Chapter Text
"Here,"
The woman finished zipping up her pants and took the shirt from Karina. "Thanks. So, should I come back tonight?"
Karina was too busy looking at her phone to pay any more attention to the half-naked woman in her room, which was certainly a first for her.
Her father had sent her an email, not a text or a call, requesting her presence tonight at their house. She flew in from New York City shortly afterward but found herself lost on what to do next. Like most of his other communications with her, it lacked any detail or specificity on how to prepare herself.
Only to show up.
And now, with only a few hours left before she was supposed to be there, she was starting to panic.
"Sorry," Karina set her phone down and looked up at her. What was her name again? "Probably not. I have some things I need to handle."
"Ah, well," she fixed her hair and leaned down to kiss Karina, only to find her lips against her cheek instead. "Call me if you're ever in town again,"
Karina watched her awkwardly shuffle out of the room and waited until she heard the lock click into place before panicking. She began pacing back and forth in her room, the clamminess of her hands bringing no comfort to her.
Dialing Ningning's number, Karina sat back down at the edge of her bed and closed her eyes to focus more on her breathing rather than what the hell her father could possibly want.
"Hello?"
"He wants to have dinner tonight,"
"Well, good afternoon to you too, sunshine." Ningning said, giggling. "Isn't that a good thing? You're always complaining about how you never see or spend time with him."
"Yeah, but it's never just dinner with him. The last time we had fucking dinner, he asked me to let my brother get the credit for my merger. My merger."
"Relax. You haven't been back to Seoul in how long? It's practically a holiday for your family. Speaking of which, when are you coming to see me?"
"Never," Karina flopped backward, her voice shaky. "He's going to grill me about that stint I pulled in Paris and then slow-cook me in the new oven he got installed for my mother last month."
Ningning couldn't help but laugh again. "I've got to give it to you. You're definitely creative."
"This isn't funny! You're laughing and this is possibly the last phone call we're ever gonna have."
"Oh, please. Your mom will be there to protect you, so stop being such a pussy and start getting ready. I'll be expecting a call from hell once dinner is over! Now, if you'll excuse me, my show is waiting for me."
"Fuck y—" Karina opened her mouth to speak, but scowled once she heard the call drop.
She sat up straight again and looked at the steam-pressed blouses she hung up once she arrived at the hotel. Although their relationship was rocky for as long as Karina could remember, her father was protective of his family. However, the lines between what he was protective of often blurred, and she was constantly left wondering whether his family or reputation mattered more.
Karina let out a loud, painful groan that sounded like a cry for help at the idea of directly interacting with her father instead of hiding behind her assistant. Sighing, Karina got up and started the shower, desperate to wash the smell of sex off of herself.
—
"Jimin!" Her mother practically screeched when she opened the door and saw her daughter standing on the other side, nervously holding a bottle of wine. "Oh, honey, you look amazing." Irene took a step back to inspect her after pulling her inside. "A bit on the skinnier side. Are you eating?"
Karina winced at the sound of her Korean name and handed the bottle of wine to one of the maids. "Three meals a day,"
"Good. I'm glad you're here tonight, sweetheart. I've cooked a big meal for us to enjoy."
Karina followed her mother into the kitchen, politely smiling at the maids she passed on her way there. She cleared her throat and leaned against the kitchen counter, noting all the renovations they had done since the last time she was there.
"So..." Karina said quietly. "What are we celebrating?"
"Well, Jungwon's startup is going public tomorrow, and your father figured it'd be nice to have you all under the same roof again, that's all."
Karina eyed her mother cautiously. She had heard of Jungwon's startup through Yoonchae the last time they spoke on the phone, but only that it was going awfully wrong. But it wouldn't be the first time their father bailed one of them out of deep shit.
Cleaning up after his children's mess was a class specialty of Xiumi's.
"Right. His startup."
