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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 10—Did You Just Call Me a Thief?
The double doors of the grand ballroom opened with a slight creak.
At the far end, a long rectangular table was occupied by important figures.
Zayra's father at the center, flanked by his closest circle and the new arrivals from South Korea.
Zayra took a deep breath.
Her heart was pounding, but she held her chin high.
Beside her, Mariano gave her a light pat on the shoulder,
with a smile that was a mix of complicity and amusement.
" Moral support, sister," he whispered, as if to say, "now, take responsibility for your actions."
Zayra barely twisted her lips. She walked toward the center,
holding back the storm she felt inside.
***
Zayra's father stood up elegantly, gently raising his glass.
"Welcome. I want to introduce you to the reason this evening exists.
My daughter... Zayra Choi Yaritú. Our princess of the night."
All eyes turned to her.
Zayra forced a polite smile.
She gave a slight nod.
Her voice was calm, but the tension was visible in her shoulders.
"It's a pleasure."
Ryu's mother was the first to respond with a kind smile:
"The pleasure is ours, dear. I've heard such lovely things about you," she said warmly.
She then slightly turned her face to her side and added.
" This is our son, Ryu Kang."
Zayra looked at him on reflex, and her stomach did a little flip.
Ryu looked up. And he recognized her.
His dark, serene eyes, for a moment sharper than usual, met hers.
That look was enough for Zayra to feel a shiver run down her back.
Ryu's fingers slightly tightened on the glass he was holding,
as if his body reacted before he did.
She had recognized him too.
The stranger who had left her furious… and confused, a few days ago.
The tension between them was invisible to the others, but between them, it was a wall.
"Wow, Ryu…" Min-jun murmured, with a lopsided smile as he kept his eyes on her.
"She has a gym body. You can tell. Interesting..."
Seo-Young squinted, crossing her arms without a hint of subtlety.
"She has presence… but is it a good or bad kind?"
***
Zayra, with her loose hair shining under the warm light of the ballroom and her skin golden from the sun of her homeland,
stood out from the formal scene…
but with a magnetic naturalness.
There was no ostentation, just a carefree, confident beauty with a wild, contained air.
Ryu stood up calmly.
He gave a brief nod to Zayra's father and his own.
"May I speak with her alone for a moment?" he asked in a polite, almost icy voice.
"Of course," Zayra's father replied, pleased with the show of respect.
She looked at him, surprised.
Ryu extended his hand as a sign for her to follow.
His back remained straight, and as he extended his hand toward her,
his movements were so controlled they seemed calculated to the millimeter.
She nodded without saying anything, and they both left the room.
Upon reaching the side corridor,
where the murmurs of the ballroom were left behind.
***
Ryu did not hide his discomfort.
"So it was you," he said in a low voice, charged with tension.
Zayra stopped, her brow slightly furrowed.
She looked at him, confused.
"Excuse me?"
"The one from the airport. The one who took my bag. A thief."
The silence grew thick.
Zayra looked at him, incredulous.
For a moment, she wasn't sure if she had heard correctly.
Her face softened, and she suddenly let out a short, brief laugh, barely a puff of air.
It wasn't mockery.
It was a mix of disbelief and bewilderment from someone who was thinking.
"Me, a thief? Fantastic. First he accuses me of stealing and then maybe he'll ask me to marry him.
Everything's so normal so far."
A muscle in Ryu's cheek twitched.
Barely perceptible, but enough to show how much that laugh unnerved him.
The laugh, though light, irritated him more.
"That light laugh… how dare she?
This isn't a simple laugh; it's a direct challenge to my control."
***
The walls of the corridor were silent, but the air between Ryu and Zayra was a contained storm.
"Are you listening to me?" Ryu said, with a voice so sharp it could have shattered a glass.
Zayra raised an eyebrow, surprised and confused at the same time.
"Sorry?"
Ryu crossed his arms. His jaw tightened, and his dark eyes didn't blink as he repeated.
"Where's my box, thief?"
He stared at her without blinking, as if he wanted to dominate her with his eyes alone.
His voice came out lower, but harsher.
The blow of that word was blunt, direct. Zayra blinked, unable to believe what she had just heard.
"Did he really just repeat that…?" For a moment, she doubted.
"Could someone accuse her so confidently without a single piece of evidence?"
But then, indignation rose to her face like fire.
"Sorry"
she repeated, with more force, her brow slightly furrowed.
Ryu blinked, confused. His tone softened slightly, as if he interpreted the word as an apology.
"It's okay… I forgive you. But only if you return the box with the necklace."
Zayra looked at him in disbelief.
"No. I'm saying 'sorry' as in giving you a chance to retract your statement. Not as an apology."
"You're not a thief?"
"Of course not!" she scoffed with a sarcastic tone.
"And what do you know?"
"Why don't you ask before making a judgment?"
Ryu pressed his lips together.
The memory of the airport, the chaos, the confusion… and that box.
He had lost something valuable once, on another trip, by trusting.
He had sworn then that it would never happen again.
"I don't have the luxury of trusting when something so valuable is at stake," he said, with firmness.
Zayra watched him. She took a deep breath, so exaggeratedly that it made Ryu blink, disconcerted by her control.
"Listen" she said, in a firm voice, as if speaking to a Judge.
"It was a misunderstanding. I don't have time to go around stealing strangers' bags."
She paused, took one step towards him, just one. Her tone was precise, measured.
"You give me back my bag, I'll give you back yours, and we're even."
The silence stretched for a moment.
Ryu still didn't know whether to get angrier… or to admire her.
This woman was speaking as if he was wrong.
"How can someone who just got accused come across so composed?"
His brow furrowed, but a flicker of curiosity appeared in his eyes that didn't fit the harsh tone of his words.
***
Zayra crossed her arms and looked at him sidelong, almost with a calm irony.
"In ten minutes. We'll meet here. We'll exchange things, and this drama will be over."
She walked away with grate determination, leaving a trail of her perfume.
Ryu stood motionless. Processing what had just happened.
"Ten minutes? I just got an order? Interesting, I'm usually the one in control of the situation."
His fists relaxed without him noticing, but in his mind, he couldn't stop being interested in her.
His shoulders lowered slightly, as if for the first time he had released a weight.
A tiny, fleeting smile threatened to form on his lips before it vanished.
Zayra, already a few feet away, paused briefly.
Without turning around, she murmured calmly.
"Me, a thief…? Please."
She smiled to herself, continuing to walk. Proud of how she had handled the situation.
"He tried to insult me, but I turned it back on him. And I didn't even raise my voice."
She looked down slightly and shook her head gently.
"He might be an idiot… but he's not bad-looking."
What she didn't know… was that this accusation of being a thief was about to change her destiny.