It feels like forever that the silence stretches on, but Yura knows, logically, that can't be the case.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Yura jerks back; the sudden voice cutting through the silence feels like a physical blow. She looks up to see Zeyan, her oldest brother and the heir to the Daesun business empire, leaning forward with his forearms resting on the table and a cold expression on his face.
Even though she was introduced to him, Yura doesn't know anything about him. At least not beyond his public identity and the terrifying corporate takeovers he's already executed despite being fresh out of university.
"I—I'm sorry," Yura says. "I shouldn't have said so much. I was being rude, and I probably ruined your appetite."
The tears Yura has been holding back start falling down her cheeks in hot, shameful trails. She tries to wipe them away, but it doesn't matter. They keep falling.
What was she thinking? Of course, saying such things the day after meeting them wouldn't go well.
She should've waited. She should've observed them and tried learning what they're like first.
Instead, she's made a fool of herself and struggles to choke back her sobbing gasps, which only turns them into pathetic hiccups.
"Yura," her father, Jin, says. "Zeyan meant to ask what makes you think that you have to earn your stay here."
Yura looks at her dad. He's frowning, and his brow is pinched in a way that forms a series of lines on his forehead. But he doesn't look angry or annoyed. No, it's a mix of concern and confusion.
She turns her attention to Zeyan, who's pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand.
"He's right," Zeyan says. "I just want to know why you think you have to earn a place among your own family. Is that how the Quin family treated you? As if you had to earn your stay?"
Soraya chimes in, her voice as factual and flat as somebody commenting on the weather. "The Quin family is rather well-off. Not to the same extent as us, but enough that they can hire household help and live luxuriously without worrying about the cost. Why would you have to earn your stay in a place like that?"
Yura turns her attention to the empty plate sitting in front of her at the table. If she's looking at any of her family's faces, she knows she'll lose the courage to tell them the truth.
"They didn't see me as family," Yura says. "Even before the swapped-at-birth situation, they were positive that I couldn't be their real daughter. I don't know how they knew, or if it was just some kind of intuition. So, they didn't treat me like family. If they could pass me off to live with relatives or friends of theirs, they did. When I was old enough, they sent me to boarding school. It was easier. More permanent than jumping from house to house and trying to figure out how to make myself useful so that I'm not thrown away again."
The silence after her admission stretches out, and Yura's hitched breathing as she tries to calm herself down is the only sound in the room. She doesn't know how long the silence lasts, but she knows that feelings like anxiety and fear have a way of drawing out even a single second into what seems like minutes.
This isn't how she wanted her gesture of sincerity to go. It's not how she wanted to talk about her request to stay until university or explain her place—or lack thereof—in the Quin family. But reality never cares about how she wants things to go.
And now the core truth is out there. She was an unwanted child in the eyes of everybody who was told to raise her. Being denied by the Daesun family just adds another name to that list.
Jin clears his throat, drawing Yura's attention back to him along with the rest of the family. "You can stay," he says, though it looks like he wants to say more with the way his mouth opens again before he purses his lips shut in a tight line.
His answer lifts some of the weight of anxiety from Yura's shoulders, and the relief is so intense, it's dizzying. She almost doesn't hear her dad's follow-up question.
"Is the boarding school you mentioned the most recent school you've attended?" he asks.
Yura nods. "Yeah. Once the Quins learned that I'm not their daughter, they pulled me from the school. So, I haven't attended any classes between then and now."
Since she's mentioned university, it's only natural that the conversation regarding her current education comes up. If they want to send her back to the boarding school, that would be okay. At least she knows that they'll support her until she leaves for university. Compared to her early education, being at the boarding school gave her stability that she never had before. She knew where she'd be living for the foreseeable future and what would be asked of her.
Or maybe they'll want to enroll her in a school that they sponsor, one that her siblings have gone to because that's expected from the Daesun children. Unless they don't want to show her as part of the family. Then, there's also the possibility of virtual schooling. A way to keep her hidden from the public eye but also make sure she finishes her education so she can enter a university.
Really, she's fine with any of those options. Being allowed to stay with them until university was all she wanted to ask for. Now, she's asked for it and been told that she can. She'll listen and go along with whatever they want to do to finished her standard education.
Jin nods, finally filling his plate from the dishes that Yura woke up early to prepare. "Okay. I have to go to one of our offices today and handle some meetings. We'll talk later about school enrollments and those details."
"I understand," Yura says.
She doesn't know what comes next. But for once, she feels like she has the start of a path to a future that she controls.