Who?!
Calin's head buzzed like an overworked microwave.
The words "young lady" and "customized gift" echoed in her mind like an annoying ringtone on loop.
From her seat, she only managed to catch a glimpse—long, black hair flowing behind the mystery woman.
"AHHH! Go after that car!" Calin leapt from the backseat to the passenger seat like a woman possessed. Her eyes blazed with the fury of ten soap opera villains.
Manager Lyn, startled like a frightened cat, nearly choked. "What? What's going on?!"
"Follow them!" Calin screeched, jabbing a manicured finger toward the now distant Maybach. Her voice cracked like a haunted doll.
Though Manager Lyn had the survival instincts of a seasoned assistant, nothing could've prepared her for Calin in meltdown mode. She swallowed hard and hit the gas.
Calin's eyes, bloodshot and twitching with rage, were locked on the Maybach's vanishing tail lights.
When did this happen? When did that home-wrecking vixen crawl into Shin Keir's life?!
Before she met him in person, Calin had dismissed Shin Keir with the same disdain she reserved for cheap bags and low-class celebrities.
An illegitimate child? Please. No matter how good-looking or talented, someone born outside noble circles couldn't possibly match her pedigree.
But the moment she laid eyes on him—tall, cold, lethal—something traitorous in her soul fluttered.
Even though he exuded a cold-blooded and tyrannical demeanor but to Calin, that just meant he wasn't a womanizer. Perfect. He would be solely affectionate to one woman.
What kind of woman wouldn't want to be held in the palm of such a man?
A man like that, when he falls, falls hard—for just one woman.
And let's not forget: the Keir family's vast fortune. With him, she'd be protected, pampered, and possibly worshipped. All she had to do was wait patiently.
Not to mention Elder Madam Keir favored her and she never heard of any women close to him, not even business colleagues.
It is for this reason Calin wasn't worried or in a hurry to get engaged with Shin Keir and instead pursued her dream.
Shockingly, why is the present different from what she had envisioned?
How could Shin Keir betray her expectations?!
Calin regretted doing nothing all these years, she truly regretted it!
Her throat tightened with rage.
Back in the Maybach, Secretary Yun spotted the tailing car almost immediately. This wasn't his first rodeo. Without missing a beat, he calmly made a series of evasive turns. Right, left, loop around a roundabout, pretend to signal one way and go the other—the usual.
Next to him, Jj Zhi blinked. "Uh… why are we going in circles?"
"No reason," Secretary Yun said smoothly, as though they weren't shaking off a hot mess with a driver's license.
Yeri, in the back seat, was too preoccupied to notice the impromptu car chase. Her fingers idly brushed the bracelet on her wrist—Shin Keir's gift. Custom-made. Tastefully expensive. Definitely not from a vending machine.
Back in pursuit, Manager Lyn was doing her best, but let's be real—she wasn't trained for Fast & Furious: Upper-Class Meltdown.
"I—I lost them!" she stammered, eyes darting between traffic and Calin's impending detonation.
"What do you mean you lost them?!" Calin screeched. "You're not driving a garbage truck on ice! The road is wide, the weather is clear, and you still don't know where they went? Are you blind?!"
She pounded the dashboard for good measure.
Manager Lyn bit her tongue. You also didn't see where they went, but sure, blame me.
In her heart, she was curious about this so-called vixen too—but not curious enough to risk her life.
Calin was a human hurricane, and Lyn had no desire to get swept into her storm.
Half an hour later, the Maybach finally pulled up at SC University.
Jj Zhi hopped off at the college dorms with a lazy wave, "Thank you for today, Young Master Keir."
The car took two turns before stopping in front of the high school gate.
"Well, I'm off," Yeri said cheerfully. "Thank you for everything today."
She smiled politely at Secretary Yun and Shin Keir. "And thanks again for the bracelet."
Shin Keir caught her hand before she could leave. His fingers lingered on her wrist, the silver bracelet catching the light like a secret only they shared.
He looked like he wanted to say something, but the words got stuck somewhere behind that carefully sculpted mask of his.
"You… have a good family," he said finally, the words almost bitter on his tongue.
If only she had a scheming stepmother or an evil uncle… then he'd have a reason to step in and take her away. The thought flickered, then vanished.
"…Thanks?" Yeri blinked. She had no idea what he meant, but decided not to poke at it.
Shin sighed. "Just remember to contact me. No excuses."
Yeri gave him a thumbs-up, mentally preparing to ghost him the moment exams rolled in.
---
Meanwhile, in a different part of the city, Calin's mansion was experiencing an earthquake. Indoors. Caused by one woman.
Calin had returned home like a starved warlord and immediately began throwing everything that wasn't bolted down. Her rage was a performance, a spectacle, a catastrophe.
