe you should suggest to your brother to be more vigilant and take her out for sushi and sake or something.”
Lucien snorted. “My brother is a mess himself. He still won’t touch her when training.”
“Oh, he’s touched her,” Will said, pulling up the security camera feed he hacked from the training room then handed Lucien his laptop. “They started after you left.”
Lucien looked at the video; Kita was moving he and Rain around the training room, going through simple arm extensions and precise, small movement footwork. Rain was smiling, her feet on his, the lack of fluidity she normally had wasn’t as severe and apparently the baby steps method was working.
“That’s different,” Lucien commented.
“You should have seen their faces when he got aroused,” Will said with a chuckle.
“I’m glad I missed that,” Lucien said, making a face. “I don’t know why he just doesn’t admit he’s falling for her.”
“Because she isn’t showing that the feelings are mutual,” Will said, as if it were obvious. “Seon Rain has been kept in a very controlled, small world, out of fear she’ll follow in her mother’s lack of mental well-being footsteps. Because of that, in my not so professional but experienced opinion, Seon Rain doesn’t know what it actually feels like to want more with someone or to have feelings for them.”
“Like Kita does?” Lucien retorted.
“And that’s why he’s terrified of her,” Will said with a small, sad smile. “Regardless of how affectionate your parents are and were while you three were growing up, you are all really damaged when it comes to things of the heart. Honor dictates your siblings actions, and you are just terrified of being tied down, and that makes you all hot messes when it comes to relationships and things of the heart. Perhaps, instead of being difficult and making your brother defensive about his feelings, why not encourage them?”
If the situation and circumstances were different, Lucien would fully support his brother becoming more human and developing feelings and emotions towards someone that might reciprocate.
But Seon Rain wasn’t just some young woman that his brother just happened to have crossed paths with, and one thing lead to another and feelings bloomed. She was their client, the person they were supposed to protect with their lives, and they were being paid to be in her life.
It was anything but normal, and that’s why Lucien couldn’t support it.
“I wish I could,” Lucien whispered, watching the live feed from the training room as his brother held the young woman as close to him as possible as they moved in time around the room.
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