Seven o'clock.
Yun Jiao stood in front of the mirror and did what any reasonable person would do before walking into a den of vipers.
She appreciated her own face.
Objectively.
Thoroughly.
Without a single drop of shame.
Smooth skin.
Bright eyes.
Features so delicate they looked painted on by someone who really loved their job.
Long dark hair falling perfectly without her even trying.
She hadn't done anything to deserve this face.
God had simply chosen violence against everyone who had to look at her.
She was at peace with this.
She smoothed her dress, picked up her strawberry lollipop from the vanity, popped it in her mouth, remembered she was going to dinner, took it out, and put it in her pocket.
Walked out.
Came back ten seconds later because she'd left her hair tie on the vanity.
Saw the lollipop still sitting there.
Hadn't she put that in her pocket?
She looked at her pocket.
Empty.
She looked at the lollipop.
It looked back.
She put it in her pocket again, grabbed her hair tie, and left with what remained of her dignity.
—
She smelled the food before she reached the dining room.
Something rich and dark and deeply, unfairly good.
Her feet moved a little faster.
Professionalism.
She stepped into the doorway.
Ruan Suyin was already seated.
New dress — still lilac.
At this point Yun Jiao was genuinely curious if the woman owned any other colour or if she had simply decided one day that lilac was her entire personality and committed.
Yunjinna sat across from her mother.
Back straight.
Face pleasant.
Eyes doing that thing where they were pointed at the flower arrangement but clearly reading a completely different book entirely.
And at the head of the table—Yunting.
Yun Jiao looked at him.
Oh.
She'd built a whole picture of this man in her head.
Powerful. Cold.
The human equivalent of a board meeting. Fine, yes.
All of that.
But he was also sitting there staring at his own hand on the table like it had said something interesting.
Not his phone.
Not his food.
His hand.
Tired eyes.
Silver threading through his hair that the press photos had conveniently cropped out. The kind of shadows under his eyes that showed up when someone had been not-sleeping for a very long time.
This was a man carrying something heavy.
Had been for a while, by the look of it.
Yun Jiao filed that away and sat down.
He looked up.
Their eyes met.
She'd rehearsed this moment.
Seventeen different versions.
She was ready for cold, indifferent, calculating, dismissive, any combination thereof.
She was not ready for the look that crossed his face. It was fast.
A fraction of a second.
Like a window opening and closing before you could see what was on the other side. Old pain. The quiet kind.
The kind that had stopped being sharp years ago and just became background noise you forgot you were living with.
Then it was gone.
His face was smooth again.
Unreadable.
Yun Jiao kept her expression soft and open and gave nothing back.
The table was very quiet.
Then—"You look like your mother."
No hello. No welcome. No I know we've never met and I technically sold you to a violent man without your knowledge, my bad.
Just that. Four words. Quietly.
Like they'd slipped out before he'd decided to say them.
Yun Jiao looked at this man who was her father on paper and technically in blood and in absolutely no other way that mattered and thought: Huh. Didn't see that coming.
In her first life she had cried at this exact moment. Ugly, shoulder-shaking crying into her soup while Ruan Suyin handed her tissues and looked sympathetic and Yunting patted her hand once like she was a business problem he didn't know how to solve.
She had thought it meant something.
She knew better now. "Oh," she said pleasantly.
And picked up her chopsticks.
Yunting blinked once.
Something in his shoulders settled.
She noticed.
She'd deal with it later.
Right now there was food.
The cold dishes were sent from heaven.
The soup made her want to write someone a thank you letter.
And then the braised pork arrived.
Yun Jiao looked at it. Rich. Dark. Glossy.
Smelling like the universe was apologising for everything it had ever done to her.
She served herself a piece. Ate it.
Her eyes closed.
Just for a second.
Just one small completely involuntary second.
When she opened them Yunjinna was watching her from across the table with an expression like she'd witnessed something interesting.
"Are you okay,"
Yunjinna said."Yes."
"Your eyes were closed."
"I was thinking."
"You were eating."
"I multitask."Yunjinna stared at her.
Yun Jiao served herself another piece.
Some people, she thought, had simply never had a transcendent food experience and it showed.Tragic really.
—"It must be such a big adjustment." Yunjinna's voice was warm. Gentle. Full of sisterly concern.
Yun Jiao heard the knife immediately.
Small. Thin. Slipped in between the words like it wasn't there."Coming from the orphanage to all of this."
Yunjinna gestured lightly at the dining room — the crystal, the porcelain, the chandelier doing its chandelier things overhead. "So much to take in."
"It really is," Yun Jiao said, wide-eyed. "I keep pinching myself—"
"And Jinhao on top of that." Yunjinna shook her head, sympathetic. "The academic level there is quite intense. Very different from what you'd be used to."
A small understanding smile.
"It can be a lot. Even for people who come in prepared."
Even for people who come in prepared.
Ah.
There it was.
(Translation: you are not one of those people.)
Yun Jiao blinked at her, looking mildly daunted.
While she thought about how she had once run a twenty million dollar underground operation, decoded military-grade encryption for entertainment, spoke five languages including a Russian that was absolutely not rough, and had negotiated a hostage situation using a broken lighter and sheer nerve.
But still smiled sweetly: "Sister is probably right. I'm honestly a little scared."
"Don't be." Yunjinna's smile was generous now. Warm.
The smile of someone extending a hand down from a higher step. "I'll help you. If you struggle."
So kind.
So thoughtful.
Such a wonderful older sister.
"Really?"
Yun Jiao looked at her with actual gratitude shining in her eyes.
"Sister would do that?"
"Of course." Yunjinna waved a gracious hand. "We're family."
We're family.
Said with such ease.
By the girl who was going to spend the next several months trying to make her life a quiet misery.
Yun Jiao smiled back with equal ease.
Then she tilted her head."Sister,"
she said."Mm?""Are you sleeping okay?"
Yunjinna paused. "...What?"
"Your eyes."
Yun Jiao's brow creased.
Gently concerned. "You look a little tired. I noticed earlier too actually.
Are you stressed? Stress affects sleep and then sleep affects skin and—"
"I'm fine." Yunjinna's smile went stiff at the edges."
Are you sure? Because I have these eye patches in my bag, nothing expensive, the orphanage nurse gave them to me, but they really help with the puffiness and the—"
"I don't need eye patches."
The smile was hanging on now Just barely.
"Right, sorry—"
"I slept perfectly well."
"Of course! Probably just the lighting."
Yun Jiao backed off immediately, looking a little embarrassed. "Sorry Sister. You look beautiful."
Yunjinna looked at her.A long, careful second."...Thank you," she said.Very quietly.Very precisely.
Her chopsticks went down with a small click.
Under the table, out of sight, her hand clenched into a slow fist.
Her face showed absolutely nothing.
Ruan Suyin sipped her tea with the serenity of a woman watching a chess game from a distance and taking notes.
Yunting glanced up briefly.
Looked between them.
Went back to his food without a word.
Yun Jiao ate her braised pork and thought: I have missed this. The game. The back and forth. The watching someone try to find a handle on a situation that doesn't have one.
She'd spent five years in an orphanage.
She'd spent a whole lifetime before that.
She was, if nothing else, very well rested.