Vases? Shattered.
Designer cushions? Ripped apart like wrapping paper.
Curtains? Yanked down with the vengeance of a scammed matriarch.
Madam Ricci, ever the composed mother, bolted upstairs the moment she heard the crash of glass. She pounded on her daughter's door, flanked by a trembling maid.
"Calin! What is going on?! Open this door!"
Inside, Calin was shrieking like a banshee, her voice overlapping with the sound of more objects meeting their untimely end.
"Calin, sweetheart, don't hurt yourself! Whoever wronged you, Mommy will destroy them!"
Eventually, the door creaked open.
Madam Ricci gasped like she'd just walked into a crime scene. The room looked like a hurricane had held a grudge.
Shards of crystal. Torn-up photo frames. The balcony window smashed like a scene from an action movie.
Calin sat slumped by the bed, her hands bleeding, nails cracked, hair tangled in artistic disarray.
"My poor baby!" Madam Ricci rushed to her side. "What happened this time? Do you have to mutilate yourself every time someone annoys you?!"
Through hiccuping sobs, Calin unleashed her tale of betrayal—real, imagined, and wildly embellished.
By the end of it, Madam Ricci's face had twisted into a full snarl.
"Shin Keir. He had really hidden himself well! Pretending to dislike women, wasn't it just to beautify his image as an upright person? This can't be done!" Madam Ricci gritted her teeth, like all other men, Shin Keir was just another lustful beast.
"Mom, what do I do now?" Calin whimpered, tears smearing her mascara like a tragic clown.
"Don't worry," Madam Ricci said, voice shaking with righteous fury. "Tomorrow, I'm calling Elder Madam Keir and ending this farce of an engagement. That bastard was never worthy of you anyway!"
"NO!" Calin screeched, sitting bolt upright. "You'll ruin everything! You think I've waited all these years just to hand him to some random vixen?!"
"But darling, you've got options! We haven't even gone public with the engagement. There are a dozen handsome CEOs just dying to—"
"NO!" Calin cut her off again, wild-eyed. "Letting her have him? What am I, charitable?!"
If there was anyone better than Shin Keir then she might rethink it, however, she had long regarded herself as the future Madam Keir.
Calin laughed maniacally scaring Madam Ricci but thinking of Shin Keir who broke her daughter's heart, she was also filled with indignation.
Madam Ricci gave up. She patted her daughter's hand and signaled the maid to patch her up. Calin, still muttering about "vixen thieves," looked like she'd gone nuts.
However, Madam Ricci wasn't convinced in her heart, she still plans to contact Elder Madam Keir to warn that bastard not to be too arrogant.
Without obstacles, he enjoyed the wealth and protection of the Keir family and her beautiful daughter wasn't opposed to the engagement. What else does he want?
He really lived a good life!
There was also Allister Keir, that weirdo. Since he doesn't know how to educate his bastard son then she will gladly do it.
Isn't the reason Shin Keir's so conceited because the people don't know he's an illegitimate child?
Madam Ricci sneered, she would let him know the consequences of hurting her daughter!
At this time, Calin had already calmed down and she felt better after talking to her mother, she sat on the sofa while the maid was bandaging her hands.
After demolishing her room, in addition to her malicious words, Calin was completely messed up and disheveled looking like an evil spirit, the maid dared not look up else she might get infected.
Outside, Madam Ricci stormed off and made a call to her husband.
He picked up, heard one word—"Calin"—and hung up faster than a teenager dodging chores.
Fuming, she called her eldest son instead.
Sergei Ricci was still at the office, in the middle of a quarterly report when the screen flashed Mother Incoming Call.
He sighed. Here we go.
For ten minutes, he let his mother rant while sipping coffee and playing Minesweeper on mute.
Just like his father, he doesn't care about the drama at home but for the sake of 'family harmony' even if it is fake, he pretends to listen like a filial son.
It was only at the mention of Shin Keir keeping a woman that it aroused his curiosity.
"Wait… you said Shin Keir bought a custom gift for some girl?" he finally asked, one eyebrow lifting.
"Yes! His butler mentioned it!"
Sergei snorted. "That could mean anything. Maybe it was for a client's daughter. And you're telling me Calin saw this from a distance? Could've been a hallucination."
"You—you're defending him? She's your sister!"
"I'm defending logic," Sergei said flatly. "And you know how dramatic Calin gets. Try not to indulge her too much."
Eventually, he promised to "look into it," which in Ricci-speak meant asking his secretary to dig up gossip over lunch.
After hanging up, he stared at the phone.
Shin Keir with a mystery girl? Now that was interesting.
And potentially explosive.