Episode 3: Engagement Without Warmth
As the realization slammed fully into her mind that she had been sitting across from the head of RyúArjun Group himself, Nari’s humiliation peaked.
Instantly, the warm openness in her expression vanished behind the polished professional mask she wore so well.
Ryú noticed the shift…but misunderstood it completely.
“I hope you had a good time deceiving me, Mr. Alexander.”
Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
The temperature around the table seemed to drop with every word she spoke.
Ryú, however, still looked faintly amused.
Kai immediately sensed the change in her energy.
And panic hit him hard.
“Technically,” Ryú replied smoothly, “I didn’t deceive you, Nari…” He smiled lightly.
Kai physically cringed.
Wrong answer.
Nari gave a slow nod.
“No,” she said quietly. “I suppose technically you didn’t.”
Her eyes held his steadily now, but all the warmth that had been there earlier was gone.
“You simply omitted information.”
Ryú’s smile faded slightly.
“You seemed to know everything about me,” she continued calmly, “while I knew next to nothing about you.”
The professionalism in her tone unsettled him more than anger would have.
“I hope you enjoyed yourselves.”
That landed harder than either man expected.
Nari reached for her purse.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to leave.”
Then she turned toward Kai.
The mixture of hurt and disappointment in her eyes stabbed directly through him.
“Sis…”
She lifted one hand immediately, stopping him cold.
“I would expect something like this from him,” she said softly, “but not from you, Kai.”
The use of his name instead of one of her usual affectionate nicknames made his stomach drop.
“Sis, look, it’s—”
“No.”
Her voice never rose.
Which somehow made it worse.
“There is nothing you can say right now that will fix this.”
Kai looked stricken.
“Please don’t do this…”
Nari’s composure cracked just enough for him to see how deeply he had hurt her.
“Don’t call me, Kai. I’ll call you when I’m ready to talk to you.”
She turned and walked away, back perfectly straight, head held high, every movement controlled and dignified.
Ryú watched her go, still half convinced she was simply wounded and embarrassed.
Until she never looked back.
Until he realized she had called him Mr. Alexander.
Not Ryú.
Until he realized there had been no warmth in her voice.
And none in her eyes.
Something cold settled heavily in his chest.
“Nari!” he called after her instinctively.
She never slowed.
Never turned.
Ryú looked back toward Kai—and froze.
A single tear slipped silently down Kai’s face as he stared after his sister.
“Sis…” he whispered. “I didn’t mean for it to happen like this…”
But she was already gone.
Kai knew his sister well enough to understand exactly what came next.
Nari would not speak to him again until she was ready.
Slowly, Kai looked up at Ryú, devastation written openly across his face.
“I messed up.”
Ryú watched Nari disappear down the sidewalk, still not fully grasping the depth of what had just happened.
“Don’t worry, man,” Ryú said finally. “She’ll cool down. Once she calms down, she’ll realize it was all just a misunderstanding.”
His voice slowly faded as he caught the look Kai turned on him.
Pain.
Anger.
And something dangerously close to betrayal.
“No,” Kai said quietly. “It’s not just a misunderstanding.”
Kai dragged a hand down his face before leaning back heavily in his chair.
“I wanted her to meet you first,” he admitted quietly. “To know you before the title.”
Ryú frowned.
“Why?”
Kai laughed bitterly.
“Because otherwise…” He looked toward the direction Nari had disappeared. “…she would do exactly this.”
Slowly, Kai explained.
The rich boyfriend.
The socialite girlfriend.
The cruel public humiliation.
The gifts demanded back because they “belonged” to someone else.
And with every word, Ryú’s amusement disappeared.
By the time Kai finished, Ryú sat in stunned silence.
He vaguely remembered hearing something about the incident years ago from his sister.
At the time, he had dismissed it as exaggerated social drama.
Now he realized just how wrong he had been.
Afterward, Ryú drove home in silence.
He could still picture her smile.
Her laugh.
The warmth in her eyes.
The way she had looked at him before everything went wrong.
And somehow, all of it bothered him more than it should have.
The moment he arrived home, he called his sister.
“Shit,” Ryú muttered after hearing the full story in horrifying detail. “Thanks, sis. Tell Zhiang I’ll call him later.”
“Ohhhh no,” Ling Lou said immediately. “You are not about to say something like that and hang up. Spill it.”
Ryú sighed quietly.
Because if he didn’t tell her something, she would absolutely harass him for the next twelve hours.
“I met her today.”
Silence.
Then—
“…What?”
“Kai set us up.”
His sister gasped loudly.
“KAI KNOWS NARI ST. CLAIRE?!”
“She’s his sister.”
Another silence.
Longer this time.
“Oh my God.”
Ryú pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Yes. That was more or less my reaction too.”
“Wait.” Ling Lou’s voice sharpened immediately. “You met her? As in sat down and actually talked to her?”
Ryú stared out toward the city lights.
“Yeah.”
“And?”
Against his will, he remembered her smile.
Her laugh.
The warmth in her voice.
The way she looked directly at him when she spoke.
His chest tightened unpleasantly.
“I think,” he admitted slowly, “she got the impression I was going to do the same thing that asshole did.”
“WHAT?!”
Ryú winced slightly.
“I can’t explain all of it right now, Ling Lou. I just…” He sighed heavily. “I have to decide what to do.”
“Do? What do you mean do? What did you do?!”
Ryú hung up immediately.
“RYÚ WEI LÓNG ALEXANDER—!”
The call disconnected mid-yell.
For the first time in years…
Ryú felt completely out of his depth.
Nari held herself together until she reached her SUV.
The moment the door shut behind her, she broke.