"Jimin," Irene scolded her. "Play nice,"
"I didn't even say anything,"
"Your condescending tone does it for you," Yoonchae announced her entrance into the kitchen with her irritating voice. Her summery dress was held on by two thin straps but still managed to steal the show.
Yoonchae was far too free-spirited for her own good. Being the youngest, her father brushed off her activities as something that would go away with age and refused to discipline her.
Instead of going to college like the rest of her siblings, she traveled around the world and collected pieces of breathtaking artwork to auction off to her billionaire clients. What Yoonchae doesn't mention to her father is that most of the time, her forms of payment involved hooking up with said billionaires or lounging away on their yachts for a week or two.
She called herself a curator. Karina called her a freeloader.
"Hello to you too," Karina rolled her eyes.
Yoonchae inspected the bottle of wine Karina brought and whistled when she noticed its date. "Jesus, did you fly to Italy yourself for this?"
"A thank you works as well,"
Yoonchae poured them both glasses, shoving one into her sister's hand. "You're too uptight. I know you usually are, but it's a bit much tonight. You might want to tone it down before the shark smells how scared you are."
"I'm not scared," Karina said gruffly, setting the glass of wine on the counter. "I just... Have a lot on my mind."
"Right," Yoonchae grinned. "Because billionaire heiress Karina Yu has so much to worry about,"
"Enough, you two," Irene set the wooden spoon down and started to plate the last dish. "I don't want anybody fighting tonight. I just want us all to have a good time. Is that so much to ask for?"
"Yes," the both of them responded in unison.
A moment later, a thundering of heavy footsteps could be heard as Jungwon and Heeseung came running down the stairs with a football tossed between them.
"Boys!" Irene yelled. "No running in the house!"
The footsteps immediately ceased as her brothers joined the rest of them.
"Sorry," Jungwon said, kissing the side of his mother's head. "We got too excited,"
Heeseung swiped Karina's glass of wine away from her and practically chugged it. "Mmm," he wiped his mouth with his hand. "Good wine, sis,"
Karina could feel the throbbing in her temple intensify as her siblings swarmed around her like little bees in the kitchen. It had been months since they were all together and she suddenly remembered why she kept her distance in the first place. Irene tasked them with bringing a dish to the dining room table that took up too much space.
Once they were finished, they all sat down with Karina on one end of the table and an empty seat for her father on the other. Irene shouted her husband's name twice before he emerged from his study, the lingering scent of whiskey and a cigar filling up the room once he walked in.
"I should play the lottery. I'm feeling like a lucky man. I didn't think you would come on such short notice." Xiumi told them, but Karina knew it was directed more toward her.
She didn't bother playing into his antics the same way her siblings did. They all fawned and doted over him as if he were some toddler while Karina saw right through his meticulous act.
He was a man who did whatever he needed to get everything he wanted—this was made embarrassingly evident when he decided to fly to Hong Kong for a business meeting instead of attending her college graduation.
Karina watched her family interact with each other; her mother scooped hearty servings of everything onto her plate, her siblings poked fun at each other, and her father pretended to listen to what they were saying. Their family was a hot mess behind closed doors, but all that mattered was that nobody else knew besides them.
"You should eat," Xiumi gestured to her practically full plate with his fork. "Your food is going to get cold,"
Karina aggressively stabbed a roasted potato and nibbled on it as Xiumi went back to talking to Jungwon about where they would meet the next day and what suit he expected his son to wear at the event.
She drowned the rest of their conversations out, only paying attention when her father stood up and tapped his wine glass with a clean fork to get everybody to settle down.
Conversations immediately died out and the entire Yu family directed their attention to Xiumi, who was proudly smiling.
"So, with Jungwon's startup going public tomorrow, we'll be making our first family appearance since God knows when. I'm expecting everybody to be on their best behavior." He glanced at Yoonchae briefly. "It's a big day for your brother and I hope you all show up for him the same way he's shown up for you,"
Karina internally scoffed at everything her father was saying. Since when was Jungwon, a gambling addict and troublemaker, known for showing up for anybody but himself?
