Her schedule was so agonizingly punishing that she would place a call to my phone practically every single evening, unleashing a torrent of bitter complaints.

She lamented constantly about how desperately she desired to abandon her path and return to lounge beside us.

She even went so far as to declare that she should simply secure any random, low-effort position within the J corporation just to slack off and coast along.

After all, if the sky ever came crashing down, Julian would always be there to shoulder the burden for her anyway.

"Well, that sounds like a flawless plan. The moment you return, we can link up with Julian and Auntie Judith to play mahjong together."

"You actually mastered the art of mahjong?"

I let out a soft laugh:

"Heck yes, I've been playing day in and day out with Driver Wu and Uncle Zhang recently. I've actually cleared quite a handsome sum of winnings. They keep insisting that this is just a classic case of beginner's luck."

"Ahhh!!! I am literally burying my face in medical scripts until my vision goes blurry every single day, while you are out here living a completely lavish, carefree life behind my back. This is totally unfair!"

"How about I allocate a portion of my winnings to your account? Securing financial funds without having to exert a single shred of physical labor—how perfect is that?"

"Do you honestly think my grievance centers on the money? My grievance centers on the reality of why you get to play mahjong while I am trapped in this prison!"

"Are you truly rejecting the cash? Alright then, suit yourself. Julian actually requested that I inquire today if your living allowance is running low. He mentioned he can easily wire some extra funds your way if needed."

"The allowance Auntie Judith wired to my account previously hasn't even been depleted yet. Don't worry, the absolute instant I find myself short on funds, I will definitely harass him for more."

As time crawled forward.

The frequency of Sera's evening phone calls began to steadily dwindle.

I naturally assumed that her academic burdens were simply intensifying.

Until a particular weekend arrived, when she casually announced that she would be escorting a guest back to our residence for a formal dinner.

The household was left in an absolute state of shock upon discovering that this girl had actually entangled herself in a romance.

The boy was a senior from her exact department, preceding her by a single academic year.

He possessed an imposing height and a thoroughly handsome face, bearing a striking resemblance to the actor Ahn Hyo-seop from the hit Korean drama Dr. Romantic.

Catching sight of him for the very first time, I found the reality almost impossible to process.

Did young men of such premium aesthetic quality actually exist within the exhausting ranks of medical students?

Sera offered a firm, enthusiastic nod of confirmation.

"They absolutely do. I'll have you know I exerted a monumental amount of raw effort to successfully lock him down."

"You little rascal, you are truly eating well. Do any more handsome specimens of this exact model exist within your campus boundaries? Hurry up and introduce one to your older sister."

"To you? Forget it, I wouldn't dare."

"What on earth is that supposed to mean?"

"I have a burning desire to avoid taking a brutal beating."

"Are you completely unhinged? Who on earth would ever dare lay a finger on you?"

"Oh, there's definitely someone."

...

As the two of us dissolved into a flurry of playful swatting and teasing, Julian strode into the room to inquire if we possessed any desire to set up a game of mahjong.

Given that Sera was escorting her boyfriend home for an official introduction today, Uncle Joseph had made a rare exception to remain at the residence to personally evaluate the candidate.

"Are we playing or not?" I directed the question toward her.

"As if I'd ever back down from you. Let's do this!"

Sera joyfully consented to the match.

Once we took our respective positions around the square table.

Uncle Joseph and Auntie Judith—the two astronomical titans of wealth—sat positioned directly opposite one another.

Sera and I occupied the remaining opposing seats.

Sera's boyfriend, Lawrence, and Julian stood tall behind our respective shoulders, assuming the critical roles of tactical military advisors.

My luck had been exceptionally brilliant over the recent weeks, having never suffered a single defeat while playing against Driver Wu and Uncle Zhang.

Yet today, for some entirely inexplicable reason.

Despite having been seated at the table for nearly half an hour, I had failed to secure a single winning hand.

During the final round of exchanges, my fingers wrapped around a five-dot tile.

I harbored a strong desire to execute a "kong" declaration to declare a quadruplet.

After all, immense wealth could only be extracted from the jaws of absolute peril.

Perhaps I could miraculously trigger a winning hand directly off the supplementary tile draw.

Directly behind my shoulder, Julian unleashed a barrage of intense coughing fits.

Assuming he had merely contracted a common cold, I paid absolutely zero heed to the warning.

The exact instant I slammed the tile down to execute the maneuver, my hand was instantaneously plundered by a dual winning declaration from both Uncle Joseph and Auntie Judith, inflicting a catastrophic financial loss upon my reserves.

Sera dissolved into a fit of absolute, hysterical laughter.

"Julian was coughing so violently behind you that I thought his lungs were about to catch fire, yet you remained completely oblivious. Who else can you possibly blame for this disaster?"

I was left thoroughly speechless and exasperated.

"His method of communication was entirely too cryptic and obscure! How on earth was I supposed to decipher that he meant that? Would it have killed him to simply give me a gentle shove?"

Julian lifted a palm to lightly mask his forehead, a look of pure amusement rippling across his features:

"My dear young lady, was my signal truly not glaringly obvious? Short of physically clamping my hands around your wrist to pry the tile from your fingers, I don't know how much clearer I could have been."

Auntie Judith swept a brief glance over her biological son, shaking her head in mild disapproval:

"It was indeed entirely too subtle. Clara has been absorbing a relentless beating at the table throughout the entire evening; I honestly don't know what kind of tactical advice you're supposed to be providing as an advisor."

Hearing the critique, Uncle Joseph chimed in with a playful jab of his own:

"Son, your strategic mastery of mahjong leaves quite a bit to be desired."

Julian accepted the dual reprimands from his elders with a perfectly humble, submissive demeanor, tapping rapidly onto his smartphone screen a handful of times.

Barely three seconds passed before the sharp chime of a digital transaction echoed from my device.

An alert indicating a incoming transfer from the young master himself—two hundred thousand dollars.

"The fault indeed rests entirely with my flawed tactical direction. My dearest child Clara, feel free to play with absolute abandon tonight. Any winnings you secure remain entirely yours to keep, and any financial losses you incur will be billed directly to my personal account. How does that sound?"

In reality, my accumulated losses throughout the evening barely amounted to a few thousand dollars.

Suddenly finding myself at the receiving end of such an astronomical financial windfall left me feeling genuinely self-conscious and embarrassed.

"Unbelievable, it turns out I am the sole clown at this table. Fine, fine, fine, why don't you all just continue to spoil her rotten," Sera bantered from the side.

"Equal distribution of wealth for everyone! I'll wire one hundred thousand to your account this instant."

It was Julian's money anyway.

Spending it brought absolutely zero phantom pains to my chest.

Sera frantically waved her hands in a frantic panic of rejection:

"Don't, don't, don't! Any financial losses I incur tonight will be fully reimbursed by my precious baby, and whatever losses you rack up will be completely covered by your Julian."

The phrasing of her statement carried a distinctly bizarre undertone.

"Whose Julian?"

Sera's facial expression experienced a violent glitch for a split second. She licked her lips nervously before scrambling to correct her wording:

"Your Julian, obviously. My surname remains C; I am hardly a member of your household lineage. Did you completely forge that detail?"

I was utterly speechless.

25

Two days later, Sera returned, mentioning she needed to make a trip back to the C family residence.

"What are you going back there for?"

"My brother is back."

Christian?

I recalled that in my previous life, he had also returned around the time of my graduation.

Not long after coming back to the country, Christian proposed to me.

At that time, I was completely caught off guard.

Once I snapped out of my bewilderment, I naturally rejected him without a single second thought.

From childhood to adulthood, I had always regarded Christian as my own biological brother.