CHAPTER SIX

Once Changmin was confident there was no trace Yeonhee's bruises remaining she arranged to return to work. However, when she made to leave the childcare centre the following day, her tiny niece howled miserably, her little arms reaching out to her from the carer’s hold.

‘Don’t worry, Miss Shim,’ the childcare worker reassured her. ‘She’ll settle down once you leave. They all do.’

Changmin bit her lip in an agony of indecision. Yeonhee's little face was bright red, her eyes spilling tears and her desperate wails increasing in volume.

‘Maybe I should call work and tell them I can’t make it.’

‘Of course you shouldn’t,’ the woman said. ‘She’ll be fine. I’ll take her to look at the toys while you leave. Feel free to phone as soon as you get to work but I am sure you’ve got nothing to worry about. Come on, Yeonhee,’ she told the child with a smile. ‘Let’s go and look at the nice teddy bears over here.’

Changmin could still hear Yeonhee cries as she made her way outside the building, her heart squeezing painfully at the thought of her niece being so upset at the prospect of being abandoned. It made her realise anew how important it was to protect her, for it was obvious the baby considered her to be her primary carer. If Yunho were to find out who she really was now, Yeonhee would be the one to suffer, for Changmin felt sure he would evict her from the child’s life as soon as he possibly could.

The library was a few blocks away and she walked there with dragging steps, wondering how mothers across the globe dealt with leaving their children in someone else’s care.

She loved her job but she loved her niece more. If push came to shove she would have to quit work, swallow her pride and accept the allowance from Yunho that his lawyer had arranged in the pre-nuptial agreement.

‘Hi, Changmin,’ Cho Kyuhyun, one of the other librarians, greeted her as soon as she arrived at work. ‘Hey, where have you been the last few days? Sheila said you called in sick. Are you OK now?’

Changmin placed her bag in the staffroom locker in order to avoid her friend’s probing look. ‘I’m fine, just a bit tired. It’s been one of those weeks.’

‘Don’t tell me your sister has been giving you trouble again,’ Kyuhyun said. ‘I don’t know why you don’t tell her where to get off, really I don’t. She takes advantage of you so much, no wonder you’re not well.’ She pursed her lips for a moment, then, moving over to close the staffroom door, turned back and handed Changmin a recent edition of a popular gossip magazine. ‘I suppose you’ve already seen this?’

Changmin disguised a gulp as she looked down at the magazine article Kyuhyun had shown her. There was a photograph of her twin outside one of Sydney’s best known hotels, dressed in a revealing dress that left little to the imagination, her arms flung around the necks of two well known football personalities who both had dubious reputations with regard to their treatment of women. The caption hinted that, according to hotel staff sources, last Friday night Jaejoong and her male escorts had engaged in a drunken noisy upstairs.

‘Oh, God.’ She shut the magazine and handed it back as they sat down together. ‘This is just what I don’t need right now.’

‘Are you all right?’ Kyuhyun peered at her in concern.

Changmin met her friend’s hazel gaze. ‘I have to tell you something but you have to promise not to tell anyone else.’

Kyuhyun used a finger to zip her lips. ‘Mum’s the word.’

Changmin’s mouth twisted wryly. ‘That’s exactly right. Mumis the word you now have to use when referring to me.’

Kyuhyun's eyes went out on stalks. ‘Oh, my God! You’re pregnant?’

Changmin rolled her eyes. ‘Of course not! No, but I am now acting as Yeonhee’s mother.’

As Changmin filled her in on previous events, Kyuhyun's face fell in horror.

‘Are you completely nuts?’ Kyuhyun had got to her feet in agitation. ‘What the hell are you thinking? This Jung Yunho will eat you alive when he finds out! You could go to prison or something!’

‘What else can I do?’ Changmin asked. ‘Yeonhee needs me. Jaejoong was going to give her up for adoption but this way I can keep her and give her the love she deserves. It’s a small price to pay.’

‘A small price?’ Kyuhyun gaped at her. ‘What do you know about this guy?’

Changmin couldn’t help a tiny smile. ‘I know he adores Yeonhee and she adores him.’

‘And what about you?' Kyuhyun gave her another probing look. ‘What does he feel about you? Does he adore you too?’

‘No.’ Changmin lowered her gaze.