"On the other hand..." Xiumi sat back down, his face pensive. "I'd like you all to hear from me first that I'm retiring. Effectively immediately, Karina will take over my duties and handle everything relating to Vanguard. I know it's sudden, but we'll discuss it in more detail after Jungwon's event tomorrow. I want the rest of tonight to be about enjoying each other's company instead."
What?
Her entire family turned to look at her, but she could only focus on her father's smug smile. Yoonchae was the first to react, her boisterous laughter breaking the awkward silence that briefly filled the air between them.
"Holy shit!" Yoonchae ran over and threw her arms around Karina. "You're going to be a big boss lady!"
Her mother reached her arm over and squeezed Karina's hands, smiling. She could barely register what her brothers were hollering about before Xiumi asked them to settle back down.
"Let's finish dinner," Xiumi insisted. "Your mother spent the entire day cooking. We shouldn't let it go to waste." He raised his glass of wine into the air for a toast.
"To new beginnings," he said. "And everlasting health,"
—
Xiumi took a small drag out of his cigar as Karina sat across from him, her lips pursed into a thin, straight line. When she was a kid, she used to beg her father to let her into his study so that she could be around him. But as she allowed herself to be scrutinized with his eyes, she wanted the ground beneath her to open and swallow her whole.
"You don't seem happy,"
Karina rolled her tongue against the inside of her cheek. "That's because you didn't fucking tell me anything about it, maybe."
"Watch your mouth," he said warningly. "I didn't think I needed your permission to appoint you."
"That's—" Karina breathed slowly through her nose and unclenched her fists. "You know that's not what I meant,"
"You've done great work this year. You handled that merger better than I would have. I know Heeseung was the face of that one, but what matters is that I know what you did for us."
At the mention of her merger, Karina felt her blood run cold. During her Christmas trip to Ibiza, Karina spent the weekend with the CEO of Pulse Digital, a rapidly growing and innovative tech-based company looking to expand from social media and influencer marketing into television production.
It had taken her nearly ten bottles of wine and four expensive champagne glasses to woo over the CEO and have him shake on the potential idea of merging with Vanguard. She had listened to him ramble about his army of hairless cats and his ex-wife, who was trying to take custody of most of them for hours on end. He wept and she did the only thing she knew how to do.
Pour more drinks.
Like most people, he was enamored with Karina, and the rest was history.
Her father nearly exploded with happiness once she met with him to discuss the news, but he was quick to rain on her parade when he suggested that Heeseung take credit for her work, claiming that his rough year adjusting to the corporate life was taking a bigger toll on his mental health and board members' opinion on him.
Xiumi believed that Heeseung would be better off managing a smaller department until he was ready, but he still needed this big break more than Karina did. Begrudgingly, Karina agreed, but she kept the discontent she felt for her brother hidden. He didn't need to get caught in the crossfire between her and her father.
"Do the board members know about this?"
The smug look returned to his face. "It was a unanimous vote,"
"I don't get it,"
"What's so hard to understand?"
"You always said you wanted to keep working until you couldn't anymore," Karina narrowed her eyes at him. "And now, all of a sudden, you're handing it over on a silver platter,"
"Your mother wants to travel," he said casually as if his job meant nothing to him. "She says she wants to see the dolphins and tan all day long. She's given me four beautiful children. This is the least I can do for her."
"Or is it because you found out Bertelsmann has been trying to poach me for six months?"
Xiumi's face hardened and he nearly crushed the cigar in his hand. Bertelsmann was a force in the media world—with notable companies like Penguin Random House under its belt—they were miles ahead of Vanguard because of their aggressiveness and desire to have it all. But as their CEO's health declined, they were on the hunt for fresh blood.
For someone like Karina.
