Dumping the Shin Brothers: The Clan Explodes
At the family dinner, Caleb Shin, my friends husband, landed a vicious slap across her face for defending that woman.
When I rushed over, Anna collapsed into my arms, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.
"Phoebe, I can't take this anymore! That bastard hit me, he actually hit me for her!"
"I have to get out of here. What about you?"
I thought of Damian Shin, my own husband. His growing coldness since Isabelle Thorne returned, the nights he never came home. A bitter smile touched my lips.
"If you're running, I'm running with you."
We planned for weeks, a secret whispered between us. Finally, we were on a plane, slipping away from it all without a soul knowing.
But as I settled into my seat, my eyes met a face as cold as a glacier. Damian.
Just like that, we were dragged back and locked in a dark room in the Shin manor to "reflect" on our actions.
As I racked my brain, trying to figure out which part of our perfect plan had gone wrong, Annas voice, small and weak, broke the silence.
"I'm so sorry, Phoebe I did it for your own good."
1
For a moment, I didnt process her words. I just stared at her.
"What are you talking about?"
Anna was already terrified of the dark. My flat, emotionless question was the final crack in her composure. She shrank back, finally confessing in a timid whisper.
"Please don't be mad."
"Damian hes the head of Shin Corp. The man is terrifyingly smart! He knew something was up with us for ages!"
"The day we left, I had just grabbed my suitcase and opened my door, and there he was. A face that could freeze hell over. He was waiting for me!"
"You know how scared I am of your husband, especially when he gets that look. He started grilling me, and I was too terrified to even lie. I told him everything"
I couldn't believe it. Our escape had been sabotaged from the inside.
A firestorm of anger raged in my gut, but one look at Annas facea canvas of genuine fear and remorsesoftened the edges of my fury.
A headache began to throb at my temples.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose, forcing my voice to be gentle.
"Then why didn't you tell me on the way to the airport? If he knew, we could have just canceled the plan, thrown him off our trail, and figured something else out later."
"But now look at us. He has all the leverage"
At the mention of this, Annas own anger flared.
"It's all Damian's fault!"
"I thought, okay, even if he was going to stop us, he'd just take you back. I never imagined he'd interfere with me! I'm not his wife!"
Such a naive thought.
That was my best friend. Wonderful in every way, but so naive it bordered on foolishness.
The Shin brothers father died young. Damian, as the eldest, saw himself as a father figure to Caleb. Once he knew our plan, how could he possibly let her go? Especially after the scene shed made at the family dinner just days ago. If she left alone right now, what kind of rumors would start flying?
I sighed, closing my eyes to hide the wave of exhaustion. I had poured so much of myself into planning this escape.
Anna watched my face, her own expression crumbling, on the verge of tears. She suddenly threw her arms around my legs, her pout dramatic.
"I'm sorry, Phoebe! Please don't be mad, okay?"
"I was just trying to do what was best for you! Before I told him, I thought about it really hard. Damian is good to you, you know? He gives you anything you want."
"If you'd really run away with me, we might have had to struggle for a long, long time."
"I couldn't bear the thought of you suffering. So I figured, if you stayed with Damian, at least youd be protected."
She paused, her face twisting with bitterness.
"Besides, Caleb obviously doesn't want me anymore."
"I'm sure Damian told him about our plan the second he found out."
"But lookCaleb didn't even react. He didn't try to stop me. He didn't care that I was leaving."
"It doesn't matter if you escape or not. But him he really doesn't love me anymore."
Her tears extinguished the last embers of my anger.
My heart ached for her. I pulled her into a tight hug, about to offer some comfort, when the door to the dark room was kicked open with a loud bang.
Caleb stood in the doorway, his face a thundercloud as he glared at Anna.
"Well, look at you, Anna. Gotten brave, have we? The girl who gets lost five blocks from home thinks she can run away? Who gave you the guts?"
"So I slapped you the other day. Big deal. You haven't exactly held back on me our whole lives, have you? Is this really necessary?"
2
They had known each other since they were kids, and every argument inevitably turned into them dredging up the past.
Just as I expected, Anna shot to her feet, her voice sharp with anger.
"You think what happened then is the same as what happened the other day?"
"That was when we were kids! We were just playing around!"
Calebs eye twitched. He crossed his arms, his expression flat.
"Right. Playing around."
"When we were nine, you pulled my chair out from under me as I stood up to answer a question in class. I hit my head on the desk behind me and got a mild concussion."
"When we were thirteen, you tied my shoelaces together while I was sleeping. I fell, broke my leg, and spent New Year's in the hospital."
"To you, that's all 'playing around.' Well, after all these years, I only slapped you once. Seems to me, I was being pretty generous."
This kind of sparring was their normal.
Watching them, I felt an unexpected pang of envy.
Anna was cornered, her face flushed as she struggled for a response. Finally, the anger drained away, replaced by an icy calm.
"Whatever you say. You still hit me for another woman."
"Caleb, I'll remember this for the rest of my life."
"Even if I can't leave today, this marriage is over."
