“Hailey,” Cressida called quietly.
Hailey emerged from the other room. “What’s…”
Then Hailey got a look at Rachel, and turned a brilliant red. She rushed to Rachel’s side.
“What happened? What did he do?” she hissed, dragging Rachel back into the kitchen, away from the customers. “I swear, I will gut that fucking…”
“We broke up, that’s all.” Rachel sniffled, grabbing a napkin and mopping at her eyes, her nose.
“He dumped you? Again?”
“No. I dumped him this time.”
Hailey harrumphed. “Well, that’s something, at least.” She calmed slightly. “What happened?”
Rachel sighed, then the story came out, in bits and pieces. How she’d finally told him she loved him, and that she was willing to give him a chance. Then his parents’ call, and the shocking reveal that he was moving to China in two weeks.
“And he asked you to go with him?” Hailey said, sounding as stunned as she looked. “What is he, high?”
Rachel laughed, a high-pitched, nervous sound. “I know. It felt insane when he was pitching me on it.”
Cressida came back to the kitchen. “I caught enough of what happened,” she said, looking in the front room to ensure there weren’t customers who needed attention. “Are you staying here because of us, Rachel?”
Rachel turned to her sister, startled. “What do you mean?”
“It could be a grand adventure,” she said, sounding sad. “And I feel like, sometimes, you put so much on hold because of what our family needed. Taking care of Grandma. Staying here to make sure we had enough to pay rent. I know,” Cressida said, holding her hands up defensively when Rachel started to protest. “You wanted to make these choices, and you’re a grown woman. But I want to make sure that you’re not giving up Ren because of us.”
“I promise you,” Rachel said vehemently, “it wasn’t that. I made this choice for me. I am tired of coming in second, to college, to work.”
“Do you feel like he’s making you choose between your family and him?”
“You guys really didn’t come into it,” she admitted. “But if he’d asked me to choose between you guys and him, I’d obviously choose you guys.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you.” Rachel stared at Cressida, wondering what her point was. “And because you’d never ask me to make that kind of choice. Hell, Hailey never trusted Ren, but she still backed my play when I continued to see him.”
“And look how well that turned out,” Hailey grumbled.
Cressida looked thoughtful. “I think he’s trying to choose between his family and you,” she said slowly. “And he doesn’t know how.”
Rachel frowned. They were the pressure behind him taking the job. Was she trying to make him choose?
No. She had chosen herself. She knew what she wanted, and what she deserved. What he did from there was up to him.
“I can’t help him there,” Rachel said, slow and thoughtful. “I don’t even think he likes his job. He is trying to prove himself, trying to jump through all these hoops. And the hoops keep getting higher. And lit on fire.” She shook her head. “But that’s his problem. Not mine. I’m not going to move to Macau with him just because he’s going to keep jumping.”
Hailey put an arm around her shoulder. “Putting it that way, I feel a little – just a tiny little – bit sorry for the guy,” she admitted. “But you’re my sister, and I love you. So if he can’t get it together, then the hell with him.”
Rachel smiled. “Thanks, Hailey.”
“Want me to see if we can pull together a girls’ night?” Cressida said. “I’ll activate the phone tree.”
“Oh, no, I don’t need…”
“Nonsense,” Cressida said matter-of-factly. “You didn’t get to have a full support session when you guys broke up in high school. You’re long overdue.”
Rachel shrugged. “Okay. Why not?”
#
Ren showed up at his father’s office at nine a.m. the following morning, per their email. He’d been up most of the night. Ever since Rachel had left his home, he’d been in a state of… how to describe it? Shock? Depression? Anger?
How about all of the above?
He didn’t blame Rachel for leaving. She was right. She deserved better than a half-assed proposition that was just trying to keep everybody in his life placated. He did want to live with her, but that didn’t mean he wanted to drag her across the world against her wishes. He did want to show her that she was special in his life.
He’d done a piss-poor job of that beyond a couple of dinners and a movie. He rubbed at the back of his neck, the tension straining to the point where he felt like his skull was fused onto his shoulders.
He was beyond exhausted, and realized that he had been for some time. Possibly for years. He needed to finally address it.
He nodded to his father’s assistant and walked into the large office where they were waiting. His mother looked at him with a small, satisfied smile. “Good, you’re on time. We have a lot to go over.”
His father had some folders and packets of papers spread out on his desk. “The first issue is the visa, but that shouldn’t be a problem. We’ve…”
“I need to talk to the two of you,” Ren interrupted.
His mother’s smile slipped into an expression of irritation, and she glanced at her husband. “I told you,” she said quietly.
His father crossed his arms, his eyes narrowed and angry. “We are not discussing alternatives,” he said, in a sharp voice. “We aren’t going to discuss how you could work from here. We’ve already decided on this course of action, and it’s not getting any more attention. Is that clear?”
“I’m not moving to Zhuhai.”
The bald pronouncement had his parents shocked silent for a second. Then his father’s chested puffed. “What do you mean, you’re not moving there?”