There was a short silence and Changmin looked up to see her friend’s contemplative gaze trained on her.

‘I think I’m starting to get the picture,’ Kyuhyun said. ‘You’re in love with him, aren’t you?’

‘How could I possibly be in love with him?’ Changmin's eyes darted away once more. ‘I hardly know him.’
 

‘You must feel something for him because, knowing you as I do, you would never agree to marry someone if you didn’t respect and admire them at the very least.’

Changmin thought about it for a moment. Yes, she did respect Yunho. In fact, if circumstances were different, he was exactly the sort of man she could come to love. He had qualities she couldn’t help admiring. He was fiercely loyal and protective and his sense of family was strong.

‘Come on, Changmin,’ Kyuhyun continued. ‘I can see it in your eyes. You’re halfway there already.’

‘You’re imagining things.’

‘Maybe I am, but I’d watch it if I were you,’ Kyuhyun cautioned. ‘You’re not the hard-nosed your sister is. You are going to get yourself seriously hurt if you don’t take care.’

‘I know what I’m doing,’ Changmin said. ‘Anyway, I don’t have a choice. I love Yeonhee and would do anything to protect her.’

‘Sounds like you and that future husband of yours have rather a lot in common, don’t you think?’ Kyuhyun mused as she opened the staffroom door. ‘You both want the same thing and are prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to get it.’

Changmim didn’t answer. She was starting to think it might have been a mistake to tell Kyuhyun the truth about her situation. Her friend was seeing things Changmin herself had pointedly refused to examine too closely.

She turned to the phone on the wall and quickly called the childcare centre to check on her niece, relieved to hear that Yeonhee had finally fallen asleep. She hung up the phone and made her way out to the front desk, glad she had something to do other than think about Jung Yunho and how she really felt about him.

 

Changmin had not long returned home with Yeonhee later that day when the phone rang.

Changmin?’ Her sister’s voice sounded in her ear. ‘Is that you?’

‘Who else would it be?’ Changmin said tersely.

Jaejoong laughed. ‘Well, for a minute there I thought you sounded just like me.’

Changmin ground her teeth. ‘That isso not funny. You do realise that all because of your stupid actions I will be marrying Yoochun’s brother in a matter of days, don’t you?’

‘Lucky you,’ Jaejoong said. ‘I’m sure you’ll be more than adequately compensated. A billionaire to call your own.’

‘His money means nothing to me,’ she bit out.

‘Good,’Jaejoong said. ‘Then you won’t mind sending it to me.’

‘What?' Changmin stiffened.
 
‘Come on, Changmin. You’ll be loaded. We talked about this the other day, remember? I expect you to share your good fortune with me. Besides, we’re sisters, twin sisters.’

Changmin drew in a breath. ‘I amnot taking his money.’

‘Don’t be stupid; he’s giving it to you in exchange for marriage. You have to take it.’

‘I have no intention of doing so.’

‘Listen.’ Jaejoong's voice hardened. ‘If you don’t take it I’ll tell him who you really are.’

Changmin swallowed, her hand on the receiver growing white-knuckled. ‘You can’t do that. He’ll take Yeonhee off me.’

‘Do you think I care?’ Jaejoong said.

‘How can you be so callous?’ Changmin cried. ‘You’re her mother, for God’s sake!’

‘If you don’t take the money and give it to me I will tell him how you’ve deceived him. Somehow I don’t think he’ll take all that kindly to the news.’

Changmin could well believe it, but this wasn’t about her at all. It was about Yeonhee. She loved her niece and couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing her again.

She considered going to Yunho and telling him the truth before Jaejoong got the chance but knew in the end it would be pointless. He would simply remove Yeonhee from her custody, would no doubt be relieved that he didn’t have to bind himself to her after all. He would have no regard for her feelings as the child’s aunt even if she was to plead with him to allow her a place in Yeonhee's life.

‘I haven’t got any money yet,’ Changmin said. ‘The marriage doesn’t take place for another few days. Yunho told me I won’t get the allowance until the ink dries on the marriage certificate.’

‘Well, when it does I want you to send me it. All of it. I’ll give you my bank details.’

Changmin put the phone down a few minutes later, the numbers on the piece of paper in her hand making her feel sick to her stomach.

Her sister had just sold her child.