A few quiet days passed.
The engine purred softly as Shen sat in the back of his sleek black sedan, being chauffeured through the hills of Kuala Lumpur. Beside him, his executive secretary Xin Yin Jin held out a stainless steel tumbler filled with his usual brew.
"Your tea, Boss. Extra strong with milk and three sugar cubes, just the way you like it," she said with her usual poise.
Shen accepted the tumbler with a gentle hand and a rare smile. "Thank you, Xin Yin," he said in a warm, soft-spoken tone. The smallest curve of his lips made her heart skip, though she quickly buried the feeling behind her professional mask.
She cleared her throat, flipping through digital notes on her tablet. "Sir... if I may ask... why did you accept the offer?" Her voice trembled slightly, brows drawn in concern. This wasn't a business deal. It was personal. Deeply so.
Shen let out a slow sigh, one that carried years of memories and pain. He stared out the tinted window, eyes distant.
"Ryona Monroe," he said slowly, "was one of the only people who believed in me when no one else did. When I left that hell of a family at seventeen, she was the one who gave me the courage to walk away. She was my light back then…"
Xin Yin lowered her gaze, her lips pursing. She had heard of Ryona before, but she hadn't expected her to mean this much to him.
The car came to a gentle stop at the gates of a grand estate, the towering mansion of the Monroe family gleaming in the afternoon sun. The Monroes were the third-richest family in all of Asia, and they made sure everyone knew it. Every inch of the property was laced in elegance and power.
Shen stepped out with calm confidence, dressed in a simple collared shirt and dark jeans. No designer logos, no elite brand markings. Just a normal man with a duffel bag over one shoulder and a suitcase in hand.
"Remember," he told Xin Yin as she stepped out after him, "Hana promised to keep my identity as Shen Goddem a secret. Her connections found out I was alive and powerful. So long as Zac stays locked away, I have to play the part."
Xin Yin crossed her arms, brow raised. "So basically, you're the scapegoat again."
"Yup."
They both sighed in unison.
"But why the disguise?" she asked, her eyes scanning his plain attire. "You could've shown up in a limo, in a black-on-black suit like always."
Shen glanced at the looming house. "I don't know if Ryona's changed. It's been eight years. If she has... then I'll walk away without a trace. But if she's still the same girl I knew... then maybe, just maybe, this might be worth it."
Xin Yin didn't say anything. She just nodded and stepped aside, letting him approach the massive iron gate alone.
He took a breath and rang the bell.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
No answer.
Then suddenly, the gate creaked open. Not for him—but for a pack of barking Rottweilers rushing toward him with furious snarls, their leashes held by house guards who barely kept them restrained.
"Whoa now, easy boys..." Shen muttered, standing tall and unflinching as the dogs lunged forward.
"Who the hell are ya, dumbass?" A voice drawled out from behind the gate. A cocky, half-dressed man strolled into view, his swim trunks dripping from the nearby pool. A crowd of half-naked women laughed behind him.
Then the man's eyes widened. "Holy shit. Ain't that... Shen dumbass Tucker?!"
Shen recognized the man instantly. Caleb Monroe. Ryona's oldest brother. A loud-mouthed, lecherous pig who always hovered around women—including his own sister—with unsettling familiarity.
"Disgustin' vermin..." Shen muttered under his breath.
Caleb strutted up with a drink in hand, women clinging to his arms as if he were some kind of movie star. "Well, look what the rat dragged in. You look like crap, bro! What's this? A suitcase? Don't tell me you're stayin' here! Hahaha!"
Shen didn't respond. He let Caleb laugh, knowing that every insult played into his plan.
Then a voice, sweet and familiar, cut through the air like summer rain.
"SHHEEEENNNN!!!"
Ryona Monroe burst out from the front entrance like a storm of joy. Her long auburn hair flowed behind her, her tan skin kissed by the sun, her Southern twang unmistakable as she ran barefoot across the stone driveway.
Before Shen could react, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tight, pressing her cheek to his chest.
"Hehe, still the klutzy girl, aren't ya?" Shen chuckled, wrapping his arms around her as he spun her once in the air.
"Put me down, ya big ol' brute! Hahaha!" she giggled, cheeks flushed with excitement.
He set her down and looked at her closely. Her beauty had only deepened with age. Same bright eyes, same mischievous smile.
But just as he admired her, she suddenly stepped back.
"Wait a minute..." Ryona narrowed her eyes and grabbed the collar of his shirt. "Hold still."
"Oi, what are you—"
She popped open the top button and pulled the fabric aside until her eyes landed on a small trident-shaped birthmark on his chest. She exhaled sharply and smiled.
"Hah! I knew it. You ain't Zac."
That birthmark had always been Shen's alone. Even as twins, Zac never had it.
Before she could say more, a hand gripped her waist.
Caleb.
His possessive hold was disturbing. "You kiddin' me, sis? All those men tried to date you, and you say no to all of 'em... just for this loser? Look at him! He's got nothin'!"
Shen's face fell blank. Calm. Cold. "Mind letting go of her?"
Caleb strutted forward and shoved him with a smirk. "Make me, little man."
Shen sighed, removed his glasses, and stared Caleb down with sharp, stormy eyes. "I dare you."
Caleb didn't back down. He swung his fist.
A second later, he was lying flat on the ground, unconscious, moaning, and twitching.
Ryona gasped. "How... how'd you do that so fast?!"
Shen adjusted his collar and offered her his hand. "Shall we go in and meet your family, my future wife?"
Ryona blinked. Her heart fluttered.
She grinned. "Well I'll be... Shen Tucker, you sure know how to make a comeback."
The two walked through the grand entrance together, side by side. Unseen for years, but now reunited like the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid of folklore.
Meanwhile, across the city in the Tucker estate, Hana stepped into the ancestral hall. There sat Hela Tucker, Shen's grandmother, and the head of the Tucker bloodline.
"Where have you been?" Hela barked from her high-backed chair. "You've been gone for days."
Hana didn't flinch. She walked slowly into the room, her voice colder than winter rain.
"I went to see my son."
"Zac?"
"No. Shen. My firstborn."
Hela slammed her cane on the marble floor in fury. "You dare defy the family? Zac is the heir! Shen is nothing but discarded filth!"
Hana didn't reply at first. Her eyes wandered to the family portraits hung along the walls, portraits that never included Shen.
"I made a mistake," she finally said, her tone filled with decades of regret. "One I'll never undo. But I'll make it right."
Because now, the family's chosen one had fallen.
And the one they abandoned... had become absolute.
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Chapter 2 — End.