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This light novel is inspired by the beautiful landscapes and cultures of Bolivia and South Korea. However, the characters, events, and situations portrayed are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, places, or events is purely coincidental. This content does not intend to represent or reflect the historical, social, or cultural reality of either country. The author disclaims any legal liability arising from the interpretation of these elements.
Chapter 70 - Amidst Laughter and Neon Lights
70.1 A Fun Dinner
The soft music of the restaurant floated between the candlelit tables.
Camila raised her glass of rosé wine and smiled with that affection only a sister can have.
She took Zayra's hand tenderly and commented:
"Sister, I'm so sorry I couldn't be at your bachelorette party. I had an operation that day."
Then she gave her a knowing look and added.
"But today I told myself, 'Zayra deserves a night her own way.'
So, after this dinner, we're going to party."
Zayra let out a genuine, relaxed laugh.
The red dress she was wearing still echoed her wounded pride.
She knew she didn't want to think about him tonight.
Not after how he had made her feel.
"Thanks, Cami. Seriously. I adore you."
She replied, looking at her with great affection.
Then she raised her glass to the center, clinking it with the others, and declared.
"To life!"
Her friends happily cheered. Photos, bursts of laughter,
jokes about Zayra's bachelorette party, and a few spontaneous toasts.
Zayra didn't mention Ryu.
She just said "everything's fine" when asked, without giving further details.
Not out of coldness, but because tonight she wanted to focus on them,
who had been her world since she was little.
An hour later, the group of women left the restaurant and headed straight for a well-known downtown nightclub.
Heels, miniskirts, tight dresses, red lips, and overflowing energy.
The DJ greeted them with a reggaeton remix that made the floor vibrate.
Camila, already a little tipsy, recorded a video and uploaded it to her social media with the caption:
"The night is ours 💃🔥 #SistersNight".
***
In the cabin, Ryu was sitting on the bed with a cup of tea that had already gone cold.
His phone vibrated.
He opened the notification distractedly.
It was a status update from Camila.
What he saw left him completely silent.
Zayra, in the middle of a group of radiant women, dancing.
Short dress, perfect smile, a light in her eyes that he hadn't seen for days.
Several men passed close to her in the video.
They didn't touch her, but they looked at her.
His back straightened suddenly, and his throat dried up, as if he had swallowed sand.
A silent threat ignited.
Ryu slowly lowered the phone.
His jaw clenched, his fingers drummed once on the cup.
His heart, which had been silently bottling everything up for hours, began to pound.
His left hand reached for the edge of the sofa, as if he needed to touch something firm.
It was either that or let the tremor show.
His teeth barely grazed.
He never made that gesture unless something threw him off.
It was the kind of tension that only surfaced during critical board meetings,
when a million-dollar contract was at risk.
His mind instinctively tried to find a logical solution to the problem.
But there were no figures, no statistics, no business strategy that could calm the ache in his chest.
"What am I doing...?"
He thought, looking toward the window.
Everything felt dark and silent.
She was out there.
Enjoying herself, so beautiful, alive, and very far away from him.
"She didn't write to me all day, and now this."
He reflected, trying to understand when everything had changed.
The tea was still cold, just like his chest now.
He got up slowly, walked around the room a bit, thinking it would help clear his mind.
But it was all in vain.
He looked at the phone on the table and hesitated.
However, the desire to know more invaded him, and he looked at the video again.
The DJ was shouting something, and Zayra was laughing.
A part of him wanted to ignore it, to pretend nothing was happening.
For the first time in his life, he didn't know how to handle this.
He hated admitting he had lost control of a situation he thought he had mastered.
But tonight... he couldn't handle it alone.
He took a deep breath, grabbed his cell phone, and dialed.
"Min-Jun..."
He murmured.
The screen illuminated the room.
On the other end, his younger brother's voice answered, almost guessing.
"I saw the videos. Shall we go?"
Ryu was silent for a second.
He closed his eyes.
"Tell me where it is."
62.2 The Brother Who Sees What You Don't.
An elegant black vehicle glided through the warm streets of Santa Cruz,
swallowing lights and wind.
Inside, the silence was tense,
charged with something neither of them wanted to name yet.
Ryu was at the wheel, upright, his eyes fixed on the road.
