Dear Immortal Tyrant

Trust is an interesting concept. Everyone in this world trusts someone or something, regardless of what they might say. People trust the air to allow them to breathe whilst others trust their lover won't murder them in their sleep with a kitchen knife. Even those with trust issues have someone to rely on.

Trust was the exact reason why Lina told Isabelle all that there was to know, starting from Atlantis as a Chairman to his celebration dinner, meeting Krystal, and the recent contract. As Lina began to explain everything in great detail, Isabelle took normal bites of her food.

Reaching the end of the story, Isabelle let out a quiet hum and leaned back in her seat. She had finished all three tiers of food by the time Lina's storytelling came to an end.

"You know," Isabelle suddenly said, her cheerful voice becoming serious once in a while. "I've never envisioned you as a Chairwoman. It's certainly not an insult of course."

Lina slowly nodded whilst taking a sip of her cold coffee. The lukewarm temperature repulsed her, so she swallowed it quickly and decided to focus on eating her food. She had shared her story and now it was Isabelle's turn to give advice. Lina never thought she'd be saying that.

"You've changed," Isabelle pointed out. "In college, you were always the quiet girl in the library reading a book with your mind elsewhere. Now, you sit straight and confident with the world beneath your feet."

"I do not—"

"You do," Isabelle insisted. "Perhaps for the better that you've changed. You've come out of your shell."

Isabelle stole a cake from Lina's tray. "You were always good with everything you did. I've seen you play the violin better than the music majors at our university. I've seen you draw and paint better than the artists with a scholarship. You can be anything you want, but a Chairwoman is not your dream."

Lina softly frowned. "I like to draw, not because I want to see the image from my head on paper, but because art is always prettier than reality. The sound of music is lovelier than the car horns in traffic and the voice of my mother."

"You're becoming everything you do not like," Isabelle gently said. "I've known you for only two years, but I know you well enough to say that this isn't the woman you want to become and this isn't the life you've envisioned yourself in."

Lina opened her mouth, but Isabelle continued.

"I've seen the spark in your eyes when you volunteer at the soup kitchen. I've seen the concentration on your face when you're using your hands creatively. Business was never your first option, but it's an obligation. You hate math. You hate anything that has a definite answer… it also doesn't help that you're bad at accounting."

Lina hated her accounting and finance classes. They bored her to tears because she'd rather be drawing than sitting there calculating something. Others liked the precise answer of math, but she enjoyed the concept of no correct answers. Where answers were endless and open to possibility.

"You're the older sibling, so you must uphold your family's expectations," Isabelle muttered. "You're the first and only daughter in the Yang generation, so you're babied, but also burdened with many things that do not make you happy. Unfortunately, you're a people pleaser and when others are happy, so are you. Or so you think."

"Are you sure you're a journalism major and not a psychology major?" Lina asked.

"Oh, just you wait until I get into your childhood trauma and how that will affect you for the rest of your life, but that's a different chapter," Isabelle snorted. "Did you know the behaviors you picked up as a four -year old can follow you until you're forty or even when you're in the grave?"

"I'd rather not know," Lina dryly said. "Too much self-awareness will corrupt the brain."

"Not if you go to therapy," Isabelle responded with the click of her tongue. "You have a lot of trauma to unpack you know."

Lina chuckled under her breath.

"But I digress," Isabelle said. "Now that your grandparents are no longer harassing you, it's time to choose a future you want, Lina. No more living other people's lives. No more shouldering family responsibility. What is the future you envision for yourself?"

"I don't know."

"You do," Isabelle said.

Lina did know. She had dreamed of it ever since she was a child watching the other kids play. A textbook in hand that she wished was a fairytale, a pen in her finger that she wished was a paintbrush, she always knew the life of a Chairwoman was not her dream.

People always shun housewives, but that is too unfair. Some people genuinely want to become househusbands or housewives. It is what makes them happy and that's what matters the most.

Lina didn't want to be a housewife, but she certainly didn't want to be a Chairwoman either. She wanted to work from home, to be cozy and comfortable in a home office. She wanted to do a bit of screenwriting or drawing as a means of sustaining herself. There were too many things she wanted to do with her hands that she probably couldn't as a Chairwoman.

"You know the truth," Isabelle insisted upon seeing the faraway look on Lina's face. "And I know you do."

- - - - -

Once their conversation came to an end, the moon was already high in the sky. The two went on a quick shopping trip and then enjoyed dinner until late into the night. Lina bid Isabelle goodbye and the two parted ways, but not for long. They scheduled to visit wedding dress boutiques.

Sitting in the car, Lina watched the streets pass her by. The chauffeur drove nice and steady since they were in no rush. The news reporter on the radio drowned out any awkward silences.

"...Chairwoman of Claymore Conglomerate collapsed from exhaustion, but made a steady recovery just tonight. Back to you, John."

Lina felt this was a bit too cliche. Or was it a sign? She chuckled when the driver quickly turned the radio station to something else.

"Stop the car," Lina suddenly said. Her attention was glued to the pathway that led to Yang Enterprise's second headquarters, here in Ritan.

"Madam?" The chauffeur asked with confusion. "The Master arrived home a few hours ago. He expects your presence."

"He has a tracker on me, he knows where I am," Lina replied, absentmindedly climbing out of the car.

Lina didn't know if that was the truth, but it felt right. She knew Kaden was not the kind to let her wander the streets at night. Whether it was her ring or her phone, she knew he must have installed something to keep surveillance on her. However, she hadn't been able to pinpoint which object it was.

Like a sailor lulled by a siren, Lina found herself wandering into Yang Enterprise. The lobby lights were bright, but many of the offices were empty. It was well into the evening, nine o'clock to be exact. There was no one in the reception area, except a handful of people, the night crew of security guards, and the janitors.

The front entrance was heavily locked, but she used her special access card to get inside. There, Lina began to head to the private elevator where she went straight to William's office.