“Just that. I’m not moving to Zhuhai. I’m staying here, in Seattle.”
“That is not an option,” his mother said.
“It is if I quit.”
If he’d shocked them before, he downright galvanized them now.
“You’re quitting?” his father asked, jaw slightly agape.
“You’re bluffing,” his mother responded, but she looked shaken. “You’re our oldest son, the heir to the chairmanship. You know that. You’ve worked every day of your life towards that goal. Now, you’re going to throw a temper tantrum, and quit, all because of some… some girl?”
“It’s not because of some girl,” he said. “Rachel plays into it, I’m not going to deny that. But damn it, I work eighty to hundred-hour weeks here. I don’t have a life. And we encourage that.” He shook his head. “If I had a wife, any wife, I don’t know how she’d be okay with that. And if she was, I don’t know that I’d be okay with her being okay with it.”
“There are women here at the company…” his mother pointed out, and he stopped her.
“That’s not the point, Mom. The point is, I haven’t been happy for a long time. I just didn’t think about it. It was all laid out for me: that I was going to be chairman of the board and CEO and all this stuff. And I don’t even want it. Not if it means I don’t have any life of my own!”
His mother stared at him as if he’d grown two heads. Then her expression turned cold.
“So you’re going to turn your back on everything we’ve done for you. We worked this hard to build this company up to what it is, and you’re spitting on it.”
He felt his chest clench, and he grimaced. “I love you, and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. But what you want isn’t what I want.”
“Then I suppose you’ll be all right turning your back on everything. Because if you walk out of here, you’re no son of ours.” She raised her chin up, her eyes bright. “Out of the will. Cut off from everything. Is that what you want?”
“I told you, I love you,” Ren said. “Both of you. But I’m not g
oing to be held emotionally and financially hostage here. If you want to cut me off, do what you think is best. But I’m done. I can’t do this anymore.”
It was not the answer she was expecting, judging by the crestfallen expression on her face. His father had turned red, anger obviously at the fore, mixed in liberally with disappointment.
“You’re going to be sorry you made this decision,” his father said, his words clipped.
Ren swallowed hard. “I’m sorry I didn’t make the decision sooner,” he said.
His father picked up his phone. “Yes. Please send security up here,” he said. “I want them to accompany Ren Chu to his desk to be emptied, then I want them to escort him out of the building.”
“Dad,” Ren said.
His father hung up the phone with a slam. “Get out. Now.”
Ren nodded, feeling the pain. He’d apparently just been disowned. He knew it would come to this point. But at the same time, there was a weird sense of lightness. Of freedom.
No more late nights and pointless meetings. No more sense of falling short. No more feigning interest in a company he was feeling more and more distanced from. He’d never even thought about whether or not he liked what he was doing until he reconnected with Rachel. Now he realized: there were a million things he could be doing out there.
One of them was being happy.
He emptied his desk under the surprised eyes of Jose and Frank, two security guards he’d known since he started working in the building. “We’re really sorry about this, Mr. Chu,” Jose said.
“No big deal,” he said, as they walked him to the elevator. Before he got there, Jian accosted him.
“Are you out of your fucking mind? You quit?” Jian looked like someone had hit him in the back of the head with a two-by-four, his eyes bugging out. “What the hell happened?”
“They told me they wanted me to move to Zhuhai in two weeks,” he said. “And they wanted me to move for two years.”
Jian let out a low whistle. “Well, that does kinda suck,” he admitted. “But… quitting?”
“They weren’t open to any other options. And you know what? I’m okay with it.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“I’ve got savings to fall back on,” Ren said. “I also bought a few houses, a few years ago, and the rentals have been decent. I mean, I’m not going to be living opulently, but it should carry me until I get another job. And I may just take a break. I’ve been running kinda ragged for the past few years.”
“Welcome to Chu Enterprises,” Jian said bitterly. “Man. Now all your shit’s going to fall on me.”
“It doesn’t have to,” Ren pointed out. He sighed. “They’re probably not going to want you to talk to me for a while. They won’t be talking to me.” His parents were champion grudge-carriers. He hoped that they could get to some peaceful spot, but he felt sadness that it might not be for a long time.
“Meili and I will work on them,” Jian said. “And you’re my brother. I’ve got your back.”
He gave Jian an awkward half-hug, still holding his file box of stuff from his desk: a few photos, some books, things from his desk. “I’ll talk to you soon, then.”
He went down to his car, putting the file box in the trunk. His next step: talk to Rachel. She’d told him she didn’t want him to contact her ever again, and he wanted to honor that. But he also knew that he wanted to have one last chance, one last try. If she shut him out from there, so be it. But they both deserved to find out what would happen now that his life had changed so radically. Now that he could finally put her first.
He only prayed that he wasn’t too late in his realization.
#
Rachel sat in her bedroom that evening, even though the bookstore was still open. She had a paper to start working on, so she had her laptop out on her desk. Unfortunately, her scene with Ren the previous day was still preying on her. He’d tried calling her today, and texted her several times that he needed to talk to her, but she quickly shut her phone off. She’d probably block his number.