His hands were placed at exactly the same height on the steering wheel.
Not a degree out of place.
He drove like someone who needed something, anything, to obey.
The engine purred softly,
and the air conditioning provided a cool breeze that contrasted with the heat outside.
Beside him, his younger brother Min-Jun nervously fiddled with his silver ring, casting quick glances at Ryu.
His fingers tapped his thigh with a gentle, almost imperceptible rhythm,
as if he needed to release the tension in an invisible beat.
"Brother... can I ask what you did this time?"
His voice held contained curiosity.
He tapped the armrest with his index and middle fingers, marking a quick pattern,
typical of when he wanted to say something strong without alarming his older brother.
Ryu didn't answer, focused on the road.
He turned a corner with precision, feeling his pulse quicken slightly.
Min-Jun insisted, letting out a dry laugh and saying.
"Because if a woman disappears all day, dresses up like a runway model, and tells you
'I have dinner' without looking you in the eye... it's because you did something bad."
Ryu clenched his jaw, not out of annoyance at his brother,
but because it hurt to admit that every word made sense.
He exhaled through his nose, slightly tightening his grip on the steering wheel.
"It wasn't intentional."
Min-Jun's foot began to move to the rhythm of a soft drumroll.
Every time he held back from yelling at him, the drumming came out through his legs.
"I see... of course not."
His brother retorted, with a playfully reproachful tone.
"Did you lie to her?
Did you make her look bad? What was it?"
Ryu hesitated for a few seconds, his fingers tensed on the wheel.
Then he spoke, without taking his eyes off the road.
"The day of the bachelorette party, she was drunk and told me she loves me.
Then she repeated it when she was sober."
The drumming on his fingers stopped abruptly.
That only happened when something left him completely stunned.
"And what did you say?"
The younger one asked, crossing his arms, his voice a little more intense, almost desperate.
"I asked her if she was sure."
A slow blink betrayed him.
It was that blink that only happened when something weighed more on him than he cared to admit.
Min-Jun let out an incredulous laugh, hitting the dashboard with a short, clumsy rhythm.
"Wow. That was... so you, hyung."
His voice cracked a little with disbelief.
"Hyung... seriously?
Not even I, who am an emotional mess, answer like that when a girl tells me something like that.
And I'm not even in love!"
"I didn't want to pressure her."
Ryu replied with a sigh.
"And she could pressure herself, couldn't she! Don't you realize what it means that she said it first?"
He shook his head, frustration mounting.
"From what I've heard, Zayra isn't a girl who says that to just anyone.
And what do you do? You give her an answer that looks like an elegant evasion."
Ryu swallowed, feeling the weight of those words.
His jaw tightened, his eyes reflecting an internal conflict.
"I didn't see it that way..."
He said, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.
In reality, he had seen it.
He had just blocked it out.
If he admitted what he felt at that moment,
he would have to accept why it hurt so much now.
"Of course you didn't!"
His brother exclaimed.
"You're so used to thinking things before feeling them that you forgot women feel first.
Stop sounding like a company director, we're talking about your girlfriend."
He drummed his fingers against his own leg, this time in a slow, deep rhythm, as if warning him.
"you're making a mistake, hyung."
The car stopped in front of the venue.
Neon lights vibrated, music gently pulsed through the windows, and a line of people laughed and chatted animatedly.
Min-Jun straightened his shirt and added.
"I know the owner. No problem getting in."
Ryu looked at him doubtfully, feeling the noise of the music begin to boom in his chest.
His shoulders tensed slightly when he heard the thumping bass.
It wasn't his environment.
It wasn't his world.
But she was there.
He suddenly questioned his brother.
"And why did you come with me?"
Before answering, he did a mini drumroll on the dashboard, a gesture he had since he was a child.
He thought, "this scene is going to be interesting."
Ryu looked at him a little irritated, and Min-Jun just smiled and said.
"To make sure you don't do any more stupid things."
Then, he winked and commented something funny.
"Besides, I want to see your face when you see her dancing. Good luck with that."
Ryu closed his eyes for a second, breathing deeply to calm the mix of nerves and pride.
And in his mind were the following words.
"I don't want to see her with anyone else...
but I was the one who pushed her there."
When he opened them, the music was already hammering in his chest... and his pride was igniting.