Anyone who knew her understood that as long as she was yelling and fighting, it wasn't serious.
But when she lost the energy to even argue, thats when you knew her heart was truly broken.
The gravity of the situation finally seemed to hit Caleb. Realizing he couldn't just charm his way out of this one, his expression sobered. He sighed and, to my surprise, turned to me.
"You shouldn't just be watching the show, Phoebe. You're the one who really needs to think about what you've done."
"Anna and I have our issues, sure, misunderstandings we need to sort out. But my brother hes respected you for three years. He's given you all the dignity a Shin wife could ask for."
"You never should have gotten involved in Annas little drama today."
Anna sniffled, her attention turning to me as well.
"Yeah, Phoebe, I never asked why did you want to leave with me?"
"I always thought Damian treated you with respect. He never embarrassed you in public, he gave you money to spend not like my situation"
She shot a venomous glare at Caleb and snorted.
"I had no choice but to leave!"
I froze, then lowered my eyes with a humorless smile.
Respect.
Everyone else could see it so clearly. Even someone as oblivious as Anna could see it.
For Damian, all he ever had for me was respect.
I used to think that for a man as cold as him, respect and dignity were all he was capable of giving.
But after Isabelle Thorne came back, I learned the truth. He was capable of love.
3
Unlike Anna and Calebs childhood romance, my marriage to Damian was a simple business arrangement.
At first, I told myself he was just reserved and composed from years of running Shin Corp. A loveless, arranged marriage was bound to be a bit cold.
But after three years, I often wondered if his coldness went too far.
We were husband and wife, but outside of family dinners at the manor and polite greetings in the morning and evening, we barely spoke.
If I tried to show a little concern, Id be met with a curt:
"I don't like needy women."
Or, "Don't do unnecessary things."
If his mother wasn't pressuring him for a grandchild, I doubt he would have touched me more than a handful of times a month. And even when he did, it was like a chore, a duty he was performing for his elders. Hed work with a silent focus, and the moment he was finished, he would pull away without a trace of tenderness and head for the shower.
No lingering touch, no shared warmth.
I never felt an ounce of affection from him.
If I didn't have Anna for company in the sprawling estate, the loneliness would have driven me mad long ago.
I knew he wouldn't change for me, so I forced myself to adapt, to accept his chilling indifference.
Until Isabelle Thorne came back.
I watched him carefully the day he took her call.
Longing, excitement, regret, resolve.
For the first time, I saw a storm of complex emotions cross his perpetually frozen face.
And in that moment, I knew how wrong I had been.
The day Isabelle returned was my birthday.
Id swallowed my pride and begged him for days, finally getting him to agree to spend it with me like a normal couple. A shopping trip, a movie, a candlelit dinner.
But after that phone call, he didn't even spare me a glance.
As he rushed out the door, he threw a careless excuse over his shoulder.
"Urgent business at the office. I'll take you out when I get back."
Clinging to that promise, I waited, my makeup flawless, my hope stubborn. I waited for hours.
Because I knew that was one thing about Damian: he never broke a promise.
But I sat there as the sun climbed high and then sank below the horizon, the moon taking its place. My heart sank with it, piece by piece, into a dark abyss.
At three in the morning, staring at the long list of rejected calls on my phone, I dialed his number one last time.
This is your last chance, Damian, I thought. Decline this one, and I'm done.
But this time, he answered.
I was stunned. A tidal wave of emotions rushed to my lips, but I didn't know what to say.
Before I could speak, a sound came from the other end of the line. An intimate, breathless gasp.
Raw, heated, and intense.
Followed by his low, husky laugh.
"Kiss me."
It was a tone hed never used with me in bed. Utterly different.
He didn't need to say anything else. I understood everything.
And my heart turned to ash.
So, he wasnt a mountain incapable of feeling. He just wouldn't tremble for me.
After hearing my story, Anna threw her arms around my neck, her voice thick with emotion.
"Oh, Phoebe, why didn't you tell me sooner? I had no idea you were going through all that."
"If I had known, I swear, even if Damian had skinned me alive today, I would never have told him our plan!"
Caleb, who had been listening silently, hesitated. "Phoebe, my brother, he"
Anna cut him off, her eyes red. "Get out! You and your brother are both bastards! Get out!"
She kicked and yelled until Caleb finally retreated.
Turning back to me, she saw the lingering bitterness on my face and hugged me tighter.
"Ugh, how did we both get so unlucky?"
"We gave our hearts to the wrong men"
I let out a quiet sigh.
When you give your heart to the wrong person, the only thing to do is take it back.
I forced myself to rally, managing a weak smile.
"It's okay. We still have a chance."
"We failed this time, so we'll just try again."
"But next time," I added, looking her straight in the eye, "you are not allowed to sell me out."
4
At dinner, Anna and I were finally released.
Several of the Shin elders had gathered at the manor, and to my surprise, Isabelle Thorne was there too.