She met their current CEO, Thomas Rabe, back in America during her MBA and the two of them instantly hit it off. They often enjoyed a quiet meal together and he proposed the idea to her a few weeks after her birthday earlier this year.
Of course, she declined, but he insisted that she keep it in the back of her mind. Thomas claimed that Vanguard was a waste of her time and she needed to be in a place where her voice was heard and mattered for once in her life.
"You're my eldest daughter," his tone came off territorial. "Yet you're sneaking around my back to meet with him. Was it your goal to make me look like a fool?"
"Cry me a river," Karina mumbled under her breath.
"You knew from the moment you were born that this company would be yours. Do you know how embarrassing it was to see photographs of you laughing with Thomas Rabe in Paris? My own fucking daughter betraying me. Can you believe that?"
Karina dug her fingernails into the palm of her hand. "This is you trapping me, isn't it? It's not about enjoying the rest of your days with mom or thinking I deserve this, it's about a fucking pissing contest."
"Effectively immediately," Xiumi repeated his words from earlier. "You'll be taking over. Eunchae will have all the paperwork in your new office tomorrow morning."
"And if I said I didn't want it?"
"Then you'd be stupider than I thought,"
Karina's eye twitched as she tried to steady her heartbeat. "Will your vote remain on the board?"
"No," he shook his head. "All of my shares are now in your name,"
"I—"
"But there are a few things I'd like for you to do starting from now on,"
Karina pursed her lips and waited for him to continue.
"No more meetings with Thomas,"
"That's not your decision to make,"
"It is when I'm your father,"
She wanted to scream at him. To claw at her skin and wail until he ran for the hills. For so much of her life, he had tried so painfully hard to mold her into something else. She felt like a manufactured Barbie doll instead of a human being most of the time, something that was being curated to perfection by her father to check off all his boxes, a trophy he could brag about when it was convenient for him.
He controlled which schools she went to, what foods she ate, the people she hung around—there was nothing in her life that was far enough to stay out of her father's reach. In her moments of quietness and warmth with Thomas, she found a father in him.
Thomas taught her things about life that Xiumi could only ever dream of. He was there for her when she graduated from college and moved away and he was there for her when her merger was ripped out of her bare hands. To lose him would be a heartbreak she'd never known.
"The other board members and I have agreed that it's best if you settle down. You're twenty-eight now, Karina, and the amount of NDAs you have floating around with random women across the world is..." Xiumi let out a disappointed sigh. "Concerning, to say the least."
"Since when is it their business who I date?"
"It's their business when the face of their company is caught at a club sucking somebody's face off," Xiumi scowled. "It not only makes you look bad, but it makes them look bad."
Karina pinched the bridge of her nose and counted from one to five in her head. "Whatever,"
"Your brothers are married and seem happy, don't they? Would it be so awful for you to have that as well?"
"When have I ever in my life said I want to be married?"
It was the truth. Although most kids liked to live in fairytales and make-believe stories, Karina was far too pessimistic to fall in line with them. She believed that love made people weak and when you're weak, the world is quick to jump down your throat. She had bigger things to focus on instead of falling in love.
Like how she'd spend the rest of her days cursing her father.
"Consider it," Xiumi put out the cigar. "Most women your age are married already,"
"Gee, thanks. I'll tell my biological clock to slow down for a second while I pick some random person off the street."
"Jimin," her Korean name rolled off his tongue. "I'm being serious. I won't be there to fix your mistakes anymore. From now on, it's all in your hands."
Karina Yu never made fucking mistakes. It was insulting that he even insinuated she'd need his help in the first place.
"Is there anything else?" Karina straightened out her blazer as she got up.
"Make sure you wear navy blue tomorrow. The suit your mother gifted you for Christmas last year would be nice."
Karina frowned and then nodded. "Okay,"
Xiumi reached his hand across his desk as a peace offering. Hesitantly, Karina shook it.
"Don't let me down, Karina,"