Her heart hurt. It had only been a week that they were back together, as it were, and she felt like all the old scars had been torn open. She curled up on her bed, watching Netflix on her iPad and trying like hell to live in someone else’s world for a few hours.
She’d barely slept, and she’d considered calling in sick to work, but she didn’t. She didn’t want to put that much emphasis on Ren in her life. Also, her sisters were treating her like a fragile flower already – she didn’t want to feed that particular instinct.
You got over him before. You’ll get over him now.
And it was different now, because she felt like she’d stood up for herself. She deserved better, and she wasn’t going to give up her life because some guy had more important things that needed to be accommodated.
Even if that guy is Ren.
She frowned. She had her headphones in, but she swore she heard yelling. Pulling out her earbuds, she heard a man’s voice. “RACHEL! RACHEL!”
Was that… it couldn’t be Ren.
Could it?
What the hell was he doing here? And why was he yelling?
She rushed out of her bedroom and down the three flights of stairs. She could hear Hailey’s sharp voice.
“You’re going to get out of here, now, or I’m calling the cops!” Hailey growled.
“I know she doesn’t want to talk to me,” Ren said back. “But there’s something she needs to know before she makes the decision to cut me out of her life.”
“I think she already knows!” Hailey snapped. “You think that you’re more important than her, that your needs are more important. Like right now! What she needs is for you to leave her the fuck alone!”
Rachel came around the corner in time to see him wince. The customers were getting an eyeful tonight, apparently.
“I know, it’s not fair. And I wouldn’t have come here if there were any other way,” Ren said. “But I took what she said seriously…”
“Apparently not the bit about not contacting me,” Rachel interjected.
He looked over at her, and she couldn’t help it – her heart squeezed. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. He looked at her like she was some kind of radiant light, some holy object.
“Rachel,” he breathed, taking a step closer to her.
Hailey jumped in his way. “Cress, call…”
“No, it’s okay,” Rachel said. “I want to hear what it is that is so important, it overrides my express desire not to have contact.”
He looked pained. “I am so sorry,” he said.
“Not good enough. Get out.”
“Not sorry about yesterday… I mean, I’m sorry about that, too,” he said quickly. “But I’m sorry I came over. I just didn’t want you to leave without knowing…”
“Knowing what?”
“That I quit my job.”
She gasped. “You what?”
“I quit. I’m no longer with Chu Enterprises.” He looked relieved at the announcement. He took another step towards her. “I’m not moving to Zhuhai, or anywhere else.”
Rachel felt confused. “You didn’t quit for me, did you?”
“Not just for you,” he said. “You were right. It was unhealthy, a complete shit show, and when they pushed me to relocate without hearing any other alternatives, I realized it was always going to be that way. And that I didn’t want that in my life.” He was quiet for a second, then his voice turned hoarse. “I want you in my life.”
Her chest grew warmer, like a thousand embers were glowing there. She felt her eyes well up with tears.
“I love you, Rachel,” he said. “I understand this is a lot, and again, I’m sorry I broke my word and came over here. But I’m also not sorry, if it gives us a chance. If you need time to think about it, I’ll understand. And if you just want me to turn around and never come back, I swear I’ll respect it. But I’m honestly hoping that you’ll be able to forgive me, and give me that s
econd chance.”
“Third chance,” she corrected, her voice sounding a little watery. She felt a tear emerge, crawling down her cheek.
“However many chances you’re willing to give me.” Ren studied her carefully. “I never want to hurt you. I’m sorry I was such an asshole, putting you on the spot, not thinking of your needs.”
She took a deep breath, staring back at him. He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, not his usual suit. His hair looked like he’d run his fingers through it frantically, probably most of the day. She thought about his calls.
“Come up with me,” she said, “and we’ll talk.”
She tugged him away from Hailey and the customers, bringing him back to her room and closing the door. He looked wary, and full of longing.
She could understand both of those feelings.
“So you quit.” She sat on the bed, watching him. “How’d that go?”
“They’re really, really pissed.” He let out a low, ragged laugh. “And I’ve been disowned.”
She felt a pang. “I didn’t want to tear you away from your family.”
“They wouldn’t accept anything less than complete compliance. And I just don’t have that to give anymore.” He looked at her, questioning, and gestured next to her on the bed, as if asking for permission. She nodded, and he sat down next to her gingerly, still staring at her. “I didn’t want to have to make that choice, but it was mine to make. You didn’t push me into it. You just showed me how badly I was living. And you were right: you deserved better.”
He raised his hand, like he was going to stroke her cheek, or her shoulder. Then he carefully put it back down.
“I want to give you everything you deserve,” he said, his voice solemn. “I love you, Rachel. I’ll always love you. I want to make this work, but it’s all in your court now. I’ll do whatever you say.”
Rachel’s head was spinning. He’d never stood up to his family before. He’d certainly never put her before something as outwardly important as school or work.
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