Truthfully, among the younger generation present, my family background made me the least qualified to marry Damian Shin. The only reason I was his wife was because my family, the Shen family, had provided crucial help when Shin Corp was just starting out. Our marriage wasn't so much a strategic alliance as it was a repayment of that debt, a way to elevate my family's status.
Because of this, my mother-in-law, Eleanor Shin, held me in the lowest regard.
When she heard about our escape attempt, she lectured Anna with a few mild rebukes. But when her gaze landed on me, her face transformed, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Anna was upset, it's understandable for her to have a little tantrum."
"But you, Phoebe. As the eldest daughter-in-law of this family, instead of calming her down, you joined in on the foolishness? How utterly common. You clearly come from a family with no real standing, acting without thinking. What an embarrassment."
I wasn't being foolish.
And since everyone was here, it was the perfect time to clear the air.
I threw a cool glance at Isabelle and was about to speak.
But she beat me to it, her voice a soft, cloying purr. "Oh, Eleanor, don't be angry. I was partly to blame for this, too. That's why I came today, to explain."
"The day I got back, I accidentally answered a call on Damian's phone from an unsaved number. The person on the other end didn't say anything and just hung up."
"Thinking back, it must have been you, Phoebe, wasn't it? Did you misunderstand something? Is that why you ran away?"
She smiled sweetly, but her eyes held a glint of triumph.
I pulled at the corner of my mouth, my expression blank.
"So? What is your explanation?"
"What were you two doing that day?"
She giggled, a picture of false innocence. "I'd just gotten back, and I missed Damian so much! We were just catching up!"
Catching up with breathless, intimate gasps?
That must have been quite the emotional reunion.
A cold smirk formed on my lips. I was about to expose the truth.
But Damian had finally had enough. "That's enough," he snapped, his voice low and dangerous. "If you're going to cause a scene, get out."
His eyes were downcast, not looking at anyone in particular, but I could feel his gaze fixed on me from the corner of his eye.
He was warning me.
But I had been sitting here quietly, having spoken only one sentence.
Who was really causing the scene?
A sharp pain lanced through my heart. It took all my strength to keep the tears from falling.
Beneath the table, Anna squeezed my hand, whispering, "What's the call? Do we go to war? I've got your back."
"This is why we married into the same family, right? To have a united front against evil mothers-in-law and useless husbands."
"I'm still a little scared of Damian, but for you, I'll fight."
I gave a bitter smile and shook my head.
It's not worth it.
I no longer had any hope for this family.
Damians outburst silenced the table for a while.
But it wasn't long before Eleanor couldn't help herself, her voice once again laced with condescension.
"Some people just have no class."
"I always preferred Isabelle, of course, but your grandfather insisted on repaying your family's debt. What could I do?"
"I'm certain that if Isabelle had married into our family, she would never throw a jealous fit over something so baseless. She wouldn't have caused such a humiliating scene."
"Phoebe, since you married up, you need to learn your place. In our circle, a man is never going to have just one woman. Even if the rumors were true, you'd be expected to tolerate it. Do you understand?"
"You can't have it all, dear."
Her tone was so high and mighty, as if my marriage into the Shin family was an act of her charity.
Anna, with her explosive temper, had been simmering for a while.
Her chair scraped against the floor as she shot up, ready to unleash a torrent of fury.
But before she could speak, Caleb and I grabbed her wrists from either side, pulling her back down.
I shook my head, too tired to even force a smile.
There was no point in arguing anymore.
If I still held any hope for this family, for Damian, maybe I would have fought back.
But I was already determined to leave.
Fighting with them now was utterly meaningless.
5
After dinner, Damian and I returned to our room.
Since Isabelles return, he had often stayed out all night. Eventually, it became days at a time. We were a married couple, but thinking about it, other than being caught at the airport today, we hadn't seen each other in nearly two weeks.
Being alone with him in the same room now felt suffocating, filled with an awkward, unfamiliar tension.
I couldn't stand the oppressive atmosphere. I silently moved to walk past him toward the bathroom.
Suddenly, his hand shot out, gripping my arm. His voice was heavy.
"In the Shin family, there is no divorce. Only death."
"You are my wife. That is for life. You cannot run."
"I don't want this to ever happen again. Do you understand?"
His grip was painfully tight, as if he truly feared I would escape again, as if he could hold me here by force.
But on what grounds?
No divorce, only death.
It was meant to be a vow of fidelity, but for me, those words had only ever been shackles.
Had they ever constrained him?
I curled my lip into a sarcastic smile.
"In that case, if I insist on a divorce, will you die for me?"
His brow furrowed. He didn't answer my question, only said, "You know that's not what I mean."
"Isabelle and I are in the past"
"Enough!"
I cut him off, my face a cold mask.
"I don't want to fight with you, and I don't care about your past."
"Let's just go back to how things were before."
Without another look at him, I fled into the bathroom.
The warm water cascaded over my body, bringing a sliver of clarity to my chaotic mind.
His words had, in a way, given me an idea.
Simply running away would always leave loose ends.
But death wouldn't.
If the only way out was widowhood, then I would die for him to see.
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