A strangled sob escaped her as she dropped her forehead against the steering wheel, fingers gripping it tightly while humiliation and hurt crashed over her all at once.
How could Kai do something like this to her?
He knew.
He knew what happened the last time.
So what had possibly made him think this would be different?
Her chest tightened painfully as the memory of Ryú’s amused smile flashed through her mind.
That confident expression.
The teasing warmth in those impossible gray eyes.
The sound of his laugh.
Fresh tears burned down her cheeks.
“No,” she whispered harshly to herself. “No. Get yourself together, girl.”
She swiped angrily at her face.
“He was bored and entertaining himself. That’s all.”
Her breathing shook unevenly.
“A man like that would never really be interested in you.”
The words hurt even as she forced herself to say them.
“You’re older. Used up. Comfortable.”
Because the worst part?
She had actually started liking him.
Really liking him.
For one reckless moment…she had actually allowed herself to think:
Maybe.
Ryú couldn’t stop thinking about her either.
Kai was right, though.
If he wasn’t serious about Nari, he needed to leave her alone.
A woman like her clearly wasn’t built for games.
But another part of him pushed back immediately.
Honestly…if she couldn’t understand a misunderstanding, was she really worth all this emotional effort?
The thought barely settled before he remembered the exact moment her expression changed.
The humiliation.
The hurt.
Then nothing.
Everything warm inside her had simply shuttered closed.
Engagement without warmth.
It wasn’t dramatic.
It wasn’t loud.
It was worse.
It was someone quietly deciding you no longer had access to them.
Kai called every night.
Every. Single. Night.
Nari let each call go straight to voicemail.
“Sis?! Sis! I know you’re there! Please don’t shut me out.”
Delete.
Somehow, Ryú Alexander got her number too.
The first time his voice filled her voicemail, her stomach betrayed her with an embarrassing little flip.
Which only annoyed her more.
“Nari, please let me explain. I never meant to mislead you.”
Delete.
The next voicemail came two days later.
“Nari, it’s okay to be mad at me, but please talk to your brother. I can’t get any work out of him.”
Despite herself, her lips twitched slightly.
“Tough tutu to you too,” she informed the voicemail dryly. “Deal with your sidekick.”
Another message came three days later.
“Nari…” Ryú sighed into the phone, sounding tired for the first time since she’d met him. “Be reasonable. Let’s talk about this like adults.”
Nari sat upright so fast on the couch that her blanket fell directly to the floor.
“Ohhh, now I’m unreasonable and childish?” she snapped at the phone. “Tough tutu! Deal with it!”
Furious, she tossed the phone onto the couch beside her.
Then immediately picked it back up again.
Not to call him.
Absolutely not.
Just to replay the message one more time.
Unlike Kai’s voicemails…
She didn’t delete Ryú’s.
Nari had been quiet for the past two weeks.
She still smiled at patients.
Still comforted nervous mothers.
Still stayed late when someone needed her.
But the people closest to her noticed the difference immediately.
The warmth was still there…just dimmer somehow.
Then the deliveries started arriving.
Flowers.
Chocolate.
Expensive gift baskets.
The first arrangement actually made the nurses gasp.
Massive white orchids.
Elegant.
Excessive.
Very clearly sent by a wealthy man in distress.
Nari accepted them politely.
Then she read the card. Then threw it in the shred bin.
Without a word, she handed the arrangement to the front desk staff.
“Enjoy.”
The next delivery was luxury chocolates.
Those got distributed through the office too.
“Sugar is bad for me anyway,” she said dryly while charting.
But as the days passed and the deliveries kept coming…she stopped accepting them altogether.
Every arrangement.
Every basket.
Every carefully selected apology.
Returned.
Unopened.
Kai came by the office three separate times trying to speak with her.
Each attempt ended exactly the same way.
“I’m working right now, Kai.”
“Nari—”
“The nurses will validate your parking.”
That hurt him every single time.
She no longer called him:
Little brother.
Menace.
Gremlin.
Pain in my ass.
Just—
Kai.
Cold.
Formal.
Distant.
And each time he left looking like a wounded puppy that had been kicked into traffic.
Ryú made the mistake of showing up at the office himself during the second week.
Tall.
Elegant.
Expensively dressed.
“I’m here to see Nari.”
Unfortunately for him, Nari St. Claire, N.P., had already been warned he was in the building.
“Nari—”
“Mr. Alexander.”
God, he hated hearing that from her.
“Can we talk?”
“I’m currently working.”
“You’ve been avoiding me for two weeks.”
“Yes.”
Several nurses suddenly discovered urgent reasons to remain within hearing distance.
One pretended to restock gloves.
Another began updating charts at a computer that had been empty all afternoon.
The receptionist didn’t even try to hide the fact that she was listening.
Busybodies.
Every single one of them.
They could at least pretend to help, Ryú thought darkly.
“You’re really not going to give me a chance to explain?”
“I believe I made my position clear.”
Damn.
“The nurses will validate your parking.”
Then she turned and walked away without another glance.
Late that night, alone in her townhouse, Nari still found herself thinking about gray eyes and deep laughter.
Which only made her angrier with herself.
He’s just a stupid, ignorant man.
So why couldn’t she stop thinking about him?
Part of her still whispered that Ryú Alexander was different.
But experience had taught her otherwise.
Her life was exhausting enough.
She didn’t need her private life becoming another battlefield too.
By Friday afternoon, she was down to her last patient of the day.
All she wanted was her couch, takeout, and one of her K-dramas.
Preferably one involving emotionally constipated men suffering…. deeply.
Dragon and phoenix chronicles 